Severe Maternal Morbidity Surveillance and Review Program established; duties; report. Creates the Severe Maternal Morbidity Surveillance and Review Program (SMM Program) to identify, analyze, and review instances of severe maternal morbidity. The bill directs the Department of Health to develop a reporting system for hospitals and freestanding birthing centers to report findings and recommendations, as well as a model protocol for conducting reviews of severe maternal morbidity. The bill requires all hospitals and freestanding birthing centers to participate in the SMM Program and report their findings and recommendations to the Department of Health on an annual basis. The bill has a delayed effective date of September 1, 2026.
Local departments of social services; payment of reasonable funeral expenses. Permits the State Board of Social Services to promulgate regulations allowing local departments of social services to pay the reasonable funeral expenses of a decedent who was a recipient of social services or Supplemental Security Income.
School nurses; sickle cell disease training. Directs local school divisions to require school nurses to complete, within six months of employment and at least every three years thereafter, an online or in-person course of instruction approved by the Board in collaboration with the Department of Health regarding recognition and management of sickle cell disease. This bill is identical to SB 822.
High school athletic coaches; sickle cell trait guidance and resources. Directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a Superintendent's memo no later than the start of the 2026–2027 school year containing guidance and resources for public high school athletic coaches on risks and strategies for student-athletes with sickle cell trait.
Limitations on enforcement of judgments; docketing of general district court judgments in the circuit court. Provides that, for judgments entered in the general district court on or after July 1, 2026, where enforcement of such judgments is sought by a debt buyer, the docketing of an abstract of such judgment in the circuit court shall not effect the 10-year limitation period to enforce such judgment. Under current law, such docketing allows a general district court judgment to be treated as a judgment entered by the circuit court and may be extended in the same manner as a judgment entered by the circuit court.
Civil and criminal actions; service of subpoena for certain electronic records. Provides that, in addition to methods for how service of process may be effected on certain corporations, any subpoena issued pursuant to a civil or criminal proceeding for electronic records, electronically stored information, or other documents or records that are stored outside of the Commonwealth by a nonparty commercial enterprise may be served within or outside of the Commonwealth by hand, certified mail, commercial delivery service, facsimile, or electronic means.
Election of certain governing bodies; single-member districts required. Requires every locality with a population of 400,000 or greater to elect the members of its governing body from single-member districts.
Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; closed meetings; disclosure of certain law-enforcement records. Provides an exemption to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act to allow closed meetings for discussion or consideration by any law-enforcement civilian oversight body established pursuant to general law or established by a local governing body before July 1, 2020, and operating in a manner consistent with such law of the criminal investigative files, audit findings, and deliberations regarding police operations related to a specific complaint before the body involving any violation or attempted violation of certain offenses. The bill allows inspection of certain law-enforcement records concerning juveniles by such civilian oversight bodies when required to perform their duties and by any independent policing auditor, manager, director, or other person appointed by the local governing body to support such civilian oversight body. Finally, the bill allows disclosure of certain information regarding crimes involving sexual assault, sexual abuse, or family abuse to such civilian oversight body and independent policing auditor, manager, director, or other person appointed by the local governing body.
Appointment of administrator; property damage claims. Allows for the appointment of an administrator in any case in which it is represented that a civil action for property damage arising within the Commonwealth is contemplated against or on behalf of the estate or the beneficiaries of the estate of a resident or nonresident of the Commonwealth who has died within or outside the Commonwealth. Under current law, such appointments are limited to civil actions for personal injury and wrongful death. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.
Electric utilities; virtual power plant program; electric cooperatives. Authorizes electric cooperatives to establish and implement a virtual power plant program. The bill defines a virtual power plant as an aggregation of distributed energy resources, enrolled either directly with an electric cooperative or indirectly through an aggregator, that are operated in coordination to provide one or more grid services. Under the bill, an electric cooperative may offer incentives to residential customers to purchase battery storage devices and is required to evaluate various methods to optimize demand. This bill is identical to HB 562.
Phase I and Phase II Utilities; electric grid utilization metrics. Requires Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to petition the State Corporation Commission for approval of grid utilization metrics by October 15, 2026, which petition may be consolidated with the integrated resource plan filing for Dominion Energy in 2026. Under the bill, the petition shall include certain assessments comparing current electric grid system performance with optimal utilization of existing electric grid assets. The bill also requires the Commission to include in an existing annual report its findings on each applicable utility's assessment of relevant grid utilization metrics, which shall include an analysis of the potential for each applicable utility to increase electric grid utilization through the deployment of non-wires alternatives. This bill is identical to HB 434.
Department of Veterans Services; Department of Health Professions; military medical personnel; program; work group; report. Expands the definition of "military medical personnel" for the purposes of the program established by the Department of Veterans Services (the Department), in collaboration with the Department of Health Professions, that allows such military medical personnel to practice and perform certain delegated acts that constitute the practice of medicine or nursing to include other enlisted service members who have successfully completed appropriate technical training and any required certifications and who were discharged or released from such service under conditions other than dishonorable. Under current law, "military medical personnel" means an individual who has recently served as a medic in the United States Army, medical technician in the United States Air Force, medical personnel in the United States Space Force, or corpsman in the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard.The bill allows such military medical personnel participating in the program to be supervised by any licensed practitioner, as defined in the bill. Current law allows such personnel to be supervised by a physician or podiatrist. The bill directs the Department of Veterans Services to convene a work group to provide guidance on the implementation and further development of the Military Medics and Corpsmen program and to report its findings to the Chairs of the House Committee on Health and Human Services and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2026.
