Report of motor vehicle accident; damage threshold. Increases from $1,500 to $3,000 the property damage threshold at which law enforcement is required to forward a written report of a motor vehicle accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; regulation of ear-piercers and ear-piercing salons and schools. Provides for the licensure of ear-piercing salons, ear-piercing schools, and ear-piercers by the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology. The bill distinguishes ear-piercing salons from body-piercing salons by definition and requires the Board to adopt regulations establishing the requirements for licensure of ear-piercing salons, ear-piercing schools, and ear-piercers. Additionally, the bill requires the Board to develop specific training and apprenticeship programs for ear-piercers and permits localities to regulate the sanitary conditions of ear-piercing salons. This bill is identical to SB 1419.
Department of Medical Assistance Services; state plan for medical assistance services; crisis stabilization services for nonhospitalized individuals; emergency. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to seek the necessary federal approvals to remove the prohibition against the use of crisis stabilization services for nonhospitalized individuals in institutions for mental disease and, upon receiving federal approval, (i) authorizes the Department of Medical Assistance Services to implement such change through agency guidance documents prior to the completion of any regulatory review process and (ii) directs it to promulgate regulations to implement such change to be effective within 280 days of receiving federal approval. This bill is identical to HB 2534.
Improper driving as a lesser included offense of reckless driving. Permits a jury to find an accused, where the degree of culpability is slight, not guilty of reckless driving but guilty of improper driving. Current law only permits the trial court to do so or the attorney for the Commonwealth to reduce a charge of reckless driving to improper driving at any time prior to the court's decision.
Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission; submission of annual report. Provides that the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission shall submit its annual report to the Chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice on or before December 1 of each year. The bill further provides that no annual report shall be considered confidential following the submission of such report to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice. Under current law, the Commission is required to publish its annual report.
Civil immunity; health care professionals; professional programs related to career fatigue and wellness. Expands civil immunity for persons who participate in professional programs related to career fatigue and wellness for health care professionals to include those who participate in programs for (i) any health care professionals licensed, registered, or certified by the Department of Health Professions or (ii) students enrolled in programs that are prerequisites to licensure, registration, or certification by the Department of Health Professions. Under current law, civil immunity extends only to persons participating in programs for (a) professionals licensed, registered, or certified by the Boards of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, or Pharmacy or (b) students enrolled in a school of dentistry, dental hygiene, medicine, osteopathic medicine, nursing, or pharmacy.
Flashing red and white warning lights; emergency vehicle exemptions; mine rescue team vehicles. Authorizes vehicles operated by mine rescue teams that are certified by the Mine Safety and Health Administration under federal law to (i) be equipped with flashing, blinking, or alternating red or red and white combination warning lights and (ii) disregard certain regulations regarding the operation of vehicles without being subject to criminal prosecution while responding to an emergency, provided that the operator of such vehicle has received certain training and recertifies every two years. The bill adds responding to mine rescue incidents to the list of circumstances in which such lighted warning lights shall be displayed.
Virginia Retirement System; disability benefits; emergency dispatchers. Requires that, beginning July 1, 2026, emergency dispatchers who are not members of the hybrid retirement program become participants in the disability program for hybrid retirement plan members if the locality employing such dispatcher participates in such program. The employers of such dispatchers shall provide the costs required for funding participation in such program.
State Veterinarian; large animal veterinary grant program; report. Directs the State Veterinarian to establish a large animal veterinary grant program no later than July 1, 2026, to provide grants to increase or stabilize the number of large animal veterinarians, as defined in the bill, practicing in areas of the Commonwealth that have been identified by the State Veterinarian as having a shortage of such veterinarians. The bill directs the State Veterinarian to annually select from a pool of applicants no more than four large animal veterinarians to participate in the program and to develop, in consultation with the Board of Veterinary Medicine and relevant stakeholders, selection criteria for applicants to participate in the program. The bill also requires the State Veterinarian to submit a report evaluating the extent to which the program has helped to address the shortage of large animal veterinarians in the Commonwealth to the Board and the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources no later than July 1, 2030. This bill is identical to SB 921.
Department of Education; Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; mental health first aid training program; development of plan to incentivize and facilitate participation. Directs the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, to develop and implement a plan to incentivize and facilitate participation in the Commonwealth Mental Health First Aid Program, established pursuant to applicable law, by public school staff and students. As introduced, the bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to HB 2637.
Obtaining records concerning electronic communication service or remote computing service without a warrant. Provides that when disclosure of real-time location data or subscriber data is not prohibited by federal law, an investigative or law-enforcement officer may obtain real-time location data or subscriber data without a warrant if the investigative or law-enforcement officer reasonably believes that (i) an individual or group of individuals has made a credible threat via electronic communication to commit an act of violence upon the property, including the buildings and grounds thereof, of any (a) child day center, including any preschool program offered by a publicly funded provider; (b) preschool or nursery program certified by the Board of Education; or (c) public, private, or religious elementary or secondary school and (ii) a warrant cannot be obtained in time to prevent the identified danger or identify the source of the threat. The bill also provides that no real-time location data or subscriber data shall be admissible in a criminal proceeding unless a judge finds that probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant existed at the time of the search and such data is otherwise admissible, provided that no such data obtained is presented to establish the necessary probable cause.
Department of Environmental Quality; administrative regulations; mission-critical affected emergency generators; emergency. Specifies that the State Air Pollution Control Board's administrative regulations shall allow any affected emergency generator, defined in the bill, to operate up to 50 hours per year for nonemergency purposes, including planned outages and switch gear and related electrical system testing, so as to be consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regulations for such generators. The bill directs the Department of Environmental Quality to promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of the bill without further action by the State Air Pollution Control Board. The bill contains an emergency clause.
