Workplace violence policy required for certain employers; civil penalty. Requires any employer of 100 or more employees to develop, implement, and maintain a workplace violence policy no later than January 1, 2027. The bill includes requirements for such a policy, such as procedures and methods for employee reporting of incidents and post-incident investigations. Employers subject to the bill are required to maintain documentation of workplace violence incidents for not less than five years. An employer that violates the provisions of the bill shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 per violation. The bill prohibits retaliation from an employer on the basis of reporting a workplace violence incident and provides that any employee who makes a report of workplace violence shall be immune from civil liability. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
Rules of construction; use of "shall." Provides that "shall," as used in the Code of Virginia, establishes a mandatory requirement and is not merely directory, unless the statute explicitly provides otherwise. The bill responds to the holding in Henderson v. Commonwealth, 77 Va. App. 250 (2023), in which the Court of Appeals held that when the General Assembly uses "shall" in a statute commanding action by a public official or public body such usage is directory and not mandatory. The foregoing provisions of the bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2027 Session of the General Assembly. The bill requires, effective in due course, the Virginia Code Commission to review the bill's provisions and evaluate the bill's effect on the Code of Virginia and to report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than December 1, 2026.
Rental home marketplace guarantees; penalty. Provides for the regulation of rental home marketplace guarantees, defined in the bill, by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The bill establishes requirements for the registration of rental home marketplace guarantee providers, authorizes the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to prescribe regulations, and authorizes the Commissioner to investigate violations. The bill includes requirements for the production of records, insurance, and consumer disclosures. The bill provides that rental home marketplace guarantees are not insurance. The bill adds transactions involving the advertisement, sale, lease, or license of rental home marketplace guarantees to the definition of a consumer transaction for the purpose of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. A seller who knowingly and willfully violates the requirements of the bill is in violation of such Act and is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. The bill's registration requirements have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. The Board is required to promulgate its initial implementing regulations by January 1, 2027. The bill provides that any rental home marketplace guarantees issued prior to January 1, 2027, are subject to oversight of the Commissioner.
Child abuse and neglect; obscenity and related offenses; mandatory reporting for certain persons in their professional or official capacities; public and private school athletics program coaches, directors, and adult volunteers; penalty. Expands the mandatory reporting requirements for certain enumerated persons in their professional or official capacities to include certain offenses related to children and certain obscenity and related offenses and applies all such mandatory reporting requirements to all public and private school athletics program coaches, directors, and adult volunteers, including those associated with interscholastic teams and clubs. Under current law, the mandatory reporting requirements apply to such enumerated persons who suspect that a child is an abused or neglected child and to public or private sports organization or team athletic coaches, directors, or adult volunteers.
Health care providers; required estimate for nonemergency health care services. Requires health care providers to provide a good faith estimate of the payment amount for which the patient will be responsible for such nonemergency health care service, including any fees or other charges for an item or service the patient may reasonably be expected to receive in connection with the nonemergency health care service. The bill requires the good faith estimate to include (i) description of the scheduled nonemergency health care service, (ii) the provider's standard charge for the service and any related item or service, (iii) the provider's standard charges and any contracted rates known at the time the estimate is prepared, and (iv) a statement that the estimate is not binding and the actual amount billed may differ depending on changes in the scope of services or the health carrier's processing of the claim.
General funds, bonds, and capital outlay. Removes the Executive Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the Secretary of Finance from the Six-Year Capital Outlay Plan Advisory Committee. The bill also provides that the Six-Year Capital Outlay Plan Advisory Committee consists of four members, with voting privileges, including the staff directors of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget, and the Director of the Department of General Services.
Board of Education; feasibility of establishing Virginia African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latino, and Indigenous Education Advisory Board; evaluation; report. Directs the Board of Education to evaluate and submit a report to the Governor and the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education by November 1, 2026, a report on the feasibility and most appropriate manner of establishing a Virginia African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latino, and Indigenous Education Advisory Board to advise the Governor and the General Assembly on describing in the relevant Standards of Learning framework, providing instruction on, and developing elective courses in African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latino, and Indigenous history.
Policy of the Commonwealth; data centers. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to encourage the responsible operation of data centers in the Commonwealth while supporting grid reliability, affordability, and the deployment of renewable resources. The bill provides that in furtherance of this policy, the Commonwealth shall (i) promote coordination between data centers, state agencies, and regional grid operators to share information on energy usage, interconnection timelines, and barriers to rapid deployment of renewable and flexible energy resources; (ii) incentivize data centers to participate in demand response programs, implement energy storage and management systems, and leverage automated technologies to reduce peak demand and support grid stability; (iii) encourage flexible energy practices that allow data centers to adjust energy consumption in real time in alignment with available renewable generation; (iv) ensure large-scale data centers pay their fair share of infrastructure investments, mitigating impacts on residential and small business ratepayers; (v) require data centers to report water and aggregated energy usage, sustainability measures, and participation in grid support programs to appropriate state and federal agencies; and (vi) promote cybersecurity, physical security, and supply chain security measures to protect Virginia data center operations from foreign adversary access or compromise.
Department of General Services; removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. Directs the Department of General Services to remove all Confederate monuments and memorials from Capitol Square. The bill directs the Department to store such monuments and memorials until such time as the General Assembly determines their final disposition. The bill also requires the Department, in coordination with the Department of Historic Resources, to review the most appropriate options for the final disposition of all monuments, memorials, and artifacts in its possession and report its findings to the Joint Committee on Rules by October 15, 2026.
Seizure, forfeiture, and destruction of property used in connection with the exploitation and solicitation of children. Requires the court, if the forfeiture is established to order the destruction of all audio and visual equipment, electronic equipment, devices, and other personal property used in connection with the possession, production, distribution, publication, sale, possession with intent to distribute, or making of child pornography, or in connection with the solicitation of a person less than 18 years of age, in violation of current law. The bill also (i) requires certain information to be provided by the law-enforcement agency responsible for the destruction, (ii) prohibits destruction of such items to be used in a criminal prosecution until all rights of appeal have been exhausted, and (iii) requires the law-enforcement agency to provide notice, by first-class mail, to the accused or other interested party, if known, and his attorney at least seven days prior to the destruction of the time and place the destruction will occur. This bill incorporates HB 274 and HB 688.
Robbery. Conforms certain provisions of the Code referencing robbery to the degrees of robbery offenses established by Chapter 534 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021, Special Session I. These changes include: (i) limiting to the three higher degrees of robbery certain non-robbery crimes for which committing such crime with the intent to commit a robbery is an element of the offenses, (ii) limiting the types of robbery that are included in the definition of "acts of violence" to the two higher degrees of robbery, (iii) clarifying how robbery offenses will be scored on the sentencing guidelines, (iv) allowing persons convicted of the two lesser degrees of robbery to be eligible for conditional release if they are terminally ill and for enhanced earned sentence credits, (v) allowing persons who are ineligible for parole as a result of being convicted of three of certain enumerated offenses to be eligible for parole if convicted of an offense that would constitute robbery by presenting of firearms, and (vi) limiting the application of the three-strikes law to the two higher degrees of robbery and making persons convicted under the three-strikes law eligible for parole if one of the three convictions resulting in the mandatory life sentence would constitute one of the two lesser degrees of robbery. The bill leaves unchanged the current law making all degrees of robbery predicate criminal acts by adding the two lesser degrees of robbery to the definition of "predicate criminal act" and specifying that the two higher degrees of robbery are included in the definition of "act of violence." The bill requires the changes made to the eligibility for conditional release of terminally ill prisoners and enhanced earned sentence credits to apply retroactively if certain criteria are met.
Department of General Services; independent agency; evaluation. Directs the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee to convene a work group to assess the process and provide recommendations related to the transition of the Department of General Services from an executive branch agency to an independent agency of the Commonwealth pursuant to the intent of the General Assembly that (i) the Department transition to better serve the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as independent agencies of the Commonwealth, and political subdivisions thereof, equally and (ii) such transition be finalized in the 2027 Regular Session. The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee shall submit a joint report of the work group's findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by October 15, 2026.
