Historical horse racing; pari-mutuel wagering; certain localities. Prescribes the distribution of the breakage retained by any licensee in a locality that has not passed a referendum allowing pari-mutuel wagering on or after July 1, 2018, and in which no terminals were authorized by the Commission on or before January 1, 2024.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science; study of the cumulative impacts of surface water intakes on aquatic fauna and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its major Virginia tributaries; report. Directs the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to study the cumulative impacts of surface water intakes on aquatic fauna and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its major Virginia tributaries. The bill requires VIMS to submit a report of its findings and any recommendations to the Governor, the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, and the House Committee on Appropriations no later than October 1, 2028.
Board of Education; career and technical education courses, pathways, and credentials; biennial review; report. Requires the Board of Education and the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, with the assistance of the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement and the Virginia Office of Education Economics, the Department of Education, the Virginia Community College System, and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, to conduct, beginning with the fiscal year starting July 1, 2025, and each odd-numbered year thereafter, a biennial review of all career and technical education course, pathway, and credential offerings available to public school students across the Commonwealth for the purpose of ensuring that all such career and technical education course, pathway, and credential offerings are (i) aligned with current and emerging industry and workforce needs, demands, and standards and (ii) designed to effectively prepare students for postsecondary success through gainful employment in a high-demand industry or field, enrollment in postsecondary education, or enlistment in the United States Armed Forces. The bill requires the Board of Education and the Virginia Board of Workforce Development to develop and submit to the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor, and the chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by October 1 of each odd-numbered year, beginning with October 1, 2025, a report on each such biennial review.
Income tax deduction; tips. Provides, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2026, an income tax deduction for the amount of cash tips received during the taxable year that are included on statements furnished to the employer for federal tax purposes.
Income tax credit; adaptive repurposing of underutilized structures; Affordable Dwelling Units. Creates a nonrefundable income tax credit in taxable years 2025 through 2029 for eligible expenses, defined in the bill, incurred in converting office buildings to residential uses. The credit may be claimed only in the year during which a qualified converted building, defined in the bill, is placed into service and is equal to (i) 20 percent or (ii) 30 percent in an at-risk locality, defined in the bill, of the amount of eligible expenses incurred. No single taxpayer may claim more than $2.5 million in credits in any single taxable year and the credit is subject to an aggregate annual cap of $30 million. The bill also allows localities to restrict certain partial exemptions from real estate taxation to real property on which the improvement is a residential structure that has set aside at least 30 percent of such structure for Affordable Dwelling Units.
Watershed general permits for nutrients; priority projects; compliance schedule; emergency. Amends the compliance schedule for three priority projects for additional nitrogen and phosphorus removal under the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program: the Fredericksburg Wastewater Treatment Facility, the Spotsylvania County-FMC Wastewater Treatment Facility, and the Spotsylvania County-Massaponax Wastewater Treatment Facility. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Consumer Data Protection Act; controller privacy notice; cookies; consumer consent. Requires the privacy notice that a controller must provide to consumers to include a method by which a consumer may opt out of the automatic placement of a data file, commonly referred to as a "cookie," on the consumer's computer or web browser and a disclosure of the purposes for which the data files are used. The bill prohibits controllers from using cookies, except those that are strictly necessary, without the prior express consent of the consumer and prohibits controllers from preventing access to their services if such consent is not granted. The bill also requires controllers to document and store proof of such consent and make available an easily accessible method by which consumers may withdraw such consent.
Special license plates; Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival. Authorizes the issuance of special license plates for supporters of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival bearing the legend SHENANDOAH APPLE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL.
Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund; Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission. Creates a new allocation from the Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund for the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission, adjusts the amounts of certain other allocations from such Fund, and removes the light rail system operated by the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads from eligibility for funds from such other allocations from such Fund. The bill requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board to withhold 20 percent of the funds from such new allocation unless the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads submits to it certain information annually. The bill directs the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, for fiscal year 2027, to reserve and utilize certain funds in amounts necessary to provide certain supplemental operating assistance to certain transit providers that would experience a reduction in allocable funds due to the reallocations in this bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Labor and employment; portable benefit accounts; income tax; deduction. Authorizes a Virginia resident who has worked as an independent contractor to establish a portable benefit account. Under the bill, a portable benefit account offered through and administered by a bank, credit union, or other depository institution and distributions from the account may be used for the payment of various health-related costs. The bill also creates a temporary deduction for the amount of contributions made to a portable benefit account by an independent contractor for the 2025 and 2026 taxable years.
Drinking water; maximum contaminant levels; water treatment or filtration systems; Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Program Fund established. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to utilize point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment or filtration systems to remove or significantly reduce concentrations of contaminants of concern that meet or exceed any maximum contaminant level or health advisory for the same contaminant adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The bill also establishes the Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Program Fund to allow the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water to test and treat contaminated drinking water through grants for the use of eligible treatment or filtration systems in private residential wells.
Prohibited acquisition and ownership of single-family homes; restrictions; civil penalty. Restricts any partnership, corporation, or real estate investment trust that manages funds pooled from investors and has $50 million or more in net value or assets under management on any day during a taxable year from acquiring any interest in single-family homes, as defined in the bill, in the Commonwealth and requires registration with the Secretary of the Commonwealth by September 1, 2026, for any such business that acquired such interest prior to July 1, 2026. The bill also requires any such business to divest at least 10 percent of such interest per year over a course of 10 years whereby no such business shall own any interest in single-family homes on and after July 1, 2036. The bill requires the Secretary of the Commonwealth to report annually by December 1 on the registrations and any penalties assessed for failure to register or divest ownership interests and to submit such report to the Governor and the General Assembly. The bill also requires all real property tax bills to contain notice of such prohibited business ownership restrictions and registration requirements. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
