Real Estate Board; regulations related to fees charged to a licensee. Prohibits the Real Estate Board from charging a fee to a real estate licensee for the transfer of such licensee between offices within a licensed real estate firm, including from such firm's primary place of business to one of its branch offices or from a branch office to another branch office under the same primary place of business. This bill is identical to SB 785.
Professions and occupations; amending definitions of cosmetologist and cosmetology. Amends the definitions of cosmetologist and cosmetology to clarify that cosmetic treatments are not included in such definitions.
Acute psychiatric bed registry; Bed Registry Advisory Council established; patient privacy and data security; Virginia Freedom of Information Act exemption. Requires the Commissioner of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to include provisions for the protection of patient privacy and data security pursuant to state and federal law and regulations in contracts with private entities for the administration of the acute psychiatric bed registry. The bill requires the Commissioner to create the Bed Registry Advisory Council to advise the Commissioner and any such private entity on the administration of such registry and to review and approve requests for access to data from the registry. The bill also creates a Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption for information submitted to such registry. This bill is identical to HB 1937.
Superintendent of Public Instruction; programs providing instructional experience in horse riding; exemption from licensure. Exempts from the requirements for licensure of child day programs by the Superintendent of Public Instruction programs providing instructional experience in horse riding, provided that (i) such a program is taught (a) by an adult with a recognized certification in horse riding instruction and (b) to fewer than 12 children at any time, (ii) at least one adult actively supervises no more than three children at any time during such a program, and (iii) the majority of programming for any such program relates to horse riding and equine activities.
Regional correctional facilities; investigation of acts of violence; report to law-enforcement agency; policies. Requires the jail superintendent of any regional correctional facility to promptly report to the primary local law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where such facility is located or to the Department of State Police any act of violence that occurs within such correctional facility. The bill also requires each regional correctional facility to adopt a policy setting forth the procedures for the investigation of such acts of violence and the respective roles and responsibilities of the jail superintendent of such correctional facility and the law-enforcement agency to which such report is made. The bill requires each regional correctional facility to provide a copy of such policy to the State Board of Local and Regional Jails prior to January 1 each year, beginning on January 1, 2026.
Office of the Executive Secretary; notification to guardian ad litems representing juveniles; child in need of services or supervision. Directs the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia to send notification to attorneys qualified for appointment as guardians ad litem that, if appointed to represent a child who is alleged to be a child in need of services or supervision, such attorney should have familiarity with the statutes providing the dispositional alternatives available when a juvenile and domestic relations district court finds that a child is in need of services or supervision.
Lithium-ion Battery Separator Manufacturing Grant Fund. Establishes the Lithium-ion Battery Separator Manufacturing Grant Fund to, subject to appropriation, fund 20 annual grant award installments, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $60.597 million, to a qualified company that engages in the manufacture of lithium-ion battery separators and that executes a memorandum of understanding with the Commonwealth and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority, and that on and after July 1, 2024, but before July 1, 2045, is expected to (i) make a capital investment, defined in the bill, of at least $1.3506 billion and (ii) create and maintain at least 2,015 new full-time jobs in Pittsylvania County. This bill is identical to HB 2540.
Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund; eligible site for site development grant. Provides that the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority may determine a site of at least 25 contiguous acres to be an eligible site to receive a site development grant from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund if such site is located in a locality with an area of 35 square miles of land area or less.
Motor vehicle dealers; buyer's order; leased motor vehicles. Clarifies the use of buyer's orders for leased vehicles and provides that such forms may be separate from the buyer's order forms used for a sale of a motor vehicle.
Virginia coordinate systems; federal updates. Updates several references in Code to the Virginia Coordinate System of 2022 and aligns state law with federal changes with respect to measurement standards. The bill replaces the U.S. survey foot with the international foot. The provisions of the bill become effective upon the official release by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Geodetic Survey of the State Plane Coordinate System of 2022 and certification in writing to the Virginia Code Commission that such contingency has been met. This bill is identical to HB 2503.
Public school buses; display of advertising; hiring of school bus drivers in the local school division. Permits any local school board, notwithstanding any regulation to the contrary, to display decals, posters, and stickers on the sides and rear of school buses advertising the hiring of school bus drivers in the local school division, provided that the local school board is responsible for the cost of such decals, posters, and stickers and that no such decal, poster, or sticker obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus.
Abandoned Mine Land Grant Retention Fund established. Establishes the Abandoned Mine Land Grant Retention Fund and requires any eligible designated funds received under the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be deposited into the Fund. The bill authorizes the Director of the Department of Energy to provide grants for certain projects described in the federal Act relating to the protection of public health, safety, and property from the adverse effects of coal mining practices.
