Abandoned or derelict aircraft. Provides that an airport has a lien on an abandoned or derelict aircraft, defined in the bill, on its property for all fees and charges for the use of the airport by such aircraft and for all fees and charges incurred by the airport for the transportation, storage, and removal of the aircraft. The bill authorizes an airport operator or his designee to retain, trade, sell, or dispose of an abandoned or derelict aircraft on the property of such airport. The bill provides for notice requirements prior to any such transfer of ownership interest in the aircraft.
Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund; projects; low-income geographic areas; nature-based solutions. Provides that the Department of Conservation and Recreation shall give additional weight to projects located in low-income geographic areas and projects that incorporate nature-based solutions when distributing loans or grants from the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund to particular local governments.
Public service companies; pole attachments;cable television systems and telecommunications service providers. Requires a public utility, as defined in the bill, to establish and adhere to pole attachment practices and procedures that comply with certain requirements, including determining whether an attachment request is complete before reviewing such request on its merits, complying with certain timelines, and providing notice of a rearrangement to affected existing attachers. The bill provides that a public utility shall not apportion to a telecommunications service provider or cable television system the cost of replacing a red-tagged pole, as defined in the bill, provided that such utility may apportion to such provider or system the incremental cost of a taller or stronger pole that is necessitated solely by the new facilities of such provider or system. The bill authorizes the State Corporation Commission to enforce its provisions and requires the Commission to resolve disputes involving pole access within 90 days and concerning certain other matters within 120 days. This bill is identical to SB 713.
Intercollegiate athletics; student-athletes; compensation for name, image, or likeness. Makes several changes to existing provisions of law relating to compensation of a student-athlete at a public or private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth (institution) for the use of the name, image, or likeness of such student-athlete, including (i) prohibiting any athletic association, athletic conference, or other organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics from preventing an institution, its supporting foundations, or an entity acting on its behalf from identifying, creating, negotiating, facilitating, supporting, engaging with, assisting with, or otherwise enabling a name, image, or likeness opportunity for a student-athlete; (ii) requiring each institution to develop and submit to the institution's governing board or similar governing body for approval institutional policies or procedures that govern the compensation of a student-athlete for the use of his name, image, or likeness; and (iii) permitting any institution to provide assets, resources, or benefits as an incentive to individuals, companies, or other entities to provide money, benefits, opportunities, or services to an outside entity that supports name, image, or likeness opportunities for the institution's student-athletes. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of November 15, 2024. The bill also requires the Intercollegiate Athletics Review Commission to review plans and implementation considerations for the provisions of the bill and provide a report on its review to the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2024.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; copy of rental agreement for tenant. Requires a landlord to provide a copy of the signed written rental agreement to the tenant within 10 business days of the effective date of the rental agreement and to provide additional hard copies of the rental agreement upon request or to maintain such rental agreement in an electronic format that can be easily accessed by or shared with the tenant upon request. The bill also prohibits a landlord from charging a tenant for any such additional copies of his rental agreement.
Virginia Human Rights Act; dual-filed civilactions. Clarifies timelines for dual-filing complaints allegingunlawful discrimination under the Virginia Human Rights Act and theU.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The bill allows eitherthe complainant or the respondent for any charge of discriminationto request a notice of the right to file a civil action after theCommission has closed its file on such charge of discrimination.
Department of Behavioral Health and DevelopmentalServices; facilities licensed to provide inpatient substance usedisorder treatment; certified discharge plans. Directs the Departmentof Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to amend its regulationsto require that any facility licensed by the Department to provideinpatient substance use disorder treatment be required to prepareand record a certified discharge plan upon the discharge or withdrawalof any individual from the facility who has received substance usedisorder treatment while admitted to such facility. The bill requiressuch discharge plan to include the provision of funds withheld fromthe individual's prior payments to the facility to assist the individualin the execution of such discharge plan. The bill requires the regulationsto provide that failure by a facility to prepare and record certifieddischarge plans may result in civil penalties, license suspension,or license revocation.
Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board; purposeand duties; historically underrepresented students. Expands thepurpose of the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Advisory Board to include promoting the participationof historically underrepresented students, as defined in the bill,in primary and secondary schools in STEM education. The bill expandsthe duties of the Board to effectuate this additional purpose. Finally,the bill increases from 16 to 24 the nonlegislative citizen membershipof the Board and provides that the eight additional members be appointedby the chairmen of the Virginia African American Advisory Board, Virginia-AsianAdvisory Board, Latino Advisory Board, Council on Women, VirginiaLGBTQ+ Advisory Board, Virginia Indian Advisory Board on State Recognition,Office of New Americans Advisory Board, and Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, with each chairman appointing one member representingthe population served by his advisory board subject to the approvalof a majority of the members of his advisory board.
Registration of tobacco products retailers; purchase, possession, and sale of retail tobacco products; retail tobacco products and liquid nicotine tax; penalties. Prohibits any person from selling any retail tobacco product, as defined in the bill, at retail without first obtaining a permit from the Department of Taxation and prohibits such sale at a location within 1,000 feet of a youth-oriented facility, as defined in the bill. The bill prohibits Internet sales of retail tobacco products, except to a permit-holding retailer, and prohibits the sale of retail tobacco products from vending machines. Under the bill, permits are subject to annual renewal and subject to revocation for violations of federal, state, or local laws related to tobacco products. The bill imposes recordkeeping requirements and makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to engage in fraud or misrepresentation in connection with an application for a permit. The bill updates, for the purpose of the crime of selling or distributing tobacco products to a person younger than 21 years of age, the definition of "retail tobacco products" by including in such definition products currently defined as "nicotine vapor products" or "alternative nicotine vapor products." The bill also removes provisions prohibiting the attempt to purchase, the purchase, or the possession of tobacco products by persons younger than 21 years of age. The bill provides that the punishment of a retail establishment that sells, gives, or furnishes a tobacco product to a person younger than 21 years of age or to a person who does not demonstrate that such person is at least 21 years of age is (i) a civil penalty of $1,000 for a first offense, (ii) a civil penalty of $5,000 for a second offense and a 30 day suspension of such establishment's distributor's license, and (iii) a civil penalty of $10,000, revocation of such license, and such distributor shall be ineligible to hold a license for a period of three years following the most recent violation. Under current law, such penalties apply only to the sale, distribution, or purchase of a bidi and do not require a suspension or revocation of the establishment's distributor's license, while violations involving all other products are punishable by a civil penalty of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense, and $500 for a third or subsequent offense. The bill also removes the exception allowing the sale, giving, or furnishing of any tobacco product, nicotine vapor product, or alternative nicotine vapor product to active-duty military personnel who are 18 years of age or older. The bill requires the Department, in collaboration with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority and local law enforcement, to conduct a compliance check every 24 months on any retailer selling retail tobacco products and to use a person younger than 21 years of age to conduct such checks. The bill also imposes a tax upon liquid nicotine in closed systems, as defined in the bill, at the rate of $0.066 per milliliter and upon liquid nicotine in open systems, as defined in the bill, at the rate of 20 percent of the wholesale price. The bill applies licensing requirements to manufacturers, distributors, and retail dealers of liquid nicotine and creates new safety requirements related to the advertising, marketing, and labeling of liquid nicotine and nicotine vapor products.
Public education; community schools; Officeof Community Schools at Department of Education; Community School Development and Implementation Planning Grant; Community SchoolCoordinator Program; state goal. Requires the Department of Educationto establish the Office of Community Schools as an office within the Department for the purpose of supporting the development and growthof community schools throughout the Commonwealth in accordance withthe Virginia Community School Framework and requires the Office to establish and administer (i) the Community School Development and Implementation Planning Grant for the purpose of providing grantsto school boards that seek to designate any school within the localschool division as a community school to assist with the planningand implementation of such designation and (ii) the Community SchoolCoordinator Program for the purpose of providing funding to schoolboards that previously completed a planning grant and now seek toemploy or hire through contracted services with a qualified nonprofitorganization a community school coordinator to oversee any communityschool designated in the local school division. The bill also establishesa state goal of prioritizing funding for such initiatives and grantprograms to enable their expansion to serve the top 33 percent ofpublic elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth for highestidentified student percentage, as defined in the bill, based on datafrom the immediately preceding school year.
Children's advocacy centers; definitions; investigationsby local departments of social services. Replaces the term "childadvocacy center" with "children's advocacy center" and defines suchterm. The bill provides that if during the course of an investigationof child abuse by a local department of social services a local multidisciplinaryteam determines that an interview of the child by a children's advocacycenter is needed and such interview cannot be completed within thejurisdiction within 14 days, the local department of social services may facilitate the interview with another trained child forensicinterviewer. The bill also provides that if it is determined duringa human trafficking assessment that a forensic interview of the childis needed, such interview may be conducted by a children's advocacycenter within the jurisdiction; however, if the interview cannotbe completed within 14 days, the forensic interview may be conductedby a children's advocacy center located in another jurisdiction or another trained child forensic interviewer.
Guardianship and conservatorship; restorationof capacity or modification or termination of order; informal communication.Allows a person subject to a guardianship or conservatorship whois not represented by counsel to initiate the process to be restoredto capacity or have such guardianship or conservatorship modifiedor terminated by informal communication to the court by any means,including by informal letter, telephone call, email, or in-personvisit, in lieu of the petition requirement specified under currentlaw.
