Real property tax exemption; surviving spouses of members of the armed forces who died in the line of duty. Authorizes localities by ordinance to provide a total exemption from real property taxes regardless of assessed value beginning in tax years beginning on and after January 1, 2025, for surviving spouses of members of the armed forces who died in the line of duty. Under law effective January 1, 2025, a total exemption is only allowed for such surviving spouses for those dwellings in the locality with assessed values in the most recently ended tax year that are not in excess of the average assessed value for such year of a dwelling situated on property that is zoned as single family residential.
Parents who provide home instruction; options for providing evidence of progress. Clarifies that any parent who elects to provide home instruction for his child may elect to provide, for the purpose of satisfying the requirement to provide the division superintendent with evidence of the child's progress, any evaluation or assessment that the division superintendent determines to indicate that the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress.
Persons seeking temporary shelter; provision of temporary shelter by locality. Prohibits a locality from adopting or enforcing any ordinance that creates criminal penalties for sleeping or seeking temporary shelter in a legally parked vehicle and provides that no person who is sleeping or seeking temporary shelter in a legally parked car shall be detained solely for such reason. The bill prohibits a locality from detaining any person who is public camping, as defined in the bill, solely for such reason unless the locality is able to immediately provide other temporary shelter to such person or the person is deemed to pose an immediate threat to the public. The bill also requires a locality to make a reasonable effort to provide temporary shelter for individuals without housing and gives authority to use government-owned property for such purpose.
Institutions of higher education; financial assistance; tuition grants; Virginia National Guard. Increases from $50,000 to $250,000 the amount of grant funding that the Department of Military Affairs may use each year to recruit qualified applicants for service in the Virginia National Guard.
Motor vehicle sales and use tax; definition of sale price. Excludes from the sale price for determining motor vehicle sales and use tax the amount of any credit given by the seller for any motor vehicle taken as a trade-in.
Commission on Early Childhood Care and Education; kindergarten readiness funding proposal; report. Requires the Commission on Early Childhood Care and Education to develop a proposal to increase funding for kindergarten readiness programs with a focus on programs that are already under contract with local school divisions. The bill requires the Commission, in developing such proposal, to consider how such programs can receive Virginia Preschool Initiative grants. The bill requires the Commission to report its proposal and any associated findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than October 1, 2025.
Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and Secretary of Health and Human Resources; combat the sale of illicit cannabis products; work group; report. Directs the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to analyze the current efforts in the Commonwealth to combat the sale of illicit cannabis products and develop recommendations to enhance such enforcement efforts with a focus on protecting consumers and children from harmful, untested, and unregulated products. The bill requires the work group to complete its work and submit a report regarding its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committees on Appropriations, on General Laws, and for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations, on General Laws and Technology, on Rehabilitation and Social Services, and for Courts of Justice by October 1, 2025.
Subdivision ordinance; plan review by designated agent. Removes planning commission and governing body approval authority for the administrative review process for plats and plans and assigns such authority solely to a designated agent, defined in the bill. The bill also expedites the review process by shortening the timeframe for forwarding plats and plans to state agencies for review.
Public schools; student enrollment; recruitment prohibited. Prohibits any school board, school board member, or school board employee from recruiting or otherwise incentivizing a student who resides outside of the local school division to enroll in a public school in such local school division.
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.
Department of Juvenile Justice; inquiry and report of immigration status; juvenile or adult adjudicated delinquent or convicted of violent juvenile felony. Requires the Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice or other person in charge of a secure facility where a juvenile or adult has been committed upon an adjudication of delinquency or a finding of guilt for a violent juvenile felony to ascertain whether such juvenile or adult is in the United States illegally and, if such juvenile or adult is found to be in the United States illegally, to communicate such information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under current law, such immigration inquiries are required of jail officers or correctional officers in charge of state, local, or regional correctional facilities.
Personal injury action against health care provider; certain defenses prohibited. Prohibits a defendant health care provider from asserting a defense of medical malpractice in a civil action for personal injury arising out of such health care provider's act of criminal sexual assault.
