Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; Task Force on Transparency in Publicly Funded Animal Testing Facilities; report. Requires the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in collaboration with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, to convene a Task Force on Transparency in Publicly Funded Animal Testing Facilities for the purpose of identifying potential deficiencies in publicly funded animal testing facilities in the Commonwealth and recommending methods and context for making certain information about such animal testing facilities publicly available. The bill provides that the Task Force shall consist of legislators and certain enumerated stakeholders and shall report its findings to the House Committees on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, Finance, and Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and Finance and Appropriations no later than November 1, 2024.
Teachers; certain licenses and certificates. Makes several changes to provisions of law relating to the licensure and certification of teachers, including (i) establishing universal licensure by reciprocity as a category of teacher licensure in the Commonwealth for certain licensed out-of-state teachers, regardless of the traditional or alternative nature of the education preparation programs that they completed; (ii) establishing and enumerating the criteria for a subject matter expert teaching certificate to provide high-quality teaching candidates who have relevant work experience or expertise in a content or subject matter area an accelerated path toward a renewable license; (iii) permitting the division superintendent rather than the Board of Education, as is current law, to issue a career and technical education teacher a provisional license to allow time for the teacher to attain the industry certification credential required by law; (iv) permitting any high school principal to waive, for any individual whom he seeks to employ as a career and technical education teacher and who is also seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license with an endorsement in the area of career and technical education, certain applicable licensure requirements; and (v) permitting any division superintendent to directly waive, rather than apply to the Department of Education for a biennial waiver as is required under current law, the teacher licensure requirements for any individual whom the local school board hires or seeks to hire to teach in a trade and industrial education program who has obtained or is working toward an industry credential relating to the program area and who has at least 4,000 hours of recent and relevant employment experience.
Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; Virginia Health Care Career and Technical Training and Education Fund created; psychological practitioner defined; educational requirements for nursing faculty. Modifies the enabling legislation for the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority by adding four additional ex officio members to the Authority's Board of Directors, adding setting priorities for and managing graduate medical education programs to the duties of the Authority, specifying additional recipients of the Board's biennial report, and authorizing the Authority to partner with other agencies and institutions to obtain and manage health workforce data. The bill establishes the Virginia Health Care Career and Technical Training and Education Fund. The bill directs the Board of Nursing to add or remove certain educational requirements for members of the nursing faculty in specified nursing education programs and establishes a licensing procedure by the Board of Psychology for a psychological practitioner, as defined by the bill. The bill directs the Board of Nursing and the Board of Psychology to adopt regulations to implement relevant provisions of the bill to be effective no later than January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to HB 1499.
Exemptions from garnishment and lien; householder; total value. Increases from $25,000 to $50,000 the amount that a householder may hold exempt from the creditor process for real or personal property that the householder or his dependent uses as a principal residence. The bill also increases from $6,000 to $10,000 the amount a householder is entitled to hold exempt from the creditor process for his motor vehicle. The bill further provides that, beginning on April 1, 2027, any increases in exempt amounts shall be adjusted at three-year intervals to reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill provides that such adjustments shall be calculated by the Department of Planning and Budget.
School boards; meetings; public comment or citizen participation; enrolled students. Requires each school boardto permit any student enrolled in a public elementary or secondaryschool in the local school division who provides acceptable proofof identification, including any current student identification cardor other school document such as a report card or a personal schoolemail address, and who signs up at least 12 hours in advance of thescheduled start of a school board meeting or is physically presentat a school board meeting to submit oral comments during any publiccomment or citizen participation portion of such meeting.
Parental admission of minors for inpatient treatment. Clarifies that for the purposes of admission of a minor to a willing mental health facility for inpatient treatment, the finding required to be made by a qualified evaluator that the minor appears to have a mental illness serious enough to warrant inpatient treatment may include a finding of substance abuse and such inpatient treatment may be related to such mental illness, which may include substance abuse. The bill also specifies that a temporary detention order shall not be required for a minor 14 years of age or older who objects to admission to be admitted to a willing facility upon the application of a parent. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Virginia Commission on Youth. This bill is identical to SB 460.
Board of Education; Standards of Learning; familylife education; health education; menstrual education curriculumguidelines and instruction. Requires the Board of Education todevelop Standards of Learning objectives and accompanying curriculumguidelines for instruction on menstrual education, to be providedat grade levels four through eight and to be required of all students,regardless of gender. The bill requires such Standards of Learningobjectives and accompanying curriculum guidelines on menstrual educationto include instruction on the biological processes and functionsof the menstrual cycle, menstrual cycle symptoms, side effects, andmanagement, societal and cultural attitudes toward the menstrualcycle, and other topics relating to the menstrual cycle. The bill requires each school board to provide at grade levels four througheight instruction on the menstrual education, consistent with theStandards of Learning objectives and accompanying curriculum guidelinesdeveloped by the Board. The bill permits each school board to providesuch instruction on menstrual education as a part of an existingfamily life education program or an existing health education program,provided that such instruction is provided to each student at eachgrade level, four through eight, regardless of gender.
Establishment by localities of certain real estate contract disclosures prohibited. Prohibits localities from establishing or enforcing a mandatory disclosure requirement for a real estate licensee, any party to a contract for the sale or listing of residential real property, or any authorized agent of such party. The bill provides that prohibited mandatory disclosures include mandatory notifications in contracts, contract amendments or addenda, advertising, other promotional materials, and subsequent deeds after the initial deed is recorded, related to the sale of residential real estate. This bill is identical to SB 354.
Department of Energy; building standards forcertain local buildings. Requires the Department of Energy to provide technical assistance to localities, subject to availablebudgetary resources, as localities implement mandates related toenergy and resilience standards for construction or renovation ofcertain public buildings. The bill also requires the Department toconduct an annual survey of localities to obtain information on relatedactivities and to identify the needs of localities with respect totechnical assistance and training. The bill also makes several technicaland clarifying changes to the existing statute, in part by definingor redefining existing terms found in the statute.
Manufactured home parks; resident rights.Provides that a rental agreement with a term of one year or more will not be automatically renewed if the tenant notifies the landlord60 days prior to the expiration date of such tenant's intent to notrenew the agreement. The bill permits a tenant to not renew a rentalagreement due to a change in terms of the agreement by the landlordif such tenant notifies the landlord of his intent to not renew therental agreement within 30 days of receiving the notice of the changein terms. The bill allows a landlord to include in a written rentalagreement a late fee, not to exceed 10 percent of the amount of therent due and owed, for unpaid rental payments. The bill increasesfrom 60 days or more to less than one year the term of a rental agreementthat may be terminated by written notice at least 60 days prior tothe termination date of the agreement. Finally, the bill removes theright of a landlord to evict a tenant for two or more violationsof any rule or provision of the rental agreement occurring withina six-month period.
Department of Education and Virginia CommunityCollege System; College and Career Ready Virginia Program and Fundestablished. Establishes the College and Career Ready VirginiaFund and requires the Department of Education and the Virginia CommunityCollege System to establish the College and Career Ready VirginiaProgram whereby each school board is required to offer each qualifiedhigh school student in the local school division access at the highschool to the dual enrollment courses that are sufficient to completethe Passport Program and the former Uniform Certificate of GeneralStudies Program, renamed in the bill as the Passport Plus Program,at a public institution of higher education at no cost to such students.The bill establishes several enumerated duties for the Departmentand the System in the administration of the College and Career ReadyVirginia Program, including the establishment of a work group to make recommendations no later than November 1, 2024, on the incorporationof a career and technical education program of coursework into theCollege and Career Ready Virginia Program.
Kinship as Foster Care Prevention Program established.Establishes the Kinship as Foster Care Prevention Program to promote and support placements of children with relatives by local boardsof social services in order to avoid foster care. The bill providesthat a child is eligible to participate in the Program if the localboard determines that (i) the child is at imminent risk of beingremoved from his home and a preliminary protective order is insufficientto address the child's immediate safety concerns and (ii) the child'sparent or guardian consents to the placement of the child with arelative pursuant to an agreement with the local board developedin accordance with the provisions of the bill.
