Proposed plat, site plan, or plan of development or preliminary subdivision plat; time period for action by local planning commission. Reduces from 45 days to 30 days the period of time that a local planning commission or other agent has to act on any proposed plat, site plan, or plan of development that it has previously disapproved after the first time such plat or plan has been modified, corrected, and resubmitted for approval, and provides that such planning commission or other agent has within 15 days after the second or any subsequent time such plat or plan has been resubmitted for approval to act on such plat or plan. The bill makes similar changes to the review timelines for state agencies that review such plats. The bill also provides that, in any instance in which an initial review by a locality determines that the resubmitted application contains solely technical changes requiring less than 60 minutes of review, a locality's approved agent shall approve such application within five business days. The bill further provides that if a local planning commission has the responsibility of review of preliminary subdivision plats and conducts a public hearing, it shall act on the proposed preliminary subdivision plat within 35 days, rather than the current 45 days, after receiving approval from all state agencies.
Comprehensive plan; subdivision ordinance; local approvals; work group. Provides that a locality's comprehensive plan shall not constitute the basis, in whole or in part, whether directly or through incorporation into any zoning ordinance, subdivision ordinance, or other ordinance or manual, for the disapproval of a site plan, subdivision plat, or other administrative approval that is otherwise in conformity with duly adopted standards, ordinances, and statutes. The bill also shortens the timeframes for various local government approvals of subdivision plats and site plans. Additionally, the bill calls on the Virginia Code Commission to convene a work group consisting of various stakeholders to review existing provisions related to the submission, review, and approval of subdivision plats and site plans. The work group shall develop recommendations to (i) organize procedural steps in a clear, logical, and sequential order to enhance ease of reference; (ii) clarify the processes, requirements, and timelines applicable to each type of plat or plan; (iii) standardize terminology to ensure consistency, reduce ambiguity, and minimize misinterpretation; and (iv) identify and eliminate redundant or duplicative provisions to streamline the Code and improve its usability and shall submit a report by November 1, 2025.
Issuance of writ of vacatur for victims of human trafficking. Amends the procedure that allows victims of human trafficking, defined in the bill, to file a petition of vacatur in circuit court to have certain convictions vacated and the police and court records for such convictions expunged. This bill was incorporated into HB 2393.
Stormwater management regulations; localities outside Chesapeake Bay watershed. Requires the State Water Control Board and the Department of Environmental Quality to apply in a locality that is located outside of the Chesapeake Bay watershed the regulations establishing minimum design criteria for measures that were in effect prior to July 1, 2014, to control (i) nonpoint source pollution and (ii) localized flooding and stream channel erosion.
Public schools; student support services; student personal information and data security; registration; requirements; grants; report. Requires any student support agency, as defined by the bill, to register with the Department of Education (the Department) in order to provide any student support programs, as defined by the bill, to students enrolled in any public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth. The bill establishes several requirements for the registration of any student support agency relating to the protection of any student personal information collected by the student support agency, including (i) requiring such agencies to adopt certain policies, procedures, and protocols designed to ensure the continued security, integrity, and confidentiality of student personal information; (ii) requiring the Department to ensure any student support agency obtains informed consent from the parent of any student or, if such student is 18 years of age or older, the student prior to collecting or using any student personal information; (iii) requiring the Department to develop a standard memorandum of understanding and each student support agency and school board to execute a memorandum of understanding establishing authorizations and limitations relating to the transmission, collection, and use of student personal information; (iv) requiring the Department to establish and administer a grant program for the purpose of awarding grants to certain student support agencies for data security upgrades, training for staff, and third-party audits; (v) prohibiting any student support agency from using or sharing student personal information for certain purposes set forth in the bill, including sharing any such student personal information for use in targeted advertising; (vi) requiring the Department to establish certain programs and provide certain resources to support certain registered student support agencies and school boards in effectively and efficiently providing student support programs in compliance with the provisions of the bill; and (vii) requiring the Department to conduct an annual audit of a certain percentage of registered student support agencies to ensure compliance with the provisions of the bill and establishing provisions relating to consequences for failure of the audit or otherwise being found in violation of the provisions of the bill.
Certain government and civics courses; civics diploma seal of excellence; instruction on local government. Requires the Board of Education to include in the Standards of Learning for Virginia and United States Government for grade 12 and requires each school board to provide as a part of any Virginia and United States Government course or civic education course offered to students in grade 12 an explanation of the purpose, role, responsibility, and identity of local constitutional officers and local governing bodies, including city councils, town councils, boards of supervisors, and school boards. The bill also requires the Board of Education to consider in its criteria for awarding a diploma seal for excellence in civics education and understanding of the state and federal constitutions and the democratic model of government the successful completion of government or civics courses that include instruction on the structures and functions of local government.
Certain school divisions; cost-savings agreements; requirements. Removes the limitation on any school board that enters into certain cost-savings agreements with a school board that governs a contiguous school division for the consolidation or sharing of educational, administrative, or support services and thus qualifies for adjustment of state share of basic aid computed annually on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay of such contiguous school division that caps such adjusted basic aid payment at an amount equal to the basic aid payment appropriated to such locality by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly. The bill also permits, notwithstanding the requirement set forth in relevant law that a school division have 65 percent or more of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes in order for the school board that governs such school division to be eligible to enter into such cost-savings agreements with a contiguous school division, the Bath County School Board to enter into such cost-savings agreements with the Augusta County School Board, provided that all other conditions and limitations set forth in relevant law apply to any such agreement.
Board of Education; Standards of Quality; Standards of School Safety. Requires the Board of Education (the Board), in collaboration with the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to establish pursuant to regulation the Standards of School Safety for the purpose of assessing school safety in each local school division in the Commonwealth and each school building therein based on such objective, quantifiable measures of safety as the Board deems appropriate. The bill requires the Board to incorporate compliance with the Standards of School Safety as a school and school division accountability measure for the purposes of the Standards of Accreditation.
Department of Education; school boards; student online activity; data collection, monitoring, and restrictions. Requires the Department of Education (the Department) to establish reporting expectations for school divisions that collect student online activity data and provides that if no school within a school division does so, the school board, upon submission of written documentation to the Department stating that no school within the school division collects student online activity data, shall be deemed to have satisfied such reporting expectations. The reporting expectations include: (i) making certain disclosures to parents, including what online activity is being tracked, monitored, and collected when using school devices on school property and what types of student online activity or online activity data would create an alert; (ii) including in the school division's acceptable use policy for the Internet that student online activity is being tracked and data collected; (iii) providing, to the extent available for the school division, parents the ability to access any collected student online activity data; (iv) notifying the parent of a student for whom an alert is created or an action taken on such student's online activity or associated data before the student is notified, except as provided in the bill; and (v) prohibiting the inclusion of student online activity data in a student's permanent record except in the most severe cases, as defined, set forth, and made publicly available by the Department. The bill requires the Department to create and distribute to each school board (a) a template for making the required parental disclosures and (b) best practices for deleting student online activity data.
Virginia Commission for Agricultural Education Excellence established; report. Establishes the 30-member Virginia Commission for Agricultural Education Excellence as an advisory commission in the executive branch of state government, to be administratively housed within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and administered, staffed, and supported jointly by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Department of Education, the purpose of which is to assist in developing a statewide plan for agricultural education and to coordinate with such Departments on the implementation of related agricultural education programming. The Commission has an expiration date of July 1, 2028.
Access to minor's records; records contained in or made available through secure website. Specifies that for the purposes of allowing a parent to access the academic or health records of such parent's minor child such access includes access to a secure website where such records are contained or made available.
Department of Education; public school accountability; delayed implementation and review of revised public school accountability system; report; emergency. Directs the Department of Education to delay for a period of one year the implementation of the revised public school accountability system adopted pursuant to applicable Board of Education regulations in order to conduct a review of and establish a stakeholder advisory committee to solicit input on such revised public school accountability system for the purpose of ensuring that such accountability system is designed to achieve fair, transparent, and actionable results aimed at improving student growth and learning outcomes across the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Department to, by April 1, 2026, (i) publish a report on the process and findings of the review conducted in accordance with the provisions of the bill and (ii) submit to the Governor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the House Committee on Education a plan for modifying and implementing the revised public school accountability system that incorporates the findings of the review conducted and the input from the stakeholder advisory committee established in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill contains an emergency clause.
