Department of Juvenile Justice; work group to study Length of Stay Guidelines and Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center; report. Directs the Department of Juvenile Justice to convene a work group to study issues related to the Department's Length of Stay Guidelines and the Department's direct care capacity in response to the Department's report on the 2023 Length of Stay Guidelines. The work group is directed to study (i) the evidence and research relied upon by the Department as identified in the Department's report, including adjusting for changes in risk profiles for committed juveniles over time; (ii) best practices on staffing ratios, the current actual staffing ratios at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center (BAJCC), and the projected population forecast; (iii) the ability of BAJCC to operate the community treatment model without single coverage on units and maintain consistent staffing on each residential unit and unit population not to exceed 14 residents; (iv) the ability of BAJCC to maintain all therapeutic, vocational, and educational programming; (v) a detailed comparison of youth by age, risk level, and offense level and their projected length of stay under the 2015 Length of Stay Guidelines and the 2023 Length of Stay Guidelines; (vi) trends in determinate commitments, including the percentage of such commitments in circuit court and with an active Department of Corrections sentence; and (vii) how the Department will maintain current programming and the continuum of services for youth when direct care capacity exceeds actual capacity. The work group is also directed to study the rates of serious incidents and contributing factors at BAJCC since January 2022. The bill requires the work group to submit a report with its recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice by November 1, 2024. Such report shall include evidence or research relating to the 2023 changes to the Length of Stay Guidelines and whether such evidence or research supports the changes.
Carrying concealed handguns; protective orders. Authorizes any person 21 years of age or older who is not prohibited from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm and is protected by an unexpired protective order to carry a concealed handgun for 45 days after the protective order was issued. The bill provides that if the person issued the protective order applies for a concealed handgun permit during such 45-day period, such person will be authorized to carry a concealed handgun for an additional 45 days and be given a copy of the certified application, which shall serve as a de facto concealed handgun permit. During the period such person is authorized to carry a concealed handgun, the bill provides that the person may carry a handgun any place a law-enforcement officer may carry a firearm. The bill requires such person to have the order or certified application and photo identification on his person when carrying a concealed handgun and to display them upon demand by a law-enforcement officer; failure to do so is punishable by a $25 civil penalty.
Financial institutions; reporting financial exploitation of elderly or vulnerable adults. Permits a financial institution, as defined in the bill, to allow an elderly or vulnerable adult, as defined in the bill, to submit and periodically update a list of trusted persons whom such financial institution or financial institution staff, as defined in the bill, may contact in the case of suspected financial exploitation of such adult. In such a case, the bill also allows a financial institution or financial institution staff to convey such suspicion to one or more certain individuals, provided that the recipient of such conveyance is not the suspected perpetrator of financial exploitation. The bill provides that a financial institution or financial institution staff shall be immune from any criminal, civil, or administrative liability for any act taken or omission made in accordance with the bill's provisions.
Taxation. Decreases, beginning in taxable year 2025, the income tax imposed (i) on income less than $3,000, from two percent to 1.75 percent; (ii) on income in excess of $3,000 but less than $5,000, from three percent to 2.65 percent; (iii) on income in excess of $5,000 but less than $17,000, from five percent to 4.4 percent; and (iv) on income in excess of $17,000, from 5.75 percent to 5.1 percent. The bill increases from 20 to 25 percent, beginning in taxable year 2025, the amount of credit eligible taxpayers may claim pursuant to the income tax credit for low-income taxpayers. The bill also increases the annual aggregate amount of Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits that are available from $25 million to $30 million beginning fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter. The bill defines "digital personal property," "streaming," and "taxable service" for the purposes of the retail sales and use tax. The bill increases the sales and use tax from 4.3 percent to 5.2 percent. Amendments are made throughout the bill to impose the sales and use tax on taxable services in addition to tangible personal property. The bill requires that one half of the additional sales and use tax revenues generated by taxable services and digital personal property that is deposited in the Commonwealth Transportation Fund be distributed to the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund, and the additional one half of such revenues be distributed to the Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Fund until June 30, 2031, or until $400 million has been deposited in the Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Fund. Certain provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025.
Department of Education; audit of education preparation programs at public institutions of higher education; science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction; frequency. Changes from once every seven years to biennially the frequency with which the Department of Education is required to audit each education preparation program for compliance with the requirements set forth in relevant law relating to student coursework and mastery in science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction.
Pilot program for underground transmission lines; qualifying projects. Increases the maximum capacity of qualifying electrical transmission lines, for purposes of the pilot project for underground transmission lines, from 230 kilovolts to 500 kilovolts. The bill provides that the State Corporation Commission shall approve additional qualifying projects as part of the pilot program that traverse along highways in developed areas where the route of proposed transmission lines and towers traverse areas protected by a scenic easement, view shed easement, areas of registered historic designation, or areas of conservation easements. Under the bill, existing requirements for qualifying projects shall continue to apply to such new category of qualifying projects.
Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act. Permits electronic nontestamentary estate planning documents, defined in the bill as certain enumerated records relating to estate planning that are readable as text at the time of signing and are not wills or contained in wills, to be signed and notarized, as appropriate, by electronic means. The bill provides that such electronic nontestamentary estate planning documents shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability or excluded as evidence in a proceeding solely because such documents are in electronic form. The bill also allows for the electronic presence, as that term is defined in the bill, of any witness who is otherwise required by law to be in the physical presence of the person signing the nontestamentary estate planning document.
Health insurance; limit on cost-sharing payments for prescription drugs under certain plans. Requires each carrier that offers a health plan in either the individual or small group market to ensure that at least 50 percent of all health plans offered by the carrier, or at least one health plan if the carrier offers fewer than two health plans, in each rating area and in each of the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum levels of coverage in the individual and small group market conform with the following: (i) a plan that offers a silver, gold, or platinum level of coverage limits a person's cost-sharing payment for prescription drugs covered under the plan to an amount that does not exceed $100 per 30-day supply of the prescription drug and (ii) a plan that offers a bronze level of coverage limits a person's cost-sharing payment for prescription drugs covered under the plan to an amount that does not exceed $150 per 30-day supply of the prescription drug. The bill provides that such limits apply at any point in the benefit design, including before and after any applicable deductible is reached. The bill requires that any plans offered to meet its requirements are (a) clearly and appropriately named to aid the consumer or plan sponsor in the plan selection process and (b) marketed in the same manner as other plans offered by the health insurance carrier. The provisions of the bill apply with respect to health plans entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025.
Drinking water; maximum contaminant levels; water treatment systems; Rural Water Supply Program and Fund established. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to utilize point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment or filtration to remove or significantly reduce concentrations of contaminants of concern that meet or exceed any maximum contaminant level or health advisory for the same contaminant adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The bill also establishes the Rural Water Supply Program and Fund to allow the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water to test and treat contaminated drinking water for individuals on private wells and small rural public water systems.
Electric utilities; offshore wind generation facilities; competitive procurement process; Department of Energy. Provides that the purchase by a public utility of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from offshore wind generation facilities owned by persons other than a public utility and located off the Commonwealth's Atlantic shoreline or in federal waters and interconnected directly into the Commonwealth is in the public interest. The bill states that, except for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, the purchase or development of offshore wind facilities or the purchase by a public utility of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from such facilities shall include a competitive procurement process held by the Department of Energy. The bill specifies that Dominion Energy Virginia may submit a bid but shall not participate in evaluating bids or making selections in such process.
Virginia Public Procurement Act; local arbitration agreements. Allows a participating locality, for any procurement solicitation or contract exceeding $10,000 for goods and services, to require the bidder or offeror to disclose certain information regarding pre-dispute arbitration clauses, defined in the bill, in employment, civil rights, and certain consumer disputes, and provides that a locality may consider the policies and practices related to arbitration of each bidder and offeror. The bill also provides that a participating locality shall require the bidder or offeror to provide written or electronic submissions to allow the locality to ascertain (i) whether the bidder or offeror requires persons with whom it is in a work relationship or prospective work relationship to sign or otherwise enter into a contract containing a pre-dispute arbitration clause that would cover an employment or civil rights dispute and (ii) whether the bidder or offeror requires consumers to sign or otherwise enter into a contract containing a pre-dispute arbitration clause as a condition of downloading mobile applications or using websites to pay a school district for goods, services, or fees. The bill authorizes a participating locality to cancel, terminate, or suspend, in whole or in part, the contract of any contractor that has violated a provision of the bill and to declare the contractor ineligible for further contracts with such locality for up to five years.
Workers' compensation; presumption of compensability of infertility for firefighters. Provides that firefighters who suffer from infertility are presumed to have developed infertility during the course and scope of employment as a firefighter in certain instances. The bill provides that such infertility is compensable under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act if diagnosed by a medical professional and that such compensation may include medical treatment, temporary total incapacity benefits, and temporary partial incapacity benefits for a maximum period of 52 weeks from the date of diagnosis. The bill also requires each employer of firefighters to refer a firefighter seeking infertility health care services to a licensed medical professional after January 1, 2025.
