Alcoholic beverage control; annual mixed beverage performing arts facility licenses. Allows the Board of Directorsof the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to issue annualmixed beverage performing arts facility licenses to persons operatingfood concessions at any (i) performing arts facility located in theCity of Charlottesville, provided that the performing arts facility(a) is occupied under a bona fide long-term lease or concession agreement,the original term of which was more than five years; (b) has a totalcapacity in excess of 550 patrons; and (c) has been rehabilitatedin accordance with historic preservation standards; (ii) outdoor performing arts amphitheater, arena, or similar facility that hasseating for more than 5,000 persons and is located in the City ofRichmond; or (iii) outdoor performing arts amphitheater, arena, orsimilar facility that has seating for more than 2,500 persons andis located in the City of Charlottesville.
Voter registration; proof of citizenship. Requiresany person applying to register to vote to provide proof of his UnitedStates citizenship. The bill provides that the general registrarsshall reject any voter registration application not accompanied byone of the proofs of citizenship enumerated in the bill. Under theprovisions of the bill, any person who is registered in the Commonwealthon July 1, 2024, shall be deemed to have provided satisfactory proofof citizenship and shall not be required to submit proof of citizenship so long as the person remains registered in the Commonwealth.
Virginia Freedom of Information Act; closedmeeting exemption; home instruction of children. Creates an exemptionfrom the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of InformationAct for discussion, consideration, or decisions relating to home instruction of children, unless objected to by a parent or guardianin an open meeting, that are exempt from disclosure pursuant to relevant law.
Fostering Futures program; eligibility; agelimit. Increases from 21 to 23 the age at which an individualmay no longer participate in the Fostering Futures program.
Polling places; prohibited activities or conduct; application to locations for absentee voting in person. Clarifiesthat the provisions of law prohibiting certain activities or conductin and around a polling place also apply to offices of the generalregistrar, voter satellite offices, and drop-off locations duringthe period that absentee voting in person is available.
Local government actions related to comprehensiveplans, local planning commissions, subdivision plats and site plans,and zoning ordinances; approval process. Makes several changesto local government land use approval processes, including (i) prohibiting use of the comprehensive plan as the basis, in whole or in part,for the disapproval of a site plan that is otherwise in conformitywith duly adopted standards, ordinances, and statutes and (ii) allowing automatic approval of certain land use applications rather than aright to petition the circuit court, as provided under current law,if a locality does not approve or disapprove the application withinthe required timeframe. The bill also reduces from 12 months to fourmonths the time within which a locality must initially act upon certainproposed zoning ordinance amendments and requires a locality to acton all such proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance or map thatit has previously disapproved within 45 days after an amended proposalhas been resubmitted for approval.
Virginia Public Procurement Act; constructionmanagement and design-build contracting; applicability. Statesthat design-bid-build, defined in the bill, utilizing competitivesealed bidding is the preferred method of procurement for constructionservices in the Commonwealth. Complex projects, defined in the bill,may request an exemption from the provisions of the bill and relevantlaw from the Division of Engineering and Buildings of the Departmentof General Services. The bill requires all documents related to theproposed use of construction management or design-build by state public bodies and institutions of higher education and any available subcontractor opportunities to be posted on eVA. The bill transfersfrom the Department of General Services to the Division of Engineeringand Buildings the authority to evaluate the proposed use of constructionmanagement or design-build by state public bodies and institutions of higher education and specifies that a local governing body mustapprove at a public meeting the use of construction management ordesign-build by a local public body. Finally, the bill prohibits state public bodies, institutions of higher education, and local governing bodies from considering prior construction management or design-build experience of contractors on comparable projects.
Protective order in case of family abuse; parents;minors. Prohibits the parent of a minor from filing a petitionfor a family abuse protective order against such minor, or from filingas next friend on behalf of his minor child against another of hisminor children, provided that the minor has not otherwise been emancipatedpursuant to law.
Sentencing guidelines; violent felony offenses;purchasing or selling of minors. Adds the crime of purchasingor selling of minors to the list of violent felony offenses.
Department of Medical Assistance Services; reimbursement rates for Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers withDisabilities; work group; report. Directs the Department of MedicalAssistance Services to convene a work group of relevant stakeholdersto assess and make recommendations related to reimbursement ratesfor the federal Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlerswith Disabilities. The bill requires the work group to report itsrecommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health,Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education andHealth by November 1, 2024.
Use of salt and brine; certain highways. Prohibitsthe Department of Transportation from using salt or brine for stabilizationor control of ice or snow on any highway that is part of the primaryor secondary state highway system and located in the watershed ofthe Occoquan River.
Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund; Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; budget; operating assistance. Providesthat payments and obligations arising from or related to any contractpertaining to employee compensation and work conditions under thenormal operation of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) may be included in the calculation of a WMATA budget increasefor purposes of the cap of such budget increase. Current law providesthat any payment or obligation of any kind arising from or relatedto legal disputes or proceedings between or among WMATA and any otherperson or entity shall not be used in calculating a WMATA budgetincrease.
