Meat; misbranding.
Study; joint committee of the House and SenateCommittees on Privileges and Elections to study the costs and benefitsof 45 days of early voting. Establishes a joint committee of theHouse and Senate Committees on Privileges and Elections to studythe costs and benefits of 45 days of early voting. In conductingits study, the joint committee shall survey several localities withinthe Commonwealth with different demographics, both urban and rural,to evaluate the fiscal impact on the locality and the ability of thelocality to meet the burden imposed by the need to increase staffingand maintain adequate facilities for early voting and to examinetrends in voter turnout. The joint committee shall gather data sufficient to allow it to determine if a shorter period of in-person votingcould accomplish most of the benefits of early in-person voting whilereducing the burden on localities.
Board of Education; Standards of Quality; Standardsof School Safety. Requires the Board of Education, in collaborationwith the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and such otherstakeholders as it deems appropriate, to establish pursuant to regulationthe Standards of School Safety for the purpose of assessing schoolsafety in each local school division in the Commonwealth and eachschool building therein based on such objective, quantifiable measuresof safety as the Board deems appropriate. The bill requires the Boardto incorporate compliance with the Standards of School Safety asa school and school division accountability measure for the purposes of the Standards of Accreditation.
Harassment by computer or other electronic means;civil action. Creates a civil cause of action for an individualinjured by a person who coerces, intimidates, or harasses such individualby computer or other electronic means, regardless of whether suchperson has been charged with or convicted of a corresponding criminalviolation. The bill provides that such injured individual may recoverfor damages caused by such coercion, intimidation, or harassmentand reasonable attorney fees and costs.
Virginia taxable income; subtractions; volunteer firefighters and volunteer emergency medical services personnel.Provides a state income tax subtraction of $2,000 per taxable yearfor bona fide volunteers who perform qualifying services, definedin the bill as volunteer firefighting and fire prevention services,emergency medical services, auxiliary police officer services, ambulanceservices, emergency rescue services, and all training and training-relatedactivities required by law to perform such qualifying services.
Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat ExemptionAct; PRIME Act. Encourages the United States Congress to passthe Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Actto allow intrastate distribution of custom-slaughtered meat.
Teachers for Tomorrow Grant Program established. Requires the Department of Education, with such funds as may be appropriatefor such purpose pursuant to the general appropriation act, to establishand administer the Teachers for Tomorrow Grant Program whereby anyschool board may apply for a grant in an amount up to $250,000, tobe awarded on a competitive basis, with which to expose and attracthigh school students in the local school division to careers in teachingthrough curricula, courses, and hands-on experiential learning opportunities,which may include early opportunities to earn course credit at aninstitution of higher education or take and pass assessments requiredfor licensure as a teacher in the Commonwealth.
Public school buildings; indoor air qualitystandards. Establishes several enumerated requirements for schoolboards to ensure indoor air quality in each public school buildingin the local school division, including (i) identifying a designatedindividual to oversee the establishment of and adherence to a preventivemaintenance schedule for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning(HVAC) system in each such building and the implementation of theuse of general or local exhaust ventilation in areas of each suchbuilding where housekeeping and maintenance activities involve the use of equipment or products that could reasonably be expected toresult in hazardous chemical or particulate exposures, among otherthings; (ii) controlling microbial and fungal contamination in eachsuch building by promptly repairing water intrusion that can promotemicrobial or fungal growth; (iii) ensuring indoor air quality duringrenovation and remodeling or new construction in various ways; and(iv) keeping school building system maintenance records. The billalso requires the Department of Education to establish and administera school board employee complaint and resolution process relatingto indoor air quality in public school buildings.
Employment; training and education; harassmentand workplace discrimination. Requires each employer with 50or more employees, including the Commonwealth and its agencies, institutions, and political subdivisions, to provide annual interactive trainingand education regarding harassment and workplace discrimination,as both terms are defined in the bill, by July 1, 2025. The billincludes specific training and education requirements for supervisory and nonsupervisory employees, seasonal and temporary employees whoare hired to work for less than six months, and migrant and seasonalagricultural workers. The training and education required under thebill must be provided by an educator or human resources professionalwith knowledge and expertise in the subject matter and must includea method for employees to electronically save a certificate of completionof such training and education. The bill requires the Departmentof Labor and Industry to make online courses for the required trainingavailable on its website beginning January 1, 2025.
Sales tax; additional local tax for schools;City of Newport News. Adds the City of Newport News to the listof localities that are authorized to impose an additional local salestax at a rate not to exceed one percent in order to provide revenuefor the construction or renovation of schools.
Virginia Employment Commission; appeals proceedings;appeal tribunals and Board of Review; repeal. Specifies thatany determination made by the Virginia Employment Commission in regardsto any amount required to be deducted and withheld from unemployment compensation for purposes of child support obligations is final.The bill contains a number of technical amendments related to the Commission's appeals proceedings. The bill also repeals provisionsrelated to appeal tribunals and the Commission-appointed Board ofReview and contains technical amendments.
Selling, giving, or distributing a substancecontaining fentanyl; penalties. Provides that any person whosells, gives, or distributes a substance he knows contains two milligrams or more of any mixture or substance containing a detectable amountof fentanyl, including its isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and saltsof isomers, to another person without such person's knowledge thatthe substance sold, given, or distributed contains fentanyl is guiltyof attempted murder of the first degree by poison. The bill alsoprovides that if such sale, gift, or distribution results in the death of the other person from his use of the substance containingfentanyl, then the person who sold, gave, or distributed the substanceis guilty of murder of the first degree by poison.
