School boards; teachers; terms of employment;employment verification; requirement. Requires each school boardto provide written verification of employment within 10 days of receipt of any request for employment verification from a former employeeof the school board.
Public school staffing ratios; school counselors. Decreases from one to 325 to one to 250 the ratio of full-time equivalent school counselors required to be employed by each local school boardper student enrolled in the local school division.
Public schools; transfer and management ofscholastic records; disclosure of information in court notices; transferof disciplinary records; requirements. Requires the superintendentof any school division to, upon receiving notification of the dispositionin a delinquency case concerning a student who is not enrolled insuch school division, forward such notification to the superintendentof the school division where such student is enrolled or where suchstudent intends to enroll, as evidenced by the receipt of a request from the other school division for such student's scholastic records.Current law only permits the superintendent of any such school divisionto forward such notification to the superintendent of the schooldivision in which the student is currently enrolled. The bill alsorequires a copy of the complete student disciplinary records of anystudent transferring from one school division to another to be transferredto the school division to which such student is transferring, uponrequest from such school division.
Expeditious resolution of complaints relatingto certain student transportation safety issues. Requires eachlocality and the Department of Transportation, as applicable, toexpeditiously respond to and assist in the resolution of, to themaximum extent practicable, any complaint received by or on behalfof any public elementary or secondary school student relating tosuch student's safety on the streets, roads, sidewalks, and crosswalkssurrounding school property as such student arrives to or departs from school and permits, for the purposes of complying with suchrequirement, any school board to enter into a memorandum of understandingwith the locality or the Department, as applicable, for the establishmentof a protocol or the designation of an ombudsman for the resolutionof such complaints.
Industrial hemp; maximum THC concentration.Increases from 0.6 percent to one percent, in the definition ofindustrial hemp, the maximum allowable concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol(THC) in the plant Cannabis sativa. The bill allows the Commissionerof Agriculture and Consumer Services to destroy Cannabis sativa foundto have a THC concentration greater than one percent only if suchCannabis sativa is intended for human consumption; reduces the applicationand registration requirements for any person seeking to grow, dealin, or process industrial hemp; and prohibits the Board of Agricultureand Consumer Services and the Commissioner from adopting any regulationthat prohibits the use of industrial hemp or hemp products in theproduction of any commercial feed product regulated by the Board.
Judicial Council of Virginia; work group tostudy conservatorship; report. Directs the Judicial Council ofVirginia to convene a work group of relevant stakeholders to study issues relating to conservatorship in the Commonwealth and to developrecommendations for a best practices model. The bill requires thework group to submit its findings and recommendations by November1, 2024, to the Chairmen of the House Committee for Courts of Justiceand the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Department of Education; audit of educationpreparation programs at public institutions of higher education;science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction;frequency. Changes from once every seven years to bienniallythe frequency with which the Department of Education is requiredto audit each education preparation program for compliance with therequirements set forth in relevant law relating to student courseworkand mastery in science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;noncompliance with rental agreement; emergency eviction process. Reduces from 15 to seven the number of days, after the date uponwhich a tenant is served a landlord's intent to terminate the tenancydue to certain illegal activities by the tenant, within which theinitial hearing on the landlord's action for immediate possessionof the premises shall be held. The bill also reorganizes certainprovisions of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act toconsolidate language and organize the structure of certain provisionsof the Act.
Siting of data centers; site assessment.Requires a locality, prior to any approval for the siting of a data center, to require disclosure of water and power usage at full build-outand perform a site assessment to examine the effect of the data centeron water usage, the regional electric grid, and carbon emissions aswell as any impacts on agricultural, historic, and cultural resourceswithin the locality.
Mattress stewardship program established; civilpenalty. Prohibits the disposal of a mattress, as defined inthe bill, in a landfill or an incinerator beginning January 1, 2028,and requires producers of mattresses sold at retail in the Commonwealthor a representative organization acting on a producer's behalf tosubmit a plan for the establishment of a mattress stewardship program.Such mattress stewardship program plan shall establish an assessmentfor all mattresses sold in the Commonwealth and a network of convenientand free collection sites for postconsumer mattresses, defined in the bill, that will facilitate higher rates of recycling and materials recovery for postconsumer mattresses. The bill establishes annualreporting requirements for mattress producers or representative organizationsand establishes a Mattress Stewardship Program Advisory Board toadvise on the proper implementation and sustainability of the mattressstewardship program. The bill also establishes the powers and dutiesof the Department of Environmental Quality as they relate to thebill and civil penalties for improper mattress disposal and violationsof the mattress stewardship program.
Income taxes. Creates a new income tax bracketfor taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2024, for incomein excess of $600,000, which is to be taxed at seven percent. Thebill also creates two new tax credits: a child and dependent caretax credit and a family caregiver tax credit. Both tax credits wouldbe refundable for Virginia residents and would be available for taxableyears beginning on and after January 1, 2024, but before January1, 2029. The child and dependent care tax credit would equal 50 percentof the federal tax credit allowed for employment-related expensesfor household and dependent care services. A similar income tax deductionfor employment-related expenses would be sunsetted by the bill. Thefamily caregiver tax credit would apply to expenses incurred by anindividual in caring for an eligible family member, defined in thebill, who requires assistance with one or more activities of dailyliving, also defined in the bill. The family caregiver tax creditequals 50 percent of eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiverup to $1,000. The family caregiver tax credit shall be availableonly to taxpayers that have federal adjusted gross income that isno greater than $100,000 for individuals or $200,000 for marriedpersons.
Family caregiver tax credit. Creates a nonrefundable income tax credit for taxable years 2024 through 2028 for expensesincurred by an individual in caring for an eligible family member,defined in the bill, who requires assistance with one or more activitiesof daily living, also defined in the bill. The credit equals 50 percentof eligible expenditures incurred by the caregiver up to $1,000. In order to qualify for the credit, the family caregiver must (i) notreceive any compensation or reimbursement for the eligible expendituresand (ii) have federal adjusted gross income that is no greater than$100,000 for an individual or $200,000 for married persons. The billrequires the Tax Commissioner to establish guidelines for claimingthe credit and provides that any unused credit may be carried forwardby the taxpayer for five taxable years following the taxable yearfor which the credit was issued.
