Virginia Real Estate Time-Share Act; terminationwithout cause. Provides purchasers of any time-share within theCommonwealth a right to terminate such time-share if, at least 10years after the initial purchase, the purchaser has paid the entirepurchase price of such time-share and does not have any outstandingobligations in regard to the property.
Employee protections; discipline for politicalactivity or affiliations prohibited. Prohibits an employer from(i) directing the political activity or affiliations of an employee;(ii) discharging, disciplining, or discriminating against an employeefor such employee's lawful engagement or refusal to engage in anypolitical activity or affiliations; and (iii) refusing to hire, employ,or license an individual on the basis of such individual's politicalactivity or affiliations. The bill provides exceptions to these requirementswhere an employer believes that such actions are required by statute,regulation, or other mandate, where a professional services contractpermits an employer to limit the off-duty activities of an individual, and in the case of a religious exemption. A violation of the provisionsof the bill may be subject to a civil action within one year of theemployer's prohibited retaliatory action.
Chief Resilience Officer of the Commonwealth; Office of Commonwealth Resilience; Interagency Resilience Working Group; Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund; Advisory Review Committee. Moves the position of Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) from under the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources to under the Governor and creates an Office of Commonwealth Resilience to support the CRO in his functions and duties. The bill requires the CRO to convene an Interagency Resilience Working Group to support the coordination of planning and implementation of resilience efforts, eliminates the position of Special Assistant to the Governor for Coastal Adaptation and Protection, and requires the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation to convene an Advisory Review Committee to assist in the distribution of loans and grants from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund. The bill also requires the Director to convene an Advisory Review Committee to assist in the distribution of loans and grants from the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund and adds the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the CRO to the list of those with whom the Virginia Resources Authority is required to consult in directing the distribution of loans or grants from the Fund. The bill requires the Department to make available for public inspection at the office of the Department and on a publicly accessible website records of each application for grants and loans from the two Funds and the actions taken thereon. The Virginia Flood Resilience Advisory Committee replaces the Virginia Coastal Resilience Technical Advisory Committee effective February 1, 2025.
Workers' compensation; post-traumatic stressdisorder incurred by dispatchers. Allows dispatchers, as definedin the bill, to claim workers' compensation benefits relating topost-traumatic stress disorder under the Virginia Workers' CompensationAct. Currently, only law-enforcement officers and firefighters mayclaim such benefits.
Medical assistance services; payment for essentialhygiene products. Directs the State Board of Health to includea provision for payment of medical assistance for the purchase of essential hygiene products in the state plan for medical assistanceservices.
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act;noncompliance with rental agreement; grace period prior to termination.Provides that if a landlord owns more than four rental dwellingunits or more than a 10 percent interest in more than four rentaldwelling units, whether individually or through a business entity,in the Commonwealth, and a tenant named on the rental agreement is65 years of age or older, the landlord may only terminate the rentalagreement and proceed to obtain possession of the premises under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act if such tenant failsto pay rent within 14 days after written notice is served on thetenant. Current law only provides a five-day grace period for suchtermination and applies such grace period to all tenants regardlessof age.
Photo speed monitoring devices; locality-designatedhighway segments; civil penalty. Authorizes any locality to authorize,by ordinance, its local law-enforcement agency to place and operatephoto speed monitoring devices in certain locations named in theordinance, provided that (i) the highway has a posted speed limitof 35 miles per hour or greater; (ii) the ordinance identifies the locality-designated speeding offense to be enforced by the photospeed monitoring device; (iii) speeding, crash, or fatality datasupports the need for stronger enforcement against speeding; and(iv) in counties and towns whose roads are subject to the controland jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation, the locality-designatedhighway segment is in the secondary state highway system or is designatedas a Virginia byway. The bill directs the locality to also identifythe speeding violations that may be enforced by photo speed monitoringdevice. Current law authorizes the use of photo speed monitoringdevices in highway work zones and school crossing zones.
School crossing zones. Expands the definitionof "school crossing zone" to include areas surrounding schools wherethe presence of students reasonably requires a special warning tomotorists and provides that the term "school" includes public institutionsof higher education and nonprofit private institutions of highereducation. Currently, the definition of "school crossing zone" includesonly areas surrounding schools where the presence of children requiressuch warning. Existing provisions of law allowing photo speed monitoringdevices to be installed in school crossing zones will apply to anylocation that meets the expanded definition.
Photo speed monitoring devices; location. Authorizesthe governing body of any county, city, or town to provide by ordinancefor the placement and operation of photo speed monitoring devicesin any location deemed necessary by the locality for the purposesof recording violations resulting from the operation of a vehiclein excess of the speed limit. The bill provides the same requirementsfor such devices, information collected from such devices, and anyenforcement actions resulting from information collected from suchdevices as current law applies to the use of such devices in schoolcrossing zones and highway work zones. The bill requires that twosigns, rather than one, be placed warning of such device if the deviceis placed somewhere other than a school crossing zone or highwaywork zone.
Income tax subtraction; firefighter benefits. Establishes an income tax subtraction for up to $20,000 of firefighterbenefits in taxable year 2024, up to $30,000 in taxable year 2025,and up to $40,000 in taxable year 2026 and each year thereafter.The bill defines firefighter benefits to include retirement incomerelated to professional firefighting services and benefits paid tothe surviving spouse of a firefighter whose death occurred in theline of duty.
Exemptions to article; cruise ship gaming inthe offshore waters of the Commonwealth.
Faith in Housing for the Commonwealth Act.Permits a religious organization, defined in the bill, to constructaffordable housing on real estate owned by such religious organization(i) on or before January 1, 2024, or for a period of not less than five years, and (ii) for which the religious organization retainsa majority ownership interest.
