Department of Emergency Management; state of preparedness; report. Directs the Department of Emergency Management to assess the feasibility and impact of developing a program to prioritize the prevention and mitigation of damage, loss, hardship, or suffering due to the anticipated impacts of an imminent emergency necessitating a gubernatorial declaration of a state of preparedness or an emergency that does not warrant a gubernatorial declaration of a state of emergency. The Department of Emergency Management shall submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and General Laws and Technology and the House Committee on Appropriations by November 1, 2026.
Board of Housing and Community Development; Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code; temporary tents used for agritourism purposes. Directs the Board of Housing and Community Development to review the relevant regulations of the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code and consider amending such regulations to allow temporary tents used for agritourism purposes to remain in place for up to 12 months on a single site. This bill is identical to SB 132.
Consumer finance companies; additional charges. Provides that, for the purposes of the prohibition on additional charges by consumer finance companies, exceptions to such prohibition include (i) charges for guaranteed asset protection waivers for the protection and benefit of the borrower in connection with any loan and (ii) charges for guaranteed asset protection insurance for the protection and benefit of the borrower in connection with any loan.
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-3106, 2.2-3705.4, 2.2-3711, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, 22.1-209.2, 23.1-2002, 23.1-2006, 23.1-2007, 32.1-69.3, 32.1-71.5, 32.1-71.6, 38.2-5008, and 54.1-2961 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public institutions of higher education; Old Dominion University; Eastern Virginia Health Sciences Center renamed as Virginia Health Sciences.
Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices; consumer reproductive or sexual health information. Provides that, for the Virginia Consumer Protection Act prohibition on obtaining, disclosing, selling, or disseminating any personally identifiable reproductive or sexual health information without consumer consent, such prohibition does not apply to nonpublic personal information subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority; board of directors; chief executive officer. Makes several changes relating to the board of directors and the chief executive officer of the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority (the Authority), including (i) reducing from 19 to 13 the number of appointed members on the boards of directors and adding the chief executive officer of the Authority as an ex officio member with voting privileges, thereby reducing from 21 to 16 the total number of board members; (ii) changing from voting to nonvoting the nature of the membership of the President of Virginia Commonwealth University (the University) on the board of directors and prohibiting rather than requiring, as under current law, the President of the University from serving as chairman of the board of directors; (iii) lengthening the terms of all members of the board of directors from three years to four years; (iv) requiring the biennial election of a chairman and vice-chairman of the board of directors, requiring such chairman and vice-chairman to have served for at least two years on the board of directors, and prohibiting any employee of the University, employee of the Authority, member of the board of visitors of the University, or legislative member from serving as chairman; (v) providing that no further action shall be taken if a majority of each of the three-member committees appointed by the board of directors of the Authority and the board of visitors of the University do not agree on the removal of the chief executive officer of the Authority within 30 days of the appointment of the committees by each board; and (vi) providing that in the event that a majority of the members of each committee do not agree on the selection or conditions of appointment of the chief executive officer within 30 days of the appointment of the committees by each board, then the process set forth in statute shall be repeated until such selection has been made or such conditions of appointment have been determined. Current law requires the President of the University to make a binding decision in the event of any such disagreement. This bill is identical to HB 1040.
Zoning; development agreements in certain localities. Allows any locality within Planning District 23 with a population between 245,000 and 350,000 that has adopted a transfer of development rights ordinance to include provisions in its zoning ordinance that allow the governing body to enter into binding development agreements with owners of real property in the locality, so long as the property to be developed contains at least 1,000 acres or is located within (i) a receiving area of a transfer of development rights program and (ii) a tax increment financing district. Current law allows only New Kent County to include such provisions allowing for development agreements in its zoning ordinance.
School boards; public middle and high schools; parental notification of course registration deadlines and processes required. Requires each school board to develop and implement, by the start of the 2026-2027 school year, policies requiring each public middle and high school in the school division to provide, at least 30 days prior to the course registration deadline, parental notification by email or SMS text message to the parent of each student in the public middle or high school of course enrollment deadlines and the process for requesting changes to the student's course selection.
Claims; Messiah Aladar Johnson; compensation for wrongful incarceration. Grants relief in an amount to be appropriated to Messiah Aladar Johnson, who was wrongly convicted of and subsequently incarcerated for five counts of robbery, 12 counts of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, six counts of abduction, attempted robbery, and shooting into an occupied building in 1998.
Use of license plates; special permit; validity period. Extends from five to 30 days the validity period of a special permit authorizing the use of license plates on a vehicle other than the vehicle for which the license plates were issued, when the vehicle for which the license plates were issued is undergoing repairs in a licensed motor vehicle dealer's repair shop and when the license plates are being used on a vehicle owned by the dealer in whose repair shop the vehicle is being repaired. The bill removes the provisions authorizing the renewal of such permit and limiting such renewals to once per permit.
Authority of local governments; service employees. Permits a locality to provide for certain requirements concerning successor service employers, defined in the bill, by local ordinance or resolution. For example, such local ordinance or resolution may require that successor service employers retain incumbent service employees during a transition period of 90 days. Under the bill, service employees are those who perform work in connection with the care or maintenance of property, services at an airport, or food preparation services at schools. The bill provides that an employer that violates the provisions of a local ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to the bill may be subject to a civil action and monetary damages. This bill is identical to HB 338.
Public schools; school security and discipline; employment of school security officers; training requirements. Amends the requirements for the training course of which an individual employed as a school security officer is required to submit proof of completion to the Department of Criminal Justice Services in order to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties by (i) eliminating the requirement that such training course include training in active shooter emergency response and, instead, requiring it to include training in critical incident preparedness and response and (ii) clarifying that such training course include training in behavioral threat assessment.
