Exemption from jury service; fire marshals. Adds the State Fire Marshal and any officer appointed as a fire marshal to the list of persons automatically exempt from jury service.
Uninsured Employer's Fund; administrative expenses. Provides that the costs of administering the Uninsured Employer's Fund, which is administered by the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission, are paid out of such fund. This bill is identical to SB 520.
Tourism improvement districts; administering nonprofits; county manager plan; transient occupancy tax. Allows tourism entities, defined in the bill, to enter into written agreements for the provision of professional services to an administering nonprofit that is under contract with a locality to administer or implement activities specified in a tourism improvement district plan. Current law does not permit such public-private partnerships in tourism improvement districts. The bill also requires a newly formed administering nonprofit's board of directors to be wholly composed of business owners and an existing administering nonprofit to create a committee of business owners to oversee the activities prescribed in the tourism improvement district plan. Finally, the bill permits any locality with the county manager plan of government (Arlington County) to impose an additional transient occupancy tax of up to one percent. This bill is identical to SB 314.
Exemptions from garnishment; exemptions in bankruptcy proceedings; disposable earnings. Provides that the exemption provided for a debtor's disposable earnings, defined by current law, that are subject to garnishment also applies to disposable earnings for the purposes of a bankruptcy proceeding.
Commission on School Construction and Modernization; revisions; elimination of sunset. Eliminates the expiration date of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization, which, pursuant to current law, is set to expire on July 1, 2026. The bill also directs the Commission to (i) meet at least four times each year and post notice of the date, time, and location of each meeting on the central, publicly available electronic calendar maintained by the Commonwealth in accordance with applicable law; (ii) update annually the statewide needs estimate for construction and modernization of school facilities; (iii) develop and deliver by November 1, 2026, a 10-year capital roadmap; and (iv) collaborate with early childhood care and education Ready Regions and comprehensive community colleges in the Commonwealth to collect and evaluate data relating to Ready Region and comprehensive community college facility usage, availability, and needs. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Education, in order to assist the Commission with its work, to update and make available to the Commission an inventory of all public school facilities in the Commonwealth by September 1, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 498.
Local and regional suicide fatality review teams; penalty. Permits localities or combinations of localities to establish a local or regional suicide fatality review team. The bill provides exemptions from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for information and records obtained or created regarding a review of a fatality by such team.
Athletic Trainer Compact. Authorizes Virginia to become a signatory to the Athletic Trainer Compact. The Compact permits qualified licensed athletic trainers to practice in other states that are also members of the Compact. The Compact has not yet been passed in any state and will take effect when the Compact is enacted by a seventh participating state.
Real estate with delinquent taxes or liens; appointment of special commissioner; increases required value. Increases from $75,000 to $125,000 the maximum assessment that an individual parcel of land may be valued at to be subject to a locality's appointment of a special commissioner to convey property with delinquent taxes or liens to the locality, to the locality's land bank entity, or to an existing nonprofit entity designated by the locality to carry out the functions of a land bank entity in lieu of sale at public auction. The bill contains technical amendments.
Diploma seal for excellence in fine arts established; industry-recognized workforce credential. Requires the Board of Education to establish criteria for awarding a high school diploma seal for excellence in fine arts, which may include a sequence of coursework, cumulative grade point average in such sequence of coursework, or any other performance-based criteria that the Board deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board to add such diploma seal to its list of industry-recognized workforce credentials for the purpose of satisfying the career and technical education credential option for high school graduation.
Marine Resources Commission; powers and duties; wetlands; work group; report. Requires the Marine Resources Commission to ensure that, in promulgating minimum standards for protection and conservation of wetlands, no net loss of existing wetland acreage and functions is achieved. The bill requires permits for the use and development of wetlands to contain requirements for compensating impacts on wetlands sufficient to achieve no net loss of existing wetland acreage and functions. The bill also directs the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources to convene a stakeholder work group to address mitigation requirements for tidal nonvegetated wetlands and directs the work group to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources no later than July 1, 2027.
Respiratory Care Interstate Compact. Authorizes Virginia to become a signatory to the Respiratory Care Interstate Compact. The Compact allows respiratory therapists who have or are eligible for an active, unencumbered license in the Compact member state where they reside to apply for a multistate license. The Compact has been passed in five states and takes effect when it is enacted by a seventh participating state.
Income tax; innocent spouse tax relief. Authorizes the Department of Taxation to grant relief to a taxpayer liable for payment of all or part of any unpaid tax, assessment, or other deficiency that is owed due to a mistake made by such taxpayer's spouse on a joint tax return, regardless of whether the taxpayer claimed such relief from the federal government.
