Board of Education; through-year growth assessment system; alternatives during 2024-2028 school years permitted. Extends from the 2025-2026 school year to the 2027-2028 school year the period during which, pursuant to applicable law, the Board of Education is required to permit school boards to administer assessments as alternatives to the through-year growth assessment system established by the Board of Education. Under current law, the Board of Education is required to permit school boards to administer such assessments during the 2024-2025 through 2025-2026 school years.
Electric utilities; renewable energy portfolio standard program; deficiency payments. Removes provisions requiring deficiency payments by certain electric utilities if such utilities are unable to meet the compliance obligation of the renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) program requirements or if the cost of renewable energy certificates necessary to comply with RPS program requirements exceeds $45 per megawatt hour.
Use of public funds for private elementary or secondary school tuition; standards. Establishes several requirements and conditions relating to the use of certain public funds enumerated in the bill to fund student tuition at private elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, including (i) requiring all students enrolled at schools who receive such funds to take Standards of Learning assessments; (ii) requiring all such schools to receive accountability ratings from the Board of Education; and (iii) prohibiting such schools from discriminating in admissions, enrollment, discipline, retention, or access to educational programs and services on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, special education status, language proficiency, or socioeconomic status.
Search warrants; unattended deaths. Authorizes the issuance of a search warrant to search any place for (i) a dead human body where, at the time of death, the decedent was not being attended to by a physician or (ii) evidence of the cause or manner of death of such a body.
Certain civil actions against employees; liability of employer to vulnerable victims. Clarifies that when determining an employer's vicarious liability in an action for personal injury or death brought by a vulnerable victim against an employee, the definition of "vulnerable victim" shall include only those persons enumerated in the bill.
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; Board for Contractors; tradesman apprenticeship requirements. Requires any individual who performs plumbing, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning or electrical work for the purpose of qualifying for licensure as a tradesman to hold an apprentice license issued by the Board for Contractors. The bill outlines the requirements for an apprentice licensee generally, and the specific requirements for plumbing, HVAC, and electrical apprentices. The bill directs the Board for Contractors to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill.
Public institutions of higher education; governing boards; appointment and composition of members; powers and duties; legal counsel. Amends several provisions relating to the employment, oversight, and management of the legal counsel for each public institution of higher education. The bill also amends the requirements relating to the appointment of members to and the composition of the governing board of each public institution of higher education, including (i) changing the required number of members to 18; (ii) expanding the term of each member of a governing board from four years to six years; (iii) requiring each governing board to appoint one member of the faculty, one member of the staff, and one student to the respective board as voting members; (iv) modifying procedural requirements for gubernatorial appointments and the confirmation of gubernatorial requirements by the General Assembly; and (v) amending and clarifying several procedural requirements specific to the appointment of members of governing boards, including appointments to fill vacancies and nomination and confirmation procedures and timelines. The bill also changes the procedures and requirements for the appointment of members to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and amends the requirements relating to meetings of and exercise of authority by each governing board and any executive committee appointed by a governing board pursuant to applicable law. Finally, the bill clarifies and expands the duties of each governing board in its collective capacity, and of the members of each governing board in their individual capacities, regarding (a) the primary duties of governing boards to advance the interests of the institution and the people of the Commonwealth, (b) duties relating to ideological and partisan neutrality and the protection of academic freedom and freedom of speech, and (c) duties relating to the relationship of the governing board and the institution's administration, faculty, and students.
Health care; decision-making; end of life; penalties. Allows an adult diagnosed with a terminal disease to request and an attending health care provider to prescribe a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending the patient's life. The bill requires that a patient's request for a self-administered controlled substance to end his life be given orally on two occasions and in writing, signed by the patient and one witness, and that the patient be given an express opportunity to rescind his request at any time. The bill makes it a Class 2 felony (i) to willfully and deliberately alter, forge, conceal, or destroy a patient's request, or rescission of request, for a self-administered controlled substance to end his life with the intent and effect of causing the patient's death; (ii) to coerce, intimidate, or exert undue influence on a patient to request a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending his life or to destroy the patient's rescission of such request with the intent and effect of causing the patient's death; or (iii) to coerce, intimidate, or exert undue influence on a patient to forgo a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending the patient's life. The bill also grants immunity from civil or criminal liability and professional disciplinary action to any person who complies with the provisions of the bill and allows health care providers to refuse to participate in the provision of a self-administered controlled substance to a patient for the purpose of ending the patient's life.
Tax on electronic distribution of material harmful to minors. Creates a tax at the rate of 10 percent of the gross receipts of any commercial entity operating an adult website, defined in the bill, for all sales, distributions, memberships, and other content amounting to material harmful to minors, defined in the bill, that is produced, sold, filmed, generated, or otherwise based in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that the revenues generated by this tax shall be deposited into the Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Trust Fund.
Personal property taxation; classifications; major energy consumer equipment upgrades. Establishes a special classification for generating equipment purchased on and after July 1, 2026, for the purpose of upgrading the backup or standby power systems of a major energy consumer (i) from equipment that does not meet Tier 2 emission standards to selective catalytic reduction generators that meet or exceed Tier 4 emission standards or (ii) to meet New Source Performance Standards as enforced by the Department of Environmental Quality, as applicable. The bill provides that such equipment may be taxed at a lower rate than is applied to other tangible personal property.
Unemployment benefits; maximum duration. Provides that, beginning July 1, 2026, for claims effective on or after July 1, 2026, an eligible individual's weekly unemployment compensation benefit amount shall be paid for a maximum duration of 26 weeks.
Commonwealth Flood Prevention Match Assistance Fund and Program; established. Establishes the Commonwealth Flood Prevention Match Assistance Fund and Program for the purpose of supporting local governments with grants to finance the cost share required of a local government for storm and flood risk management projects, as such terms are defined in the bill. The bill also requires an annual audit and an annual report to the Governor and the Chairs of the House Committees on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and Finance and Appropriations.
