Virginia Clean Energy Research and Support Center; established. Establishes the Virginia Clean Energy Research and Support Center (the Center) as an interdisciplinary study, research, and informational resource for individuals and businesses in the Commonwealth. The Center is governed by a board of directors that includes representatives from several colleges and universities in the Commonwealth, the Department of Energy, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation. The board is directed to establish an advisory council to provide expertise and guidance related to the functions and duties of the Center. Functions and duties of the Center include providing technical assistance in matters related to energy technologies, siting, permitting, project design, interconnection, electric infrastructure, electric utilities, ratepayer proceedings, and environmental impacts of energy projects. Under the bill, the Center shall conduct an annual evaluation and collaborate with state agencies and institutions of higher education to provide technical assistance, research, or support in matters related to siting and permitting, programs to improve electric grid reliability, energy programs established at a participating institution of higher education, and administration and implementation of the Virginia Energy Plan. The bill also requires the Center to submit an annual report to the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation summarizing its research activities and any funding received by the Center by November 1 of each year.This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation.
Search warrant; search of place of abode; copy of affidavit to be part of warrant and served therewith; temporary sealing. Provides that if an affidavit that accompanies a search warrant for a place of abode has been sealed pursuant to relevant law, the executing law-enforcement officer does not have to leave a copy of such affidavit in a conspicuous place within or affixed to the place to be searched.
School division accessibility challenges and barriers; reports, summary, and plan. Requires each school board or division superintendent to review and report to the Department of Education no later than August 1, 2026, certain challenges and barriers relating to the accessibility of public elementary and secondary school buildings and grounds in the local school division. The bill requires the Department to consolidate all such reports into a summary document and submit (i) such document, (ii) a plan for achieving full compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 across all school divisions in the Commonwealth, and (iii) any legislative and budgetary recommendations for fully executing such plan to the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Education and Health, the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the House Committee on Appropriations, and the House Committee on Education no later than November 1, 2026.
Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund. Increases from $100 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity from renewable energy sources that are located on brownfields to $200 per kilowatt of nameplate capacity from renewable energy sources that are located on brownfields the grant amount a project developer can receive from the Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation.
Department of Emergency Management; emergency services and disaster preparedness programs; inclusion of federally recognized tribes. Requires the Department of Emergency Management to administer certain emergency services in coordination with federally recognized tribes that the Department has entered into a contract or memorandum of understanding with for assistance regarding such emergency services. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Updating Virginia Law to Reflect Federal Recognition of Virginia Tribes.
Insurance; Fire Programs Fund; fees for vehicles; Virginia At Risk Fire Grant Program established; Firefighter Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Fund established. Increases the fire insurance assessment from one percent of total direct gross premium income for such insurance to (i) 1.5 percent on and after July 1, 2026, but before July 1, 2027, and (ii) two percent on and after July 1, 2027. The bill also increases the vehicle registration fee used to provide support for emergency medical services from $4.25 to $6.25 for each pickup or panel truck and each motor vehicle. The bill also establishes (a) the Virginia At Risk Fire Grant Program, to be funded by 0.25 percent of the assessments on insurance companies, for the purposes of providing grants to localities with fire departments that are determined to be most at risk of being unable to provide fire suppression or rescue activities or maintain compliance with relevant laws and regulations and (b) the Firefighter Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Fund, for the purpose of purchasing breathing apparatus equipment and other non-vehicular equipment necessary for the protection of firefighters responding to a fire.
Income tax; tax credit for certain small businesses. Establishes a one-time, nonrefundable tax credit for taxable years 2026 through 2030 for eligible small businesses, as defined in the bill, equal to $2,500. The bill limits the total aggregate amount of small business credits claimed to $5 million per taxable year.
Corporate welfare tax. Imposes on large employers, as defined in the bill, a corporate welfare tax equal to 100 percent of the qualified employee benefits received by any employees of such large employer residing in the Commonwealth. The bill directs the Department of Taxation to obtain identifying data for individuals receiving qualified federal benefits, as defined by the bill, from the Department of Social Services pursuant to an interagency agreement and to compare such data to employment rosters received quarterly from large employers to determine the amount of qualified federal benefits received by employees of such large employers. The bill also prohibits an employer, in connection with the selection or referral of applicants or candidates for employment, to make inquiries or otherwise seek information relating to whether such applicant receives qualified federal benefits.
School boards; student diabetes care and management in schools; divisionwide plan required. Requires each school board to develop, amend as necessary, and implement a divisionwide plan for the care, at school during regular school hours, of each public elementary or secondary school student who is diagnosed with diabetes in the school division, to become effective beginning with the 2027–2028 school year, in accordance with the requirements enumerated in the bill, including that each such divisionwide plan must: (i) give consideration to, and incorporate, where appropriate, the guidelines contained in the Department of Education's Diabetes Management in Schools: Manual for Unlicensed Personnel (the Manual); (ii) include procedures for ensuring that each school building in the school division that is attended by one or more students diagnosed with diabetes meets the minimum staffing requirements set forth in current law for employees trained in the administration of insulin and glucagon; (iii) ensure that the provision or assistance with the provision of diabetes-related care by licensed or unlicensed school board employees is consistent with the guidance contained in the most recent revision of the Manual and applicable law; and (iv) provide opportunities for parental involvement and input in the process of providing students with diabetes-related care and developing or amending the divisionwide plan.The bill also expands the diabetes care and management that each school board is required, pursuant to current law, to permit each student diagnosed with diabetes to independently provide to require each school board to permit each such student to carry with him and use a cell phone or smart device, consistent with applicable law, to monitor, address, or contact his parent, the school, or his health care provider on diabetes-related matters.The bill directs the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Health and other enumerated stakeholders, to (a) no later than January 1, 2027, conduct a comprehensive review of the Manual and revise it as necessary in accordance with the requirements set forth in the bill and (b) at least biennially, review the Manual, revise it as necessary to ensure currency and accuracy, and post it in a publicly accessible location on its website. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health, to develop, periodically review, post on its website, and make available to each school board informational materials for parents on type 1 and type 2 diabetes and directs each school board to make such informational materials available to the parent of each student enrolled in the school division at the beginning of each school year.The bill contains technical amendments.
Retail sales and use tax; commercial and industrial exemptions; disclosure of data center operator exemption. Requires the Department of Taxation to annually publish a report including the name of all data center operators receiving a retail sales and use tax exemption, and for each such data center operator, (i) the amount of exemption claimed, (ii) whether the required job creation and capital investments goals set by a data center operator's memorandum of understanding have been met, and (iii) its employment levels and average annual wages paid to its employees.
Noncustodial Parent Employment and Child Support Pilot Program established; report; work group; sunset. Establishes the Noncustodial Parent Employment and Child Support Pilot Program within the Department of Social Services to assist noncustodial parents who are in arrears on child support payments or unemployed or underemployed with referrals to various resources, including employment referrals, employment skills training, education classes, parenting classes, and other forms of case management in lieu of or in addition to any available remedy available to enforce or collect child support payments. The bill directs the Department to report annually by December 1 to the Governor and the General Assembly data and information about the Program, including the number of parents participating in the Program, any reduction in the use of enforcement remedies to collect child support payments, and the amount of child support payments paid on time by parent participants. The bill also directs the Department to convene a work group to advise the Department on the design of and criteria for participation in the Program. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2031.
Sales and use tax; food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Eliminates the remaining one percent local sales and use tax that is imposed on food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Under current law, no other sales and use tax is applied to such products. The bill requires an equivalent amount of revenue to be distributed to cities and counties on a monthly basis in compensation for the lost tax revenue. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
