Taxation; extension of expiring sunsets. Extends to taxable year 2026: 1. The exemption for discharged loans for eligible veterans currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 2. The credit for amounts paid to another state for income taxes of a pass-through entity currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 3. The standard deduction in an amount equal to $8,500 for single individuals and $17,000 for married persons currently set to revert to $3,000 for single individuals and $6,000 for married persons as of January 1, 2026; 4. The deduction for eligible educator expenses currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 5. The tax credit for low-income taxpayers currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 6. The tax credit for reforestation and afforestation currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 7. The election for eligible owners of pass-through entities to be taxed at the entity level currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 8. The subtractions from the numerators of the property and payroll apportionment factors for eligible companies for (i) property acquired in any qualified locality before January 1, 2025, and (ii) payroll attributable to jobs created within such locality before January 1, 2025; 9. The major business facility job tax credit currently set to expire July 1, 2025; 10. The worker training tax credit for (i) expenses incurred by a business for eligible worker training currently set to expire July 1, 2025, and (ii) direct costs incurred by a business engaged primarily in manufacturing in conducting orientation, instruction, and training in the Commonwealth, relating to the manufacturing activities undertaken by the business currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 11. The tax credit for purchase of machinery and equipment used for advanced recycling and processing recyclable materials currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 12. The tax credit for participating landlords renting qualified housing units (i) in eligible census tracts currently set to expire January 1, 2026, and (ii) in eligible non-metropolitan census tracts currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 13. The tax credit for green and alternative energy job creation currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 14. The tax credit for qualified research and development expenses currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 15. The tax credit for Virginia qualified major research and development expenses currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 16. The exemption from sales and use taxation for gold, silver, or platinum bullion or legal tender coins currently set to expire June 30, 2025; 17. The exemption from sales and use taxation for certain printed materials purchased from an advertising business from a printer within the Commonwealth and distributed outside the Commonwealth before July 1, 2025; and 18. The exemptions from sales and use taxation for (i) parts, engines, and supplies for aviation component parts currently set to expire July 1, 2025, and (ii) prescription medicines and drugs purchased by veterinarians currently set to expire July 1, 2025.
Unauthorized use of name, portrait, voice, likeness, or picture of any person; digital replica; civil liability; statute of limitations. Expands the existing ability for any person to maintain a suit in equity, including the accompanying remedies available, for the unauthorized use of his name, portrait, or picture for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade to include the unauthorized use of his voice or likeness. The bill also creates civil liability for a person who produces, distributes, or makes available the digital replica, defined in the bill, of a person's voice or likeness in an expressive audiovisual work or sound recording without prior written consent, with exceptions enumerated in the bill. The bill also extends the current statute of limitations for such civil suits from 20 years to 100 years after the death of such person.
Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning January 1, 2028. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning January 1, 2027. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 120 percent of the state weekly wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program.
Photo speed monitoring devices; photo-monitoring system for traffic signals; proof of violation; certain persons swearing to or affirming certificates; training. Authorizes retired sworn law-enforcement officers, defined in the bill, or registered special conservators of the peace to swear to or affirm certificates for the purposes of enforcement of violations recorded by traffic light signal violation monitoring systems or traffic control device violation monitoring systems or photo speed monitoring devices upon completion of a training course developed and approved by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The bill requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to develop, approve, and make available such training course no later than July 1, 2026. The bill also requires law-enforcement officers swearing to or affirming such certificates to complete such training course. The provisions of the bill authorizing such retired sworn law-enforcement officers to swear to or affirm such certificates and requiring such law-enforcement officers to complete such training course have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Local regulation of solar facilities; special exceptions. Provides that a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on property zoned agricultural, commercial, industrial, or institutional shall be permitted pursuant to various criteria to be included in a local ordinance, such as specifications for setbacks, fencing, solar panel height, visual impacts, and grading, and a decommissioning plan for solar energy equipment and facilities, unless otherwise permitted by right.
Pilot program for underground transmission lines; qualifying projects. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission to, in reviewing any application submitted by a public utility for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction of an electrical transmission line of 500 kilovolts filed between January 2025 and July 2032, approve up to two applications for qualifying projects to be constructed in whole or in part underground as part of the pilot program for underground transmission lines and to provide an expedited review of any such application. The bill removes certain provisions related to the existing pilot program. Under the bill, a project shall be qualified if an engineering analysis demonstrates that it is technically feasible, if the applicant provides an overall cost of the project and its impact on electric service rates, and if the governing body of each locality in which a portion of the proposed line will be placed underground indicates support for the transmission line to be placed underground. The bill permits the Commission to deny an application for a project that otherwise meets the criteria to qualify, provided that the Commission shares its rationale for doing so. Additionally, rather than assigning certain costs to be recovered by Virginia jurisdictional customers, the bill requires that such costs be allocated by the Commission in a manner that is just and reasonable for customers.
Industrial development authorities; Town of Front Royal. Extends from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2030, the period of time during which the industrial development authority created by the Town of Front Royal may include Warren County in any of its economic development projects.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 3.01, as amended, § 3.01:1, and §§ 3.02:1 and 3.02:2, as amended, of Chapter 147 of the Acts of Assembly of 1962, which provided a charter for the City of Virginia Beach, and to repeal § 3.02:3 of Chapters 127 and 762 of the Acts of Assembly of 2020, relating to city council; voting districts.
Commissioner of Highways; prequalification program for self-bonding program; certain reports; repealed. Removes (i) the biennial report requirement for the Commissioner of Highways regarding the use of funds in the Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund; (ii) the requirement for a prequalification program agreed upon by the Commissioner of Highways and the Department of the Treasury for the self-bonding program for transportation-related construction projects; and (iii) reporting requirements for the Department of Transportation regarding certain information related to performance or payment bonds, waivers, and self-bonding program enrollment.
Enforcement of federal traffic violations by state and local law-enforcement officers; photo speed monitoring devices; Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia). Provides that state and local law-enforcement officers may enforce federal traffic violations on any highway within Planning District 8. The bill also provides that a state or local law-enforcement agency may place and operate a photo speed monitoring device on a National Park highway, as defined in the bill, for the purposes of recording vehicle speed violations, provided that such law-enforcement agency has been authorized by the federal government or the National Park Service to place such photo speed monitoring device on such National Park highway.
Speed safety cameras; placement and operation. Changes the terms "photo speed monitoring device" to "speed safety camera" and "high-risk intersection segment" to "high-risk speed corridor" in provisions related to vehicle speed violations. The bill authorizes localities to provide by ordinance for the placement and operation of a speed safety camera by the law-enforcement agency of such locality in certain locations. The bill authorizes any locality without its own law-enforcement agency to, by ordinance, authorize officers of the law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction within such locality to issue a summons and swear to or affirm a certificate for a vehicle speed violation. For any new speed safety camera placed, the bill provides for a warning by mail instead of a summons and no civil penalty for alleged vehicle speed violations within the first 30 days of such camera's operation. The bill makes various other changes to the requirements for the use of speed safety cameras, including changes related to signs indicating the use of such cameras; the use of funds collected from civil penalties; requirements for private vendors; the periodic review of the use of such cameras; the provision of information to the public related to the use and placement of such cameras; the creation of advisory groups; and consultation with certain entities prior to placement and operation of such cameras.
Candidates for office; persons entitled to have name printed on ballot; required campaign finance reports. Provides that a person who fails to file at least one of the campaign finance reports required by law to be filed in an election year by July 20 is not entitled to have his name printed on the ballot at the general election for the office sought.
