Department of Workforce Development and Advancement; accreditation of nondegree workforce training programs. Directs the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement to establish an accreditation pathway for nondegree workforce training programs in order to align the skills of the Commonwealth's workforce with the needs of industry in the Commonwealth and to provide a workforce entrance pathway for underserved populations in the Commonwealth. The bill includes minimum standards, admissions requirements, and reporting requirements for such programs. Additionally, the bill includes provisions related to the eligibility of accredited programs for state and federal workforce funding, including the federal Workforce Pell Grant.
Uniform Statewide Building Code; amendments; energy efficiency and conservation. Requires the Board of Housing and Community Development to adopt amendments to the Uniform Statewide Building Code within 18 months of publication of a new version of the International Code Council's International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) to incorporate the latest IECC standards related to energy efficiency and conservation. The bill requires the Board to adopt Building Code standards that are at least as stringent as those contained in the new version of the IECC.
Protection of employees; retaliatory action against employee prohibited. Provides that, for the purposes of the prohibition on an employer's retaliatory action against an employee for reporting a violation of a federal or state law or regulation, "federal or state law or regulation" means any federal law, any law of the Commonwealth, and any regulation published as a final rule in the Federal Register or the Virginia Administrative Code. The bill also provides that such prohibition does not apply to discrimination against an employee for exercising rights relating to safety and health provisions of existing law; such discrimination is prohibited under existing law and subject to different remedies.
Manufacturing or sale of cosmetic products with certain ingredients prohibited. Prohibits any person from manufacturing, selling, delivering, offering for sale, or using in connection with a consumer transaction any cosmetic product that contains certain ingredients that are listed in the bill. The bill provides that a violation of its provisions constitutes a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
Prohibiting employer seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees; wage or salary range transparency; cause of action. Prohibits a prospective employer from (i) seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee; (ii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment; (iii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in determining the wages or salary the prospective employee is to be paid upon hire; (iv) refusing to interview, hire, employ, or promote or otherwise retaliating against a prospective or current employee for not providing wage or salary history or requesting a wage or salary range; (v) failing or refusing to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or wage or salary range; and (vi) failing to set a wage or salary range in good faith. The bill establishes a cause of action for an aggrieved prospective employee or employee and provides that an employer that violates such prohibitions is liable to the aggrieved prospective employee or employee for statutory damages between $1,000 and $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and any other legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate.
Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program established; incorporation into National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund. Establishes the Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program and incorporates such program into the existing National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program. The bill also renames the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program Fund as the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program Fund (the Fund) and expands the purpose for which disbursements may be made from the Fund to include the award of incentive grants to school psychologists obtaining national certification from the National Association of School Psychologists consisting of an initial state-funded award of $5,000 and a subsequent award of $2,500 each year for the life of the certificate.
Designating or nominating historic landmarks; notice requirements. Removes the requirements for the Department of Historic Resources to provide written notice to an owner or his agent of property abutting or immediately across the street or road from property proposed to be designated or nominated as a historic landmark. The bill also changes the timeframe in which the Department must publish notice of the public hearing on such designation in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality from once a week for two successive weeks to at least seven and not more than 30 days prior to the date of the hearing.
School breakfast; availability at no cost to students. Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make breakfast available to any student who requests such a meal at no cost to the student, unless the student's parent has provided written permission to the school board to withhold such a meal from the student. The bill requires the Department of Education to reimburse each public elementary and secondary school for each school breakfast served to a student, with a maximum of one breakfast per student per school day, and provides the formula for determining the state reimbursement rate for such meals. Finally, the bill repeals a provision of law relating to the federal School Breakfast Program that is rendered obsolete by the provisions of the bill.
Review of plats and plans by locality; designated agent. Allows any locality with a population of 20,000 or less to use its planning commission as the designated agent for purposes of reviewing and acting on subdivision plats, site plans, and plans of development. Currently, only localities with a population of 5,000 or less are permitted to use their planning commissions for such purpose.
Virginia encroachment grant; incompatible uses. Expands the application of grants to address the encroachment of incompatible uses to include localities in which any Virginia military installation with missions that produce noise, smoke, vibration, or explosive hazards and that is vulnerable to electromagnetic spectrum, light pollution, and other mission-limiting hazards is located. The bill also removes the required initial allocation to the locality in which the Master Jet Base and the auxiliary field for the Master Jet Base is located.
High load facilities; impact assessments. Prohibits a governing body or board of zoning appeals from issuing final approval for any special exception, special use permit, variance, rezoning application, or other land disturbing permit, including building permits and erosion and sediment control permits, for a high load facility, defined in the bill, until the applicant submits a finding of no impact or minimal impact issued by the State Corporation Commission. The bill provides that upon request by the owner or operator of a high load facility, the Commission will assess whether the high load facility will have a material adverse impact upon the incumbent electric utility's ability to (i) to maintain electric grid reliability, (ii) avoid exceeding available generation or transmission capacity constraints, or (iii) meet certain statutory requirements.
Electric and gas utilities; rates and charges for service; political influence activities; promotional advertising; annual report. Prohibits an electric or gas utility subject to regulation by the State Corporation Commission from recovering certain costs through its retail rates and charges for service. The costs prohibited for such recovery include political influence activities and promotional advertising, as such terms are defined in the bill. Under the bill, each electric and gas utility subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission shall submit an annual report by January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, of information related to the categories of expenses listed in the bill, including political influence activities and promotional advertising. The bill permits the Commission to impose a fine on utilities that violate the provisions of the bill by improperly recovering costs for activities and expenses prohibited for cost recovery by the bill. The bill requires the Commission to make such annual reports publicly available online.
