Prisoners; Department of Corrections-issued identification; report. Requires that prior to the release or discharge into the community of any prisoner who has been confined for at least 90 days and does not possess a government-issued identification card, birth certificate, or social security card, the Department of Corrections, in conjunction with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the State Registrar of Vital Records, and any other relevant government agency, shall provide such prisoner with a certified copy of his birth certificate, his social security card, or a government-issued identification card, unless such provision of a government-issued identification card is not possible, in which case, the Department of Corrections shall provide the prisoner with a Department of Corrections Offender Identification form. The bill also specifies what identifying information must be included on such form and provides that such form shall be verified by the Department of Corrections and provided to the Department of Motor Vehicles in a secured format and by a means mutually agreed upon by both and shall serve as proof of identity and proof of Virginia residency and may serve as proof of legal presence in the United States or proof of a social security number, if one is available, as required to obtain a government-issued identification card for the 120 days immediately following the release or discharge of the prisoner identified on such form. The bill also requires the Department of Corrections and the Department of Motor Vehicles to cooperatively establish procedures for verifying a Department of Corrections Offender Identification form and all information contained therein and prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles from accepting such form if the form or any of the information contained on the form cannot be verified. These provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026. The bill also directs the Department of Corrections, in coordination with the State Board of Local and Regional Jails, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the State Registrar of Vital Records, to (i) identify the number of prisoners released with and without identification cards; (ii) review the processes involved in assisting a prisoner in applying for and obtaining a government-issued identification card, birth certificate, or social security card; (iii) identify any obstacles that may interfere with a prisoner obtaining such identification or documents prior to such prisoner's release or discharge; and (iv) issue a report of its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2025.
Department of Education; model memorandum of understanding; counseling from school counselors by way of telehealth. Provides that the model memorandum of understanding developed by the Department of Education for partnerships with community mental health services providers or school-based telehealth providers shall include procedures allowing for students to receive counseling from school counselors by way of telehealth. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth and is identical to HB 2543.
Unemployment compensation; increase weekly benefit amounts; report. Provides that, for unemployment compensation claims effective on or after January 1, 2026, an eligible individual's weekly benefit amount shall be $52 higher than the current weekly benefit amount, as denoted in the table in the printed bill. The bill directs the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, in consultation with the Virginia Employment Commission, to convene a work group to study making annual adjustments to individual weekly benefit amounts based on the average weekly wage. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Commission on Unemployment Compensation. This bill is identical to SB 1056.
Real Estate Board; membership; qualifications. Increases from five to seven years the amount of time a licensed real estate broker or salesperson must be actively engaged in the profession in order to serve as a member of the Real Estate Board. The bill also provides additional qualifications and requirements specific to those members who are licensed real estate brokers or salespersons. This bill is identical to HB 2210.
Custodial interrogations; false statements to a child prohibited; inauthentic replica documents. Prohibits law-enforcement officers from knowingly and intentionally making false statements about any known material fact, including by use of inauthentic replica documents, prior to or during a custodial interrogation of a child to secure the cooperation, confession, or conviction of such child. The bill defines "inauthentic replica documents" as any documents, including computer-generated documents, created by any means, including artificial intelligence, by a law-enforcement officer or his agent that (i) contain a false statement, signature, seal, letterhead, or contact information or (ii) materially misrepresent any fact. The bill provides that if a law-enforcement officer knowingly violates such prohibition, any statements made by such child shall be inadmissible in any delinquency proceeding or criminal proceeding against such child, unless the attorney for the Commonwealth proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the statement was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.
Filing of six-year financial outline; alternative recession estimates; revenue estimates based on Governor's Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates. Requires the Governor to include, in addition to all other requirements in law, (i) alternative recession estimates of anticipated general fund and nongeneral fund revenue and (ii) revenue estimates for the general fund and nongeneral fund based on the assumptions presented to the Governor's Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates in his financial plan for a prospective period of six years submitted to the General Assembly.
Virginia Public Procurement Act; solar photovoltaic equipment and facilities. Prohibits state and local agencies from including a provision in any request for proposal, procurement agreement, contract, ordinance, policy, permit, or accompanying document that directs the exclusion from use of any materials contained in or products associated with solar photovoltaic equipment and facilities that are manufactured in the United States. This bill is identical to SB 1165.
Department of Education; index of required teacher training. Requires the Department of Education (the Department) to establish and maintain an index of each training in which any public elementary and secondary school teacher in the Commonwealth is required to participate pursuant to state or federal law or regulation, including training required as a condition of licensure by the Department. The bill requires such index to include information on the classification of teacher required to complete each training; the topic, length, and frequency of each training activity; and the total number of hours of training that each teacher is required to complete in a specific period of time. The bill requires the Department to review and update such index annually, when a training is added, or when an existing training on the index is changed in length or frequency to ensure that the information therein is accurate and to post such index in an easily and publicly accessible format and location on its website no later than August 1, 2025.
Speech-language pathology assistants; licensure, qualifications, scope of practice; revocation or suspension of license; continuing education. Adds speech-language pathology assistants to the professions governed by the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. The bill also establishes qualifications, scope of practice, and supervision requirements for speech-language pathology assistants. The bill directs the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology to adopt regulations governing the speech-language pathology assistant profession by July 1, 2026, and specifies that the provisions governing the licensure of speech-language pathology assistants have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Intelligent Speed Assistance Program established; penalty. Establishes the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program to be administered by the Commission on the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program. The bill authorizes enrollment in such Program as an alternative to suspending a person's driver's license upon such person's conviction of certain speed-related offenses. The bill requires a court to order enrollment in such Program for a person convicted of reckless driving and who was found to have been driving in excess of 100 miles per hour, unless the court has otherwise ordered the suspension of such person's driver's license. The bill requires the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide the option in a written notice for enrollment in such Program instead of license suspension for a person who has accumulated certain amounts of demerit points, and if such person does not respond to such notice within 30 days, the bill requires such suspension of his license. The bill requires any person enrolled in the Program to enter into and successfully complete the Program and install an intelligent speed assistance system, defined in the bill, in any motor vehicle owned by or registered to the participant and prohibits such person from driving any motor vehicle that does not have such a system installed. The bill creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for tampering with or attempting to bypass or circumvent such a system. The bill provides that any person who enters into the Program prior to trial may pre-qualify with the Program to have an intelligent speed assistance system installed on any motor vehicle owned or operated by him and that the court may consider such pre-qualification and installation. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Drinking water; Occoquan Reservoir PFAS Reduction Program established. Creates the Occoquan Reservoir PFAS Reduction Program to reduce excessive levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in public drinking water derived from the Occoquan Reservoir. The bill requires certain facilities to monitor for PFAS on or before October 1, 2025, using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Method 1633 or an alternative method approved by the EPA. The bill requires any such facility to report all results to the Department of Environmental Quality no later than the tenth day of the next month after the month in which the result is reported by the laboratory and to include in such report all PFAS analytes measured by the test method. The bill requires by July 1, 2027, for any facility that measures exceedances in its discharge of the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFAS in drinking water promulgated on or before January 1, 2025, the Department, for an individual Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit if the facility discharges directly to surface waters, or a major publicly owned treatment works, for an indirect discharger, to modify the applicable discharge permit to require that the facility's discharge not exceed that MCL. The bill requires the modified permit to provide a compliance schedule that requires compliance with such level as soon as possible but no later than July 1, 2029. The bill exempts from its provisions any industrial discharger not listed in the bill, any publicly owned treatment works or drinking water treatment plant, or a municipal solid waste facility but provides that any public water system may follow the requirements of the bill for the purpose of planning for compliance with the MCL for PFAS in finished water. The bill clarifies that its provisions will not limit the authority of the Department or the owner or operator of any publicly owned treatment works to which any user discharges wastewater to require monitoring or reporting or otherwise regulate the discharge of any PFAS chemicals or other pollutants under other applicable legal authority.
Department of Criminal Justice Services; training curriculum on certain arrests. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish a training curriculum for law-enforcement agencies, law-enforcement officers, and special conservators of the peace on the discretion such officers can exercise regarding certain arrests. The bill requires that such training curriculum be created by July 1, 2027, and include (i) instruction on the scope and nature of law-enforcement officer discretion in arrest decisions, with particular emphasis on encounters with individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, including individuals currently subject to an emergency custody order, a temporary detention order, or an involuntary admission order, and (ii) instruction on the immediate and long-term effects of arrests on individuals in need of mental health services due to a mental health crisis, including impacts on treatment outcomes as identified in substantially accepted peer-reviewed research literature. The bill requires any person employed as a law-enforcement officer prior to July 1, 2027, to review any course material or course criteria related to such curriculum by January 1, 2028, and any person employed as a law-enforcement officer on or after July 1, 2027, to review any course material or course criteria related to such curriculum within one year of his date of hire. Lastly, the bill directs the Criminal Justice Services Board to promulgate regulations pursuant to relevant law requiring special conservators of the peace to review any course material or course criteria related to such curriculum established by the bill by July 1, 2027. The bill requires any person applying for an initial or renewal registration as a special conservator of the peace on or after July 1, 2027 to review any course material or course criteria related to such curriculum as part of his compulsory training standards.As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Behavioral Health Commission. This bill is identical to SB 1194.
