Minimum wage; farm laborers or farm employees. Eliminates the exemption from Virginia's minimum wage requirements for persons employed as farm laborers or farm employees. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027, and is identical to SB 121.
Department of Energy; workforce development in offshore wind industry. Directs the Director of the Department of Energy to identify and develop training resources to advance workforce development in the offshore wind industry in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to SB 25.
Minimum wage. Increases the minimum wage incrementally to $15.00 per hour by January 1, 2028. The bill codifies the adjusted state hourly minimum wage of $12.77 per hour that is effective January 1, 2026, and increases the minimum wage to $13.75 per hour effective January 1, 2027, and to $15.00 per hour effective January 1, 2028. Effective January 1, 2029, and annually thereafter, the bill requires the minimum wage to be adjusted to reflect increases in the consumer price index. This bill is identical to SB 1.
Department of Health; Department of Corrections; peer recovery specialists. Directs the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Corrections to develop agency guidelines for hiring peer recovery specialists with previous criminal convictions for compensated employment. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care. This bill is identical to SB 608.
Public school employees; suspension; notice and opportunity for a hearing. Provides that no school board employee shall be suspended without notice and, if applicable, an opportunity to be heard and amends current law to require any individual who has been so suspended, regardless of the length of the suspension, to continue to receive his then applicable salary unless and until the school board, after a hearing, determines otherwise. Under current law, such requirement only applies to any individual who has been suspended for a period in excess of five days.
Hours of work for paid firefighters. Provides that the Department of Fire Programs shall encourage employers to implement work schedules that do not require any paid firefighter's normally scheduled shifts to exceed 42 hours per workweek.
School board employee grievance procedure; timing of dispute resolution. Requires the grievance procedure for certain school board employees to afford a timely and fair method of the resolution of disputes arising between the school board and such employees before dismissal or other disciplinary actions, excluding suspensions. Current law requires such procedure to afford a timely and fair method of the resolution of disputes arising between the school board and such employees regarding dismissal or other disciplinary actions, excluding suspensions, but is silent on the timing of such dispute resolution. This bill is identical to SB 824.
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Adult and Dislocated Worker funds; minimum allocation requirement waived. Authorizes the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement to waive the 40 percent allocation requirement of certain funding under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 for a local workforce development board that submits a request for a waiver and demonstrates that the board is unable to meet the requirement due to (i) a lack of available training providers in the local workforce development area, (ii) a lack of demand for training services among eligible participants, or (iii) other extraordinary circumstances. The bill requires the Department to develop and publish a process for the application and approval of such waivers.
Virginia Personnel Act; hiring preference in state government; certain former federal employees. Allows for an applicant's status as a former federal employee to be given consideration when applying for employment with the Commonwealth if such applicant was terminated from a position of employment with the federal government on or after January 1, 2025, due to a reduction in the federal budget or initiatives put in place by the federal Department of Government Efficiency, provided that such person meets all of the knowledge, skill, and ability requirements for the available position. The bill directs the Department of Human Resource Management, on or before January 1 of each year, to submit a report to the Governor and the General Assembly that includes the number of job applications submitted by candidates who self-identified as former federal employees, as well as the number of jobs offered to such candidates. The bill has an expiration date of January 21, 2029.
Exemptions from garnishment; exemptions in bankruptcy proceedings; disposable earnings. Provides that the exemption provided for a debtor's disposable earnings, defined by current law, that are subject to garnishment also applies to disposable earnings for the purposes of a bankruptcy proceeding.
