Damage or trespass to public services or utilities or critical infrastructure; penalties. Adds the intentional destruction of or damage to any fixture, equipment, or information technology system that is used to provide, process, transmit, or maintain public services, public utilities, cable television, broadband, or other critical infrastructure, as defined in relevant law, to the existing offense of damage or trespass to public services or utilities. The bill contains technical amendments and is identical to HB 317.
Division of Consumer Counsel; duties; artificial intelligence fraud and abuse. Expands the duties of the Division of Consumer Counsel to include establishing mechanisms for receiving and investigating complaints by the Commonwealth's consumers involving emerging technologies, including referring appropriate complaints to the federal, state, and local departments or agencies charged with the enforcement of applicable consumer laws.
Student instruction; internet safety; certain topics. Requires the internet safety component that is integrated into each school division's instructional program as required by its acceptable internet use policy to include instruction on key modern digital safety topics, including online scams, misinformation, and content generated by artificial intelligence.
Virginia Lottery; powers of the Virginia Lottery Board; advertising restrictions; age verification. Directs the Virginia Lottery to study the feasibility of furthering responsible gaming as it relates to the lottery, casino gaming, and sports betting, and to develop an implementation plan to require all lottery terminals to possess proper age verification software to ensure that a consumer is 18 years of age or older. The Director of the Virginia Lottery shall report any findings to the Chairs of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology by October 1, 2026.
Department of Education; best practices for implementation in public schools of technology tools to assist with the identification of students at risk of engaging in self-harm or intending to inflict harm on others; report. Directs the Department of Education to convene a work group consisting of representatives set forth in the bill, as determined by the Department in consultation with and based on consideration of suggestions from statewide education organizations and appropriate technology industries, for the purpose of identifying and making recommendations to the chairs of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education on best practices for the procurement, implementation, and use in public schools of technology tools designed to assist with the identification of students at risk of engaging in self-harm or intending to inflict harm on others. The bill directs the work group to submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the chairs of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education by November 15, 2026.
Consumer Data Protection Act; social media platforms and operators; interoperability interfaces. Requires social media platforms and operators, defined in the bill, to implement third-party interoperability interfaces to allow users to share social graph data, defined in the bill, and contextual data associated with artificial intelligence systems, defined in the bill, as the user designates. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Health carriers; use of artificial intelligence; disclosures. Requires health carriers to disclose to the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance how artificial intelligence is used to manage claims coverage and to submit all information enabling decisions made by artificial intelligence to the Bureau upon request. The bill also requires health carriers to provide notice to enrollees and health care providers when artificial intelligence has been used to issue an adverse determination and to provide a clear and timely process for appeal of such determination.
Consumer Data Protection Act; prohibitions and duties relating to minors. Prohibits a controller of an online service, product, or feature from entering into certain agreements with a known minor, unless such controller obtains verified consent from the minor's parent as specified in the bill. The bill imposes certain duties on a controller of an online service, product, or feature related to advertising, algorithm use, and reasonable care toward known minors. The bill expands the consumer rights of a parent to minors and adds a provision allowing a parent to obtain a copy of the minor's data. Current law offers certain consumer rights to the parents of children younger than age 13. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
