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.
Elections; political campaign advertisements; synthetic media; penalty. Prohibits electioneering communications containing synthetic media, as those terms are defined in the bill, from being published or broadcast without containing the following conspicuously displayed statement: "This message contains synthetic media that has been altered from its original source or artificially generated and may present conduct or speech that did not occur." The bill creates a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 for a violation of such prohibition and a Class 1 misdemeanor for a willful violation. The bill permits any registered voter who receives an electioneering communication in violation of this requirement to institute an action for preventative relief to prohibit the publication or dissemination of such electioneering communication, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction.
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.
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.
Circuit court clerks; fees; Technology Trust Fund Fee. Increases from $5 to $10 the Technology Trust Fund Fee assessed by the clerk of each circuit court in each civil action and increases the amounts of such fee allocated by the Compensation Board for specific purposes.
Corporations; limited liability decentralized autonomous organizations (LLDs). Creates the Limited Liability Decentralized Autonomous Organization (LLD) Act, which establishes requirements for an LLD, defined as a distinct legal entity that operates through decentralized governance using blockchain technology and smart contracts that execute decentralized decision-making mechanisms. The bill permits the formation of an LLD by filing articles of formation with the State Corporation Commission (the Commission), and, if certain requirements are met, the Commission may issue a certificate of formation. The bill includes requirements for amending an LLD's articles of formation and also includes requirements for LLD bylaws, operating agreements, underlying smart contracts, and participant interests and management of the LLD. Under the bill, an LLD and its participants have limited liability for debts, obligations, and liabilities of the LLD. The bill also includes provisions related to recordkeeping, transferring interests, withdrawal of participants, and dissolution of the LLD. The bill directs the Commission to adopt emergency regulations to implement certain provisions of the bill. Except for the emergency rulemaking, the provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
