Del. Vivian Watts

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 clarifies that the provision of a breakfast by a school to a student at no cost to the student shall not be construed as creating a disincentive for the school or local school division to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision program. Additionally, the bill provides that schools shall maximize the number of students who participate in the school breakfast program by implementing one or more suggested service models to increase access to such program. The bill requires the Department of Education to reimburse each public elementary and secondary school for each eligible school breakfast served to a student, with a maximum of one reimbursable 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. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Commission to End Hunger.

Taxation in the Commonwealth. Levies the retail sales and use tax on the following services: admissions; charges for recreation, fitness, or sports facilities; nonmedical personal services or counseling; dry cleaning and laundry services; companion animal care; residential home repair or maintenance, landscaping, or cleaning services when paid for directly by a resident or homeowner; vehicle and engine repair; repairs or alterations to tangible personal property; storage of tangible personal property; delivery or shipping services; travel, event, and aesthetic planning services; and digital services. Digital services are defined in the bill as the following: software application services, computer-related services, website hosting and design, data storage, and digital subscription services. The services taxed under the bill include any transaction for digital services where the purchaser or consumer of the service is a business but do not include any service otherwise exempt under law. The bill also imposes the retail sales and use tax on digital personal property, defined in the bill as a digital product delivered electronically that the purchaser owns or has the ability to continually access without having to pay an additional subscription or usage fee to the seller after paying the initial purchase price. Revenues generated by the taxes levied on services and digital personal property shall be allocated in the same manner as other sales and use taxes; however, revenues from the state portion of the sales and use tax that would be allocated to the general fund shall instead be allocated as follows: first, (i) revenue generated by the imposition of such tax on delivery services in the Northern Virginia Transportation District shall be distributed to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and (ii) all other revenues generated by the imposition of such tax on delivery services shall be distributed to the Commonwealth Transportation Fund. Of the remaining revenues, (a) 60 percent shall be distributed to localities on the basis of school-age population and (b) 40 percent shall be distributed to localities on the basis of the high-need student population in the locality. The bill clarifies that a high-need student population includes students who are (1) automatically certified for free school meals because of participation in social services programs, (2) participants in a program of special education, or (3) English language learners. The bill provides certain exemptions to the sales and use tax on services, including health care services that must be performed by a person licensed or certified by the Department of Health Professions, veterinary services, professional services, internet access services, and services provided by a person who does not receive more than $2,500 per year in gross receipts for performance of such services. The bill exempts services purchased by a nonprofit organization and services purchased by a homeowners' association or by a landlord for the benefit of his tenant. The bill also repeals the service exemptions currently provided for the sale of custom programs and modification of prewritten programs. Finally, the bill exempts food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products from all state, local, and regional sales taxes on and after July 1, 2026. Under current law, food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products are subject only to the one percent local option sales tax.

Public schools; indoor air quality; industry-recognized uniform inspection and evaluation. Adds several items that are required to be included in the industry-recognized uniform inspection and evaluation of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system that is required at least every four years for each public elementary and secondary school building, including measurement of radon levels in the air and testing for moisture incursion. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Personal property taxes; valuation. Requires that tangible personal property employed in a trade or business, other than such property set out for different valuation in current law, shall be valued by means of a percentage or percentages of original cost to the taxpayer. Current law requires such property to be valued only by means of a percentage or percentages of original cost. The provisions of this bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2027 Session of the General Assembly.

Taxation provisions. Increases the standard deduction to $10,000 for single individuals, $15,000 for individuals eligible to claim head of household for federal tax purposes, and $20,000 for married individuals beginning in taxable year 2027 and indexes such deduction amount for inflation beginning in taxable year 2028. The bill also removes the aggregate amount of housing opportunity tax credits that may be claimed for qualified projects across all calendar years and exempts food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products from the local sales tax. The bill establishes two new tax brackets beginning on and after January 1, 2027, that tax income in excess of $600,000 but not in excess of $1,000,000 at a rate of eight percent and income in excess of $1,000,000 at a rate of 10 percent. Finally, the bill provides that 50 percent of revenues generated by the new tax brackets will be dedicated to localities for maintenance, operation, capital outlays, debt and interest payments, or other expenses incurred in the operation of public schools.

Robbery. Conforms certain provisions of the Code referencing robbery to the degrees of robbery offenses established by Chapter 534 of the Acts of Assembly of 2021, Special Session I. These changes include: (i) limiting to the three higher degrees of robbery certain non-robbery crimes for which committing such crime with the intent to commit a robbery is an element of the offenses, (ii) limiting the types of robbery that are included in the definition of "acts of violence" to the two higher degrees of robbery, (iii) clarifying how robbery offenses will be scored on the sentencing guidelines, (iv) allowing persons convicted of the two lesser degrees of robbery to be eligible for conditional release if they are terminally ill and for enhanced earned sentence credits, (v) allowing persons who are ineligible for parole as a result of being convicted of three of certain enumerated offenses to be eligible for parole if convicted of an offense that would constitute robbery by presenting of firearms, and (vi) limiting the application of the three-strikes law to the two higher degrees of robbery and making persons convicted under the three-strikes law eligible for parole if one of the three convictions resulting in the mandatory life sentence would constitute one of the two lesser degrees of robbery. The bill leaves unchanged the current law making all degrees of robbery predicate criminal acts by adding the two lesser degrees of robbery to the definition of "predicate criminal act" and specifying that the two higher degrees of robbery are included in the definition of "act of violence." The bill requires the changes made to the eligibility for conditional release of terminally ill prisoners and enhanced earned sentence credits to apply retroactively if certain criteria are met.

State correctional facilities; participation of prisoners in employment and educational programs; reentry planning. Expands the program assignments in which the Director of the Department of Corrections may place a prisoner while such prisoner is confined in a state correctional facility. The bill requires the Director to place a prisoner in an appropriate program assignment within (i) 90 days of the arrival of a prisoner sentenced to a new term of confinement to a state correctional facility or (ii) 60 days of a prisoner already in custody being transferred to a new state correctional facility and provides that participation in such program assignments shall be for an average of 30 hours per week, calculated individually across the calendar year. Finally, the bill expands upon the requirements for a prisoner's reentry plan, including requiring an assessment, if necessary, of a prisoner's readiness to take a high school equivalency test and any modifications needed for the prisoner to take or improve upon such test, and making available peer and group educational programs developed and led by qualified prisoners.

Corporate income tax; taxable income; net operating loss. Provides that, beginning in taxable year 2027, for purposes of calculating the Virginia taxable income of corporations, federal income means any income taxable to the corporation under federal law for such year excluding net operating loss deductions under federal tax law. The bill also creates a Virginia corporate income tax net operating loss deduction, beginning in taxable year 2027, in an amount equal to the aggregate Virginia net operating losses for such taxable year, plus any transitional net operating loss deduction, pursuant to a calculation in the bill, and subject to certain other adjustments in the bill. The bill also prohibits a corporation's Virginia taxable income, after all other adjustments, allocation, and apportionment, from being reduced below zero by a Virginia net operating loss deduction. The bill also includes particular procedures for corporate income tax returns prepared on a consolidated or a combined basis. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Taxation to issue preliminary guidelines implementing the provisions of the bill and to cooperate with and seek counsel from interested stakeholders before issuing its final guidelines. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.

Assault and battery; serious bodily injury; penalty. Creates a Class 6 felony for any person who commits an assault and battery that results in serious bodily injury, as defined in relevant law, but does not rise to the level of the current offenses of unlawful or malicious wounding. The bill adds such new offense to the list of violent felony offenses for the purposes of the discretionary sentencing guidelines.

Health care providers; required estimate for nonemergency health care services. Requires health care providers to provide a good faith estimate of the payment amount for which the patient will be responsible for such nonemergency health care service, including any fees or other charges for an item or service the patient may reasonably be expected to receive in connection with the nonemergency health care service. The bill requires the good faith estimate to include (i) description of the scheduled nonemergency health care service, (ii) the provider's standard charge for the service and any related item or service, (iii) the provider's standard charges and any contracted rates known at the time the estimate is prepared, and (iv) a statement that the estimate is not binding and the actual amount billed may differ depending on changes in the scope of services or the health carrier's processing of the claim.