Del. Michelle Maldonado

Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act; landlord obligations. Requires a landlord to provide a copy of any written rental agreement and the statement of tenant rights and responsibilities within 10 business days of the effective date of the written rental agreement; current law requires a landlord to provide such copies within one month of such effective date. The bill outlines required notice language regarding flood insurance to be included by the landlord in the rental agreement and provides that failures of the landlord to provide notice shall not affect the validity of the rental agreement. The bill applies to rental agreements that are entered into, extended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2026.

Joint Commission on Health Care; comprehensive assessment of the quality of care, resident safety, and operational practices of nursing facilities in the Commonwealth; report. Directs the Joint Commission on Health Care to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the quality of care, resident safety, and operational practices of nursing facilities in the Commonwealth and report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairs of the House Committees on Appropriations and Health and Human Services and the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Education and Health by December 1, 2027.

Department of Education; artificial intelligence system use in instructional settings; development of AIS safety guidance required; AIS Innovation in Education Pilot Program established; report. Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with school divisions and other relevant stakeholders, to compile information on current uses of artificial intelligence systems (AIS) for student instruction in public schools in the Commonwealth and to establish and post in a publicly accessible location on its website guidance for the safe, ethical, and equitable use of AIS in instructional settings in public elementary and secondary schools. The bill requires each school board to establish, implement, and enforce policies consistent with the guidance developed by the Department in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill also directs the Department to establish and oversee the AIS Innovation in Education Pilot Program for the purpose of funding, evaluating, and scaling innovative uses of AIS in public elementary and secondary schools by providing support to school divisions in piloting AIS applications for instruction, tutoring, student engagement, operational efficiency, and teacher support and to submit an annual report to the Chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by December 1. The Pilot Program has an expiration date of July 1, 2030. This bill is identical to SB 394.

Sickle Cell Coordinated Access Network established. Directs the State Health Commissioner, in coordination with the Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems Authority, to establish and maintain the Sickle Cell Coordinated Access Network to provide health care providers in the Commonwealth with real-time consultation and support from sickle cell specialists. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. This bill is identical to SB 813.

Department of Environmental Quality; industrial wastewater; publicly owned treatment works; PFAS monitoring. Directs every publicly owned treatment works (POTW) to require certain new or industrial users of such POTW to perform and report to such POTW no later than 30 days after receipt from a laboratory the results as received of quarterly discharge monitoring for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for an initial characterization period of one year, provided, however, that such POTW may discontinue remaining quarterly monitoring by an industrial user with proper monitoring results that are below the method detection level for the first two quarters. If an industrial user detects PFAS in any amount above the detection method limit in its initial year of quarterly monitoring, the bill requires such industrial user to continue to perform and report to the POTW no later than 30 days after receipt from the laboratory the results as received of quarterly discharge monitoring for PFAS. The bill requires a POTW that receives PFAS monitoring results to report such results to the Department of Environmental Quality on a quarterly basis. Finally, the bill directs any POTW to notify an owner or operator of an industrial user subject to the monitoring requirements of the bill of the requirement to submit the initial quarterly monitoring results for PFAS within 30 days of the effective date of the bill. This bill is identical to SB 138.

Department of Housing and Community Development; powers and duties of Director; comprehensive statewide housing needs assessment; review of certain parcels. Requires the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development to conduct a review of parcels owned by certain partnerships, corporations, or real estate investment trusts as part of the comprehensive statewide housing needs assessment conducted by the Department at least every five years.

Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning April 1, 2028. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning April 1, 2028. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly net earnings, not to exceed 100 percent of the statewide average weekly net earnings, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program. This bill is identical to SB 2.

Department of Education; culturally responsive and language-appropriate mental health support and services; guidance and policies. Requires, no later than October 1, 2027, the Department of Education to develop, adopt, and provide to each local school board guidance on the adoption of policies governing the provision of culturally responsive and language-appropriate mental health support and services for students in the local school division and permits any school board to develop and adopt policies in the local school division that are consistent with the guidelines adopted and provided by the Department of Education.

Department of Social Services; centralized intake system for reports or complaints of child abuse or neglect; response to complaints within 24 hours for children under three years of age. Establishes a centralized hotline for reports and complaints of child abuse or neglect. The bill requires the Department of Social Services to establish and maintain a hotline for reports and complaints of child abuse or neglect and specifies that the Department shall determine the validity of such reports and complaints. The bill eliminates the requirement that local departments must be capable of receiving and responding to reports and complaints of abuse or neglect and instead requires that any complaint of child abuse or neglect received by a local department shall be immediately forwarded to the Department's child abuse and neglect hotline. Such provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. The bill also directs the Department of Social Services to (i) promulgate regulations necessary to implement the provisions of the bill by July 1, 2027, and (ii) contract with a third party by August 1, 2026, to conduct a comprehensive study and review of the screening process used for child protective services complaints across Virginia.

Prohibiting employer seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees; wage or salary range transparency; cause of action. Prohibits a prospective employer from (i) seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee; (ii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in considering the prospective employee for employment; (iii) relying on the wage or salary history of a prospective employee in determining the wages or salary the prospective employee is to be paid upon hire; (iv) refusing to interview, hire, employ, or promote or otherwise retaliating against a prospective or current employee for not providing wage or salary history or requesting a wage or salary range; (v) failing or refusing to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or wage or salary range; and (vi) failing to set a wage or salary range in good faith. The bill establishes a cause of action for an aggrieved prospective employee or employee and provides that an employer that violates such prohibitions is liable to the aggrieved prospective employee or employee for statutory damages between $1,000 and $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and any other legal and equitable relief as may be appropriate. This bill incorporates HB 1164 and is identical to SB 215.