Local authority; affordable housing performance grant programs. Allows any locality that has created an industrial development authority or economic development authority (the Authority) to establish, by ordinance, an affordable housing performance grant program. The bill outlines that such ordinance authorizes the Authority to award affordable housing performance grants to qualifying applicants. Such an ordinance must include: (i) a definition of affordable housing; (ii) grant application guidelines and processes, including an identification of the local officer that is designated to receive applications; (iii) criteria for determining whether the construction or improvement of property qualifies for the awarding of the grant; (iv) provisions that require an applicant seeking the award of a grant to acquire appropriate permits and complete the construction or improvement to develop affordable housing before such a grant will be awarded; (v) provisions that require an applicant seeking the award of a grant to present evidence demonstrating that he has filed and recorded a restrictive covenant to provide affordable housing on the property for a set term, as determined by the ordinance, provided that such term shall be no more than 30 years, on the subject qualifying property before such a grant will be awarded; and (vi) a timeline for the Authority to award grants to qualifying applicants, which may be either upon the completion of the construction or improvement of the property, or on January 1 of the year following the completion of the construction or improvement of the property. The bill also limits the total amount of any such grant to being no more than the amount equal to the increase in assessed value resulting from the construction or improvement of a property. Finally, the bill permits a locality that adopts such ordinance to impose a fee, not to exceed $250, to offset the costs of processing an application.
Sponsored bills
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.
Contraception; right to contraception; applicability; enforcement. Establishes a right to obtain contraceptives and engage in contraception, as such terms are defined in the bill. The bill clarifies that none of its provisions shall be construed to permit or sanction the performance of any sterilization procedure without a patient's voluntary and informed consent. The bill creates a cause of action that may be instituted against anyone who infringes on such right. This bill is identical to SB 596.
Public elementary and secondary schools; student diabetes medical care and management. Establishes several provisions relating to student diabetes medical care and management in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, including requiring divisionwide plans for the care of students who are diagnosed with diabetes in each school division, effective beginning with the 2028–2029 school year. This bill incorporates HB 624 and is identical to SB 122.
Appointment of youth representative to local governing body. Allows a local governing body to appoint a youth representative to serve as a nonvoting member of the governing body.
Board for Contractors; examinations; alternative languages. Provides that any exam offered by the Board for Contractors that averaged over 50 administrations per year over the preceding four-year period shall be made available in any language that meets the threshold for having election materials printed in that language pursuant to state election law.
Department of Housing and Community Development; local housing policy; report to Department. Expands the range of local housing policy changes that are required to be submitted annually in a report to the Department of Housing and Community Development by any locality with a population greater than 3,500. This bill is identical to SB 665.
Housing for local employees; grants for homeownership and workforce housing alternatives. Eliminates the maximum amount a locality may provide (i) to employees of the locality, employees of the school board, and employees of constitutional officers for homeownership grants to purchase primary residences in the locality and (ii) to school division personnel for residential housing assistance grants to provide affordable workforce housing alternatives. The bill also eliminates the requirement that such grants adhere to the Virginia Housing and Development Authority regional sales price and household income limitation guidelines. Current law imposes a maximum grant amount of $25,000 for individual grants per employee, as well as a maximum lifetime cumulative amount of $25,000 per employee. This bill is identical to SB 328.
Open captioning at motion picture theaters. Establishes requirements for open captioning for motion picture theaters. The bill requires all motion picture theater companies, excluding outdoor theaters such as drive-in theaters, that own, operate, control, or lease five or more locations in the Commonwealth and are open to the general public to provide open captioning on any film that has at least seven showings per operating week for a period greater than one operating week, provided that open captioning is available to the theater for such film as part of the digital cinema package. The bill specifies that (i) within the first two operating weeks following a film's release, a theater shall provide at least four open captioning viewings; (ii) at least one of such open captioning viewings shall start between (a) 5:59 p.m. and 11:01 p.m. on a Friday, (b) 10:59 a.m. and 11:01 p.m. on a Saturday or Sunday, or (c) 5:59 p.m. and 10:01 p.m. on a Monday through Thursday; and (iii) beginning in the third operating week following a film's release, a theater shall provide at least one open captioning viewing within 72 hours after receiving a request for such a viewing provided that no theater shall be obligated to provide open captioning viewing for any particular screening for which advance tickets have been sold prior to its receipt of such request. Under the bill, motion picture theater companies are required to provide contact information on their websites for receiving and fulfilling requests for open captioning screenings and advertise the date and time of open captioning screenings in the same manner used to advertise all other motion picture screenings and indicate which screenings shall include open captioning by utilizing the character symbol "OC" or such other language or symbols as may reasonably identify which screenings will include open captioning. The bill directs the Office of Civil Rights of the Attorney General of Virginia to establish a process for receiving consumer reports of suspected violations of the bill. As introduced, the bill was a recommendation of the Disability Commission. This bill is identical to SB 722.
Private activity bonds; allocation of state ceiling. Increases the housing allocation of the Virginia state ceiling on private activity bonds from 57 to 67 percent by (i) increasing the allocation to the Virginia Housing Development Authority from the current 43 percent to 50 percent and (ii) increasing the allocation to local housing authorities from the current 14 percent to 17 percent. The bill also maintains the current 18 percent for the Governor's state allocation portion and reduces the industrial development bonds for manufacturing and exempt facilities portion of the ceiling from 25 to 15 percent. This bill is identical to SB 729.