Equity in public school funding and staffing; special education students; at-risk students; English language learner students; report. Requires state-funded add-ons to be provided to support special education students that are calculated by multiplying weights set forth in the general appropriation act by the relevant basic aid per-pupil amount for each such student. The bill establishes the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at risk, including prevention, intervention, or remediation activities required pursuant to relevant law, teacher recruitment programs and initiatives, programs for English language learners, the hiring of additional school counselors and other support staff, and other programs relating to increasing the success of disadvantaged students in completing a high school degree and providing opportunities to encourage further education and training. The bill also contains provisions relating to certain funding requirements for the At-Risk Program. The bill requires the Department of Education to develop and implement a data collection process related to English language learner expenditures and student English proficiency levels and identify other options to support English language learners and provide a status report to the Joint Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education Funding on its implementation and data collection efforts by September 1, 2025. Finally, the bill requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services or any other relevant stakeholders with expertise in special education as the Department of Education deems appropriate, to develop a plan for revised special education staffing requirements that addresses the staffing needs of each special education program in each school division as determined by the specific educational and behavioral support needs of students who receive special education and aims to improve special education teacher recruitment and retention and to report its findings to the Joint Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education Funding by November 1, 2025. The bill is a recommendation of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. This bill incorporates HB 1831.
Del. Alfonso Lopez
Sponsored bills
Collective bargaining by firefighters and emergency medical services providers. Authorizes firefighters and emergency medical services providers employed by a political subdivision of the Commonwealth to engage in collective bargaining through labor organizations or other designated representatives. The bill establishes the Fire Service Cooperation Board to administer its provisions. The bill provides for the appointment of a three-member board of arbitration regarding any dispute arising between an employer and firefighters or emergency medical services providers. Under the bill, determinations made by such board of arbitration are final on a disputed issue and are binding on the parties involved. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2026.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science and Marine Resources Commission; oyster stock assessment; report. Directs the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in collaboration with the Marine Resources Commission to conduct a stock assessment of the oyster population in the waters of the Commonwealth. The bill requires VIMS to provide a report on its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources no later than April 1, 2026.
Tax credit; purchase of asphalt recycling equipment for reprocessing existing asphalt materials from pavements and roadways; report. Creates a nonrefundable tax credit for taxable years 2025 and 2026 in an amount equal to 20 percent of the purchase price, as defined in the bill, paid during the taxable year for asphalt recycling equipment. The bill defines asphalt recycling equipment as machinery and equipment that is used to reclaim, recycle, or reprocess existing asphalt materials from pavements and roadways in the Commonwealth and that has been certified by the Department of Environmental Quality as being integral to the recycling process. The bill provides a $3 million aggregate annual cap on the number of credits to be distributed, as administered by the Department of Taxation, and an annual cap of 40 percent of the taxpayer's liability for taxes for any taxable year. Any credit not used for the taxable year in which the purchase price for recycling machinery was paid may be carried over for the next 10 years until the total credit amount is used. Finally, the bill requires the Department of Taxation, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Transportation, to submit a report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Finance and Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than December 1, 2025, on the number of claims for such credit and any impact to environmental quality and pavement performance resulting from the use of asphalt recycling equipment.
Income tax credit; advertising in local newspapers and media. Creates, for taxable years 2025 through 2029, a nonrefundable income tax credit for eligible small businesses with fewer than 50 employees for certain expenses incurred for local media advertising in a local newspaper or in a broadcast of a local radio or television station. The credit is equal to (i) for the first taxable year in which the credit is claimed, the lesser of 80 percent of the actual amounts paid or incurred for qualified local media advertising expenses or $4,000 and (ii) in subsequent taxable years, the lesser of 50 percent of the actual amounts paid or incurred for qualified local media advertising expenses during such taxable year or $2,000. The credit includes an aggregate cap of $10 million per taxable year.
Department of Education; public school accountability; delayed implementation and review of revised public school accountability system; report; emergency. Directs the Department of Education to delay for a period of one year the implementation of the revised public school accountability system adopted pursuant to applicable Board of Education regulations in order to conduct a review of and establish a stakeholder advisory committee to solicit input on such revised public school accountability system for the purpose of ensuring that such accountability system is designed to achieve fair, transparent, and actionable results aimed at improving student growth and learning outcomes across the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Department to, by April 1, 2026, (i) publish a report on the process and findings of the review conducted in accordance with the provisions of the bill and (ii) submit to the Governor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the House Committee on Education a plan for modifying and implementing the revised public school accountability system that incorporates the findings of the review conducted and the input from the stakeholder advisory committee established in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Retail sales and use tax; firearm and ammunition taxes. Imposes (i) a firearm tax in the amount of $5 per firearm and (ii) a firearm ammunition tax of one cent ($0.01) per round of firearm ammunition that is sold by firearm seller, defined in the bill. The bill requires any revenue proceeds from such taxes to be used to prevent gun violence and enhance school safety.
Electric utilities; customer energy choice; customer return to service; subscription cap and queue. Removes certain restrictions on the ability of individual retail customers of electric energy within the Commonwealth, regardless of customer class, to purchase electric energy matched 100 percent by renewable energy certificates from any supplier of electric energy licensed to sell retail electric energy within the Commonwealth. The bill requires a licensed supplier to match a percentage of each retail electric customer's annual load with renewable energy certificates from within the PJM transmission region. The bill decreases from five years to six months the required written notice period for certain electric energy customers to return to service by an incumbent electric utility after purchasing electric energy from other suppliers. The bill also directs the Commission, by October 1, 2026, to establish a subscription cap allowance for certain utility customers seeking to participate in purchasing electric energy from a licensed supplier. The Commission is required to review the subscription cap allowance every two years starting on January 1, 2028, and electric utilities are required to file their subscription queues with the Commission by January 15, 2027, and annually thereafter. The bill contains an exception to the subscription cap allowance for customers seeking to expand usage at an existing or new facility. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026, unless the rules and regulations of the Commission promulgated pursuant to the bill specify a commencement date.
Uniform labeling requirements for certain food packaging. Prohibits the use of a sell-by date on a label affixed to a food product that is manufactured on or after July 1, 2026. The bill instead requires a person selling or offering for sale such food product to use on the outside packaging or container of such food product the phrase "Best if Used by," "Best if Used or Frozen by," "Use by," or "Use by or Freeze by" or its associated abbreviations, as provided in the bill. The bill exempts from its provisions infant formula, eggs, including pasteurized in-shell eggs, beer or other malt beverages, certain shellfish, and any food that is required by law or regulation to bear a label indicating a date or time such food must be consumed, sold, or discarded. The bill maintains a person's discretion to use a quality date or safety date that is not otherwise required by law; however, the bill requires use of the specified label if a person chooses to include such a label on the food product. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Public schools; Standards of Quality; certain calculations; support services. Requires the Department of Education, (i) in calculating the deduction of federal funds in the Standards of Quality funding formula, to examine actual school division spending on support costs as a percentage of actual school division spending on all public education costs, with certain exceptions such as food service, and (ii) in calculating the costs in the Standards of Quality funding formula beginning with fiscal year 2029, to include all employee benefit costs incurred by a majority of school divisions, including costs related to retirement, health care, life insurance, and payout of earned but unused leave. The bill also requires support services positions to be funded based on a calculation of prevailing costs and prohibits such positions from being subject to any method of funding calculation that caps the number of funded support services positions based on a ratio of such positions to students enrolled in the school division, with the exception of certain support services positions enumerated in the bill. This bill was incorporated into HB 1954.