Artificial Intelligence Chatbots and Minors Act established; prohibited practices; penalties. Creates the Artificial Intelligence Chatbots and Minors Act to require that deployers that operate or distribute a chatbot in the Commonwealth (i) ensure that any chatbot operated or distributed by the deployer does not make human-like features, defined in the bill, available to minors to use, interact with, purchase, or converse with and (ii) implement reasonable age verification systems to ensure that chatbots with human-like features are not made available to minors. The bill also requires deployers operating or distributing a chatbot that is a social artificial intelligence companion, defined in the bill, to ensure such chatbot is not available to minors. The bill provides that a violation of its provisions constitutes a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
Sponsored bills
School Construction Program; eligibility; projects completed or initiated within immediately preceding 10-year period. Provides that public school buildings and facilities that are eligible for grants pursuant to the School Construction Program include any building or facility for which the construction, renovation, or expansion was completed or initiated within the 10-year period immediately preceding the grant application.
Public school funding; composite index of local ability-to-pay; use value of real estate devoted to certain uses. Requires, for the purpose of determining the state and local shares of basic aid funding, that the composite index of local ability-to-pay utilize the use value of all applicable real estate (i) devoted to agricultural use, horticultural use, forest use, and open-space use in each locality that has adopted an ordinance by which it provides for the use valuation and taxation of such real estate and (ii) used in agricultural and forestal production within an agricultural district, forestal district, agricultural and forestal district, or agricultural and forestal district of local significance in each locality that provides for the use valuation and taxation of such real estate, regardless of whether it has adopted a local land-use plan or local ordinance for such valuation and taxation.
Motor vehicles; insurance; highway use fee; tangible personal property tax relief for certain vehicles. Removes the highway use fee for fuel-efficient vehicles, and maintains the same highway use fee for electric vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles. The bill removes the prohibition on motor vehicle insurers establishing a repair facility network. Under current law, insurers are prohibited from requiring an insured or claimant to utilize designated replacement or repair facilities or services as a prerequisite to settling or paying any claim arising under a policy or policies of insurance. The bill also directs each county, city, or town that receives annual reimbursements from the Commonwealth for providing tangible personal property tax relief on qualifying vehicles to, beginning in tax year 2027, ensure that after first reimbursing certain tax attributable to qualifying vehicles leased by active duty members of the United States military, as is currently required by law, (i) no qualifying vehicle owned by an individual with an annual household income in excess of $200,000 receives any reimbursement for such vehicle and (ii) the remainder of the reimbursement provided to such locality is distributed based on a sliding scale for household incomes of residents of such locality, adopted by an ordinance of the governing body of such locality, as described in the bill.
Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Fund. Directs the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to utilize point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment or filtration systems to remove or significantly reduce concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonate, and other established and emerging contaminants of concern that meet or exceed maximum contaminant levels or health advisory levels for the same contaminant adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or, in the in the absence of an EPA health advisory for such contaminant, a contaminant level determined by the Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water. The bill also establishes the Residential Well Water Testing and Treatment Program and Program Fund to allow the Department to test and treat contaminated drinking water through grants for the use of eligible treatment or filtration systems in private residential wells. This bill is a recommendation of the State Water Commission.
Certain school divisions; cost-savings agreements; requirements. Removes the limitation on any school board that enters into certain cost-savings agreements with a school board that governs a contiguous school division for the consolidation or sharing of educational, administrative, or support services and thus qualifies for adjustment of state share of basic aid computed annually on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay of such contiguous school division that caps such adjusted basic aid payment at an amount equal to the basic aid payment appropriated to such locality by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly. The bill also permits, notwithstanding the requirement set forth in relevant law that a school division have 65 percent or more of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes in order for the school board that governs such school division to be eligible to enter into such cost-savings agreements with a contiguous school division, the Bath County School Board to enter into such cost-savings agreements with the Augusta County School Board, provided that all other conditions and limitations set forth in relevant law apply to any such agreement.
Emergency custody, involuntary temporary detention, and commitment hearings; special justice and judge fees. Increases from $120 to $150 the fee that any special justice, any retired judge sitting by designation, or any district court substitute judge who presides over hearings relating to emergency custody, involuntary temporary detention, and commitment is to receive for each such hearing.
School Construction Program; use of grants; debt service. Permits local school boards to use School Construction Program grants to make debt service payments on the construction of new public school buildings or the renovation or expansion of existing public school buildings and facilities in the local school division.
State correctional facilities; required education or vocational training; earned sentence credits classification levels. Requires a prisoner in a state correctional facility, as a part of his reentry plan developed and implemented by the Department of Corrections, to complete a high school equivalency test or vocational, technical, or other certification prior to such prisoner's release. The bill also provides that the annual review of a prisoner's classification level for earned sentence credits shall include such prisoner's quantifiable or measurable progress, as available, in any programs, job assignments, and educational curricula in which he is participating, such as test scores achieved or completion of a high school equivalency test or other trade or vocational certification.
App Store Accountability Act; civil penalties; civil action. Requires an app store provider, defined in the bill, to verify the age category of an account holder, obtain verifiable parental consent for a minor account holder, and share such age category and consent information with the developer of an app, defined in the bill. The bill requires a developer to verify the age category of an account holder with a developer's app and notify app store providers of any significant change to a developer's app. The bill also requires a developer to provide a parental consent disclosure for each of its apps to each app store provider that makes the developer's app available on its app store, and such provider shall provide such disclosure on its app store. The bill allows the Attorney General and any minor or parent of a minor who suffers harm by reason of a violation of this bill to initiate an action. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.