Del. Sam Rasoul

Compensation of court-appointed counsel. Raises the limitation of fees that court-appointed counsel can receive for representation on various offenses in district and circuit courts. The bill also limits the fees charged for the cost of court-appointed counsel or public defender representation to persons determined to be indigent to an amount no greater than the amount such person would have owed if such fees had been assessed on or before June 30, 2024. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 356.

Alert for missing or endangered children; Virginia Critical Operation for a Disappeared Child Initiative (Codi) Alert Program. Creates a program for local, regional, or statewide notification of a missing or endangered child. The bill defines a missing or endangered child as a child (i) who is 17 years of age or younger or is currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Commonwealth, regardless of age; (ii) whose whereabouts are unknown; and (iii) whose disappearance is under suspicious circumstances or poses a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the child and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Virginia State Police. The bill requires the Virginia State Police to develop, in consultation with representatives of local law-enforcement agencies, including representatives from the Virginia Sheriffs' Association and the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, policies for the establishment of uniform standards for the creation of Codi Alert Programs throughout the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to SB 201.

Veterans' Services Protection Act; prohibited practices; penalty. Creates the Veterans' Services Protection Act to prohibit any person from receiving compensation for preparing, presenting, prosecuting, advising, consulting, or assisting any individual regarding any veterans' benefits matter, as defined in the bill, except as permitted under federal law. The bill provides that a violation of its provisions constitutes a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

High school graduation requirements; satisfaction of certain course credits with workforce credentials; development and maintenance of list of accepted credentials. Requires the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System, Career and Technical Education directors, and industry partners, to develop and maintain a current, comprehensive, and uniform list of industry-recognized workforce credentials that students may take as a substitute for certain units of credit required for graduation, including such credentials that are accepted as substitutes for electives credits and credentials completed outside of regular school hours. The bill requires each school board to accept as a substitute for a required credit any credential listed as an accepted substitute for such required credit. The bill also requires any College and Career Access Pathways Partnership entered into between a school board and a comprehensive community college to specify, consistent with the list, industry-recognized credentials that are accepted as substitutes for certain credits required for high school graduation. Finally, the bill requires the Board, in establishing graduation requirements, to permit any student to substitute elective credits for completion of any industry-approved workforce credential that is included on the list as an accepted substitute for such credits. This bill incorporates HB 1009 and is identical to SB 199.

Auricular acupuncture; use of the five needle protocol. Allows any person to engage in the five needle auricular acupuncture protocol (5NP), a standardized protocol wherein up to five needles are inserted into the external human ear to provide relief from the effects of behavioral health conditions, provided that such person (i) has appropriate training in the 5NP, including training established by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association or equivalent certifying body; (ii) does not use any letters, words, or insignia indicating or implying that he is an acupuncturist; and (iii) makes no statement implying that his practice of the 5NP is licensed, certified, or otherwise overseen by the Commonwealth. Treatment utilizing the 5NP pursuant to this bill is strictly limited to the insertion of disposable, sterile acupuncture needles into the ear and only in compliance with the 5NP.

Local government powers; regulation of tobacco, nicotine, and hemp product retail sale locations. Allows a locality to regulate the retail sale locations of tobacco products, nicotine vapor products, alternative nicotine products, or hemp products intended for smoking for any such retail sale location and may prohibit a retail sale location on property within 1,000 linear feet of a child day center or a public, private, or parochial school.

Firearm safety device tax credit; definition of firearm safety device. Expands the definition of "firearm safety device" as it relates to the firearm safety device tax credit to include any device that, when installed on a firearm, is designed to prevent the firearm from being operated without first deactivating the device. The provisions of the bill are effective for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2024. This bill incorporates HB 945.

Virginia Tourism Authority; powers; historically accurate advertising. Requires the Virginia Tourism Authority, in consultation with The Library of Virginia and the Virginia African American Advisory Board, to (i) create standards for the Authority's publications and advertising material to ensure all such materials accurately identify parcels of real property in the Commonwealth with a history linked to slave ownership and accurately depict the contributions of Black Virginians to any such parcel of real property; and (ii) acknowledge the horrors of slavery in the Commonwealth by publishing a list of slave-owning properties in the Commonwealth.

Criminal justice training academies; curriculum. Provides that an approved criminal justice training academy may utilize an alternative curriculum and lesson plans that meet or exceed the compulsory minimum training standards without seeking a waiver from the Department of Criminal Justice Services. Under current law, the Department is required to develop a uniform curriculum to be used at all criminal justice training academies unless a waiver to the uniform curriculum is granted by the Department.

Behavioral Health Commission; membership. Changes the composition of the Behavioral Health Commission by increasing from two to three the number of House appointees who are required to be members of the House Committee on Appropriations. This bill is identical to SB 125.