Del. Charniele Herring

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.

Department of Corrections; Maternal MortalityReview Team; access to medical records. Directs the Departmentof Corrections to provide the Maternal Mortality Review Team withaccess to medical records of formerly incarcerated decedents fromall medical facilities operated or under contract to the Department.

Subpoenas; release of witness. Makes the provisions governing a release of a witness from a subpoena applicable to a subpoena issued at the request of a party or by or at the request of an attorney representing a party. Under current law, these provisions apply to the release of a witness from an attorney-issued subpoena only. This bill is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference.

Chief Medical Examiner; Maternal Mortality ReviewTeam; work group; expansion plan; report. Directs the Officeof the Chief Medical Examiner and the Maternal Mortality Review Teamto convene a work group to expand the work of the Maternal MortalityReview Team. The bill directs the work group to develop criteriaand procedures related to the collection of maternal morbidity data.The bill specifies that the Maternal Mortality Review Team's expansionplan shall include certain plans for data collection, data review, and development and implementation of policies and recommendations.The work group is required to report its findings and provide itsplan to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations andHealth, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees on Financeand Appropriations and Education and Health by December 1, 2025.

Child labor offenses; civil penalties. Increasesfrom $10,000 to $25,000 the civil penalty for each violation of childlabor laws that results in the employment of a child who is seriouslyinjured or dies in the course of employment. The bill also increasesfrom $1,000 to $2,500 the maximum civil penalty for each other violationof child labor laws and provides that such civil penalty shall notbe less than $500. The bill directs the Department of Labor and Industry to convene a stakeholder work group to develop education and outreach plans to inform young workers and employers about child labor laws.

Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity; penalties. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation because of such individual's ethnic origin and prohibits such discrimination. The bill also adds victims who are intentionally selected because of their ethnic origin to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of ethnic origin. This bill is identical to SB 7.

Center for Rural Virginia; name change. Renames the Center for Rural Virginia as the Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr. Center for Rural Virginia. This bill is identical to SB 704.

Public high schools; research-based hazing prevention instruction. Requires the Board of Education to develop Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for research-based hazing prevention instruction to be provided as a part of physical or health education instruction provided to students in grade nine or 10. The bill requires such hazing prevention instruction to include age-appropriate, extensive, and current education about hazing, including (i) examples of hazing; (ii) the dangers of hazing, including the consequences of alcohol intoxication; and (iii) school policies and laws related to hazing, including criminal penalties and bystander intervention. The bill requires such research-based hazing prevention instruction to be offered in-person but requires each school board to provide options for virtual participation for any student who is enrolled in an online or virtual physical or health education program. Finally, the bill requires each school board to provide such research-based hazing prevention instruction beginning with the school year following the Board's adoption of revised Standards of Learning for physical and health education for grades nine and 10 incorporating such research-based hazing prevention instruction and directs the Board to, in the intermediary time, develop and post on its website guidance documents for the purpose of making such research-based hazing prevention instruction available to local school boards. This bill is identical to SB 379.

Adoption; parental placement and agency adoption. Makes various changes to statutes governing parental placement and agency adoptions. The bill authorizes a hospital to release a child to his adoptive parents when the birth parent has executed a health care power of attorney. The bill provides that when a juvenile and domestic relations district court enters an order waiving the consent of one or both birth parents who have failed, without good cause, to appear at a hearing to execute consent for which they were given proper notice and transferring custody of a child who has been in the physical care and custody of prospective adoptive parents, such adoption shall be considered a parental placement adoption. The bill also allows the juvenile and domestic relations court to find, even if a birth parent has been given proper notice and appears at a hearing to execute consent or withholds consent, that the consent of such birth parent is withheld contrary to the best interest of the child or is unobtainable. The bill also clarifies that the effect of an order of the juvenile and domestic relations district court accepting a birth parent's consent and finding that any applicable revocation period has expired is to terminate a consenting birth parent's residual parental rights. The bill provides that a juvenile and domestic relations court shall accept consent from an out-of-state birth parent. Under current law, a juvenile and domestic relations district court is required to request consent from an out-of-state court having jurisdiction over custody matters in the jurisdiction where a birth parent resides when such birth parent does not reside in the Commonwealth. The bill adds licensed child-placing agencies and prospective adoptive parents to those with the authority to consent to surgical and medical treatment of certain minors, subject to certain requirements. The bill decreases from 45 to 10 days the time for which a hearing is required to be held upon the filing of a petition for the approval of an entrustment agreement by a local board of social services or a child welfare agency. The bill also makes technical amendments.