Rep. Eric Zehr

Animal-drawn vehicles; equipment requirements. Establishes certain equipment requirements for animal-drawn vehicles operating on the highways of the Commonwealth, including requirements for brake systems, tires and wheels, headlamps, reflectors, hazard lights, rearview mirrors, and horns. The bill replaces existing light and reflector requirements for animal-drawn vehicles under current law with such equipment requirements for headlamps, reflectors, and hazard lights.

School boards; employment of school resource officers in each public elementary and secondary school. Requires each school board to enter into a collaborative agreement with the local law-enforcement agency to employ at least one school resource officer in each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division and provides that no school board shall be granted any full or partial waiver from such staffing requirements. The bill contains a contingent effective date that states that the foregoing requirement shall become effective beginning with the fiscal year in which funding has been provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to fully fund such requirement.

Gift certificates; international transactions; fraud reports. Amends the definition of "gift certificate" and prohibits merchants from selling a gift certificate as part of an international transaction without first implementing a 24-hour hold on the activation of such gift certificate. The bill also requires local law enforcement to communicate reports of gift certificate fraud to the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Best interests of the child; custody; orders to return a minor child; violations of orders regarding motions to relocate. Provides that in any case in which a party to a custody case (i) was subject to an order to return a minor child or (ii) violated a stay on or denial of a motion to relocate within the previous 10 years of such custody case, there shall be a presumption that it is in the best interests of the child for such child to be placed in the primary custody of the party not subject to or in violation of any such order.

Actions for medical malpractice; minors; gender transition procedures. Provides a 20-year statute of limitations for any cause of action for personal injury or wrongful death accruing on or after July 1, 2025, on behalf of a person who was a minor at the time the cause of action accrued against a health care provider for medical malpractice wherein the act or omission giving rise to such cause of action occurred during a gender transition procedure, as defined in the bill, on such minor.

Directing the Speaker of the House of Delegates to order a study of the legal effects and consequences of a constitutional amendment enshrining a right to reproductive freedom. Directs the Speaker of the House of Delegates to order a study of the legal effects and consequences of a constitutional amendment enshrining a right to reproductive freedom, including whether the language of the proposed amendment would constitutionally protect abortion throughout all of pregnancy, create a constitutional right for the parents of a dead child to sell such child's body parts, and legally permit partial birth infanticide, born-alive murder, child pornography, sexual assault, and any other crime after complete extraction or expulsion from the mother so long as the umbilical cord is attached.

Virginia taxable income; standard deduction; sunset. Removes the sunset on elevated standard deduction amounts for single individuals and married persons that is scheduled to expire for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2026.

Motor vehicle accidents; actions brought by uninsured motorists; limited damages. Places limits on the amount of recoverable damages in a motor vehicle accident resulting in personal injury or property damage when the person injured or whose property was damaged is an uninsured motorist. The bill provides that the limits do not apply if (i) the tortfeasor was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, (ii) the tortfeasor failed to stop and report the injury or damage after such accident, or (iii) the injury or damage was a result of an intentional act taken by the tortfeasor to injure the person or damage such person's property.

Power of magistrates to issue arrest warrants. Prohibits a magistrate from issuing an arrest warrant for an offense upon the basis of a complaint by a person other than a law-enforcement officer or an animal control officer without prior authorization by the attorney for the Commonwealth or by a law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the alleged offense. Current law places such prohibition only on felony offenses.

Motor vehicle accidents; actions brought by uninsured motorists; limited damages. Places limits on the amount of recoverable damages in a motor vehicle accident resulting in personal injury or property damage when the person injured or whose property was damaged is an uninsured motorist. The bill provides that the limits do not apply if (i) the tortfeasor was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, (ii) the tortfeasor failed to stop and report the injury of damage after such accident, or (iii) the injury or damage was a result of an intentional act taken by the tortfeasor to injure the person or damage such person's property.