Board of Education; career and technical education courses, pathways, and credentials; biennial review; report. Requires the Board of Education and the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, with the assistance of the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement, the Virginia Office of Education Economics, the Department of Education, the Virginia Community College System, and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, to conduct, beginning with the fiscal year starting July 1, 2026, and each odd-numbered year thereafter, a biennial review of all career and technical education course, pathway, and credential offerings available to public school students across the Commonwealth for the purpose of ensuring that all such career and technical education course, pathway, and credential offerings are (i) aligned with current and emerging industry and workforce needs, demands, and standards and (ii) designed to effectively prepare students for postsecondary success through gainful employment in a high-demand industry or field, enrollment in postsecondary education, or enlistment in the United States Armed Forces. The bill requires the Board of Education and the Virginia Board of Workforce Development to develop and submit to the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor, and the chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by October 1 of each odd-numbered year, beginning with October 1, 2026, a report on each such biennial review.
Sponsored bills
Public schools; mathematics and reading in kindergarten through grade eight; certain initiatives. Establishes several requirements relating to mathematics and reading proficiency in kindergarten through grade eight, including (i) requiring the Department of Education to establish and administer the math teacher and specialist corps to provide grants on a competitive basis to school divisions in which the mathematics proficiency of students in kindergarten through grade eight indicates a high need for intervention and improvement in order for such school divisions to offer annual stipends to effective educators with endorsements in mathematics or as mathematics specialists and deploy such individuals to the schools with the highest need; (ii) requiring each student in kindergarten through grade three to participate in a mathematics screener approved by the Department and requiring any student whose results on such screener indicate the need for further assessment to participate in a diagnostic mathematics assessment approved by the Department and to receive a mathematics improvement plan if the results on such assessment indicate the need for accelerated interventions to progress toward proficient performance in mathematics; and (iii) prohibiting any student in grade three who receives reading intervention services and whose performance on the statewide literacy screener or the grade-level reading Standards of Learning assessment at the end of the school year demonstrates substantial deficiencies from being promoted to grade four except in certain enumerated cases.
Electric utilities; retirement of certain electric generating units. Provides that, for the required retirement by December 31, 2045, of electric generating units that emit carbon as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity, exceptions to such requirement include natural gas electric generating units with carbon capture capability and emissions-positive electric generating units. Under the bill, "emissions-positive generating unit" means an electric generating unit that produces a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by either preventing, capturing, or collecting such emissions from fuel combustion.
Access to investigational drugs, biological products, and devices; patient with severely debilitating condition. Allows a patient who has a severely debilitating condition, defined in the bill as a disease or condition that causes major irreversible morbidity, to access investigational drugs, biological products, and devices when certain criteria are met. Under current law, only a patient who has a terminal condition may access such drugs, products, and devices.
Department of Social Services; Community Services Block Grant Program; funding allocation formula; work group. Directs the Department of Social Services to convene a work group to evaluate and make recommendations on revising the allocation formula for the Community Services Block Grant Program. The bill directs the work group to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 2026.
Tuition Assistance Grant Program; eligible institutions. Declares any nonprofit private historically black college or university whose primary purpose is to provide collegiate, graduate, or professional education and not to provide religious training or theological education and that is located in the Commonwealth and accredited by a national institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be eligible to participate in the Tuition Assistance Grant Program.
Income tax; real property tax relief credit. Provides a refundable income tax credit in taxable years 2026 through 2030 to eligible taxpayers, defined in the bill, who incur real property taxes in an amount equal to or greater than four percent of their federal adjusted gross income for up to $500 for single individuals and $1000 for married persons filing jointly.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Title 24.2 a chapter numbered 6.1, consisting of sections numbered 24.2-684.1 through 24.2-684.17, relating to statewide referendum ballot questions; fairness and transparency requirements; Ballot question fairness Commission; readability standards; language accessibility; public comment; judicial review.
Local motor vehicle licenses and motor vehicle registrations; failure to pay certain taxes, fees, and parking citations. Provides that certain suspension of local motor vehicle licenses and motor vehicle registrations for failure to pay certain taxes, fees, and parking citations apply only to vehicles for which such unpaid taxes, fees, and citations are assessed and owed. Under current law, such suspensions are permitted for unpaid taxes, fees, and citations on any vehicle owned by the person who is liable for such a tax, fee, or citation.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 1 of Chapter 5 of Title 18.2 a section numbered 18.2-138.1, relating to approaching a first responder with specified intent after a warning; penalty.