Del. Amy Laufer

Study; procuring goods and services from employment service organizations; report. Requests the Department of General Services, in tandem with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, to examine the current process for procurement, potential set-asides or percentage goals that could be utilized or bolstered by employment service organizations, and whether employment service organizations should be housed within the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity.

Department of General Services; Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services; review of procurement process; employment services organizations. Directs the Department of General Services, in cooperation with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, to perform a comprehensive review of the process for procuring goods and services from employment services organizations. The bill provides that such review shall examine the current process for procurement, potential set-asides or percentage goals, and whether employment services organizations should be housed alongside small, women-owned, or minority-owned businesses within the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity.

Mattress stewardship program established; civil penalty. Prohibits the disposal of a mattress, as defined in the bill, in a landfill or an incinerator beginning January 1, 2028, and requires producers of mattresses sold at retail in the Commonwealth or a representative organization acting on a producer's behalf to submit a plan for the establishment of a mattress stewardship program. Such mattress stewardship program plan shall establish an assessment for all mattresses sold in the Commonwealth and a network of convenient and free collection sites for postconsumer mattresses, defined in the bill, that will facilitate higher rates of recycling and materials recovery for postconsumer mattresses. The bill establishes annual reporting requirements for mattress producers or representative organizations and establishes a Mattress Stewardship Program Advisory Board to advise on the proper implementation and sustainability of the mattress stewardship program. The bill also establishes the powers and duties of the Department of Environmental Quality as they relate to the bill and civil penalties for improper mattress disposal and violations of the mattress stewardship program.

Income tax; contributions to Virginia College Savings Plan accounts; report. Increases the maximum individual income tax deduction for amounts paid or contributed to a prepaid tuition contract or college savings trust account entered into with the Virginia College Savings Plan from $4,000 to $7,500 in taxable year 2024, $11,000 in taxable year 2025, and $15,000 for taxable year 2026 and thereafter. Such amount shall be adjusted for changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) beginning in taxable year 2024. The deduction is limited to $4,000 for taxpayers with federal adjusted gross income that is greater than $100,000 for an individual or $200,000 for married persons filing a joint return. The bill also creates an individual or corporate deduction, as applicable, of up to $4,000 for the amount a child day center or child day program paid or contributed to a customer's or client's prepaid tuition contract or college savings trust account entered into with the Virginia College Savings Plan. The bill also provides a nonrefundable income tax credit for taxable years 2024 through 2028 for 35 percent of expenses incurred by a business during the taxable year for contributions into a Virginia College Savings Plan account owned by an employee of the business. If the employee receiving the contribution is a qualified employee, as defined in the bill, the bill specifies that the credit shall not exceed $500 annually for each such employee. If the employee receiving the contribution is a qualified employee who is not highly compensated, as defined in the bill, the bill specifies that the credit shall not exceed $1,000 annually for each such employee. The bill provides that the total amount of tax credits available for a calendar year shall not exceed $5 million and that any unused tax credit may be carried over for five years.

Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act. Permits electronic nontestamentary estate planning documents, defined in the bill as certain enumerated records relating to estate planning that are readable as text at the time of signing and are not wills or contained in wills, to be signed and notarized, as appropriate, by electronic means. The bill provides that such electronic nontestamentary estate planning documents shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability or excluded as evidence in a proceeding solely because such documents are in electronic form. The bill also allows for the electronic presence, as that term is defined in the bill, of any witness who is otherwise required by law to be in the physical presence of the person signing the nontestamentary estate planning document.

Property Owners' Association Act; managed conservation landscaping; unreasonable restrictions prohibited. Provides that no association shall prohibit an owner from installing managed conservation landscaping, defined in the bill, upon such owner's property unless such prohibition was recorded in the declaration for the association. The bill allows associations to establish reasonable restrictions concerning the management, design, and aesthetic guidelines for managed conservation landscaping features.

Maddy summaryThis bill is a House Resolution that formally commends Sheila C. Haughey for receiving the Lifetime Service Award from the Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association. The resolution recognizes her extensive career as an attorney who represented children, served as a substitute judge for 25 years, and mentored law students. It directs the Clerk of the House to prepare a copy of the resolution to present to Ms. Haughey as a gesture of appreciation for her contributions to the legal field and community service.

Teacher and support staff compensation; at orabove national average. Requires that public school teachersbe compensated at a rate that is at or above the national averageteacher salary. Under current law, compensation at such rate is aspirational.The bill also requires that public school instructional and noninstructionalsupport staff be compensated at a rate that is at or above the nationalaverage salary for such staff. The bill requires state funding tobe provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficientto fund an annual increase for public school teacher and instructionaland noninstructional support staff salaries such that, no later thanthe 2028-2029 school year, such individuals are compensated at arate that is at or above the respective national average salary.

Additional local sales and use tax to support schools; referendum. Authorizes all counties and cities to impose an additional local sales and use tax at a rate not to exceed one percent with the revenue used only for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools if such levy is approved in a voter referendum. The bill removes the requirement that such a tax must have an expiration date on either (i) the date of the repayment of any bonds or loans used for such capital projects or (ii) a date chosen by the governing body. Under current law, only Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick, and Pittsylvania Counties and the City of Danville are authorized to impose such a tax. This bill is identical to HB 805.

Board of Education; instructional materialson climate change and environmental literacy; model policies andprocedures for selection. Requires the Board of Education tomake available to each local school board instructional materialson climate change and environmental literacy that are based on andinclude peer-reviewed scientific sources. The bill requires the Boardof Education to develop, adopt, and make available to each localschool board model policies and procedures, based on peer-reviewedscientific sources, pertaining to the selection of instructionalmaterials on climate change and environmental literacy, includinga requirement for any such selected material to accurately portray changes in weather and climate patterns over time, the impacts ofhuman activity on changes in weather and climate patterns, and theeffects of climate change on people and resources.