Del. Josh Cole

Adult wellness screening; sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait. Provides that every adult resident of the Commonwealth may be offered screening tests for sickle cell disease or the sickle cell trait and requires that the health care professional in charge of an adult's annual health examination provide education and appropriate counseling regarding the results of any such test that is performed.

Superintendent of Public Instruction; pandemicrecovery task force; report. Requires the Superintendent ofPublic Instruction to establish and appoint such members as he deems necessary or appropriate to a pandemic recovery task force (the taskforce) within the Department of Education, the purpose of which isto examine the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on publiceducation in the Commonwealth and to provide recommendations, guidance,and resources to each local school division in order to enable allenrolled students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionallyand to meet or exceed pre-pandemic levels on all relevant metricsof student achievement and well-being. The bill requires the taskforce to focus particularly on student learning loss, attendance,and mental health and on vulnerable populations of students and toannually submit a report of its findings and recommendations to theBoard, the Governor, the General Assembly, and each school boardno later than November 1.

Campaign finance; independent expenditure reports; electronic filing required. Requires independent expenditure reports to be filed electronically. Current law allows such reports to be filed either electronically or in writing. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 692.

Public school teachers; daily lunch breaks; data collection; report. Requires the Department of Education to annually collect and present in the Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions school-level and division-level data on the share of teachers that are provided each working day a lunch break of at least 30 minutes in length and unencumbered by any teaching or supervisory duties.

Early childhood care and education; child day programs; use of office buildings; waiver of zoning requirements. Permits any locality to by ordinance provide for the waiver of any requirements for zoning permits for the operation of a child day program in an office building, as defined by the bill, provided that such facility satisfies the requirements for state licensure as a child day program. This bill is identical to SB 13.

Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services;blue catfish work group; report. Directs the Department of Agricultureand Consumer Services, in collaboration with certain stakeholders,to convene a work group to evaluate strategies to reduce the negativeecological effects of blue catfish and to increase the sales andmarketing of blue catfish. The bill requires the work group to (i)review past and ongoing efforts to promote the creation of a marketfor blue catfish, (ii) identify and explore potential sectors forthe blue catfish market, and (iii) identify any actions that theCommonwealth can take to promote and expand the market for blue catfish.The bill requires the Department to report its findings and recommendationsto the Governor, the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, and theChairmen of the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Conservation andNatural Resources and Finance and Appropriations and the House Committeeson Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and Appropriationsby December 1, 2024.

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.

Use of canines in correctional and juvenile correctional facilities; prohibited acts. Makes it unlawful for any correctional officer or other employee of a state correctional facility who is permitted to handle canines to use a patrol or security canine in any state correctional facility unless such correctional officer or other employee (i) reasonably believes that the use of a patrol or security canine is immediately necessary to protect any prisoner or any officer or employee from the threat of serious bodily injury or death or (ii) has the prior approval of the warden or a supervisor to use a patrol or security canine to intervene in an altercation, fight, or other incident between three or more prisoners. The bill also makes it unlawful for any juvenile correctional officer or other employee of a juvenile correctional facility to use a patrol or security canine in any juvenile correctional facility. The bill specifies that such provisions shall not apply to the training or use of detector canines or detector canine handlers.

Virginia Small Business Economic DevelopmentAct established; regulation of skill games; registration; penalties.Establishes the Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act for the purpose of providing a regulatory and registration schemefor skill game machines in the Commonwealth. The bill directs theVirginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to adopt emergencyregulations to implement the provisions of the bill and directs theDepartment of Taxation to collect a monthly tax of 15 percent fromthe gross revenue of each skill game machine from each skill gamedistributor.