Del. Nicole Cole

Study; Department of Taxation; options for abolishing the personal property taxation of certain qualifying vehicles; report. Directs the Department of Taxation to study options for abolishing the personal property taxation of certain qualifying vehicles and to evaluate alternative local revenue sources in order to account for the shortfall in local tax revenues that will result from the abolition of such tax.

Department of Education; assessment; utilization of funds for regional special education students; report. Requires the Department of Education (the Department), in collaboration with the Office of Children's Services, staff from the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees, and such other stakeholders as the Department deems appropriate, to assess potential enhancements and strategies to maximize utilization of funds designated for regional special education students, commonly referred to as the Students with Intensive Support Needs Application program, in order to decrease the number of referrals of students with disabilities into private day school placements. The bill requires the Department to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committees on Appropriations and Education and the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Education and Health and Finance and Appropriations no later than December 15, 2026.

Department of Workforce Development and Advancement; accreditation of nondegree workforce training programs. Directs the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement to establish an accreditation pathway for nondegree workforce training programs in order to align the skills of the Commonwealth's workforce with the needs of industry in the Commonwealth and to provide a workforce entrance pathway for underserved populations in the Commonwealth. The bill includes minimum standards, admissions requirements, and reporting requirements for such programs. Additionally, the bill includes provisions related to the eligibility of accredited programs for state and federal workforce funding, including the federal Workforce Pell Grant.

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gouging provisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing prior to the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlords who are under the ordinance may be required to give at least 90 days' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, not to exceed three percent, and states that such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year. The bill requires the locality to publish such allowance on its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined in the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also requires a locality adopting an anti-rent gouging ordinance to establish an anti-rent gouging board to establish rules and procedures by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by the ordinance or delegate such duties and functions to an existing local board, department, or agency. The bill also requires the anti-rent gouging board to establish a fair return on investment rent increase exemption to the annual anti-rent gouging allowance where necessary to offset increased operating expenses. Finally, the bill provides that a locality shall establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in its ordinance.

Equity in public school funding and staffing; special education students; at-risk students; annual report. Establishes in Standard of Quality 2 the At-Risk Program and a state-supported add-on for special education students and requires corresponding formulas for the funding of such initiatives to be established in the general appropriation act. The bill also requires the Department of Education to report annually to the House Committees on Education and Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and on Education and Health the total and per pupil annual operating expenditures from local, state, and federal sources in each school division and the change in expenditures from each such source over the immediately preceding two-year, three-year, and five-year timeframes, expressed in both dollar amounts and percentages.

Middle Eastern and North African Advisory Board established. Establishes the Middle Eastern and North African Advisory Board in the executive branch for the purpose of advising the Governor on ways to develop economic, professional, cultural, educational, and governmental links between the Commonwealth and the Middle Eastern and North African community in Virginia. The bill provides for the expiration of the advisory board on June 30, 2029.

Department of Environmental Quality; standby generators study; report. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to conduct a one-year study of all standby generators used by a commercial facility with an air permit in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the study to (i) identify commercial facilities with an air permit that use standby generators, (ii) identify the type of pollutants emitted from such standby generators, and (iii) analyze and describe the amount of pollutants from such standby generators. The Department is required to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources by July 1, 2027.

Admission to bail; fixing terms of bail; mental health considerations. Requires the judicial officer, prior to conducting any hearing on the issue of bail, release, or detention, to obtain the person's criminal history and any emergency custody or temporary detention order or involuntary admission issued for such person. The bill also requires the judicial officer to consider any emergency custody or temporary detention order or involuntary admission issued for the person when determining admission to bail. Lastly, the bill requires the judicial officer to take into account the following factors in fixing the terms of bail if such person is admitted to bail: (i) whether the person is likely to obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice, or threaten, injure, or intimidate, or attempt to threaten, injure, or intimidate a family or household member as defined in relevant law; (ii) the history of the accused or juvenile, including medical, mental health, including any emergency custody or temporary detention order or involuntary admission issued pursuant to relevant law, or substance abuse treatment; (iii) any evidence the person provided indicating that such person (a) is currently pregnant, (b) has recently given birth, or (c) is currently nursing a child; and (iv) whether such person will be an unreasonable danger to himself, family or household members as defined in relevant law, or the public.

State correctional facilities; participation of prisoners in employment and educational programs; reentry planning. Expands the program assignments in which the Director of the Department of Corrections may place a prisoner while such prisoner is confined in a state correctional facility. The bill requires the Director to place a prisoner in an appropriate program assignment within (i) 90 days of the arrival of a prisoner sentenced to a new term of confinement to a state correctional facility or (ii) 60 days of a prisoner already in custody being transferred to a new state correctional facility and provides that participation in such program assignments shall be for an average of 30 hours per week, calculated individually across the calendar year. Finally, the bill expands upon the requirements for a prisoner's reentry plan, including requiring an assessment, if necessary, of a prisoner's readiness to take a high school equivalency test and any modifications needed for the prisoner to take or improve upon such test, and making available peer and group educational programs developed and led by qualified prisoners.

Approval of land use applications; residential development. Requires every locality to take final action to approve, approve with conditions, or deny any land use application for the rezoning or development of property that includes residential development within 12 months from the date of submission of such application to the locality.