Del. Keith Hodges

Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver's licenses, permits, and identification cards displaying an indicator signifying that the holder is a veteran, provided that the applicant requests such indicator and provides proof of veteran status. The bill repeals the authority of the Department to issue veterans identification cards.

Provides that a solar facility subject to provisions requiring the facility to be substantially in accord with a locality's comprehensive plan shall be deemed to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan if (i) such proposed solar facility is located in a zoning district that allows such solar facilities by right or (ii) such proposed solar facility is designed to serve the electricity or thermal needs of the property upon which such facility is located, or will be owned or operated by an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator under § 56-594 or by a small agricultural generator under § 56-594.2. The bill authorizes a locality to allow for a substantial accord review for other solar facilities to be advertised and approved concurrently in a public hearing process with a rezoning, special exception, or other approval process. This bill is identical to

Authorizes the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority (the Authority) to receive and expend public funds and private donations and apply for permits in order to perform dredging projects on waterways and construct facilities and infrastructure within the region for which the Authority exists. The bill requires such projects to enhance recreational or commercial public access.

Allows any rural Tidewater locality, as defined in the bill, to comply with water quantity technical criteria for certain land-disturbing activities based on the percentage of impervious cover in the watershed. The bill provides that any eligible locality electing to use certain control standards shall, by ordinance, adopt an official map that indicates the percentage of impervious cover in each watershed within the locality and shall update the map at least annually. The bill allows any such locality to apply one of the following three standards for managing water quantity to any new development project: (i) if the site, as indicated on the map, has less than 5.0 percent impervious cover, the standard shall be a particular State Water Control Board regulation; (ii) if the watershed has 5.0 percent or more but less than 7.5 percent impervious cover, the standard shall be the one-year, 24-hour release method; and (iii) if the watershed has 7.5 percent or more impervious cover, the standard shall be the energy balance method. The bill provides that any project whose construction would cause the watershed in which it is located to step up to the next higher tier shall be evaluated under the energy balance method or a more stringent alternative.

Directs the Board of Health, when making loans, loan subsidies, or grants for regional water projects in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area, to give preference to projects that do not involve the withdrawal of groundwater from the coastal plain aquifer.