Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirementbenefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provideenhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service to full-time salaried 911 dispatchers. The bill provides that such enhanced retirementbenefits apply only to service earned as a full-time salaried 911dispatcher on or after July 1, 2025, but allows an employer, as thatterm is defined in relevant law, to provide such enhanced retirement benefits for service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcherbefore July 1, 2025, in addition to service earned on or after thatdate. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025.

Division of Early Childhood Care and Education; Department of Education; comprehensive review of certain findingsand recommendations relating to the quality of early childhood careand education in the Commonwealth; report. Requires the Division of Early Childhood Care and Education of the Departmentof Education, in consultation with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundationand such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to (i) conducta comprehensive review of the findings and recommendations containedin the 2017 report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission,Improving Virginia's Early Childhood Development Programs, to determine what barriers, gaps, and deficiencies continue to existin the provision of high-quality early childhood education and carein the Commonwealth, with a particular focus on gaps and deficienciesin the ongoing monitoring of Virginia Preschool Initiative programquality, including the collection and analysis of data relating tooutcomes and kindergarten readiness, and (ii) report its findingsand any associated policy recommendations to the Board of Education,the Governor, and the General Assembly no later than November 1,2024.

Celebrating the life of Janet Marie Brooking.

Commending Peter A. Blake.

Commending Scott McGeary.

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

Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program and Fund; firearm and ammunition tax. Establishes the Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program (the Program) and redirects funds from the Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund (the Fund) to support such program. The bill requires the Program be administered by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (the Department) to distribute grants to localities and organizations for the purpose of improving public health and safety by supporting effective violence reduction initiatives in communities that are disproportionately impacted by violence, particularly homicides, shootings, and aggravated assaults. The bill provides that funds may also be used to finance the hiring of counselors in public elementary and secondary schools and research initiatives that have the objective of reducing gun violence.The bill provides that the Department shall issue grants on a competitive basis. As a condition of receiving a grant, a locality or organization must commit a cash or in-kind contribution equivalent to the amount of the grant, with waivers allowed for good cause, and report on its progress toward achieving the grant's objectives. The bill requires the Department to provide public access to such reports.The bill imposes a five percent tax on the sale of any firearm or ammunition, with all revenue from the tax accruing to the Fund. Under the bill, firearm and ammunition sales to state or local agencies or law-enforcement officers are exempt from such tax.

Weapons; possession or transportation; facility that provides mental health services or developmental services; penalty. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person to possess in or transport into any facility that provides mental health services or developmental services in the Commonwealth, including a hospital or an emergency department or other facility rendering emergency medical care, any (i) firearm or other weapon designed or intended to propel a missile or projectile of any kind; (ii) knife, except a pocket knife having a folding metal blade of less than three inches; or (iii) other dangerous weapon, including explosives and stun weapons. The bill provides that any such firearm, knife, explosive, or weapon is subject to seizure by a law-enforcement officer and specifies exceptions to the prohibition.

Conservation of trees during land development process; authorized localities. Allows any locality to adopt an ordinance providing for the conservation of trees during the land development process. Under current law, only a locality within Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia) that meets certain population density and nonattainment classification criteria is authorized to adopt such an ordinance. This bill was incorporated into HB 1100.

Commissioner of Health; work group to studythe occurrence of microplastics in the Commonwealth's public drinkingwater; report. Directs the Commissioner of Health to convene awork group to study the occurrence of microplastics in the Commonwealth'spublic drinking water and develop recommendations for the reduction of microplastics in the Commonwealth's public drinking water. Thebill requires the work group to report its findings and recommendationsto the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Agriculture,Chesapeake and Natural Resources and Health, Welfare and Institutionsand the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Conservation and NaturalResources and Education and Health by December 1, 2024.