Rep. Mike Cherry

Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; emergency dispatchers. Extends membership in the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS) to emergency dispatchers who are employed by the Department of State Police, Capitol Police, and agencies whose law-enforcement officers are eligible for membership in VaLORS. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027, and provides that such membership applies only to service earned on or after July 1, 2027.

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service to full-time salaried 911 dispatchers. The bill provides that such enhanced retirement benefits apply only to service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher on or after July 1, 2027, but allows an employer, as that term is defined in relevant law, to provide such enhanced retirement benefits for service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher before July 1, 2027, in addition to service earned on or after that date. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Income tax; real property tax relief credit. Provides a refundable income tax credit in taxable years 2026 through 2030 to eligible taxpayers, defined in the bill, who incur real property taxes in an amount equal to or greater than four percent of their federal adjusted gross income for up to $500 for single individuals and $1000 for married persons filing jointly.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Title 24.2 a chapter numbered 6.1, consisting of sections numbered 24.2-684.1 through 24.2-684.17, relating to statewide referendum ballot questions; fairness and transparency requirements; Ballot question fairness Commission; readability standards; language accessibility; public comment; judicial review.

Tangible personal property tax relief; rate of taxation. Requires, for tax year 2027 and all tax years thereafter, each county, city, or town to reduce its local tax rate on qualifying vehicles to no greater than $0.000001 per $100 of the eligible assessed value of the qualifying vehicle. The bill defines "eligible assessed value" as $5,000 of the assessed value of a qualifying vehicle. For tax year 2028 and all tax years thereafter, for any year in which the revenues of a county, city, or town grow by five percent or more, the bill provides that the eligible assessed value applied in such county, city, or town shall increase by an additional $5,000 until such time that the eligible assessed value equals $20,000.

Oral threat to kill or to do bodily harm; employees of local or state department of social services; penalty. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who orally makes a threat to kill or do bodily injury to any call-center contractor or employee of the Department of Social Services or a local department of social services, as those terms as defined in relevant law, who is engaged in the performance of his duties.

Renewal of licenses; persons serving in the armed services on active duty outside the Commonwealth. Authorizes any person serving in the armed services of the United States on active duty who will be serving outside the Commonwealth at the time of the expiration of his valid driver's license to request the Department of Motor Vehicles (the Department) to send the notice of renewal required under current law, that includes information regarding whether he must be reexamined and when he may be reexamined, more than one year prior to his driver's license's expiration. The bill requires the Department to (i) send such notice of renewal within two business days of receipt of such request and (ii) if such person provides the date of his departure from the Commonwealth in such request, ensure that the time when he may be reexamined, if applicable, occurs prior to his departure from the Commonwealth, such that he may renew his driver's license prior to his departure.

School Construction Program; eligibility; projects completed or initiated within immediately preceding 10-year period. Provides that public school buildings and facilities that are eligible for grants pursuant to the School Construction Program include any building or facility for which the construction, renovation, or expansion was completed or initiated within the 10-year period immediately preceding the grant application.

Motor vehicles; insurance; highway use fee; tangible personal property tax relief for certain vehicles. Removes the highway use fee for fuel-efficient vehicles, and maintains the same highway use fee for electric vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles. The bill removes the prohibition on motor vehicle insurers establishing a repair facility network. Under current law, insurers are prohibited from requiring an insured or claimant to utilize designated replacement or repair facilities or services as a prerequisite to settling or paying any claim arising under a policy or policies of insurance. The bill also directs each county, city, or town that receives annual reimbursements from the Commonwealth for providing tangible personal property tax relief on qualifying vehicles to, beginning in tax year 2027, ensure that after first reimbursing certain tax attributable to qualifying vehicles leased by active duty members of the United States military, as is currently required by law, (i) no qualifying vehicle owned by an individual with an annual household income in excess of $200,000 receives any reimbursement for such vehicle and (ii) the remainder of the reimbursement provided to such locality is distributed based on a sliding scale for household incomes of residents of such locality, adopted by an ordinance of the governing body of such locality, as described in the bill.

Certain school divisions; cost-savings agreements; requirements. Removes the limitation on any school board that enters into certain cost-savings agreements with a school board that governs a contiguous school division for the consolidation or sharing of educational, administrative, or support services and thus qualifies for adjustment of state share of basic aid computed annually on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay of such contiguous school division that caps such adjusted basic aid payment at an amount equal to the basic aid payment appropriated to such locality by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly. The bill also permits, notwithstanding the requirement set forth in relevant law that a school division have 65 percent or more of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes in order for the school board that governs such school division to be eligible to enter into such cost-savings agreements with a contiguous school division, the Bath County School Board to enter into such cost-savings agreements with the Augusta County School Board, provided that all other conditions and limitations set forth in relevant law apply to any such agreement.