Rep. Mike Cherry

Department of Health; mobile food units; centralized office; study; report. Directs the Department of Health to conduct a study to determine the viability of establishing a centralized mobile food unit office that processes licensure, permitting, taxation, and any other procedures relevant to the operation of a mobile food unit. The bill directs the Department to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committee on Health and Human Services and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2026.

Department of Wildlife Resources; free or partially discounted fees to hunt, fish, and trap; reimbursement. Requires the Department of Wildlife Resources to maintain an annual accounting of revenue that would have been received by the Department from license exemptions or free or partially discounted fees to hunt, fish, or trap that are established by the General Assembly on or after July 1, 2026, and to submit such accounting to the Department of Accounts by August 1 of each year. The bill requires the Department of Accounts to pay the actual amount of such revenue within 30 days into the Game Protection Fund and also allows the accounting required by the bill and any other records relating to such accounting to be subject to audit by the State Comptroller.

Income tax; standard deduction. Removes the sunset from and makes permanent the enhanced standard deduction amounts of $8,750 for single individuals and $17,500 for married individuals filing jointly. Under current law, the standard deduction is scheduled to revert to $3,000 for single individuals and $6,000 for married individuals filing jointly after taxable year 2026.

Police Chief Bill of Rights. Creates independent protections and procedures for certain chiefs of police, defined in the bill, by requiring a showing of just cause when a chief of police is proposed for removal from office. The bill requires that a police chief be given written notice of the specific grounds for his proposed removal and that such police chief be afforded an opportunity to be heard in his own defense, personally and with counsel, before an impartial hearing panel.

State correctional facilities; required education or vocational training; earned sentence credits classification levels. Requires a prisoner in a state correctional facility, as a part of his reentry plan developed and implemented by the Department of Corrections, to complete a high school equivalency test or vocational, technical, or other certification prior to such prisoner's release. The bill also provides that the annual review of a prisoner's classification level for earned sentence credits shall include such prisoner's quantifiable or measurable progress, as available, in any programs, job assignments, and educational curricula in which he is participating, such as test scores achieved or completion of a high school equivalency test or other trade or vocational certification.

Special license plates; QUAIL FOREVER. Authorizes the issuance of revenue-sharing special license plates for supporters of Quail Forever bearing the legend QUAIL FOREVER. The bill exempts such special license plates from requirements related to the minimum number of prepaid applications and the minimum number of active license plates after five years of issuance for special license plates.

School boards; student diabetes care and management in schools; divisionwide plan required. Requires each school board to develop, amend as necessary, and implement a divisionwide plan for the care, at school during regular school hours, of each public elementary or secondary school student who is diagnosed with diabetes in the school division, to become effective beginning with the 2027–2028 school year, in accordance with the requirements enumerated in the bill, including that each such divisionwide plan must: (i) give consideration to, and incorporate, where appropriate, the guidelines contained in the Department of Education's Diabetes Management in Schools: Manual for Unlicensed Personnel (the Manual); (ii) include procedures for ensuring that each school building in the school division that is attended by one or more students diagnosed with diabetes meets the minimum staffing requirements set forth in current law for employees trained in the administration of insulin and glucagon; (iii) ensure that the provision or assistance with the provision of diabetes-related care by licensed or unlicensed school board employees is consistent with the guidance contained in the most recent revision of the Manual and applicable law; and (iv) provide opportunities for parental involvement and input in the process of providing students with diabetes-related care and developing or amending the divisionwide plan.The bill also expands the diabetes care and management that each school board is required, pursuant to current law, to permit each student diagnosed with diabetes to independently provide to require each school board to permit each such student to carry with him and use a cell phone or smart device, consistent with applicable law, to monitor, address, or contact his parent, the school, or his health care provider on diabetes-related matters.The bill directs the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Health and other enumerated stakeholders, to (a) no later than January 1, 2027, conduct a comprehensive review of the Manual and revise it as necessary in accordance with the requirements set forth in the bill and (b) at least biennially, review the Manual, revise it as necessary to ensure currency and accuracy, and post it in a publicly accessible location on its website. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health, to develop, periodically review, post on its website, and make available to each school board informational materials for parents on type 1 and type 2 diabetes and directs each school board to make such informational materials available to the parent of each student enrolled in the school division at the beginning of each school year.The bill contains technical amendments.

Sales and use tax; food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Eliminates the remaining one percent local sales and use tax that is imposed on food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Under current law, no other sales and use tax is applied to such products. The bill requires an equivalent amount of revenue to be distributed to cities and counties on a monthly basis in compensation for the lost tax revenue. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.

Mechanics' liens; liens attaching to property; memorandum of lien. Removes the exclusion of the attachment of a mechanic's lien to property improved or repaired when the lien is based on a claim for repairs or existing structures. The bill further removes (i) the ability of a lien claimant to file any number of memoranda of lien including the details relating to the lien and (ii) the provisions of the Code specifying that no memorandum filed shall include sums due for (a) labor or materials furnished more than 150 days prior to the last day labor was performed or (b) material furnished to the job preceding the filing of such memorandum.

Sales and use tax; food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Eliminates the remaining one percent local sales and use tax that is imposed on food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products beginning on July 1, 2026. Under current law, no other sales and use tax is applied to such products. The bill requires an equivalent amount of revenue to be distributed to cities and counties on a monthly basis in compensation for the lost tax revenue.