Rep. Carrie Coyner

Uniform Statewide Building Code; bus shelters.Exempts plans and specifications for bus shelters that do not exceed256 square feet that are to be constructed for transit agencies receivingstate money and that will be constructed on state-owned propertyfrom the Department of General Services' review process requiredby the Uniform Statewide Building Code. The bill authorizes the localbuilding official of the locality in which the state-owned propertyis located to conduct the review process within 60 days of the applicant'sinitial submission of the plans and specifications for such bus shelter.

Restroom Access Act. Requires a retailestablishment that does not have a public restroom but has an employee toilet facility to allow any customer with an eligible medical condition, defined in the bill as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritablebowel syndrome, or any other medical condition that requires immediateaccess to a toilet facility, to use such employee toilet facilityduring normal business hours if certain conditions are met. A customer who suffers loss as a result of a violation may bring an action torecover damages not to exceed $100.

Temporary detention order; alternative transportation. Provides that when a magistrate is determining whether an alternative transportation provider is available for the purposes of designating a transportation provider for the transportation of a person who is the subject of a temporary detention order, an alternative transportation provider shall be deemed available if the provider states that it is available to take custody of the person from law enforcement within six hours of issuance of the temporary detention order or an order changing the transportation provider. The bill also provides that if (i) no alternative transportation provider is available to provide transportation, willing to provide transportation, and able to provide transportation in a safe manner or (ii) the law-enforcement agency elects to provide transportation, the magistrate shall designate the primary law-enforcement agency and jurisdiction designated to execute the temporary detention order to provide transportation of the person. This bill is identical to SB 497.

Barrier crimes; adult substance abuse and mental health services; exception. Permits the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, providers of substance abuse or mental health services to adults, and community services boards and behavioral health authorities to hire applicants convicted of certain barrier crimes of misdemeanor assault and battery or involving controlled substances provided that such conviction occurred more than four years prior to the application date for employment. This bill is identical to SB 626.

Department of Education and Virginia CommunityCollege System; College and Career Ready Virginia Program and Fundestablished. Establishes the College and Career Ready VirginiaFund and requires the Department of Education and the Virginia CommunityCollege System to establish the College and Career Ready VirginiaProgram whereby each school board is required to offer each qualifiedhigh school student in the local school division access at the highschool to the dual enrollment courses that are sufficient to completethe Passport Program and the former Uniform Certificate of GeneralStudies Program, renamed in the bill as the Passport Plus Program,at a public institution of higher education at no cost to such students.The bill establishes several enumerated duties for the Departmentand the System in the administration of the College and Career ReadyVirginia Program, including the establishment of a work group to make recommendations no later than November 1, 2024, on the incorporationof a career and technical education program of coursework into theCollege and Career Ready Virginia Program.

Contracts assigning rights to inheritance funds; legal rate of interest. Provides that any contract entered into on or after July 1, 2024, pursuant to which a person receives a cash advance for assigning to a company or other entity a portion of such person's rights to receive inheritance funds from a will in a pending probate matter shall be considered a loan and any additional funds such person is obligated to pay under the terms of the contract shall be considered interest. The bill provides that such contract shall be subject to the legal rate of interest.

Community revitalization fund; expanding use for all localities. Expands the current provisions of law allowing for the establishment of a community revitalization fund for the purpose of preventing neighborhood deterioration to apply to all localities. Currently, only the City of Richmond is authorized to establish such a fund. This bill is identical to SB 49 and is a recommendation of the Virginia Housing Commission.

Department of Education and Virginia Community College System; College and Career Ready Virginia Program and Fund established. Establishes the College and Career Ready Virginia Fund and requires the Department of Education and the Virginia Community College System to establish the College and Career Ready Virginia Program whereby each school board is required to offer each qualified high school student in the local school division access at the high school to the dual enrollment courses that are sufficient to complete the Passport Program and the former Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program, renamed in the bill as the Passport Plus Program, at a public institution of higher education at no cost to such students, beginning with course registrations for the fall term of the 2025 academic year. The bill establishes several enumerated duties for the Department and the System in the administration of the College and Career Ready Virginia Program, including the establishment of a work group to make recommendations no later than November 1, 2024, on the incorporation of a career and technical education program of coursework into the College and Career Ready Virginia Program.

Office of Education Economics; administration of the Virginia Education and Workforce Longitudinal Data System; report. Renames the Virginia Longitudinal Data System as the Virginia Education and Workforce Longitudinal Data System (the System), shifts the duty to administer the System from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to the Office of Education Economics (the Office) of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and establishes several duties for the Office relating to the administration of the System, including collaborating with the Office of Data Governance and Analytics, developing a strategic plan, overseeing compliance regarding the protection of data shared with the System, and establishing the research agenda for the System. The bill requires the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to provide technical assistance to the Office relating to the administration of the System.

Child care; background checks. Allows applicants for employment and applicants to serve as volunteers to work in certain child day centers, family day homes, and family day systems pending the results of a full background check, provided that (i) the applicant has received qualifying results on a fingerprint-based background check through the Central Criminal Records Exchange or the Federal Bureau of Investigation and (ii) the applicant is supervised at all times by a person who received a qualifying result on a full background check within the past five years.