Del. Betsy Carr

Permits the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to place in an independent living arrangement an individual who is between the ages of 16 and 21 and who was committed to DJJ immediately prior to such placement. The bill also permits the Department of Social Services to provide independent living services to such individuals who are placed in an independent living arrangement and to individuals who are between 18 and 21 years of age who, immediately prior to their commitment to DJJ, had been in the custody of a local board of social services.

Requires the Board of Education (Board) to (i) establish content standards and curriculum guidelines for courses in career investigation; (ii) develop, in consultation with certain stakeholders, resource materials that are designed to ensure that students have the ability to further explore interest in career and technical education opportunities in middle and high school; and (iii) disseminate such career investigation resource materials to each school board. The bill directs each school board to require each middle school student to take at least one course or alternative program of instruction in career investigation.

Makes a technical change by correcting from an authority to a land bank entity the entity to which a locality may grant or convey real property.

Increases from $200 to $500 the threshold amount of money taken or value of goods or chattel taken at which the crime rises from petit larceny to grand larceny. The bill increases the threshold by the same amount for the classification of certain property crimes. This bill is identical to

Authorizes any locality or public institution of higher education, or the Department of Conservation and Recreation, to locate and operate a retail fee-based electric vehicle charging station on property such entity owns or leases. The bill allows a locality to limit the use of a retail fee-based electric vehicle charging station on its property to employees of the locality and authorized visitors and to install signage that provides notice of such restriction. The bill exempts such a locality, public institution of higher education, or the Department of Conservation and Recreation from being considered a public utility solely because of the sale of electric vehicle charging service or the ownership or operation of an electric vehicle charging station and further exempts such service from constituting the retail sale of electricity. This bill is identical to

Adds any locality or person that owns a historical African American cemetery to the list of qualified organizations able to receive funds for the preservation of historical African American cemeteries and graves. The bill also allows any locality to receive and hold such funds on behalf of any qualified organization until such time as the organization is able to receive or utilize the funds. The bill requires that the owner of a historical African American cemetery allow reasonable ingress and egress to such cemetery by members of an organization qualified to receive funds for cemetery care and maintenance.

Directs the Virginia Board of Workforce Development to recommend strategies to identify and engage discouraged workers and unemployed individuals not currently served by the workforce system and measurably improve the performance of federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 Title 1 Youth programs so they lead to improved employability and the development of skills to enter the workforce in a high-demand field. The Board shall report on the recommended strategies by October 1, 2019.

Adds the Mt. Calvary Cemetery in the City of Portsmouth, with 266 eligible gravesites, to the list of historical African American cemeteries for which qualifying charitable organizations may receive funds from the Department of Historic Resources for the care of historical African American cemeteries and graves. This bill is identical to

Makes several changes relating to course credit at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, including requiring (i) the Virginia Community College System to develop a 15-credit-hour Passport Program and a 30-credit-hour Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program to be offered at each comprehensive community college and for which courses are transferable, except in certain circumstances, to each baccalaureate public institution of higher education and (ii) each baccalaureate public institution of higher education to develop pathway maps that clearly set forth the courses that a student at a comprehensive community college is encouraged to complete prior to transferring to the baccalaureate institution.