Del. Rae Cousins

Elections; political campaign advertisements; synthetic media; penalty. Prohibits electioneering communications containing synthetic media, as those terms are defined in the bill, from being published or broadcast without containing the following conspicuously displayed statement: "This message contains synthetic media that has been altered from its original source or artificially generated and may present conduct or speech that did not occur." The bill creates a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 for a violation of such prohibition and a Class 1 misdemeanor for a willful violation. The bill permits any registered voter who receives an electioneering communication in violation of this requirement to institute an action for preventative relief to prohibit the publication or dissemination of such electioneering communication, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction.

Elections; polling places; prohibited activities; acts in furtherance of federal immigration laws. Prohibits any person from performing any act for the purpose or in furtherance of enforcement of federal immigration laws within 40 feet of any building, or part thereof, used as (i) a polling place, (ii) a meeting place for the local electoral board while the electoral board meets to ascertain the results of an election, or (iii) the place for a recount.

School breakfast; availability at no cost to students. Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make breakfast available to any student who requests such a meal at no cost to the student, unless the student's parent has provided written permission to the school board to withhold such a meal from the student. The bill clarifies that the provision of a breakfast by a school to a student at no cost to the student shall not be construed as creating a disincentive for the school or local school division to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision program. Additionally, the bill provides that schools shall maximize the number of students who participate in the school breakfast program by implementing one or more suggested service models to increase access to such program. The bill requires the Department of Education to reimburse each public elementary and secondary school for each eligible school breakfast served to a student, with a maximum of one reimbursable breakfast per student per school day, and provides the formula for determining the state reimbursement rate for such meals. Finally, the bill repeals a provision of law relating to the federal School Breakfast Program that is rendered obsolete by the provisions of the bill. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Commission to End Hunger.

Protected areas; certain federal immigration enforcement prohibited; penalty. Prohibits any employee or agent acting on behalf of a protected area from knowingly permitting any person to enter a nonpublic area of such protected area for the purpose of federal immigration enforcement. The bill defines protected area as any place or facility that is owned or operated by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof and is (i) a hospital or other facility providing health care services; (ii) a school, including a preschool, primary school, or secondary school, vocational or trade school, or public institution of higher education; (iii) an office of an attorney for the Commonwealth; or (iv) any other place or facility designated by the Attorney General. The bill creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any violation of such provision, subject to certain exceptions. The bill also makes the performance of certain acts for the purpose of identifying, arresting, or otherwise imposing a penalty upon a person for federal immigration enforcement punishable by a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Agencies of the Commonwealth; law-enforcement agencies; employees and officers; agreements with federal authority for immigration enforcement; prohibitions and limitations. Prohibits a state agency or a law-enforcement agency, defined in the bill, from entering into a written agreement authorizing any employee or law-enforcement officer to perform a function of a federal immigration officer. The bill provides that federal immigration laws shall be enforced by a state or local law-enforcement agency of the Commonwealth pursuant to a valid judicial warrant, federal or statutory regulations, or as otherwise required by state law. The bill also prohibits an employee of a state agency or a law-enforcement officer, defined in the bill, from conducting certain actions or inquiries regarding a person's citizenship or immigration status while engaged in the performance of his duties and creates a cause of action for appropriate equitable, injunctive, or declaratory relief against such employee or law-enforcement officer who willfully conducts such actions or inquiries in violation of the provisions of the bill. Finally, the bill requires any state agency or law-enforcement agency that has an existing written agreement with a federal authority to perform federal immigration functions to terminate such written agreement by September 1, 2026.

Maddy summaryHB 858 changes the state holiday observed on the second Monday in October from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day. This policy affects state government operations, including public offices and schools, which typically close for legal holidays. The bill formally redesignates the holiday by replacing the current name and historical reference with Indigenous Peoples' Day. It does not alter the date or create new government obligations, only updating the official designation of an existing holiday.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; purchase programs for local farm or food products. Directs all state agencies to implement a purchase program for local farm or food products, defined in the bill, in order to reach a goal by 2035 of 20 percent of all the food and food products purchased by state agencies being local farm or food products. The bill also provides that for any public body partially or wholly funded by the Commonwealth, in which the total contract cost for food or food products is in excess of $25,000 per year, such public body shall implement a purchase program for local farm or food products in order to reach a goal by 2035 of 10 percent of all the food and food products purchased by such public bodies being local farm or food products. In order to meet such goals, state agencies and public bodies are authorized to give a preference to an otherwise qualified bidder who will fulfill the contract through the use of local farm or food products over the lowest responsible bidder so long as the cost included in the bid for the local farm or food products is not more than 10 percent greater than the cost included in the other bids.

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gouging provisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing prior to the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlords who are under the ordinance may be required to give at least 90 days' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, not to exceed three percent, and states that such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year. The bill requires the locality to publish such allowance on its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined in the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also requires a locality adopting an anti-rent gouging ordinance to establish an anti-rent gouging board to establish rules and procedures by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by the ordinance or delegate such duties and functions to an existing local board, department, or agency. The bill also requires the anti-rent gouging board to establish a fair return on investment rent increase exemption to the annual anti-rent gouging allowance where necessary to offset increased operating expenses. Finally, the bill provides that a locality shall establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in its ordinance.

Electric utilities; electric vehicle charging stations; transportation electrification. Permits Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company to develop, own, maintain, and operate public-facing fast-charging stations, as defined in the bill, at or beyond a radial distance from privately owned fast-charging stations, which radial distance shall be determined by the Commission in a rulemaking proceeding initiated by June 1, 2027, with a final order entered no later than December 31, 2027. The bill repeals current law related to the recovery of costs associated with investment in transportation electrification on December 31, 2027, to coincide with such final order. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2030.

Admission to bail; pregnant persons or persons who have recently given birth. Requires the judicial officer to consider any evidence a person provides indicating that such person (i) is currently pregnant, (ii) has recently given birth, or (iii) is currently nursing a child when determining whether such person shall be admitted to bail.