Del. Irene Shin

National Teacher Certification Incentive RewardProgram and Fund; eligibility; incentive grant awards. Renamesthe National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fundas the National Board Certification Incentive Reward Program andFund, expands eligibility for incentive grant awards from such Fundpursuant to such Program from solely teachers who have obtained nationalcertification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standardsto (i) all public school staff who are candidates for initial nationalcertification or maintenance of national certification to cover certaincosts of obtaining or maintaining such certification and (ii) allpublic school staff who have successfully obtained or maintainedsuch certification. The bill also declares as eligible for an annualincentive grant award in the amount of $7,500 all public school staffwho have obtained or maintained such certification. Current law declaresas eligible for an annual incentive grant award of $5,000 in thefirst year and $2,500 in each subsequent year all teachers who haveobtained or maintained such certification.

Special grand juries. Directs a circuitcourt to impanel a special grand jury when an unarmed person is killedby a law-enforcement officer or a correctional officer, as thoseterms are defined in relevant law, to investigate and report on anycondition that involves or tends to promote criminal activity andconsider bills of indictment to determine whether there is sufficientprobable cause to return each such indictment as a "true bill." Thebill requires the court to appoint a special prosecutor for suchspecial grand jury who may be present during the investigatory stageonly when his presence is requested by the special grand jury andmay interrogate witnesses provided the special grand jury requestsor consents to such interrogation. The bill states that the attorneyfor the Commonwealth shall not be present during the investigatorystage or interrogate witnesses.

Income tax deduction; union dues. Providesan income tax deduction beginning in taxable year 2024 for the amount paid by an individual for union dues for participation in a labor organization.

Misdemeanor; maximum term of confinement.Reduces from 12 months to 364 days the maximum term of confinementin jail for a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill contains technical amendments.

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaignfunds; complaints, hearings, civil penalty, and advisory opinions.Prohibits any person from converting contributions to a candidate or hiscampaign committee to personal use. Current law only prohibits such conversionof contributions with regard to disbursement of surplus funds at thedissolution of a campaign or political committee. The bill provides that acontribution is considered to have been converted to personal use if thecontribution, in whole or in part, is used to fulfill any commitment,obligation, or expense that would exist irrespective of the person's seeking,holding, or maintaining public office but allows a contribution to be used forthe ordinary and accepted expenses related to campaigning for or holdingelective office, including the use of campaign funds to pay for the candidate'schild care expenses that are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity.The bill provides that any person subject to the personal use ban may requestan advisory opinion from the State Board of Elections on such matters. The billdirects the State Board of Elections to adopt emergency regulations similar tothose promulgated by the Federal Election Commission to implement theprovisions of the bill and to publish an updated summary of Virginia campaignfinance law that reflects the State Board of Elections' and Attorney General'sguidance on the provisions of such law that prohibit the personal use ofcampaign funds and any new regulations promulgated by the State Board ofElections.

Consecutive terms of imprisonment. Eliminates the required imposition of mandatory consecutive sentences of imprisonment.

Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics AdvisoryCouncil; staffing; annual audit of certain disclosure forms; lobbyistregistration and reporting; civil penalties. Provides for anannual audit of the Statement of Economic Interests disclosure formsfiled by members of the General Assembly to ensure the completenessand material accuracy of the information disclosed. The bill directsthe Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council toappoint and employ an executive director; currently, the Divisionof Legislative Services employs the executive director and providesadditional staff assistance. Additional staff required pursuant tothe bill includes at least one experienced lawyer and at least oneexperienced auditor or investigator. The bill also increases thecivil penalty for certain violations related to filing such disclosureforms and prohibits any such penalty from being paid using fundscontributed to or received by a candidate or his campaign committeeor by any political committee. Lastly, the bill brings the reportingperiod and deadline for lobbyists' disclosures into alignment withthe schedule for filing disclosures required pursuant to the Stateand Local Government Conflict of Interests Act and the General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act.

Home Visiting Program established; report. Establishes the Home Visiting Program within the Department of Social Services to support pregnant people and parents with young children who face greater risks and barriers to achieving positive maternal and child health outcomes. The bill directs the Department to operate in accordance with the Virginia Plan for Home Visiting established by Early Impact Virginia, a consortium of government and private entities. The purpose of the Program is to (i) promote the health and well-being of pregnant people and parents, (ii) improve infant and child health and development, (iii) strengthen family functioning, (iv) promote school readiness, (v) reduce child maltreatment, (vi) promote economic mobility, and (vii) cultivate strong communities. The bill requires the Department to report biennially to the Governor and the General Assembly on outcomes for Program participants.

Elections; conduct of election; ranked choice voting; locally elected offices; report. Allows elections for any local or constitutional office to be conducted by ranked choice voting. Under current law, only elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council are allowed to be conducted by ranked choice voting. The bill also clarifies requirements for conducting elections using ranked choice voting and requires results for elections conducted by ranked choice voting to be reported along with other results reported on election night, except that such results must clearly be identified as preliminary and based on the first rankings in a ranked choice voting election. The bill provides that final tabulation for an election for a local or constitutional office that is not shared by more than one county or city is required to be conducted on the same day as other results are canvassed by the local electoral board and that final tabulation for and election for a local or constitutional office that is shared by more than one county or city is required to be conducted at a centralized facility under the supervision of the Department of Elections. The bill specifies that ranking data is required to be made publicly available by the Department and requires the State Board of Elections to provide standards and to approve vote tabulating software for use with existing voting systems in elections conducted by ranked choice voting. The bill also limits a risk-limiting audit of an election conducted using ranked choice voting to the first choice rankings reported on voting systems. Finally, the bill directs the Department to review the testing and approval framework for voting equipment in the Commonwealth and submit a report of such review no later than the first day of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

School meals; availability at no cost to students. Provides that each school board shall 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 or in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) as provided in relevant law, if applicable, and to make lunch and 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 also requires the Department of Education to reimburse each public elementary and secondary school for each school breakfast and lunch served to a student, with a maximum of one breakfast and one lunch per student per school day, and provides the formula for determining the state reimbursement rate for such meals. The bill contains provisions directing each school board to adopt policies and procedures aimed at maximizing access to federal funds available for the cost of participating in school breakfast and lunch programs and maximizing determinations of student eligibility for federal free or reduced cost meal reimbursements rates and participation in CEP. The bill also lowers the minimum identified student percentage for a school to be eligible to participate in CEP from 40 to 25 percent in accordance with the updated federal CEP regulations (7 C.F.R. § 245.9(f)(3)(i)). The bill also requires the Secretary of Education, in coordination with the Secretary of Finance, to convene a stakeholder work group to study and make recommendations on ways to avoid or mitigate the impact of offering statewide free school breakfast and lunches on other state-funded programs and to submit a report on such findings and recommendations by January 15, 2025, to the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education. The bill also repeals provisions of law relating to the federal School Breakfast Program and to school meal debt that are rendered obsolete by the provisions of the bill.