Del. Kim Taylor

Virginia Social Media Regulation Act established;penalties. Establishes the Virginia Social Media Regulation Actfor the purpose of prohibiting minors in Virginia from possessingan account on any social media platform, defined in the bill, withoutthe express consent of a parent or guardian. The bill requires asocial media company to provide a minor's parent or guardian withaccess to the minor's account and all posts and information on suchaccount. The bill also places prohibitions on the type of data andpersonal information a social media platform may collect from a minoraccount holder and prohibits the use of any practice, design, or feature on a social media company's platform that the company knows,or should reasonably know, could cause a minor account holder tohave an addiction to the social media platform. Lastly, the billprovides that any violation of the Virginia Social Media RegulationAct shall constitute a prohibited practice and be subject to theenforcement provisions of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

Prostitution; solicitation; penalties. Increasesfrom a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony the penalty for athird or subsequent offense of solicitation of prostitution from an adult. The bill also makes it a Class 5 felony to solicit prostitutionfrom any minor. Under current law, any person who solicits prostitutionfrom a minor is guilty of a Class 6 felony if the minor is 16 yearsof age or older or a Class 5 felony if the minor is younger than16 years of age. Finally, the bill increases the fines for certainoffenses related to sex trafficking from $100 to $1,000 and from$500 to $2,500, respectively.

Study; JLARC; potential effects of revisingthe distribution of 599 funding to distressed localities with highcrime and poverty rates; report. Directs the Joint LegislativeAudit and Review Commission to study the potential effects of revisingthe distribution of 599 funding to distressed localities with high crime and poverty rates.

Governor; chief of staff and Governor's Secretaries.Provides that no chief of staff appointed by the Governor andno Secretary appointed by the Governor shall be members of each other'simmediate family when each is serving in his appointed capacityat the same time.

Sex offenses prohibiting proximity to children;state parks; penalty. Provides that every adult who is convictedof an offense prohibiting proximity to children, when the offenseoccurred on or after July 1, 2024, shall as part of his sentencebe forever prohibited from going, for the purpose of having any contactwhatsoever with children who are not in his custody, within 100 feetof the premises of any area of a state park where he knows or hasreason to know that children are present. A violation is a Class 6 felony.

Window tint; emergency vehicles. Authorizeswindow tinting on all emergency medical services vehicles and vehiclesused to fight fire, including publicly owned state forest wardenvehicles. Current law authorizes tinting on the rear and rear sidewindows of emergency medical services vehicles used to transportpatients.

Disabled Veteran's Passport; service-connecteddisability. Entitles any veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces witha service-connected disability to a Disabled Veteran's Passport forfree entry into state parks and discounted services. Current lawlimits such passport to veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces with a service-connected disability rating of 100 percent.

Adoption tax credit. Creates a tax creditfor taxable years 2024 through 2028 that may be claimed by an individualor married couple filing jointly for qualified adoption expenses,as defined in the bill. The bill imposes certain limitations onwho may claim this credit and how much credit may be claimed basedon a taxpayer's Virginia adjusted gross income.

Criminal history record information check requiredfor the transfer of certain firearms. Eliminates the requirementthat firearms dealers must mail or deliver the written criminal history information record check consent to the Department of State Policeon the last day of the week following the sale or transfer of anyfirearm.

Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program established; incorporation into National Teacher Certification IncentiveReward Program Fund. Establishes the Nationally Certified SchoolPsychologist Program, incorporates such program into the existing National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program Fund andrenames such fund as the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Nationally Certified School Psychologist ProgramFund, and permits such fund to be used to award incentive grantsto school psychologists employed in the public schools of the Commonwealthobtaining national certification from the National Association ofSchool Psychologists consisting of an initial state-funded awardof $5,000 and a subsequent award of $2,500 each year for the lifeof the certificate.