Grounds for divorce; cruelty, abuse, desertion,or abandonment; waiting period. Eliminates the one-year waitingperiod for a divorce to be decreed on the grounds of cruelty, reasonableapprehension of bodily hurt, or willful desertion or abandonment.
Animal control officers; additional training.Increases the number of hours of required additional training in animal control and protection from 15 to 24 every three years forall animal control officers and deputy animal control officers employedby a locality.
Public high schools; personnel; career coachrequired. Requires each school board to employ at least one careercoach in each public high school in the local school division whoseduties are required to include assisting students with securing internships, externships, and credentialing opportunities as required by the Profileof a Virginia Graduate, providing students with information on apprenticeship programs, and connecting students to career opportunities. The billprovides that each such individual shall be employed in additionto and not as a replacement for the required school counselor positions,specialized student support positions, or support services positions.
Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Interventionand Prevention; Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and PreventionFund; creation. Creates the Virginia Center for Firearm ViolenceIntervention and Prevention (the Center) within the Department ofCriminal Justice Services and the Virginia Firearm Violence Interventionand Prevention Fund, to be administered by the Center, to replacethe existing Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund.
Public school staffing ratios; specializedstudent support positions. Increases the number of specialized student support positions required to be employed by each local schoolboard from at least three to at least four such positions per 1,000students in the local school division. Such specialized student supportpositions include school social workers, school psychologists, schoolnurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts,and other licensed health and behavioral positions.
Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund; Advisory Review Committees. Requires the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation to convene an Advisory Review Committee to assist in the distribution of loans and grants from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund (the Preparedness Fund) and adds the Advisory Review Committee to the list of those with whom the Department is required to consult in establishing guidelines regarding the distribution and prioritization of loans and grants from the Preparedness Fund. The bill also requires the Director to convene an Advisory Review Committee to assist in the distribution of loans and grants from the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund (the Revolving Fund) and adds the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the Advisory Review Committee to the list of those with whom the Virginia Resources Authority is required to consult in directing the distribution of grants or loans from the Revolving Fund to particular local governments and establishing the interest rates and repayment terms of such loans. The bill requires the Department to make available for public inspection at the office of the Department and on a publicly accessible website records of each application for grants and loans from the two Funds and the actions taken thereon, post such applications within 15 calendar days of the loan or grant round application deadline, and provide an opportunity for a 30-day public comment period prior to each new loan offering to solicit feedback on proposed revisions to the funds' manuals. This bill was incorporated into HB 1458.
Income tax; contributions to Virginia College Savings Planaccounts; report. Increases the maximum individual income tax deduction foramounts paid or contributed to a prepaid tuition contract or college savingstrust account entered into with the Virginia College Savings Plan from $4,000to $7,500 in taxable year 2024, $11,000 in taxable year 2025, and $15,000 fortaxable year 2026 and thereafter. Such amount shall be adjusted for changes inthe Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) beginning in taxableyear 2024. The deduction is limited to $4,000 for taxpayers with federaladjusted gross income that is greater than $100,000 for an individual or$200,000 for married persons filing a joint return.The bill also creates an individual or corporate deduction, asapplicable, of up to $4,000 for the amount a child day center or child dayprogram paid or contributed to a customer's or client's prepaid tuitioncontract or college savings trust account entered into with the Virginia CollegeSavings Plan.The bill also provides a nonrefundable income tax credit fortaxable years 2024 through 2028 for 35 percent of expenses incurred by abusiness during the taxable year for contributions into a Virginia CollegeSavings Plan account owned by an employee of the business. If the employeereceiving the contribution is a qualified employee, as defined in the bill, thebill specifies that the credit shall not exceed $500 annually for each suchemployee. If the employee receiving the contribution is a qualified employeewho is not highly compensated, as defined in the bill, the bill specifies thatthe credit shall not exceed $1,000 annually for each such employee. The billprovides that the total amount of tax credits available for a calendar year shallnot exceed $5 million and that any unused tax credit may be carried over forfive years.
Sales tax exemption; certain baby products.Creates a retail sales and use tax exemption for certain baby products,including (i) children's diapers, (ii) therapeutic or preventativecreams and wipes marketed primarily for use on the skin of children,(iii) child restraint devices or booster seats, (iv) cribs, and (v)strollers meant for transporting children, usually from infancy to36 months of age.
Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gougingprovisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing priorto the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlordswho are under the ordinance may be required to give at least two months'written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent bymore than the locality's calculated allowance, described in the billas the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant's rent duringany 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase. The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in the ConsumerPrice Index or seven percent, whichever is less, states that suchallowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowance on itswebsite by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined inthe bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also allows alocality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will developand implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply forand be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by theordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establisha civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set outin the ordinance.
Faith in Housing for the Commonwealth Act.Permits a religious organization, defined in the bill, to constructaffordable housing on real estate owned by such religious organization(i) on or before January 1, 2024, or for a period of not less than five years, and (ii) for which the religious organization retainsa majority ownership interest.
