Del. Nadarius Clark

Maddy summaryThis bill (SJ 371) is a ceremonial resolution commending Hoda Kotb, a well-known television host and co-anchor, for her contributions. It does not create any legal requirements or affect any individuals, organizations, or policies. The resolution simply expresses the legislature's appreciation through a formal statement. As a commemorative measure, it has no binding effect and passed unanimously in both chambers.

Federal workforce in Virginia; opposition to downsizing. Recognizes the significant contributions of Virginia's federal workforce and contractor sector to national security, defense, public health, scientific research, and economic stability.

Local regulation of solar facilities; special exceptions. Provides that a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on property zoned agricultural, commercial, industrial, or institutional shall be permitted pursuant to various criteria to be included in a local ordinance, such as specifications for setbacks, fencing, solar panel height, visual impacts, and grading, and a decommissioning plan for solar energy equipment and facilities, unless otherwise permitted by right.

Department of Medical Assistance Services; presumptive eligibility for pregnant individuals; qualified entities; performance standards for qualified entities. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to seek federal authority to implement presumptive eligibility for pregnant individuals, in addition to the existing hospital presumptive eligibility program and, if the Department receives such authority, allows the Department to authorize qualified entities to make determinations of presumptive eligibility for pregnant individuals. The bill directs qualified entities to provide (i) the necessary applications for medical assistance on the day in which the presumptive eligibility decision is made and (ii) assistance with completing such applications through available modalities. Under the bill, qualified entities are authorized to make determinations of presumptive eligibility for pregnant individuals who meet eligibility criteria for certain medical assistance programs and have not had a presumptive eligibility period during the current pregnancy. The bill also sets forth certain performance standards that qualified entities must meet to remain a qualified entity, described in the bill.

Statewide unified public-private system for early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth; state goal; capacity and family choice. Requires the statewide, unified, public-private system for early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth to be established with the goal of increasing and maintaining capacity systemwide to provide each family with meaningful access to high-quality and affordable choices among publicly funded, federally funded, mixed delivery, and private providers.

Expansion of Medicaid services for students at public schools; certain platforms, surveys, and analyses; report. Requires the Department of Education to enter into one or more statewide contracts with providers of a platform for Medicaid billing for reimbursable services rendered at school sites that any school board may utilize at no cost to facilitate, track, and coordinate such billing. The bill requires the Department of Education to survey each local school division to determine which school divisions bill Medicaid for reimbursable services rendered at school sites, the types of services that are billed, and the amounts for which such services are billed and to report its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the School Health Services Committee no later than August 1, 2025. The bill also requires the School Health Services Committee to collaborate with local school divisions and such other stakeholders as it deems necessary to identify barriers to Medicaid billing for reimbursable services rendered at school sites in each local school division, with a particular focus on local school divisions in which such Medicaid billing is unutilized or underutilized.

Mass Violence Care Fund established. Creates within the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund the Mass Violence Care Fund as a subfund for the purpose of reimbursing victims or claimants of mass violence, defined in the bill, for unreimbursed medical expenses related to a mass violence event, defined in the bill. The bill directs the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission to promulgate guidelines and criteria for the payment of claims from the Fund within one year of the effective date of the bill.

Land records; recording and indexing fees. Provides that no clerk of a circuit court shall assess separate recording and indexing fees for one document that contains two or more instruments that may serve independent legal purposes, unless the person presenting such document or instruments requests that such document or instruments be recorded and indexed in more than a single instance. The bill also provides that no recordation tax shall be required of a quitclaim deed between a grantor and grantee when no consideration has passed between the parties, provided that such quitclaim deed shows on its face that no consideration has passed.

Surplus real property; prioritization of disposition for affordable housing. Requires the Department of General Services to determine whether, following an offer of surplus property to the chief administrative officer of the locality within which the surplus property is located, as well as to any economic development entity for such locality, such surplus property is suitable for the development of affordable housing, as defined by the bill. If the Department so determines, the bill provides that such property shall be offered for at least 90 days exclusively to eligible organizations, as defined by the bill, for the purpose of developing affordable housing, provided that the terms of the disposition include a recorded covenant to provide affordable housing for at least 30 years.The bill also requires the governing body of each locality to prepare an inventory list of all real property within its jurisdiction to which the locality or any dependent special district within its boundaries holds fee simple title that is suitable for the development of affordable housing. If the governing body of a locality chooses to dispose of such a property, such property shall be offered for at least 90 days exclusively to eligible organizations, as defined by the bill, for the purpose of developing affordable housing, through purchase, lease, exchange, or donation in return for a recorded covenant to provide affordable housing for at least 30 years.

Public schools; student discipline; Restorative Schools in Virginia Pilot Program; established. Establishes the Restorative Schools in Virginia Pilot Program (the Program), to be administered by the Department of Education (the Department), for the purpose of addressing school discipline issues and promoting evidence-based restorative practices, as that term is defined in the bill, in public schools in the Commonwealth by awarding grants to a school division in each superintendent's region in the Commonwealth to be used in developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to integrate evidence-based restorative practices in such school divisions in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill directs the Department to (i) develop the application process by which a school board may apply to receive funds pursuant to the Program; (ii) establish criteria for the selection and award of grants pursuant to the Program; and (iii) develop a process for evaluating the progress and performance of each school division selected to receive a grant pursuant to the Program in implementing such evidence-based restorative practices and satisfying the Program requirements set forth in the bill. The bill requires any such school division to (a) establish a learning collaborative for the purpose of developing a comprehensive plan for implementing evidence-based restorative practices in accordance with the provisions of the bill and (b) submit to the Department by July 1 of each year immediately following any year for which it receives a grant a report on its progress in implementing such evidence-based restorative practices for the preceding school year. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.