Uniform Statewide Building Code; unsafe structures. Provides that for any structure deemed unsafe under the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and therefore eligible for demolition upon the unsafe notice process being completed, the owner or his agent may temporarily overcome the unsafe structure designation by vacating and securing the structure by board up of all access points. The bill further provides that after six months have elapsed from the time the board up was first learned of and internally recorded by the locality, if the structure would still otherwise be considered an unsafe structure, the locality may issue and send a written notice to the owner that if the other conditions specified in the notice are not adequately improved, or an appeal not received, within two months, the unsafe designation will once again come into effect.
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Uniform Statewide Building Code; amendments; natural gas leak detectors. Directs the Board of Housing and Community Development to consider adopting amendments to the Uniform Statewide Building Code to require the installation of natural gas leak detectors in residential buildings with natural gas piping installed.
Estimated tax; failure by individual, trust, or estate to pay. Increases from $150 to $1,000 the maximum underpayment of estimated tax for which no addition to tax shall be added.
Virginia State Crime Commission; Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; persons with mental illness; petty crimes; study; report. Directs the Virginia State Crime Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, to conduct a study on the petty crimes that are most frequently committed by persons with mental illness. The bill requires the Commission to submit a report on its findings to the Chairs of the House Committees for Courts of Justice and on Health and Human Services and the Senate Committees for Courts of Justice and on Education and Health by November 1, 2025.
State of emergency; spending authority during budgetary lapse. Authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency in the event of a budgetary lapse, defined as a state of affairs in which the general appropriation act has expired and no lawful appropriation authority is in effect. Upon such a declaration of a state of emergency, the Governor shall have authority to continue disbursement of funds for essential public services, defined in the bill, at levels equivalent to those that were in effect prior to expiration of the general appropriation act. Such spending authority shall begin upon declaration of a state of emergency during a budgetary lapse and shall continue until enactment of a general appropriation act. The Governor, upon declaring a state of emergency, shall have 30 days to provide a report to the General Assembly that details his plan to continue the functioning of essential public services during the budgetary lapse and to submit a budget bill to the General Assembly that, if enacted, would end the emergency. The bill contains an enactment clause providing that, unless reenacted, it shall expire two years and six months after the end of the session of the General Assembly in which it is enacted.
Gift certificate theft; penalty. Includes gift certificates, defined in relevant law, to the crime of credit card theft, which is punishable as grand larceny in existing law.
Child custody orders; transfer of custody to person with legitimate interest. Provides that when a juvenile and domestic relations district court has entered an order transferring custody of a child to a person with a legitimate interest, the court shall provide notice to such person with a legitimate interest of any motion to terminate or amend such order. The bill also provides that such person with a legitimate interest shall have the opportunity to be heard on such motion to terminate or amend.
Secretary of the Commonwealth; wage garnishment process; work group; report. Directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth to convene a work group of relevant stakeholders to review the current wage garnishment process and assess whether the garnishment of wages, salaries, commissions, or other earnings should be an enforcement mechanism utilized only for the collection of specific types of debts owed by a judgment debtor. The bill directs the work group to report its findings to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice by November 1, 2025.
Prohibited applications and websites; private civil action. Prohibits TikTok, Inc. and ByteDance Ltd. from providing access to TikTok to any child within the Commonwealth and allows a child or the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian to bring an action against TikTok, Inc. or ByteDance Ltd. for providing such access. The bill provides that if a plaintiff prevails in such action, he may recover (i) damages of $75,000 for each discrete violation, (ii) other damages, and (iii) reasonable costs and attorney fees. The bill also allows a plaintiff to recover punitive damages if the defendant knowingly provided the child access. The bill provides that it shall be an affirmative defense that TikTok, Inc. or ByteDance Ltd. did not reasonably know or have reason to know of the provision of such access of TikTok to a child in the Commonwealth. The bill also specifies that such civil action shall not be brought by the Commonwealth, its agencies, its political subdivisions, an attorney for the Commonwealth, a city or county attorney, nor any officer or employee of the Commonwealth, its agencies, or its political subdivisions acting in his official capacity.
Department of Taxation; evaluation of income tax subtraction for military benefits received by members of the uniformed services; report. Directs the Department of Taxation (the Department) to evaluate the effects of extending the income tax subtraction for military benefits to military retirement income paid to a veteran or the surviving spouse of a veteran for such veteran's service in the uniformed services, defined in federal law as the armed forces, the commissioned corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, and the commissioned corps of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Current law restricts such income tax subtraction to certain military benefits received for service in the armed forces. The bill directs the Department to submit a report of its findings and any recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Finance and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than November 30, 2025.