Del. Kelly Fowler

Virginia Public Procurement Act; solar photovoltaic equipment and facilities. Prohibits state and local agencies from including a provision in any request for proposal, procurement agreement, contract, ordinance, policy, permit, or accompanying document that directs the exclusion from use of any materials contained in or products associated with solar photovoltaic equipment and facilities that are manufactured in the United States. This bill is identical to SB 1165.

Child abuse and neglect; custody and visitation; possession or consumption of authorized substances. Provides that a child shall not be considered an abused or neglected child, and no person shall be denied custody or visitation of a child, based only on the fact that the child's parent or other person responsible for his care, or the person petitioning for custody or visitation of the child, possessed or consumed legally authorized substances. The bill directs the Board of Social Services to amend its regulations, guidance documents, and other instructional materials to ensure that such regulations, documents, and materials comply with, and that investigations and family assessments are conducted by local departments of social services in accordance with, the provisions of the bill.

Speech-language pathology assistants; licensure, qualifications, scope of practice; revocation or suspension of license; continuing education. Adds speech-language pathology assistants to the professions governed by the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. The bill also establishes qualifications, scope of practice, and supervision requirements for speech-language pathology assistants. The bill directs the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology to adopt regulations governing the speech-language pathology assistant profession by July 1, 2026, and specifies that the provisions governing the licensure of speech-language pathology assistants have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Minimum wage. Increases the minimum wage incrementally to $15.00 per hour by January 1, 2027. The bill codifies the adjusted state hourly minimum wage of $12.41 per hour that is effective January 1, 2025, and increases the minimum wage to $13.50 per hour effective January 1, 2026, and to $15.00 per hour effective January 1, 2027. The bill requires the Commissioner of Labor and Industry to establish an adjusted state hourly minimum wage by October 1, 2027.

Election of certain governing bodies; conversion to single-member districts. Allows the governing body of a locality that has been subject to a court order imposing a remedial election system under voting rights laws to adopt an ordinance to convert one or more at-large members of such body to single-member districts. The bill provides that members of such governing body in office on the effective date of such ordinance shall complete their terms of office.

Purchase, possession, or transportation of firearm; assault and battery of a family or household member or intimate partner; penalties. Adds to the definition of "family or household member," as such definition relates to juvenile and domestic relations district court, a person's intimate partner, defined in the bill as an individual who, within the previous 12 months, was in a romantic, dating, or sexual relationship with the person as determined by the length, nature, frequency, and type of interaction between the individuals involved in the relationship. The bill also adds to the definition of "family or household member," as such definition relates to a person's purchase, possession, or transportation of a firearm following an assault and battery of a family or household member, any individual who cohabits or who, within the previous 12 months, cohabitated with the person. Finally, the bill provides that any person who knowingly and intentionally purchases, possesses, or transports any firearm following a misdemeanor conviction for an offense that occurred on or after July 1, 2025, for the offense of assault and battery against an intimate partner or an offense substantially similar under the laws of any other state or of the United States is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. This bill is identical to SB 883.

Elections; political campaign advertisements; synthetic media; penalty. Prohibits electioneering communications containing synthetic media, as those terms are defined in the bill, from being published or broadcast without containing the following conspicuously displayed statement: "This message contains synthetic media that has been altered from its original source or artificially generated and may present conduct or speech that did not occur." The bill creates a civil penalty not to exceed $25,000 for a violation of such prohibition and, for a willful violation, a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill permits any registered voter who receives an electioneering communication in violation of this requirement to institute an action for preventative relief to prohibit the publication or dissemination of such electioneering communication, including an application for a permanent or temporary injunction. This bill is identical to SB 775.

Standards of Quality; standards of accreditation; measurement of student educational performance and academic achievement; calculation of proportionality score required. Directs the Board of Education (the Board), in consultation with the Department of Education (the Department), to establish and implement standards for determining and recognizing student educational performance and academic achievement in the form of a weighted proportionality score for each school, to account for no less than five percent of such school's accreditation rating score or metric under the current school accountability system, for the purpose of identifying, accounting for in determining accreditation ratings, and addressing disparities in access to educational resources across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in public schools in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Department to (i) develop a metric for calculating the weighted proportionality score for each school using certain variables calculated by the Department; (ii) develop a metric for calculating the improvement of a school's proportionality score received year over year; (iii) assign for each school based on such school's proportionality score a proportionality designation of "highly proportional," "proportional," "somewhat disproportional," and "highly disproportional"; and (iv) require any school board that contains within the school division a school assigned a proportionality designation of "highly disproportional" to develop and submit to the Department a remediation plan detailing the actions such school board will take to reduce disparities in access to education resources. The bill directs the Board to (a) amend its regulations to include as a school quality indicator the weighted proportionality score developed in accordance with the bill and (b) submit to the U.S. Department of Education within 90 days of the effective date of the bill any amendments necessary to its state plan pursuant to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended, that are necessary to implement the provisions of the act. Finally, the bill requires its provisions to be implemented beginning with the 2025–2026 school year.

Collective bargaining by public employees; exclusive bargaining representatives. Repeals the existing prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees. The bill creates the Public Employee Relations Board, which shall determine appropriate bargaining units and provide for certification and decertification elections for exclusive bargaining representatives of state employees and local government employees. The bill requires public employers and employee organizations that are exclusive bargaining representatives to meet at reasonable times to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. The bill repeals a provision that declares that, in any procedure providing for the designation, selection, or authorization of a labor organization to represent employees, the right of an individual employee to vote by secret ballot is a fundamental right that shall be guaranteed from infringement. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 917.

Life insurance; health insurance; unfair discrimination; pre-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of human immunodeficiency virus. Prohibits any person from refusing to insure, refusing to continue to insure, or limiting the amount or extent of life insurance or accident and sickness insurance coverage available to an individual or charge an individual a different rate for the same coverage based solely on the status of such individual as having received pre-exposure prophylaxis for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus.