Del. Kelly Fowler

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gouging provisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing prior to the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlords who are under the ordinance may be required to give at least two months' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, described in the bill as the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant's rent during any 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase. The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is less, states that such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowance on its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined in the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also allows a locality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will develop and implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by the ordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in the ordinance.

Recognition of the Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe of Virginia. Extends state recognition to the Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe of Virginia within the Commonwealth.

Absentee voting in person; voter satellite offices; days and hours of operation. Authorizes the governing body of any county or city establishing voter satellite offices for absentee voting in person to prescribe, by ordinance, the dates and hours of operation for such offices. The bill prohibits any reduction in the dates or hours of operation of such offices to be enacted within 60 days of any general election.

JLARC; Department of Human Resource Management; Grievance Procedure Manual; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to conduct a review of the Department of Human Resource Management's Grievance Procedure Manual as it relates to the Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice. The bill requires that JLARC evaluate the effectiveness of such procedures and report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology and the House Committee on General Laws by November 1, 2024.

Study; joint committee of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health; challenges faced by and effective strategies for ensuring the sustainable, long-term success of the five historically black colleges and universities in the Commonwealth; report. Establishes a joint committee consisting of five members of the House Committee on Education and three members of the Senate Committee on Education and Health to study the challenges faced by and effective strategies for ensuring the sustainable, long-term success of the five historically black colleges and universities in the Commonwealth–Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, Virginia Union University, and Virginia University of Lynchburg–by discussing, adopting, and recommending to the Governor and the General Assembly for formal recognition and endorsement a comprehensive statewide HBCU Support Plan.

Health insurance; coverage for therapeutic day treatment services. Requires health insurers providing health care plans to provide coverage for therapeutic day treatment services for children with serious emotional disturbances, defined in the in bill as children who have a mental illness diagnosis and have experienced functional limitations due to emotional disturbance, including experiencing a school shooting or the loss of a loved one in a school setting, over the past 12 months on a continuous or intermittent basis. Under the bill, "therapeutic day treatment services" are treatment programs that combine psychotherapeutic interventions with education and mental health and may include evaluation; medication education and management; opportunities to learn and use daily living skills and to enhance social and interpersonal skills; and individual, group, and family counseling. The bill applies to plans delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on and after January 1, 2025.

Constitutional officers; dual office holding; prohibited for deputies and other persons. Provides that the current prohibition on dual office holding that is applicable to constitutional officers also applies to deputies of such officers and any persons serving in such officer's absence until a special election to fill the vacancy is held.

Division of Early Childhood Care and Education; Department of Education; comprehensive review of certain findings and recommendations relating to the quality of early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth; report. Requires the Division of Early Childhood Care and Education of the Department of Education, in consultation with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to (i) conduct a comprehensive review of the findings and recommendations contained in the 2017 report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Improving Virginia's Early Childhood Development Programs, to determine what barriers, gaps, and deficiencies continue to exist in the provision of high-quality early childhood education and care in the Commonwealth, with a particular focus on gaps and deficiencies in the ongoing monitoring of Virginia Preschool Initiative program quality, including the collection and analysis of data relating to outcomes and kindergarten readiness, and (ii) report its findings and any associated policy recommendations to the Board of Education, the Governor, and the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2024.

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service to full-time salaried 911 dispatchers. The bill provides that such enhanced retirement benefits apply only to service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher on or after July 1, 2025, but allows an employer, as that term is defined in relevant law, to provide such enhanced retirement benefits for service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher before July 1, 2025, in addition to service earned on or after that date. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025.

Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia; work group to study trauma-informed training and education; report. Directs the Office of the Executive Secretary to convene a work group to make recommendations on the development, adoption, and implementation of trauma-informed training and education for judges, magistrates, and court personnel. The bill requires the work group to submit its recommendations by December 1, 2024, to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice.