Del. Kelly Fowler

Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); real property tax exemption; surviving spouses of soldiers who died in the line of duty. Provides for a referendum at the November 5, 2024, election to approve or reject an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia that would expand the real property tax exemption that is currently available to the surviving spouses of soldiers killed in action to be available to the surviving spouses of soldiers who died in the line of duty with a Line of Duty determination from the U.S. Department of Defense. This bill is identical to SB 4.

Standards for attorneys appointed to represent parents or guardians; child dependency cases; compensation; multidisciplinary law offices or programs; report. Requires the Judicial Council of Virginia, in conjunction with the Virginia State Bar, beginning July 1, 2026, to adopt standards for the qualification and performance of attorneys appointed to represent a parent or guardian of a child when such child is the subject of a child dependency case, as defined in the bill. The bill also requires the Judicial Council of Virginia, beginning July 1, 2026, to maintain a list of attorneys admitted to practice law in Virginia who are qualified to be appointed to represent indigent parents involved in a child dependency case. Prior to July 1, 2026, counsel must be appointed from the list of attorneys qualified to serve as guardians ad litem. The bill provides that beginning January 1, 2025, court-appointed counsel for a parent, guardian, or other adult in a child dependency case will be compensated in an amount no greater than $330, or in a case for the termination of residual parental rights, $680.The bill authorizes the establishment of up to two multidisciplinary law offices or programs in localities, jurisdictions, or judicial districts that affirm they have met specified criteria for the purpose of representing parents in a child dependency court proceeding or in a child protective services assessment or investigation prior to such proceeding. During any calendar year that such an office or program is in effect for at least six months, the office or program must submit a report on program outcomes, expenses, recommendations, and other pertinent information to the Office of the Children's Ombudsman and the Chairmen of the House Committees for Courts of Justice and on Health and Human Services and Appropriations and the Senate Committees for Courts of Justice and on Education and Health and Finance and Appropriations by November 1.

Board of Housing and Community Development; stakeholder advisory group; report. Directs the Board of Housing and Community Development (the Board) to convene a stakeholder advisory group including fire code officials to evaluate and recommend revisions to the Uniform Statewide Building Code to permit Group R-2 occupancies to be served by a single exit, provided that the building has not more than six stories above grade plane. The bill requires the stakeholder advisory group to submit its findings and recommendations to the Board and to the Chairmen of the House Committee on General Laws and the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology no later than December 1, 2024. This bill is identical to SB 195.

Charter; City of Virginia Beach; board of equalization. Amends the charter for the City of Virginia Beach by expanding the board of equalization from four members to five members and an alternate. This bill is identical to SB 262.

Fentanyl and other opioids; awareness of andeducation relating to risks. Requires the ninth day of May ofeach year to be designated and known as "Fentanyl Awareness Day"in recognition of the need to raise awareness of the risks to healthand safety that are posed by fentanyl and on which the Commonwealth,the governing body of each locality, and each school board shallseek to leverage all available resources to raise awareness of suchrisks. The bill also requires the Department of Education, in consultationwith such stakeholders and experts as it deems necessary or appropriate,to develop and distribute to each school board age-appropriate and evidence-based education materials concerning the risks to healthand safety that are posed by opioids, with a particular focus onthe risk of death that is posed by fentanyl. The bill also requireseach school board, in observance of Fentanyl Awareness Day, to ensurethat such materials are distributed to or incorporated into instructionalprograms for students enrolled in the local school division.

Advanced registered medication aides; certified nursing facilities; work group; report. Requires advanced registered medication aides who administer drugs that would otherwise be self-administered to residents in a certified nursing facility licensed by the Department of Health to register with the Board of Nursing. Under the bill, an advanced registered medication aide who is registered to administer drugs to residents in a certified nursing facility shall also be eligible to administer drugs that would otherwise be self-administered to residents in an assisted living facility. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. The bill also requires the Board of Nursing to convene a work group to develop recommendations to enable such medication aides to administer drugs to residents in a certified nursing facility and to report such recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health and Human Services by November 1, 2024. Finally, the bill requires the Department of Health to promulgate regulations to authorize such medication aides to administer prescription drugs to residents in certified nursing facilities. The bill directs the Board of Nursing to adopt regulations to implement the provisions of the bill to be effective as of July 1, 2025.

Hate crimes and discrimination; ethnic animosity; penalties. Provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to safeguard all individuals within the Commonwealth from unlawful discrimination in employment and in places of public accommodation because of such individual's ethnic origin and prohibits such discrimination. The bill also adds victims who are intentionally selected because of their ethnic origin to the categories of victims whose intentional selection for a hate crime involving assault, assault and battery, or trespass for the purpose of damaging another's property results in a higher criminal penalty for the offense. The bill also provides that no provider or user of an interactive computer service on the Internet shall be liable for any action voluntarily taken by it in good faith to restrict access to material that the provider or user considers to be intended to incite hatred on the basis of ethnic origin. This bill is identical to SB 7.

Child Care Subsidy Program; categorical eligibility for certain families. Provides that any family that receives public assistance through Medicaid or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children shall be deemed to categorically satisfy income eligibility requirements to receive assistance through the Child Care Subsidy Program.

Board of Education; Provisional (Career Switcher)License; special education. Requires the Board of Education to amend its relevant regulation to permit any career switcher who seeksa teaching endorsement preK through grade 12, including any careerswitcher who seeks a teaching endorsement in special education, topursue a Provisional (Career Switcher) License through the career switcher alternate route to licensure program in accordance withall of the requirements set forth in such regulation, thereby eliminatingthe prohibition against the pursuit of such a license for any careerswitcher who seeks a teaching endorsement in special education. Thebill also clarifies that such required regulatory amendment createsan additional pathway to provisional license for an individual whoseeks a teaching endorsement in special education and does not supplantthe Provisional (Special Education) License option authorized pursuantto Board regulation.

Adult wellness screening; sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait. Provides that every adult resident of the Commonwealth may be offered screening tests for sickle cell disease or the sickle cell trait and requires that the health care professional in charge of an adult's annual health examination provide education and appropriate counseling regarding the results of any such test that is performed.