Right to farm; minimum area requirements; animal husbandry practices. Changes the standards under the Right to Farm Act allowing a locality to adopt minimum area requirements for land on which any agriculture activity occurs by restricting a locality from adopting minimum area requirements for agricultural operations involving an animal inconsistent with and more restrictive than standard animal husbandry practices.
Transportation district commissions; contracts or agreements. Expands the localities and entities with which transportation district commissions may enter into contracts or agreements to provide transit facilities and services and other modes of transportation.
Signs or advertisements within the limits of a highway; civil penalty. Increases the civil penalty for placing advertisements and signs within the limits of any highway from $100 to $250 but retains the $100 civil penalty for identical signs and advertisements located within a 100-yard radius of a sign or advertisement for which the $250 civil penalty is imposed. The bill clarifies that when such signs and advertisements are removed, civil penalties may be collected in addition to the cost of removing such advertisements or signs.
Vehicle safety inspections; new motor vehicles. Extends from 12 months to 24 months the period for which a vehicle safety inspection is valid for new motor vehicles. The bill requires the fee for a 24-month inspection approval sticker to be double the price of a 12-month inspection approval sticker. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Animal-drawn vehicles; equipment requirements. Establishes certain equipment requirements for animal-drawn vehicles operating on the highways of the Commonwealth, including requirements for brake systems, tires and wheels, headlamps, reflectors, hazard lights, rearview mirrors, and horns. The bill replaces existing light and reflector requirements for animal-drawn vehicles under current law with such equipment requirements for headlamps, reflectors, and hazard lights.
Commercial fishing pier; public fishing pier owned by a political subdivision; exclusion. Excludes a political subdivision that operates a public fishing pier over or upon the subaqueous beds of the Commonwealth from commercial fishing pier licensing fees and permitting requirements.
Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas; acceptance of signed and sealed plan in lieu of local plan review. Authorizes a locality subject to the provisions of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act to accept a set of plans and supporting calculations prepared by a licensed professional, as described in the bill, for any land-disturbing activity that disturbs 2,500 square feet or more but less than one acre in an area of a locality designated as a Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area. The bill provides that such plans and supporting calculations shall satisfy the requirement that the locality retain a certified plan reviewer or conduct a plan review.
Fishing license requirements; exemptions; free fishing days. Increases from three to six days the maximum number of free fishing days, during which a person is allowed to fish without a fishing license, that the Board of Wildlife Resources may designate for inland waters in the Commonwealth and the Commissioner of Marine Resources may designate for saltwater recreational fishing in the Commonwealth.
Time zone; permanent standard time in Virginia. Exempts Virginia from observing daylight saving time, thereby making Eastern Standard Time the standard time in Virginia year-round.
Sale and distribution of plastic carryout bags by grocery stores prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits any grocery store, as defined in the bill, from selling or distributing any plastic carryout bag, as defined in the bill, to its customers on or after January 1, 2027, unless such bag qualifies as an exempt bag, as defined in the bill. The bill provides that any grocery store that violates this provision shall be issued by the Department of Environmental Quality a written warning for the first violation and shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for a second and each subsequent violation as determined by the Director of the Department. The bill also requires any grocery store, no later than January 1, 2027, to develop, implement, and maintain a program to encourage its customers to utilize reusable bags, as defined in the bill.
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.
Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund; Director of Department of Environmental Quality; point source pollution grant agreements. Clarifies that the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality is only required to enter into water quality improvement grant agreements with all facilities designated as significant dischargers or eligible nonsignificant dischargers that apply for such grants if sufficient and unobligated funds are available in the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund at the time the Director enters into such grant agreements.
