Kill permits for deer, elk, or bear; local authority. Clarifies that the Director of the Department of Wildlife Resources or his designee has the exclusive authority to provide written authorization to kill deer, elk, or bear and prohibits a locality from amending, abridging, or limiting such authorization.
Highway rights-of-way; invasive species. Requires the Commonwealth Transportation Board to establish and implement a policy for identifying, digging up, and destroying any invasive plant on the list of invasive plants created by the Department of Conservation and Recreation on any state highway right-of-way.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 2.2-4311.3, relating to Virginia Public Procurement Act; prohibition on boycotting Israel.
Local officers; removal of officer appointed for a term certain; officers compensated by the appointing authority. Allows any officer appointed to an office for a term established by law and who receives compensation for his services by the appointing authority to be removed from office if the officer fails to perform his duties as outlined in the description of his position or the rules of the public body to which he has been appointed. The bill specifies that, prior to removal, the officer must be issued a warning from the appointing authority that includes a description of the violation committed and that if an additional violation occurs after the warning, the officer may be removed by a majority vote of the appointing authority upon the motion of the supervisor or council member representing the district for which the officer serves.
Department of Wildlife Resources; free or partially discounted fees to hunt, fish, and trap; reimbursement. Requires the Department of Wildlife Resources to maintain an annual accounting of revenue that would have been received by the Department from license exemptions or free or partially discounted fees to hunt, fish, or trap that are established by the General Assembly on or after July 1, 2025, and to submit such accounting to the Department of Accounts by August 1 of each year. The bill requires the Department of Accounts to pay the actual amount of such revenue within 30 days into the Game Protection Fund and also allows the accounting required by the bill and any other records relating to such accounting to be subject to audit by the State Comptroller.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science and Marine Resources Commission; oyster stock assessment; report. Directs the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in collaboration with the Marine Resources Commission to conduct a stock assessment of the oyster population in the waters of the Commonwealth. The bill requires VIMS to provide a report on its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources no later than April 1, 2026.
Animal Cruelty Conviction List established. Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish no later than January 1, 2028, and to maintain an Animal Cruelty Conviction List (List) and to make the List publicly available on the Department of State Police's website. The bill specifies that the List include the names of persons convicted of certain felony animal cruelty offenses on or after July 1, 2025. The bill requires persons convicted of any such offense to pay a fee of $50 per conviction to fund the maintenance of the List. The bill also requires the Department to remove a person's name and information from the List 15 years after its listing if he has no additional felony conviction for any such offense.
Board of Wildlife Resources; creel limits; blue catfish. Requires the Board of Wildlife Resources to amend regulations to remove the one-fish daily limit for blue catfish longer than 32 inches in Lake Gaston, Kerr Reservoir, and the James, Rappahannock, and York Rivers and their tributaries below the fall line.
Public institutions of higher education; endowments; investment management; certain divestment practices prohibited. Prohibits any public institution of higher education or any affiliated foundation, investment management company, or other entity that is responsible for managing or investing endowment funds of the institution from establishing or implementing any policy or practice of divesting from all investments in any country or territory that is not the subject of an active sanctions program administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Waste tire disposal by producers and haulers; fee; requirements. Requires a hauler, as defined in the bill, to (i) register and submit a quarterly report with the Department of Environmental Quality, (ii) provide financial assurance in the form of a bond, and (iii) transfer all waste tires and speculatively accumulated waste tires to a transfer station, material recovery facility, landfill with a solid waste permit as required by law, waste tire end user, or waste tire processing facility. The bill requires a waste tire processing facility, as defined in the bill, to also submit a quarterly report to the Department and carry financial assurance in the form of a bond. The bill expands the purpose of the Waste Tire Trust Fund to include paying the costs of implementing the waste tire disposal requirements of haulers, paying the costs of removing waste tires during a locality-led amnesty day, and funding research, studies, and demonstration projects that stimulate the growth of existing and emerging markets for waste tires. Finally, the bill increases the tire recycling fee from $0.50 to $2 beginning July 1, 2026, and directs the Waste Management Board to adopt regulations to implement the provisions of the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.
Possession, sale, transfer, or breeding of nonhuman primates prohibited; penalties. Prohibits the possession, sale, transfer, or breeding of nonhuman primates and controls the ownership of such primates already in the Commonwealth. The bill exempts from the prohibition certain institutions, qualified transporters passing through the Commonwealth, those in possession of a state or federal exhibitor's license, and those in lawful possession of a nonhuman primate prior to July 1, 2026, subject to certain conditions. The bill also provides a procedure for the seizure of a primate in certain circumstances. Any violation of the provisions of the bill is a Class 1 misdemeanor or, for a willful act or omission in the care, control, or containment of a nonhuman primate, a Class 6 felony.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 59.1-200, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Title 59.1 a chapter numbered 58, consisting of sections numbered 59.1-607 through 59.1-610, relating to Fair Voice Purchasing Act established; penalties.
