Public schools; indoor air quality; industry-recognized uniform inspection and evaluation. Adds several items that are required to be included in the industry-recognized uniform inspection and evaluation of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system that is required at least every four years for each public elementary and secondary school building, including measurement of radon levels in the air and testing for moisture incursion. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Professions and occupations; definition of "practice of athletic training"; dry needling. Adds dry needling to the definition of "practice of athletic training," as such term relates to the practice of medicine and other healing arts, and directs the Board of Medicine to adopt regulations requiring training and certification for the practice of dry needling by athletic trainers.
School bus video-monitoring systems; enforcement; sworn or affirmed certificates. Authorizes, for enforcement of violations related to passing a stopped school bus via video-monitoring system, the use of a certificate, or a facsimile thereof, sworn to or affirmed by a law-enforcement officer or a retired sworn law-enforcement officer, as defined in the bill, based on recorded images produced by the video-monitoring system as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein.
School boards; mental health awareness training; full-time school bus drivers. Permits any school board to require each school bus driver employed on a full-time basis in the local school division to complete mental health awareness training at least once. The bill requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to consider condensing and abbreviating the existing mental health first aid training program into a two-hour module that any school board may utilize in order to train full-time school bus drivers.
School boards; authority to prohibit sale of caffeinated beverages to students in public high schools. Permits any school board to prohibit the sale of caffeinated beverages to students in public high schools in the local school division, regardless of whether any such beverage meets the requirements to be considered a diet or low-calorie beverage under any relevant federal regulation.
Board of Education; development of alternative graduation pathways to earn a Standard Diploma; report. Directs the Board of Education to develop alternative graduation pathways to earn a Standard Diploma that are designed to expand opportunities for students to complete the verified credit requirements for the Standard Diploma that do not require achieving a passing score on applicable Standards of Learning assessments. In developing such alternative graduation pathways, the bill directs the Board to (i) consult with and integrate the perspectives of a broad range of relevant stakeholders; (ii) consider alignment with the competencies articulated in the Profile of a Virginia Graduate; (iii) consider certain elements for incorporation into such alternative pathways, including nonassessment demonstrations of competence, alternative assessments that could be used in lieu of or alongside Standards of Learning assessments, and pathway structures or elements designed to encourage hands-on learning and civic engagement; (iv) ensure that any such alternative graduation pathways do not impact or replace the current requirements for earning a Standard Diploma or an Advanced Studies Diploma; (v) ensure at least one alternative pathway is developed that includes a nonassessment demonstration of competence; and (vi) consider next steps for approval and implementation of such alternative graduation pathways. Finally, the bill directs the Board to submit to the Governor and Chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by January 1, 2027, a report detailing the Board's progress in developing alternative graduation pathways to earn a Standard Diploma, in accordance with the provisions of the bill.
Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission; reform. Increases from seven to 12 the number of members of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission (the Commission) by adding two additional attorney members, an additional active judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and two additional citizen members. The bill provides that such attorney members be chosen by members of the General Assembly from recommendations provided by the Council of the Virginia State Bar, the Board of Directors for the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys, and the Board of Directors for the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and reduces the required years of practice for such lawyer members from 15 to eight. The bill establishes an initial and subsequent annual training requirement for each member and any newly hired counsel for the Commission. Additionally, the bill requires the Commission to adopt and implement a conflict of interest policy. The bill clarifies appointment powers of the Governor in any case where a member of the Commission or staff for the Commission is disqualified from or voluntarily recuses himself from participation in a proceeding. Further, the bill requires the Commission to adopt, the Committees for Courts of Justice to approve, and the Commission to make publicly available a Code of Conduct for all Commission members and Commission staff. The bill provides that the Commission shall make all reasonable efforts to contact any witnesses specified in complaints alleging judicial misconduct to assist the Commission. Further, the bill clarifies that the Commission may investigate any complaints within their purview arising out of matters that are pending or on appeal, and that the Commission shall not dismiss such complaints solely on the basis that the matter from which such complaint arose is pending or on appeal. The bill requires the Commission to make publicly available a publication specifying all possible sanctions, informal disciplinary actions, and supervision agreements the Commission may impose on a judge who is the subject of a complaint and provides an option for requiring the mandatory recusal of such judge in certain instances. The bill prohibits the Attorney General from acting as counsel in any proceeding where the Attorney General was involved in a case, either at trial or on appeal, where a complaint of judicial misconduct arose from such case, and provides that the Conflict of Interest policy the Commission adopts shall govern the Attorney General. The bill removes provisions of confidentiality for a complainant that currently bars a complainant from discussing or sharing privileged information regarding any filed complaint and permits such complainant to discuss publicly the filing of a complaint and any associated events relating to the complaint. The bill clarifies notice requirements to the complainant by the Commission. Finally, the bill permits the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia to provide the annual judicial performance evaluations for all judges subject to evaluation to the Commission, and such evaluations shall remain confidential.
Lieutenant Governor; chair. Authorizes Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears to receive a replica of the chair used by the Lieutenant Governor when presiding over the Senate.
Lieutenant Governor; portrait. Establishes a committee to contract for a portrait of Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears to be painted, framed, and installed in the Capitol.
State-owned bottomlands; Marine Resources Commission; conveyance of certain easements to City of Norfolk; Coastal Storm Risk Management Program. Allows the Marine Resources Commission to convey to the City of Norfolk, in locations acceptable to the Commission, permanent easement interests, temporary construction easements, and fee simple interests in subaqueous land that are necessary for the City’s Phase I drawings, defined in the bill, pursuant to quitclaims. The bill also allows the Commission to quitclaim to the City any interest that the Commonwealth may have in and to the property known as Newton Canal, a/k/a Mahone's Canal, a/k/a Brambleton Canal, which property is located within the boundaries of City of Norfolk GPIN 1437339770.
Tax administration; award for tax underpayment detection assistance. Authorizes the Tax Commissioner to award monetary compensation to individuals who provide information that assists the Department of Taxation in the successful collection of delinquent state taxes owed by other individual or business taxpayers. The bill provides that such awards may be given only if (i) the underpaying individual taxpayer's gross income exceeds $100,000 or the underpaying business taxpayer's gross income exceeds $500,000 and (ii) the amount in question exceeds $50,000.
Department of Emergency Management; state of preparedness; report. Directs the Department of Emergency Management to assess the feasibility and impact of developing a program to prioritize the prevention and mitigation of damage, loss, hardship, or suffering due to the anticipated impacts of an imminent emergency necessitating a gubernatorial declaration of a state of preparedness or an emergency that does not warrant a gubernatorial declaration of a state of emergency. The Department of Emergency Management shall submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and General Laws and Technology and the House Committee on Appropriations by November 1, 2026.
