Elections; form of ballot; party identificationof candidates; constitutional offices. Provides that any candidatefor a constitutional office who is nominated by a political partyor at a primary election shall be identified on the ballot by thename of his political party. Currently, only candidates for federal,statewide, and General Assembly offices are so identified. The constitutionaloffices are those of the treasurer, sheriff, attorney for the Commonwealth,clerk of court, and commissioner of the revenue.
Medical malpractice; limitations on recovery;certain actions. Eliminates the cap on the recovery in actionsagainst health care providers for medical malpractice where the act or acts of malpractice occurred on or after July 1, 2024, and occurredagainst a patient age 10 or younger.
Covenants not to compete; health care professionals;civil penalty. Adds health care professionals as a category ofemployee with whom no employer shall enter into, enforce, or threatento enforce a covenant not to compete. The bill defines "health careprofessional" as any physician, nurse, nurse practitioner, physician'sassistant, pharmacist, social worker, dietitian, physical and occupationaltherapist, professional counselor, behavior analyst, assistant behavioranalyst, or medical technologist authorized to provide health careservices in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that any employerthat violates the prohibition against covenants not to compete witha health care professional is subject to the civil penalty in currentlaw of $10,000 for each violation.
Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty.Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gougingprovisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing priorto the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlordswho are under the ordinance may be required to give at least twomonths' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase therent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, describedin the bill as the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant'srent 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 theConsumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is less, statesthat such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginningJuly 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowanceon its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlinedin the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also allowsa locality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will developand implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply forand be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by theordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establisha civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set outin the ordinance.
Energy efficiency and climate standards; morestringent energy efficiency and climate requirements. Allowsa locality by ordinance to adopt and require compliance with stretchcodes, as defined in the bill, for the construction or rehabilitationof buildings within the locality that are in addition to or more stringentthan those in the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and use them asan alternative means of compliance with a locality's building requirements.The bill requires periodic review of the codes and allows the localityto make amendments.
Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural GuaranteeAct; hearing panel decisions. Provides that for the purposesof the Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act a majoritydecision of a hearing panel shall be binding on the employing agency.Under current law, such decisions are advisory recommendations only.The bill also provides that a hearing panel's decision may be appealedto the circuit court in the jurisdiction where the grievance arose.Lastly, the bill provides that the third member of the hearing panelshall not be from within the employing law-enforcement agency.
Local enforcement of property maintenance.Adds the violation of one or more local ordinances related to theproper maintenance of property to existing provisions that allow a locality to require a property owner to remove, repair, or securea building, wall, or other structure that might endanger the publichealth or safety of other residents of such locality as a reasonfor requiring such maintenance. The bill also allows the localitythrough its own agents or employees to take such actions after propernotice.
Election administration; deputy general registrars; recommended number. Requires the State Board of Elections toadopt guidance for determining the recommended number of deputy registrarsto serve in a county or city based on the size of the county's or city's population as of the most recent decennial census and prohibitsa local electoral board from setting a number in excess of such recommendation.The bill allows for additional deputy registrars to be appointedif the local electoral board determines that a greater number thanthe State Board's recommended number for a county's or city's populationis needed and the local governing body approves such number. The billalso requires the Department of Elections to convene a work groupno later than July 1, 2024, to advise and collaborate with the State Board on the development of such guidance and directs the work groupto complete its work and make public such guidance no later thanDecember 1, 2024. The provisions of the bill other than the requirementfor the Department to convene the work group have a delayed effectivedate of January 1, 2025.
Public deposits; credit unions. Authorizescredit unions to hold public deposits and become qualified publicdepositories. The bill provides that the Commonwealth and counties, cities, towns, and other political subdivisions of the Commonwealthmay become members of a credit union for the purposes of placingdeposits in and receiving services from the credit union. The billdirects the Treasury Board to designate a rating service to evaluatethe creditworthiness of any credit union seeking to become a qualified public depository within 180 days of enactment. The bill also requiresthe Treasury Board to promulgate emergency regulations to implementthe provisions of the bill.
Cloud Computing Cluster Infrastructure GrantFund; performance agreement. Removes the authority to make commitmentsrelated to accelerated permitting, property tax classifications, and other such issues in an agreement between a qualified companyand a locality for purposes of the Cloud Computing Cluster InfrastructureGrant Fund.
Data centers; noise abatement. Providesthat any local government land use application required for the sitingof a data center shall be approved only in accordance with certainnotice and noise abatement requirements. The bill provides that residentswithin a half-mile radius of the parcel shall receive notice of theproposed data center and that the data center operator shall holdtwo neighborhood meetings. The bill requires a data center operatorto design and build the data center to incorporate sound mitigationmethods sufficient to prevent the sound levels emanating from thedata center from exceeding the ambient noise levels that were observedin a baseline study, as determined by a third-party acoustic engineer.The bill also provides that upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy,and for five years thereafter, the data center operator shall conducta noise study performed by a third-party acoustical engineer to documentnoise levels emanating from the data center measured at the propertyline of the nearest property to the data center property that isplanned or zoned for residential land uses, or other noise sensitiveuse as reasonably determined by the locality, during peak operationof the data center mechanical equipment. The bill also provides that if the data center operator intends to use backup power generatorson the parcel, the operator shall maintain a public website announcingthe times when the generators will be in operation.
Electric utilities; underground transmissionlines. Provides that the construction and reconstruction of any underground, in whole or in part, electrical transmission linesof at least 69 kilovolts and less than 500 kilovolts along a highwayright-of-way under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportationin Planning District 8 where a data center proposal is under constructionin an area located within a half mile of a National Battlefield Park and within one mile of a state forest is in the public interest.
