Income tax subtraction; broadband grant fund awards. Establishes an individual and corporate income tax subtraction for any amount of public grant awards received in the taxable year for the exclusive purpose of planning, constructing, expanding, or improving upon broadband infrastructure and services in the Commonwealth beginning in taxable year 2025.
Electric utilities; renewable energy portfolio standard eligible sources; zero-carbon electricity generating nuclear facilities. Provides that, for the purposes of the renewable energy portfolio standard, eligible sources include zero-carbon electricity generating nuclear facilities located in the Commonwealth.
Electric utilities; retirement of certain electric generating units. Provides that, for the required retirement by December 31, 2045, of electric generating units that emit carbon as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity, exceptions to such requirement include natural gas electric generating units with carbon capture capability and emissions-positive electric generating units. Under the bill, "emissions-positive generating unit" means an electric generating unit that produces a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by either preventing, capturing, or collecting such emissions from fuel combustion.
Professions and occupations; barbers and cosmetologists; estheticians; permanent make-up specialty licensure; licensure by endorsement. Allows the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology to issue a permanent make-up specialty license to any licensed esthetician or master esthetician who performs permanent make-up services, including permanent eyebrow, eyeliner, lip coloration, and similar pigmentation services. The bill requires the Board to promulgate regulations to permit licensed estheticians or master estheticians to be granted such licenses and allows the Board to issue such licenses by endorsement to perform permanent make-up services to persons who have held a current and unrestricted license to perform such services in other states, the District of Columbia, or possessions or territories of the United States for at least three years.
Timely local decision on certain land use permits; incentives and penalties. Requires that the average time period required for a locality to take final action to approve, approve with conditions, or deny all by-right permit applications from the date of submission of such applications to the locality shall not exceed 12 months. The bill requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to conduct semiannual compliance reviews of each locality and to publish and transmit to the Governor and the General Assembly a report identifying each locality as compliant or noncompliant for the applicable review period. The bill provides that any locality determined by the Department to be compliant for the preceding 12-month period shall be eligible to receive a state grant sufficient to fund one full-time equivalent position within the locality's planning department. The bill further provides that if the Department determines that a locality is noncompliant during a review period, the Commonwealth Transportation Board shall reduce program fund allocations from the Commonwealth Transportation Fund to any project within the boundaries of such noncompliant locality by two percent for the following fiscal year.
Study; Department of Rail and Public Transportation; feasibility of light rail extension; report. Requests the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, in collaboration with Hampton Roads Transit and the City of Virginia Beach, to complete a two-year study of the feasibility of extending light rail operations to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and to evaluate potential funding options for construction and future maintenance of the light rail.
Abuse or neglect of a child; transition of a child to sex or gender other than biological sex. Adds to the definition of "abused or neglected child" a child whose parent or other person responsible for his care attempts to transition the child to a sex or gender other than his biological sex.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 2 of Chapter 8 of the Acts of Assembly of 1989, Special Session II, as amended by Chapter 538 of the Acts of Assembly of 1999, Chapter 296 of the Acts of Assembly of 2013, and Chapter 1230 and Chapter 1275 of the Acts of Assembly of 2020, relating to issuance of bonds for the U.S. Route 58 Corridor Development Program.
Short-term rental properties; human trafficking awareness training. Requires every short-term rental operator, defined in the bill, and its employees to complete an approved training course on recognizing and reporting instances of suspected human trafficking, as provided or approved by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The bill requires that any short-term rental registry ordinance adopted by a locality pursuant to relevant law shall include that the training on recognizing and reporting instances of suspected human trafficking required by the bill be completed as part of the registration process. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. The bill contains technical amendments.
Agricultural Workforce Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Program established; report. Requires the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (the Department) to establish and administer the Agricultural Workforce Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Program (the Program) to support the mental health and well-being of the agricultural workforce, as defined in the bill, in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Program to (i) increase public awareness of mental health and suicide prevention, (ii) provide access to culturally and contextually appropriate mental health services, and (iii) address mental health challenges arising from certain stressors affecting agricultural communities in the Commonwealth. The bill directs the Department to submit a report on the Program's progress, including data collected and any recommendations, to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources by September 1, 2027, and biennially thereafter.
Consultation with federally recognized tribes; permits and reviews with potential impacts on environmental, cultural, and historic resources. Adds to the duties of the Ombudsman for Tribal Consultation requirements to (i) facilitate communication between federally recognized tribes and relevant state agencies and local governments to ensure an opportunity for meaningful and timely consultation on environmental, cultural, and historical permits and reviews; (ii) assist the Department of Transportation in developing consultation policies; (iii) make recommendations to the Governor on the basis of communications with federally recognized tribes about (a) circumstances under which tribal consent should be required for issuance of certain permits and (b) additional agencies that should develop policies and procedures to ensure meaningful, timely, and appropriate consultation with federally recognized tribes; (iv) provide training at least once a year to certain state agency personnel on issues of concern to the federally recognized tribes to support effective communication, collaboration, and positive government-to-government relations between the Commonwealth and the federally recognized tribes; and (v) submit an annual report to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on the activities undertaken to implement such provisions and the issues that have arisen in that pursuit. The bill also requires the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Historic Resources, Department of Transportation, and Marine Resources Commission to engage in consultation with federally recognized tribes on certain issues. During such consultation, the burden is on the agency to show that it has made a good faith effort to elicit meaningful and timely feedback, including formal communication between agency employees and the federally recognized tribe. When a burial permit will result in the disturbance of a burial site of an individual that has a cultural affiliation with a particular federally recognized tribe, the bill requires the Department of Historic Resources to acquire the consent of such federally recognized tribe before issuing a permit for the archaeological excavation of human remains. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Updating Virginia Law to Reflect Federal Recognition of Virginia Tribes.
Alcoholic beverage control; voluntary no-buy program; court-ordered inclusion on list of excluded persons. Requires the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to establish and implement a voluntary no-buy program which allows a person to agree to refrain from purchasing any alcoholic beverage for a chosen period of two years, five years, or a lifetime. The bill provides that the name of a person participating in the program shall be included on a list of excluded persons and that the personal information of the participants shall be confidential, with dissemination by the Board limited to persons authorized to sell alcoholic beverages, law-enforcement officers acting in the performance of their official duties, and any other parties the Board deems necessary for purposes of enforcement. The bill also provides that a court may order any person be placed on the list of excluded persons as a condition of probation or suspension of sentence or upon a conviction of certain enumerated alcohol-related offenses.
