Virginia Human Rights Act; equal credit opportunities; Virginia Fair Housing Law; nondiscrimination by automated decision systems. Provides that it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person to deploy, use, or rely on an automated decision system to make a decision pursuant to the Virginia Human Rights Act, provisions related to equal credit opportunities, or the Virginia Fair Housing Law that results in discrimination or an unlawful disparate impact or that intentionally or knowingly uses variables or data fields that serve as close proxies for protected characteristics. The bill requires a person that deploys, uses, or relies on such a system to (i) disclose the use of such system to any individual who is the subject of such decision; (ii) annually assess such system for bias, disparate impact, and discriminatory outcomes; and (iii) maintain for no fewer than two years from the date a decision is made certain documentation relating to such system.
Determining decibel level of sound with proper equipment; certificate as to accuracy of equipment. Allows a local government employee of any locality who is properly trained to use equipment deemed proper pursuant to relevant law to determine the decibel level of any sound, including noise. Under current law, only a law-enforcement officer may use such equipment.
Income tax; subtraction; retirement income of certain federal employees. Establishes, beginning in taxable year 2026, an individual income tax subtraction for 20 percent of the retirement income of retirees covered under the federal Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).
Memorializing Congress; National Infrastructure Bank. Urges the Congress of the United States to create a National Infrastructure Bank to finance urgently needed infrastructure projects.
Taxable income; subtractions; retirement income of certain federal employees. Establishes, beginning in taxable year 2026, an individual income tax subtraction for 20 percent of the retirement income of retirees covered under the federal Civil Service Retirement System.
Localities; issuance of bonds for capital projects for school purposes. Permits the governing body of any locality, with the consent of the school board and consistent with relevant provisions of law, to (i) issue bonds to finance all or any portion of any capital project for school purposes in the school division and (ii) use all or any portion of any federal, state, or local grant secured by the governing body of the locality or the school board to cover principal and debt service payments on such bonds.
Fraudulent insurance acts; civil penalty. Creates the offense of fraudulent insurance acts, enumerated in the bill, and provides that any person who commits such acts is subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 for each act.
Marine Resources Commission; Habitat Policy Oversight Committee established; powers and duties; report. Establishes the Habitat Policy Oversight Committee within the Marine Resources Commission to advise the Commission and the Habitat Management Division of the Commission on policies within their jurisdiction and to support the Commission's coastal resilience efforts. The bill establishes the powers and duties of the Committee, provides that the Committee shall have nine voting members and two ex-officio members, and directs the Committee to submit an annual oversight report to the full Commission.
Hampton Roads Interstate Highway Corridor Improvement Program and Fund; Hampton Roads Highway Coastal Resilience Program and Fund; Planning District 23. Creates (i) the Hampton Roads Interstate Highway Corridor Improvement Program and Fund for the purpose of planning, developing, financing, building, constructing, and otherwise making infrastructure and safety improvements to and maintaining the infrastructure of certain new or existing highway corridors, highways, bridges, and tunnels in Planning District 23 (Hampton Roads) and (ii) the Hampton Roads Highway Coastal Resilience Program and Fund for the purpose of planning, developing, financing, building, constructing, and maintaining infrastructure to address transportation infrastructure that is at risk due to recurrent and coastal flooding in Planning District 23.
Fostering Access, Innovation, and Responsibility in Artificial Intelligence Act established. Establishes the Fostering Access, Innovation, and Responsibility in Artificial Intelligence Act (FAIR AI Act) that requires a developer of a base artificial intelligence model, as defined in the bill, to clearly and conspicuously disclose, in a manner that is appropriate for the medium of the content and is easily accessible to the user of such model, in the terms of service governing the use of such model, certain elements related to the artificial intelligence system. The bill creates the FAIR AI Enforcement Fund for the purpose of supporting agency enforcement of artificial intelligence system misuse, bias, and workforce disruption. Finally, the bill limits the defenses available in any criminal or civil action against a defendant that is alleged to have developed, modified, or deployed an artificial intelligence system that caused harm to a plaintiff. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Professions and occupations; impersonation of certain licensed professionals by chatbot; notice; civil liability. Provides that a proprietor that owns, operates, or deploys a chatbot, defined in the bill, shall not permit such chatbot to provide any substantive response, information, or advice, or take any action that, if taken by a natural person, would (i) constitute the unlawful practice of architecture, engineering, surveying, landscape architecture, geology, dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, certain mental health professions, psychology, social work, or veterinary medicine; (ii) violate the provisions of law making it unlawful for any person to practice medicine, osteopathic medicine, chiropractic, or podiatry or as a physician assistant in the Commonwealth without a valid unrevoked license or to practice law without being authorized or licensed; or (iii) violate the provisions of law making it unlawful for a teacher to be employed without a license or provisional license or relating to division superintendents, members of a school board or other school officers, or principals or teachers in a public school. The bill allows a person injured by a proprietor who engages in any such conduct to sue therefor no more than two years after the cause of action accrues and recover compensatory damages and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The bill also requires a proprietor operating or deploying a chatbot to provide a clear, conspicuous, and explicit notice to users that they are interacting with a chatbot but specifies that the provisions of such notice shall not be a defense to liability.
Potomac River Compact; Potomac River Fisheries Commission; appointment of members. Amends the Potomac River Compact (the Compact) with the State of Maryland to require the Governor of Virginia to appoint three at-large members of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission (the Commission). The bill also provides that the fourth member from Virginia shall be the Commissioner of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). Currently, three such members are members of the VMRC and one such member is appointed by the Governor of Virginia. The bill provides that any Virginia member of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission who is a member of the VMRC shall be permitted to carry out the remainder of his term and directs the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, no later than October 1, 2026, to notify the Senate President and the House Speaker of the Maryland General Assembly in writing that the Commonwealth of Virginia has confirmed and ratified an amendment to the Compact and requests that the Maryland General Assembly confirm and ratify the same pursuant to the Compact. The bill will become effective upon the confirmation and ratification of a law of the Maryland General Assembly providing consent to the amendments made to the Compact in the bill.
