General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act; definition of "gift." Excludes from the definition of a gift, for purposes of the General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act, food and beverages that are consumed by a legislator while sitting and sharing a meal with at least one legislator of a different political party of a value of less than $200.
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities; program extension. Directs the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to take all steps necessary to implement the federal extension option for the federal Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities to allow children four years of age or younger to receive services through such Program. Under current law, the Program is available for children between birth and three years of age.
Felony eluding; mandatory minimum. Imposes a one year mandatory minimum term of confinement in a state correctional facility for any person convicted of felony eluding if evidence is presented at sentencing that (i) the law-enforcement officer or responding law-enforcement agency used equipment, including spike strips or a law-enforcement vehicle, to forcibly stop such person's motor vehicle or (ii) such person's motor vehicle was used to intentionally damage a law-enforcement vehicle.
Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; emergency dispatchers. Extends membership in the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS) to emergency dispatchers who are employed by the Department of State Police, Capitol Police, and agencies whose law-enforcement officers are eligible for membership in VaLORS. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027, and provides that such membership applies only to service earned on or after July 1, 2027.
Concealed handgun permit fees. Lowers the maximum from $35 to $10 the fee that a local law-enforcement agency conducting a background investigation for the purpose of processing an application for a concealed handgun permit may charge to cover the cost of conducting such an investigation and lowers from $50 to $25 the maximum total amount for processing such an application.
Driver improvement clinics; motorcycle driver improvement clinics; Motorcycle Driver Improvement Clinic Fund; created. Creates motorcycle driver improvement clinics, defined in the bill, as a subset of existing driver improvement clinics and provides requirements and parameters for the instruction and administration of the motorcycle driver improvement clinics. The bill authorizes courts to direct defendants who have committed violations while operating a motorcycle to attend a motorcycle driver improvement clinic and satisfy the requirements thereof. The bill also creates the Motorcycle Driver Improvement Clinic Fund for the operation and administration of motorcycle driver improvement clinics. The bill specifies that priority be given to the creation of motorcycle driver improvement clinics that operate as computer-based clinics.
Individual income tax; subtractions; military benefits. Removes the cap on military benefits that may be subtracted from Virginia taxable income for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2026, allowing the total amount of such benefits to be subtracted from such income. Under current law, up to $40,000 of military benefits may be subtracted from Virginia taxable income.
Cruelty to animals; malicious killing of a dog or cat; penalty. Creates, under the animal cruelty provisions, a Class 6 felony for any person who maliciously kills any dog or cat that is a companion animal whether belonging to him or another. Currently, such felony applies only to a person who (i) tortures, willfully inflicts inhumane injury or pain not connected with bona fide scientific or medical experimentation, or cruelly and unnecessarily beats, maims, or mutilates any dog or cat that is a companion animal whether belonging to him or another and (ii) as a direct result causes serious bodily injury to such dog or cat that is a companion animal, the death of such dog or cat that is a companion animal, or the euthanasia of such animal on the recommendation of a licensed veterinarian upon determination that such euthanasia was necessary due to the condition of the animal.
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 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, 2026. 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 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. Finally, the bill directs the Department to develop forms to implement and enforce the provisions of the bill, including the operation and maintenance of the List and the removal of the records of persons who are deceased, whose convictions have been reversed, or who have been pardoned.
Board of Health; regulations; utilization of helicopter instrument approach by hospital or air medical service vendor. Directs the Board of Health to prescribe by regulation requirements directing any hospital or air medical service vendor utilizing a helicopter instrument approach procedure to a hospital helipad approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide such procedure to any licensed air medical service operator requesting it for the purpose of patient transport. The bill directs that such requirements shall include standardized procedures for requesting, receiving, and using such instrument approach data and enforcement mechanisms for noncompliance by a hospital or air medical service vendor.
Free use of toll facilities; certain disabled veterans. Authorizes the free use of all toll bridges, toll roads, and other toll facilities in the Commonwealth for drivers who have been rated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as having a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability. The bill also replaces the current window sticker for certain persons exempted from tolls due to a disability with a specialized electronic toll collection device identifying such person as eligible for free passage.
Transportation funding; project prioritization; sidewalks. Authorizes the consideration of the use of sidewalks and new sidewalk projects for certain project prioritization processes that apply statewide and to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, for purposes of transportation funding, and expands the permissible use of certain revenues by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority for capital improvements that reduce congestion to new sidewalk projects.
