Toll relief; maximum charges. Limits to $200 per month the tolls charged to residents of the Commonwealth via electronic toll collection devices for the use of toll bridges, toll ferries, toll tunnels, or toll roads in the Commonwealth. The bill prohibits misusing, sharing, or transferring an electronic toll collection device for the purpose of (i) generating tolls to reach the toll charges limit or (ii) obtaining toll-free use of toll facilities in the Commonwealth. The bill authorizes the free use of all toll bridges, toll roads, and other toll facilities in the Commonwealth for drivers who are recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits.
Authority of school division to request motor vehicle registration numbers. Provides that any school division may request the vehicle registration number of a vehicle owned or operated by any person using the services or facilities of the school division.
Large-Scale Electricity Consumer Infrastructure Impact Fund. Establishes the Large-Scale Electricity Consumer Infrastructure Impact Fund (the Fund) for the purposes of offsetting infrastructure replacement and enhancement costs incurred by utilities that are directly attributable to the electricity demand of large-scale electricity consumers and providing bill credits to residential customers to offset rate increases due to the electricity demand of large-scale electricity consumers. The bill requires each large-scale electricity consumer operating in the Commonwealth to remit an annual infrastructure impact fee in an amount determined and assessed by the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) based on energy usage and demand in megawatts and square footage of the large-scale electricity consumer. Additionally, the bill requires each locality that gives final approval for the construction or operation of a large-scale electricity consumer on or after January 1, 2028, to remit an annual infrastructure impact fee to the Commission in an amount equal to five percent of the total annual tax revenue received by the locality that is directly or indirectly attributable to the construction or operation of each such large-scale electricity consumer. All fees collected from such assessments shall be deposited into the Fund.
Medical care facilities; expanded access to medical cannabis for terminally ill patients. Requires medical care facilities to permit terminally ill patients, as defined in the bill, to use medical cannabis. The bill requires medical care facilities to adopt policies facilitating the use of medical cannabis. The provisions of the bill do not apply to the provision of emergency medical services, including in emergency departments of hospitals. The bill requires compliance with applicable drug and medication requirements, specifies that compliance with its provisions shall not be a condition of obtaining, retaining, or renewing a license as a medical care facility, and establishes a protocol for noncompliance in the event of intervention by the federal government. The bill has a delayed effective date contingent on the federal rescheduling of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. This bill was incorporated into HB 75.
Special license plates; QUAIL FOREVER. Authorizes the issuance of revenue-sharing special license plates for supporters of Quail Forever bearing the legend QUAIL FOREVER. The bill exempts such special license plates from requirements related to the minimum number of prepaid applications and the minimum number of active license plates after five years of issuance for special license plates.
Prevailing wage rate; apprenticeship requirements; RPS-eligible source work; penalties. Requires each public service company, including its contractors and subcontractors, or third-party developer to ensure payment at the prevailing wage rate set by the Department of Labor and Industry for any mechanic, laborer, or worker employed, retained, or otherwise hired to perform construction, maintenance, or repair work for certain electricity generating sources. The bill requires each public service company to (i) ensure that 15 percent of the total labor hours of such work is performed by a qualified apprentice and (ii) employ at least one qualified apprentice if four or more individuals are employed to perform such work. Under the bill, a public service company that fails to meet the requirements of its provisions is required to make penalty payments to the Commissioner of Labor and Industry.
Board of Education; through-year growth assessment system; alternatives during 2024-2028 school years permitted. Extends from the 2025-2026 school year to the 2027-2028 school year the period during which, pursuant to applicable law, the Board of Education is required to permit school boards to administer assessments as alternatives to the through-year growth assessment system established by the Board of Education. Under current law, the Board of Education is required to permit school boards to administer such assessments during the 2024-2025 through 2025-2026 school years.
Use of public funds for private elementary or secondary school tuition; standards. Establishes several requirements and conditions relating to the use of certain public funds enumerated in the bill to fund student tuition at private elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, including (i) requiring all students enrolled at schools who receive such funds to take Standards of Learning assessments; (ii) requiring all such schools to receive accountability ratings from the Board of Education; and (iii) prohibiting such schools from discriminating in admissions, enrollment, discipline, retention, or access to educational programs and services on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, special education status, language proficiency, or socioeconomic status.
Search warrants; unattended deaths. Authorizes the issuance of a search warrant to search any place for (i) a dead human body where, at the time of death, the decedent was not being attended to by a physician or (ii) evidence of the cause or manner of death of such a body.
Public institutions of higher education; governing boards; appointment and composition of members; powers and duties; legal counsel. Amends several provisions relating to the employment, oversight, and management of the legal counsel for each public institution of higher education. The bill also amends the requirements relating to the appointment of members to and the composition of the governing board of each public institution of higher education, including (i) changing the required number of members to 18; (ii) expanding the term of each member of a governing board from four years to six years; (iii) requiring each governing board to appoint one member of the faculty, one member of the staff, and one student to the respective board as voting members; (iv) modifying procedural requirements for gubernatorial appointments and the confirmation of gubernatorial requirements by the General Assembly; and (v) amending and clarifying several procedural requirements specific to the appointment of members of governing boards, including appointments to fill vacancies and nomination and confirmation procedures and timelines. The bill also changes the procedures and requirements for the appointment of members to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and amends the requirements relating to meetings of and exercise of authority by each governing board and any executive committee appointed by a governing board pursuant to applicable law. Finally, the bill clarifies and expands the duties of each governing board in its collective capacity, and of the members of each governing board in their individual capacities, regarding (a) the primary duties of governing boards to advance the interests of the institution and the people of the Commonwealth, (b) duties relating to ideological and partisan neutrality and the protection of academic freedom and freedom of speech, and (c) duties relating to the relationship of the governing board and the institution's administration, faculty, and students.
Health care; decision-making; end of life; penalties. Allows an adult diagnosed with a terminal disease to request and an attending health care provider to prescribe a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending the patient's life. The bill requires that a patient's request for a self-administered controlled substance to end his life be given orally on two occasions and in writing, signed by the patient and one witness, and that the patient be given an express opportunity to rescind his request at any time. The bill makes it a Class 2 felony (i) to willfully and deliberately alter, forge, conceal, or destroy a patient's request, or rescission of request, for a self-administered controlled substance to end his life with the intent and effect of causing the patient's death; (ii) to coerce, intimidate, or exert undue influence on a patient to request a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending his life or to destroy the patient's rescission of such request with the intent and effect of causing the patient's death; or (iii) to coerce, intimidate, or exert undue influence on a patient to forgo a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending the patient's life. The bill also grants immunity from civil or criminal liability and professional disciplinary action to any person who complies with the provisions of the bill and allows health care providers to refuse to participate in the provision of a self-administered controlled substance to a patient for the purpose of ending the patient's life.
Tax on electronic distribution of material harmful to minors. Creates a tax at the rate of 10 percent of the gross receipts of any commercial entity operating an adult website, defined in the bill, for all sales, distributions, memberships, and other content amounting to material harmful to minors, defined in the bill, that is produced, sold, filmed, generated, or otherwise based in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that the revenues generated by this tax shall be deposited into the Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Trust Fund.
