Comprehensive community colleges; procurement; machinery and equipment for courses and programs; certain limitations prohibited. Prohibits the State Board for Community Colleges and any comprehensive community college from establishing or adhering to any procurement policy, practice, procedure, regulation, or rule that prohibits the procurement of used machinery or equipment when such machinery or equipment is necessary to provide proper student instruction in any relevant course or program.
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; work group; best practices for student-athlete name, image, and likeness deal transparency; report. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to convene a work group to evaluate best practices for increasing transparency in name, image, and likeness deals for student-athletes at baccalaureate public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the work group to submit its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2026.
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; evaluation; impact of recent federal changes to graduate and professional student loan programs on in-state students; report. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, with the assistance of an advisory group that it convenes, to evaluate the impact of revised federal borrowing limits, the elimination of federal Grad PLUS loans, and any related federal definitions that alter the classification of graduate and professional programs for student financial aid purposes on in-state students enrolled at public institutions of higher education and private nonprofit institutions eligible to participate in the Tuition Assistance Grant Program and report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2026. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Specialty civil court dockets; business and complex litigation dockets established; criteria for eligible actions. Establishes a specialty docket, known as the business and complex litigation docket, to assist circuit courts with certain civil actions that involve specialized legal issues, complex contexts, intricate transactions, multiple parties, or other complicating factors. The bill provides that for an action to be eligible to be considered for a business and complex litigation docket, the action shall (i) present special complexity, including specialized issues or acute litigation management needs, and (ii) fall into one or more of several enumerated categories of civil actions. The bill also requires that such eligible action has a minimum amount in controversy of $100,000. The bill also enumerates several types of civil actions that are ineligible for such specialty docket but creates an exception for any such action that demonstrates extraordinary circumstances that would require specialized docket management. The bill creates a process by which counsel for any party or the circuit court judge initially assigned to an eligible action may request that the matter be transferred to the specialty docket and directs the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, in collaboration with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Specialty Docket Advisory Committee studying business and complex litigation dockets, to establish any rules or procedures as necessary for the transfer of such eligible actions.
School boards; excusing students from attendance at school; grounds; verified medical reasons. Requires each school board to excuse from attendance any pupil who, for any continuous period of time not exceeding 30 school days in length, is absent from school for medical reasons as verified in writing by the student's health care provider.
Historical African American cemeteries and graves; qualified organization; Fairfax burial grounds. Expands the definition of a qualified organization that may receive funds for maintenance of a historical African American cemetery to include any authority created pursuant to the Park Authorities Act. The bill also adds the African American Cemetery at Bull Run Park with 101 known graves, the Enslaved Burial Ground at Bull Run Marina with five known graves, and the Enslaved Burial Ground at Ford's Mill with seven known graves in Fairfax County to the list of cemeteries for which qualified organizations may receive funds from the Department of Historic Resources for the care of historical African American cemeteries and graves.
Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program authority; right of entry; performance bond. Removes the requirement for a Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program (VESMP) authority to have a performance bond with surety, cash escrow, letter of credit, any combination thereof, or such other legal arrangement in order to enter any establishment or upon any property, public or private, for the purpose of initiating or maintaining appropriate actions that are required by conditions imposed by the VESMP authority on a land-disturbing activity when an owner, after proper notice, has failed to take acceptable action within the time specified.
Board of Education; requirements for graduation with an advanced studies diploma; simultaneous completion of International Baccalaureate diploma and advanced studies diploma; approval of alternatives for certain credit requirements; regulations. Requires the Board of Education to permit any student who is simultaneously pursuing an advanced studies diploma and an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma to complete certain courses or sequences of courses required for an IB diploma, as approved by the Board, including substitutes for the Virginia and U.S. history and government courses and for the economics and personal finance credit requirement. The bill also directs the Board to grant a waiver from the training in emergency first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the use of automated external defibrillators required for graduation to any student who (i) pursuant to his individualized education program or Section 504 Plan cannot successfully complete the training or (ii) after grade 10, transfers from a school or other education program that does not require or give credit for such training. Finally, the bill directs the Board of Education to amend its regulations to expressly provide that any student who completes the requirements to be eligible for the award of an IB diploma shall be deemed to have satisfied the course and credit requirements for graduation with an advanced studies diploma without having to complete any additional course or credit verification requirements.
Maximum number of judges in each judicial district. Increases from five to six the maximum number of authorized general district court judges in the Twelfth Judicial District. The bill also increases from six to seven the maximum number of authorized juvenile and domestic relations district court judges in the Twelfth Judicial District. This bill is a recommendation of the Committee on District Courts.
Additional local sales and use tax to support schools; referendum. Authorizes all counties and cities to impose an additional local sales and use tax at a rate not to exceed one percent with the revenue used only for public school capital projects, defined in the bill, if such levy is approved in a voter referendum. The bill removes the requirement that such a tax must have an expiration date on either (i) the date of the repayment of any bonds or loans used for such capital projects or (ii) a date chosen by the governing body. Under current law, only Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick, and Pittsylvania Counties and the City of Danville are authorized to impose such a tax. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Maximum number of judges in each judicial circuit. Increases from five to six the maximum number of judges authorized in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit. This bill is a recommendation of the Judicial Council of Virginia.
Economic development incentives; wage requirements. Requires companies to pay an average wage for the jobs eligible for assistance under the component programs of the Virginia Jobs Investment Program that is no less than the prevailing average wage, defined in the bill, or, in the case of an economically distressed locality, defined in the bill, no less than 85 percent of the prevailing average wage. Under current law, to be eligible for the component programs, companies must pay a minimum entry-level wage rate per hour of at least 1.2 times the federal minimum wage or the Virginia minimum wage, whichever is higher, and in areas that have an unemployment rate of 1.5 times the statewide average unemployment rate, the wage rate minimum may be waived.The bill also authorizes the payment of Virginia Investment Performance Grants if the average wage paid by the eligible manufacturer or research and development service, excluding fringe benefits, is no less than 85 percent of the prevailing average wage in localities with either (i) an annual unemployment rate for the most recent calendar year for which such data is available that is greater than the final statewide average unemployment rate for that calendar year or (ii) a poverty rate for the most recent calendar year for which such data is available that exceeds the statewide average poverty rate for that year. Under current law, such authorization is limited to those localities meeting both the unemployment rate and poverty rate thresholds.
