Workforce housing for employees of a county or county school board; lease of surplus property. Allows any county board of supervisors or county school board to lease as lessor surplus or underutilized property. The bill provides that such leases shall be conditioned on the development of workforce housing serving employees of the county or school division with up to 80 percent of area median household income. The bill also prohibits establishment of a minimum lot size exceeding 5,000 square feet for such workforce housing and provides that the placement of manufactured houses that are on a permanent foundation and on individual lots shall be permitted subject to development standards that are equivalent to those applicable to site-built single-family dwellings.
Paid family and medical leave insurance program; notice requirements; civil action. Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning April 1, 2028. Under the program, benefits are paid to covered individuals, as defined in the bill, for family and medical leave. Funding for the program is provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning April 1, 2028. The bill provides that the amount of a benefit is 80 percent of the employee's average weekly net earnings, not to exceed 100 percent of the statewide average weekly net earnings, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average weekly wage. The bill caps the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year and provides self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program. This bill is identical to SB 2.
State-facilitated IRA savings program. Makes various changes to the state-facilitated IRA savings program administered by the Commonwealth Savers Plan. For purposes of defining an eligible employer, the bill (i) reduces the minimum number of eligible employees an organization must have in its employ from 25 to five for the period ending December 31 of the preceding calendar year prior to the program's open enrollment period for that calendar year and (ii) clarifies that such term does not include employers offering and sponsoring a qualified retirement plan, including 401(k) plans. The bill also removes the requirement that an eligible employee, for purposes of the program, works at least 30 hours a week and adds the requirement that participating individuals enrolling in the program independent of an employment relationship with an eligible employer be at least 18 years of age. The bill also expands the powers and duties of the governing board of the Commonwealth Savers Plan to include (a) procedures for reenrollment of participating employees and participating individuals; (b) allowing program participants to invest in a lifetime income option; (c) establishing the resources, tools, and incentives to promote greater financial education and literacy; (d) procedures for receiving and crediting federal matching contributions to an IRA or qualified retirement savings account; and (e) exploring and establishing incentives that encourage participation by eligible employers and eligible employees, including initiatives that incentivize compliance or that defray any costs incurred by an eligible employer to facilitate participation.The bill also requires eligible employers that withhold a program contribution from a participating employee's wages to remit such contribution not later than 10 business days following the date upon which such withholding was made and notes that eligible employers who fail to submit contributions to the program may be in violation of law and incur penalties. This bill is identical to HB 176.
Housing for local employees; grants for homeownership and workforce housing alternatives. Eliminates the maximum amount a locality may provide (i) to employees of the locality, employees of the school board, and employees of constitutional officers for homeownership grants to purchase primary residences in the locality and (ii) to school division personnel for residential housing assistance grants to provide affordable workforce housing alternatives. The bill also eliminates the requirement that such grants adhere to the Virginia Housing and Development Authority regional sales price and household income limitation guidelines. Current law imposes a maximum grant amount of $25,000 for individual grants per employee, as well as a maximum lifetime cumulative amount of $25,000 per employee.
Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service, other than a hazardous duty supplement, to full-time salaried 911 dispatchers. The bill provides that such enhanced retirement benefits apply only to service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher on or after July 1, 2027, but allows an employer, as that term is defined in relevant law, to provide such enhanced retirement benefits for service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher before July 1, 2027, in addition to service earned on or after that date. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
Tags
Public Safety
Railroad safety; minimum train crew; movement of freight. Requires a crew of at least two qualified individuals on all trains, locomotives, or light engines used in connection with moving freight except in use for hostler or utility service. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to include in an existing report the number of probable violations of federal regulations related to railroad safety investigated by the Commission's Division of Utility and Railroad Safety and reported to the Federal Railroad Administration for enforcement. This bill is identical to HB 25.
Oral threat to kill or to do bodily harm; employees of local or state department of social services; penalty. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who orally makes a threat to kill or do bodily injury to any employee the Department of Social Services or a local department of social services, as those terms as defined in relevant law, who is engaged in the performance of his duties.
Virginia Personnel Act; hiring preference in state government; certain former federal employees. Allows for an applicant's status as a former federal employee to be given consideration when applying for employment with the Commonwealth if such applicant was terminated from a position of employment with the federal government on or after January 1, 2025, due to a reduction in the federal budget or initiatives put in place by the federal Department of Government Efficiency, provided that such person meets all of the knowledge, skill, and ability requirements for the available position. The bill directs the Department of Human Resource Management, on or before January 1 of each year, to submit a report to the Governor and the General Assembly that includes the number of job applications submitted by candidates who self-identified as former federal employees, as well as the number of jobs offered to such candidates. The bill has an expiration date of January 21, 2029.
Oral threat to kill or to do bodily harm; employees of local or state department of social services; penalty. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who orally makes a threat to kill or do bodily injury to any call-center contractor or employee of the Department of Social Services or a local department of social services, as those terms as defined in relevant law, who is engaged in the performance of his duties.
Virginia Human Rights Act; menopause or perimenopause; discrimination prohibited; report. Prohibits discrimination under the Virginia Human Rights Act on the basis of menopause or perimenopause for purposes of nondiscrimination in government programs, public accommodation, employment hiring, and reasonable employer accommodation. The bill also directs the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, to conduct a study on menopause and perimenopause in the workforce, menopause and perimenopause accommodations in employment environments, and the scope of existing menopause-related and perimenopause-related policies and to develop best practices related to menopause and perimenopause accommodations in employment environments. The bill directs the Commissioners to submit such report to the Governor and General Assembly by July 1, 2028, and to post such report on the Department of Labor and Industry's website. This bill is identical to SB 258.
