Circuit court clerks; fees; Technology Trust Fund Fee; report; recordation tax of certain deeds; report. Increases the Technology Trust Fund Fee from $5 to $8. The bill also increases the amount of the fee to be allocated for one of the purposes as described in current law from $4 to $6. The bill authorizes the remaining $2 of the fee to be allocated to individual circuit court clerks' offices for one of the purposes as described in current law. The bill also provides that no recordation tax shall be required of a quitclaim deed or deed to correct a fraudulently recorded deed, including a deed of trust, between a grantor and grantee when no consideration has passed between the parties. Finally, the bill directs (i) the clerk in each circuit court in the Commonwealth to provide detailed information to the Compensation Board and the Auditor of Public Accounts on the total amount of local Technology Trust Fund Fee revenue collected and expended and (ii) the Compensation Board to aggregate such information and submit a report summarizing the information to the Chairs of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations by December 1, 2026.
Department of Education; assessment; certified student support agencies; report. Requires the Department of Education (the Department) to assess the impact of developing a program to provide student support programs to students enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school through certified student support agencies, as defined in the bill. The bill requires the Department, in conducting such assessment, to consider (i) a framework by which a certified student support agency would enter into a memorandum of understanding with a school board for the purpose of providing student support programs, as defined in the bill, and suggested components of such memorandums of understanding, such as (a) documentation establishing the organization's nonprofit status, (b) a description of each student support program that such organization provides, (c) policies and procedures relating to privacy, background checks, mandated reporting, and the transmission, collection, use, and disposal of student personal information, and (d) consent forms and procedures to be used by such student support programs to obtain the necessary consent from the parent of any student under 18 years of age; (ii) the feasibility of establishing and administering a certification process for certified student support agencies; (iii) potential compliance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms and subsequent penalties for noncompliance to ensure that each certified student support agency complies with such program; (iv) policies and procedures for the secure disposal of a student's personal information upon such student's withdrawal from a student support program, upon the cessation of any such program, or upon such student's graduation or transfer from the school division; and (v) cost estimates, including staffing needs, for the development and implementation of such program. The bill requires the Department to submit a report on its findings to the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Education and Health and the House Committees on Appropriations and Education no later than November 1, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 190.
Department of Education; assessment; certified student support agencies; report. Requires the Department of Education (the Department) to assess the impact of developing a program to provide student support programs to students enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school through certified student support agencies, as defined in the bill. The bill requires the Department, in conducting such assessment, to consider (i) a framework by which a certified student support agency would enter into a memorandum of understanding with a school board for the purpose of providing student support programs, as defined in the bill, and suggested components of such memorandums of understanding, such as (a) documentation establishing the organization's nonprofit status, (b) a description of each student support program that such organization provides, (c) policies and procedures relating to privacy, background checks, mandated reporting, and the transmission, collection, use, and disposal of student personal information, and (d) consent forms and procedures to be used by such student support programs to obtain the necessary consent from the parent of any student under 18 years of age; (ii) the feasibility of establishing and administering a certification process for certified student support agencies; (iii) potential compliance monitoring and enforcement mechanisms and subsequent penalties for noncompliance to ensure that each certified student support agency complies with such program; (iv) policies and procedures for the secure disposal of a student's personal information upon such student's withdrawal from a student support program, upon the cessation of any such program, or upon such student's graduation or transfer from the school division; and (v) cost estimates, including staffing needs, for the development and implementation of such program. The bill requires the Department to submit a report on its findings to the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Education and Health and the House Committees on Appropriations and Education no later than November 1, 2026. This bill is identical to HB 178.
Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act; dissemination of personal information to federal government; civil penalties. Provides that any agency or political subdivision of the Commonwealth shall only disseminate personal information (i) to the extent necessary to comply with state or federal law, including the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; (ii) to the extent necessary to carry out the administration of a state or federal program pursuant to state or federal law; (iii) to comply with a subpoena, court order, or administrative proceeding; (iv) to the extent necessary to ensure fulfillment of the obligations of a purchase or contract made in accordance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act or a memorandum of understanding or management agreement made in accordance with the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act; (v) when the data subject has given consent; or (vi) to the extent necessary to accomplish a proper purpose of the agency. The bill also prohibits an agency or political subdivision from selling personal information. The bill authorizes a court, in the case of a willful and knowing violation, to subject a specific public officer, appointee, or employee of any agency to civil penalties.
Department of Education; artificial intelligence system use in instructional settings; development of AIS safety guidance required; AIS Innovation in Education Pilot Program established; report. Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with school divisions and other relevant stakeholders, to compile information on current uses of artificial intelligence systems (AIS) for student instruction in public schools in the Commonwealth and to establish and post in a publicly accessible location on its website guidance for the safe, ethical, and equitable use of AIS in instructional settings in public elementary and secondary schools. The bill requires each school board to establish, implement, and enforce policies consistent with the guidance developed by the Department in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill also directs the Department to establish and oversee the AIS Innovation in Education Pilot Program for the purpose of funding, evaluating, and scaling innovative uses of AIS in public elementary and secondary schools by providing support to school divisions in piloting AIS applications for instruction, tutoring, student engagement, operational efficiency, and teacher support and to submit an annual report to the Chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by December 1. The Pilot Program has an expiration date of July 1, 2030. This bill is identical to SB 394.
Voter registration; list maintenance; third-party data exchanges; approval by State Board of Elections. Requires the Commissioner of Elections, prior to entering into or terminating a memorandum of understanding or modifying the terms of an existing memorandum of understanding with any third party for the exchange of voter registration data, to submit the proposed memorandum of understanding, the reason for termination, or the proposed modifications, as appropriate, to the State Board of Elections for review and approval. Approval shall require a vote of two-thirds of the State Board. The bill also requires the Commissioner of Elections to apply for, enter into, and maintain membership for the Commonwealth in the Electronic Registration Information Center.
Elections; candidates and elected officials; address confidentiality. Prohibits the custodian of any filing made by a candidate from releasing the address, phone number, or email address of such candidate in response to a request made under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The bill permits a candidate to provide the unique identifier assigned to him in the voter registration system pursuant to relevant law in place of his residence address on any candidate filing. The State Board of Elections is prohibited from requiring candidates to disclose their address or unique identifier on petitions prior to their being filed. The bill also adds elected officials to the list of people who may furnish, in addition to their residence street address, a post office box address located within the Commonwealth to be included in lieu of their street address on the lists of registered voters. The certificate of election delivered to the winner of an election is required to be accompanied by a notice that the person meets the qualifications for being granted protected voter status along with instructions for updating their voter registration in order to attain such status. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. This bill is identical to HB 835.
Use of unmanned aircraft systems by law-enforcement officers; search warrants; model policy. Expedites the issuance of a search warrant for unmanned aircraft systems by law-enforcement officers upon a finding of reasonable and probable cause by an authorized judicial official, as defined in the bill, and permits the use of unmanned aircraft systems without a search warrant when law enforcement is surveying the scene of a crime or to respond to a public safety call for service when such crime scene or call for service is located on public property, to locate a person when such person has fled the offense location during the initial response to an incident, or to provide real-time aerial observation to increase on-scene safety and security. Such provisions are subject to a reenactment clause. The bill also requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in consultation with the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission and the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys, to establish a model policy for the use of unmanned aircraft systems by December 1, 2026. This bill is identical to HB 1219.
School boards; student cell phone and smart device possession and use policies. Amends the requirements for the student cell phone and smart device possession and use policies that each school board is required to develop and each public elementary and secondary school is required to implement pursuant to applicable law to require such policies to, except as provided in applicable law, restrict student cell phone and smart device possession and prohibit student cell phone and smart device use on school property from bell to bell. Current law only requires such policies to restrict student cell phone and smart device possession and use on school property from bell to bell.
Public schools; student instruction; addictive potential of time spent using certain electronic devices. Requires instruction concerning time spent using electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, and other smart devices and the addictive potential thereof to be provided by the public schools as prescribed by the Board of Education. This bill is identical to HB 1486.
