Sen. Danica Roem

Department of Education; impact of requiring each school board to pay unpaid meal balance from uncollectible school meal debts; report. Directs the Department of Education to evaluate and submit to the chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Education and Health and the House Committees on Appropriations and Education by November 1, 2026, a report on the impact of requiring each school board, at the end of each school year, to pay for the total unpaid school meal balance on the nonprofit food service account of each public elementary or secondary school in the school division resulting from uncollectible school meal debts on any student account.

Institutions of higher education; Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program; establishment of student meal plan credit donation program. Renames the Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program, established pursuant to applicable law, as "the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program" and amends the Program by expanding the criteria that a public institution of higher education or eligible private institution of higher education must satisfy to receive a designation as a "Hunger-Free Campus" and be awarded a grant under the Program to include a requirement that any such institution to establish both (i) an on-campus food pantry, pursuant to current law, and (ii) if such institution offers a meal swipe program or equivalent student meal swipe plan, a student meal credit sharing program, whereby students may voluntarily donate unused meal plan credits to be distributed for use by other students at campus dining halls or at its on-campus food pantry or to otherwise support its on-campus food pantry. The bill also requires grants awarded pursuant to the Program to be used to support on-campus efforts and initiatives to eliminate student food insecurity at such institution through the maintenance and operation of both its food pantry, pursuant to current law, and its student meal credit sharing program established in accordance with the bill.

Elections; absentee voting; counting ballots prior to the close of polls. Allows officers of election at a central absentee precinct to begin ascertaining and recording the number of votes cast by absentee ballots at any time after noon on the day of the election. Under current law, absentee ballots that are counted by hand may be tallied, but not counted, at any time after noon on the day of the election, and no ballot totals for any absentee ballots shall be ascertained until after polls close. The bill also clarifies that vote totals for absentee ballots cast in person on voting systems cannot be determined until the day of the election. The bill also requires that general registrars begin processing absentee ballots on the fourteenth day prior to the day of the election. Under current law such processing is not required until the seventh day prior to the day of the election.

Bank franchise tax; retail sales and use tax; tangible personal property tax; data centers. Provides that on and after July 1, 2026, if any tenant of a data center is a bank, then the retail sales and use tax exemption for data center computer equipment shall not apply to the data center operator and any tenants of the data center. The bill also adds computer equipment and peripherals of all banks used in a data center to personal property that is taxable for banks subject to the bank franchise tax in lieu of most other taxes.

Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program; tuition and fee waivers. Requires the Commissioner of Veterans Services to consider certain domicile or physical presence requirements for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program satisfied when (i) the failure to meet such requirements is solely attributable to a relocation outside of the Commonwealth by lawful military order or (ii) in the case of a survivor or dependent that meets all other eligibility requirements who has relocated to the Commonwealth by lawful military order, when the survivor or dependent has established residency in the Commonwealth, after having been enrolled in a higher education tuition and fees program for military survivors and dependents in another state.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 4.1-212.1 and 18.2-323.1 of the Code of Virginia relating to open containers.

State Corporation Commission; data center generators. Directs the State Corporation Commission to evaluate the impact of requiring data centers to limit the use of Tier 2 generators and prioritize the use of Tier 4 equivalent or better generators. The bill requires the Commission to submit a report on any findings to the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committees on Appropriations and Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources no later than October 15, 2026.

School breakfast; availability at no cost to students. Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make breakfast available to any student who requests such a meal at no cost to the student, unless the student's parent has provided written permission to the school board to withhold such a meal from the student. The bill requires the Department of Education to reimburse each public elementary and secondary school for each school breakfast served to a student, with a maximum of one breakfast per student per school day, and provides the formula for determining the state reimbursement rate for such meals. Finally, the bill repeals a provision of law relating to the federal School Breakfast Program that is rendered obsolete by the provisions of the bill.

Study; Virginia Department of Transportation; alternatives to use of Sodium Chloride to treat and pretreat roadways for winter weather; report. Directs the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to conduct a study on safe and environmentally sensitive alternatives to using Sodium Chloride, or rock salt, to treat and pretreat roadways for winter weather. Such study shall measure the impact of current treatment and pretreatment substances on infrastructure and the environment and their corrosive effects on personal property and compare such impacts with those of potential alternatives, including nonchemical substances and new technologies. VDOT is directed to submit a report to the chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Transportation by November 15, 2026, on its findings and include in such report an accounting of the annual spending by the state and local governments since 2020 on treating and pretreating activities and the amounts budgeted for 2026-2028.

Phase II Utility; rates, terms, and conditions of services; certain customers. Requires Dominion Energy Virginia to establish rates, terms, and conditions for the provision of generation and distribution services for its customers within the GS-5 rate class, as established by final order of the State Corporation Commission, that require each such customer to pay a minimum generation charge equal to 100 percent of such customers' contracted electric demand.