Sen. David Suetterlein

Maddy summaryHJ 81 is a resolution commending Colonel Donald Caldwell of the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) for his service. It does not create new laws or affect policies; it is a ceremonial expression of recognition. The resolution was passed by the House via voice vote and is now pending in the next legislative chamber. This type of resolution honors an individual without implementing any concrete policy changes.

School boards; public middle and high schools; parental notification of course registration deadlines and processes required. Requires each school board to develop and implement, by the start of the 2026-2027 school year, policies requiring each public middle and high school in the school division to provide, at least 30 days prior to the course registration deadline, parental notification by email or SMS text message to the parent of each student in the public middle or high school of course enrollment deadlines and the process for requesting changes to the student's course selection.

Western Virginia Public Education Consortium; governance; funding; duties. Makes several changes relating to the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium (the Consortium), including (i) requiring the chair of the board of the Consortium to submit an annual executive summary only in each biennium in which the Consortium receives funding from the General Assembly, (ii) adjusting the membership of the governing board of the Consortium to (a) accurately reflect school division consolidation that occurred after the Consortium's initial establishment and (b) include each member of the House of Delegates who represents a House District that is partially or wholly located in Western Virginia and each member of the Senate of Virginia who represents a Senatorial District that is partially or wholly located in Western Virginia, and (iii) removing the requirement for the governing board of the Consortium to develop and maintain linkages with schools and school divisions in Northern Virginia to promote enhanced usage of educational technology. This bill is identical to HB 584.

Holding a handheld personal communications device while driving; driver improvement clinic. Clarifies that a court may order, for a first violation of texting and driving, the satisfactory completion of a driver improvement clinic in lieu of a conviction.

School boards; opening of the school year; certain alternative schedules and schedule flexibility permitted. Extends from no earlier than 14 days before Labor Day to no earlier than 14 days before September 1 of each year the requirement relating to the earliest date that each school board is permitted to schedule as the first day on which students are required to attend school each year. This bill is identical to HB 1455.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; public bodies to post meeting agendas. Requires public bodies subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to post the proposed agenda on the public body's official government website, if any, prior to the meeting. The bill provides that no final action may be taken on any items added to an agenda after a meeting commences unless the matter is time-sensitive or is the subject of a closed meeting properly identified in a motion in accordance with FOIA requirements and defines "final action." This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council.

School boards; use of social media platforms as sole means of certain communications prohibited. Provides that each school board shall prohibit public elementary and secondary schools, school board employees, and school volunteers from using a social media platform as the sole means of communication with students for the facilitation of school-related extracurricular activities. The bill provides an exception to such prohibition when such use is required to meet an objective that cannot be reasonably achieved without such use, provided that the division superintendent or his designee (i) provides clear, written instructions on such use and (ii) may revoke such exception at any time.

Special license plates; Virginia REALTORS. Converts the existing non-revenue sharing special license plate for members of the Virginia Realtors to a revenue sharing special license plate with the revenue benefiting the Virginia REALTORS Disaster Relief Fund. The bill provides that such existing plates will remain valid until their expiration. This bill is identical to HB 1339.

Misbranded food; manufactured-protein food products; civil penalty. Provides that a food is misbranded if it purports to be or is represented as a meat food product or poultry product and such food product (i) bears or contains a manufactured-protein food product, as defined in the bill; (ii) is offered for sale; and (iii) has a label that is part of or placed on the food product package or other container storing such product that identifies the food as a meat food product or poultry product, unless such label bears a conspicuous and prominent qualifying term and is in close proximity to an identifying meat term, as such terms are defined in the bill. The bill exempts a meat food product that the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services determines contains a trace amount of a manufactured-protein food product, prohibits the sale or offering for sale of a food product that is misbranded pursuant to the provisions of the bill, and makes doing so a violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The bill provides that a person who violates the provisions of the bill is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 and allows the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt increased civil penalties not to exceed $500 for first, second, and subsequent violations of the bill. This bill is identical to HB 322.

Juvenile and domestic relations district courts; petitions for relief of care and custody; custodians. Allows the custodian of a child to file a petition for relief of the care and custody of such child in a juvenile and domestic relations district court. Current law only authorizes the parent or parents of a child to file such petition for relief of care and custody. The bill also requires the petitioning parent or custodian to cooperate with any services provided by a local department of social services during the initial investigation by such local department of social services after such petition for relief of care and custody has been filed. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Commission on Youth and is identical to HB 73.