Virginia

Admissibility of statements by individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities in certain cases. Prohibits admission of any evidence from an individual with developmental disabilities or intellectual disabilities, as defined in relevant law, in certain criminal prosecutions unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that such individual's decision to speak to law enforcement did not have a direct and substantial relationship to such individual's disability. The bill requires notice be given to the attorney for the Commonwealth if a defendant intends to introduce expert testimony regarding his disability. The bill prohibits any statements made by a defendant during an examination by an expert witness from being used against him except for impeachment or perjury.

School service providers; deletion of student and family personal information. Requires, unless otherwise required by state or federal law or regulation, each school service provider, defined in the bill as a provider, pursuant to a contract with a school division or a private elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth, of software or a website, mobile application, or online service that (i) is designed and marketed primarily for use in elementary or secondary schools; (ii) is used (a) at the direction of teachers or other employees at elementary or secondary schools or (b) by any school-affiliated entity; and (iii) collects and maintains, uses, or shares student personal information or family personal information, to delete all student personal information and family personal information within six months of the termination of the contract between the school service provider and the school or school division and to delete all relevant student personal information and family personal information within six months of a student's graduation from high school.

Data centers; state permitting; local approval; moratorium; sunset. Prohibits a locality from granting final approval on or after July 1, 2027, of any application for a rezoning, special exception, special use permit, site plan, or plan of development for the siting of a data center. The bill also prohibits any agency of the Commonwealth from (i) issuing any permit, certificate, registration, license, or other form of approval in connection with the development or siting of a data center or (ii) authorizing the construction of any facilities designed to provide electric distribution service, interconnection, on-site electric generation, or related services for a data center on or after July 1, 2027. The bill sunsets on July 1, 2030.

Data centers; public hearing and notice requirements. Provides additional requirements for local land use decisions regarding zoning changes for data center development. The bill requires, in addition to existing requirements for public advertisements, that the published advertisement providing notice for a public hearing regarding any proposed amendment to a zoning ordinance or application for a special exception for a change in use to permit the by-right development of a data center contain (i) the applicant or developer's name; (ii) the anticipated owner or end user of the development, if known; (iii) the street address, tax map parcel numbers of the parcel or parcels, or a description of the boundaries of the area subject to the changes and a link to a map of the subject area; (iv) the approximate acreage subject to the action; and (v) the expected utility infrastructure to be constructed in connection with the development, including electric, sewer, stormwater, and fuel lines, if known. The bill also requires the local governing body, before approving and adopting any zoning ordinance or amendment, and the board of zoning appeals, before authorizing a special exception or variance, to hold at least two public hearings whenever the subject of a land use decision is a data center development. Under current law, the local governing body and the board of zoning appeals are only required to hold one public hearing.

Director of the Department of Corrections; placement of inmates; Red Onion State Prison. Directs the Director of the Department of Corrections to continue accepting and reviewing applications for the confinement of inmates from a state that is a party to the Interstate Corrections Compact entered into pursuant to relevant law but prohibits any placement of any such inmate at the Red Onion State Prison until such time as the General Assembly reauthorizes such placement by an act of assembly. The bill also requires the Director to allow for any inmate who is (i) a citizen of the Commonwealth and (ii) incarcerated in any state that is a party to the Interstate Corrections Compact to be placed in a Department facility.

Members of local governing bodies; nondisclosure agreements prohibited. Prohibits members of local governing bodies from signing or executing a nondisclosure agreement that prohibits them from discussing matters of public concern related to the performance of their official duties. The bill provides that any such agreement is against public policy, void, and unenforceable. The bill exempts any such member from the prohibition if such nondisclosure agreement is necessary to prevent disclosure of (i) factual circumstances relating to the member's performance of official duties that reasonably implicate privacy interests held by the member, if the member elects to restrict such disclosure; (ii) matters required by law to be kept confidential; or (iii) information related to active civil or criminal investigations. Finally, the bill exempts from its provisions any contracts, covenants, or agreements entered into or renewed prior to July 1, 2027.

High school student athletes; eligibility; enrollment. Requires any nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 that currently organizes and governs interscholastic activities among the public high schools to develop, implement, and enforce rules requiring that a student who is a member of a high school athletic team be deemed to satisfy any residency requirements established by such corporation in order to be eligible for participation on such team if the student is duly enrolled in the high school at which he is a member of such team.

Surveillance pricing practices; civil penalties. Prohibits an entity or a service provider, as those terms are defined in the bill, from using certain surveillance pricing practices, defined in the bill, in connection with a consumer transaction. The bill provides that the Office of the Attorney General shall enforce the provisions of the bill.

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service 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, 2028, 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, 2028, in addition to service earned on or after that date. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2028.

Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; emergency dispatchers. Extends membership in the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS) to emergency dispatchers who are employed by the Department of State Police, Capitol Police, and agencies whose law-enforcement officers are eligible for membership in VaLORS. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2028, and provides that such membership applies only to service earned on or after July 1, 2028.

Admissibility of statements by individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities in certain cases. Prohibits admission of any evidence from an individual with developmental disabilities or intellectual disabilities, as defined in relevant law, in certain criminal prosecutions unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that such individual's decision to speak to law enforcement did not have a direct and substantial relationship to such individual's disability. The bill requires notice be given to the attorney for the Commonwealth if a defendant intends to introduce expert testimony regarding his disability. The bill prohibits any statements made by a defendant during an examination by an expert witness from being used against him except for impeachment or perjury.

Local approval of data centers; temporary moratorium. Prohibits final approval of any application for a rezoning, special exception, special use permit, site plan, or plan of development for the siting of a new data center by a locality until the earlier of (i) the fulfillment of all pending requests for interconnection to distribution service by an electric utility customer that is a data center or (ii) July 1, 2028.

Department of Medical Assistance Services; community health worker expansion. Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services, in coordination with the Department of Health, Department of Social Services, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, and Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, to (i) evaluate opportunities for Medicaid managed care organizations to embed certified community health workers into care coordination models, (ii) evaluate the implementation of 2024 Medicare Community Health Integration services codes, (iii) develop and implement statewide workforce pathways for community health worker training, and (iv) identify opportunities to expand the use of community health workers in programs supporting high-cost Medicaid populations. The bill directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Joint Commission on Health Care and the Chairs of the House Committee on Appropriations and Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than December 1, 2026.

Consumer Data Protection Act; online device pricing; prohibition. Provides that no controller or processor shall, in connection with a consumer transaction, generate, in whole or in part, a price offered to a consumer through the consumer's online device based on (i) the hardware or hardware state of the online device, as those terms are defined in the bill, (ii) the presence or absence of any software on the online device, or (iii) precise geolocation data of the online device when used to set a price based on inferences about the consumer made from such data. The bill provides for exemptions in certain instances.

Posting of building permit; identification of mechanics' lien agent. Requires a building permit issued pursuant to the Uniform Statewide Building Code to be conspicuously and continuously posted on the property for which the permit is issued until all work is completed on the property. The bill further provides that no person may claim a lien or otherwise perfect and enforce a lien if such person fails to notify any mechanics' lien agent identified on such building permit. The bill requires a person performing labor or furnishing materials on which a building permit is not posted at the time he first performs his labor or first furnishes his material or, if posted, does not state the name of the mechanics' lien agent, to determine whether a permit has been issued, the date on which it is issued, and the name of the mechanics' lien agent, if any, that has been appointed. Under current law, these specifications are limited to one or two-family dwelling units.

Localities; liability insurance; certain waiver of sovereign immunity. Provides that a locality or political subdivision may provide liability insurance, including self-insurance, to cover damages or other expenses in certain civil actions arising out of an act or omission of certain officers, employees, board or commission members, or volunteers while such person is acting within the scope of his official duties. The bill provides that the provision of such liability insurance or self-insurance shall constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity in an amount not to exceed the combined total of any self-insurance coverage, insurance coverage under a group self-insurance pool, or any coverage pursuant to a policy purchased from an insurance company, including any excess or reserve coverage. The bill also provides that the insurer or self-insured shall not have a duty to defend or indemnify any covered person in cases where the act or omission took place outside the scope of such covered person's employment or official duties, where such act or omission was done maliciously or occurred as a result of gross negligence or willful misconduct, or is otherwise excluded by the terms of the policy.

Firearm and ammunition tax. Imposes a firearm and ammunition tax equal to 11 percent of the gross receipts from the retail sale of any firearm or ammunition by a dealer in firearms, firearms manufacturer, or ammunition vendor, as such terms are defined in the bill. The bill provides that proceeds from such tax shall be distributed to the Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund.

Study; JLARC; public institutions of higher education; options to improve affordability for students; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study options and provide updated recommendations to improve the affordability of higher education for students in the Commonwealth.

Public elementary school students; physical activity. Increases from 20 minutes to 30 minutes daily, and from an average of 100 minutes to 150 minutes per week, the minimum amount of time provided to public elementary school students for programs of physical activity. The bill provides that no student shall be prohibited from participating in a program of physical activity as a form of disciplinary action, with the exception that a student may be prohibited if it is determined that such program constitutes a health or safety risk to the student.

Income tax; tax credit for certain small businesses. Establishes a one-time, nonrefundable tax credit for taxable years 2026 through 2030 for eligible small businesses, as defined in the bill, equal to $2,500. The bill limits the total aggregate amount of small business credits claimed to $5 million per taxable year.

High school students; postsecondary opportunities; concurrent enrollment. Defines "concurrent enrollment" as the enrollment of a high school student in an associate degree-level course, creditable toward high school completion, offered on a campus, center, location, or site operated by an associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education, requires postsecondary degree attainment agreements between school boards and comprehensive community colleges to specify options for high school students to earn college credit through dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment, or a combination thereof, requires the College and Career Ready Virginia Program to include the opportunity for any qualified high school student to earn college credit, including pursuant to the Passport Program or the Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program, or a full associate degree through concurrent enrollment, and provides that any student participating in concurrent enrollment courses through the College and Career Ready Virginia Program shall be counted as a high school student for the purpose of the calculation and receipt of state funding for such student.

Elections; absentee voting in person; uniform availability. Requires absentee voting in person to be available between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday during early voting, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the first and second Saturday immediately preceding all elections, and between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the second Sunday immediately preceding all elections. Under current law, local electoral boards have some discretion to decide certain hours and days when absentee voting in person is available.

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.