Commending Mary Ann Curtin.

Aboveground storage tanks; Hazardous Substance Aboveground Storage Tank Fund; civil penalties. Directs the State Water Control Board to regulate aboveground storage tanks that measure more than 250 gallons in capacity and are used to contain hazardous substances other than oil. The bill directs the Board to adopt regulations that establish requirements for registration, and other requirements of tank owners, and that establish a schedule of registration and renewal fees. The bill authorizes the Board to undertake corrective action in the event of a discharge of a hazardous substance. The bill requires tank owners notify certain parties in the event of a release of a regulated substance. The bill also creates the Hazardous Substance Aboveground Storage Tank Fund, with moneys from the Fund to be used solely for the administration of the bill, and provides for civil penalties for violations of requirements of the bill, with such moneys received to be deposited into the existing Virginia Environmental Emergency Response Fund.

Local school boards; requirement for students to wear masks or other face coverings; evidentiary substantiation. Prohibits any local school board from requiring any student enrolled at a public elementary or secondary school in the local school division to wear a mask, face covering, or other covering of the student's nose and mouth at school, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity unless the local school board substantiates such requirement with evidence that (i) such requirement is necessary to suppress a nuisance dangerous to the public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health; (ii) no reasonable alternatives to such requirement exist in light of the impact on quality of life and economic well-being; and (iii) such requirement is narrowly tailored to address the nuisance dangerous to the public health or the communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health.

Superintendent of Public Instruction; establishment of the Digital Citizenship, Internet Safety, and Media Literacy Advisory Council. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and appoint no more than 12 members to the Digital Citizenship, Internet Safety, and Media Literacy Advisory Council (the Council), including at least one of each of the following: teacher, librarian, representative of a parent-teacher organization who is the parent of a school-age child, school administrator, student, and individual with expertise in digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy. The bill requires the Council to (i) develop and recommend to the Board of Education for adoption a model policy for local school boards that would enable such school boards to better support the digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy of all students and teachers in the local school division; (ii) develop and recommend to the Board for adoption model instructional practices for the safe, ethical, and responsible use of media and technology by students and teachers in public elementary and secondary schools; (iii) design and post on the Department of Education's website a page with links to successful instructional practices, curricula, and other teacher resources used in school divisions within and outside of the Commonwealth for the safe, ethical, and responsible use of media and technology by students and teachers; and (iv) submit a report of its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than October 31, 2023. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2024. Superintendent of Public Instruction; establishment of the Digital Citizenship, Internet Safety, and Media Literacy Advisory Council. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and appoint no more than 12 members to the Digital Citizenship, Internet Safety, and Media Literacy Advisory Council (the Council), including at least one of each of the following: teacher, librarian, representative of a parent-teacher organization who is the parent of a school-age child, school administrator, student, and individual with expertise in digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy. The bill requires the Council to (i) develop and recommend to the Board of Education for adoption a model policy for local school boards that would enable such school boards to better support the digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy of all students and teachers in the local school division; (ii) develop and recommend to the Board for adoption model instructional practices for the safe, ethical, and responsible use of media and technology by students and teachers in public elementary and secondary schools; (iii) design and post on the Department of Education's website a page with links to successful instructional practices, curricula, and other teacher resources used in school divisions within and outside of the Commonwealth for the safe, ethical, and responsible use of media and technology by students and teachers; and (iv) submit a report of its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than October 31, 2023. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2024.

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaign funds; complaints, hearings, civil penalty, and advisory opinions. Prohibits any person from converting contributions to a candidate or a candidate's campaign committee for their personal use. Current law only prohibits such conversion of contributions with regard to disbursement of surplus funds at the dissolution of a campaign or political committee. The bill provides that a contribution is considered to have been converted to personal use if the contribution, in whole or in part, is used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense that would exist irrespective of the person's seeking, holding, or maintaining public office but excepts from "personal use" the ordinary and accepted expenses related to campaigning for or holding elective office, including the use of campaign funds to pay for the candidate's child care expenses that are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity. Any person subject to the personal use ban may request an advisory opinion from the State Board of Elections on such matters. The bill directs the State Board of Elections to adopt emergency regulations similar to those promulgated by the Federal Election Commission to implement the provisions of the bill and to provide an updated summary of Virginia campaign finance law that reflects the Attorney General's opinion and any new regulations promulgated by the State Board of Elections.

Selective Service; Two-Year College Transfer Grant; Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant Program. Removes the requirement that individuals register for the Selective Service in compliance with federal law in order to be eligible for the Two-Year College Transfer Grant and the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant Program.

Health insurance; coverage for proton therapy. Requires any health insurer, corporation, or health maintenance organization issuing an insurance policy, subscription contract, or health care plan to provide coverage for physician-prescribed proton therapy for the treatment of cancer if proton radiation therapy is recommended as the preferred radiation therapy treatment by the enrollee's health care provider.

Issuing citations; marijuana and certain traffic offenses; exclusion of evidence. Removes provisions that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) with an expired safety inspection or registration sticker until the first day of the fourth month after the original expiration date; (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment; (iii) without a light illuminating a license plate; (iv) without brake lights, a high mount stop light, or headlights; or (v) without an exhaust system that prevents excessive or unusual levels of noise, and the accompanying exclusionary provisions. The bill also removes the exclusionary provisions for operating a motor vehicle (a) in violation of certain restrictions on people with a learner's permit, (b) while smoking with a minor present, (c) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, (d) with certain objects suspended in the vehicle, and (e) without the required use of seat belts, and for certain violations involving pedestrians crossing a highway. The bill also removes the exclusionary provision that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop, search, or seize any person, place, or thing solely on the basis of the odor of marijuana.

Classification of real property owned by certain surviving spouses for tax purposes. Provides that beginning with taxable year 2022, any locality may declare real property owned by a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who died in the line of duty with a line of duty determination from the U.S. Department of Defense, where such death was not the result of criminal conduct, and where the spouse occupies the real property as his principal place of residence and does not remarry, a separate class of property for local taxation of real property that may be taxed at a different rate than that imposed on the general class of real property, provided that the rate of tax is greater than zero and does not exceed the rate of tax on the general class of real property. Classification of real property owned by certain surviving spouses for tax purposes. Provides that beginning with taxable year 2022, any locality may declare real property owned by a surviving spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who died in the line of duty with a line of duty determination from the U.S. Department of Defense, where such death was not the result of criminal conduct, and where the spouse occupies the real property as his principal place of residence and does not remarry, a separate class of property for local taxation of real property that may be taxed at a different rate than that imposed on the general class of real property, provided that the rate of tax is greater than zero and does not exceed the rate of tax on the general class of real property.

Discovery in criminal cases; copies of discovery for the accused. Provides that for any discovery materials or evidence that the accused is permitted to inspect and review, the accused may request the Commonwealth to copy or photograph such discovery materials or evidence, and the Commonwealth shall provide such copies or photographs to the accused or his counsel.

Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission; study; Commonwealth's public health system; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the Commonwealth's public health system, including the structure, organization, operations, and resources of the existing public health system and the effectiveness of the current public health system in meeting public health need, and develop recommendations for improving the Commonwealth's public health system to improve overall public health.

Adoption. Allows a circuit court, upon consideration of a petition for adoption, to immediately enter an interlocutory order referring the case to a child-placing agency to conduct a visitation instead of entering an order of reference referring the case to a child-placing agency for investigation and makes other amendments to accommodate for and bolster this change. The bill allows petitions for adoption submitted by the persons listed as the child's parents on his birth certificate to be filed and granted under the provisions governing stepparent adoptions. The bill states that a putative father's registration with the Virginia Birth Father Registry is untimely regarding a child whose adoption has been finalized 180 days or more prior to such registration and in certain other instances set forth in the bill and allows written notice of an adoption plan to be sent to a putative father by express mail with proof of delivery in addition to delivery by personal service or certified mailing as in current law. Adoption. Allows a circuit court, upon consideration of a petition for adoption, to immediately enter an interlocutory order referring the case to a child-placing agency to conduct a visitation instead of entering an order of reference referring the case to a child-placing agency for investigation and makes other amendments to accommodate for and bolster this change. The bill allows petitions for adoption submitted by the persons listed as the child's parents on his birth certificate to be filed and granted under the provisions governing stepparent adoptions. The bill states that a putative father's registration with the Virginia Birth Father Registry is untimely regarding a child whose adoption has been finalized 180 days or more prior to such registration and in certain other instances set forth in the bill and allows written notice of an adoption plan to be sent to a putative father by express mail with proof of delivery in addition to delivery by personal service or certified mailing as in current law.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; executive branch agencies' goals for participation by small businesses; requirements. Provides that executive branch agencies shall formulate policies and procedures for a set-aside program, which shall, at a minimum, require that purchases up to certain amounts be set aside for small businesses and micro-businesses, defined in the bill, certified by the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity.

Workers' compensation; injuries caused by repetitive and sustained physical stressors. Provides that, for the purposes of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, "occupational disease" includes injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustained physical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions, posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise. The bill provides that such injuries are covered under the Act. Such coverage does not require that the injuries occurred over a particular time period under the bill, provided that such a period can be reasonably identified.

Liability for sale of alcohol or marijuana product to an underage person. Creates a cause of action against an alcoholic beverage control retail licensee or cannabis control retail licensee who sells alcohol or a marijuana product to an underage person if the consumption of the alcohol or marijuana product caused or contributed to an injury to person or property while the underage person operated a motor vehicle. The provisions of this act related to the sale of marijuana products have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2024.