Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; licensure by apprenticeship. Requires the regulatory boards within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to grant a license to an applicant for licensure by apprenticeship if the applicant has (i) completed an apprenticeship in an occupation that is regulated by a board, and such board grants licensure to individuals in such occupation or an occupation with a similar scope of practice; (ii) passed all requisite examinations; and (iii) paid all applicable fees, as determined by the board. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2023.

Toll Relief Program; eligibility. Requires the Department of Transportation to expand eligibility for the Toll Relief Program for the tolls on the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels to residents of the Cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk with an income of $45,000 or less per year. The bill requires that all eligible residents receive the same toll relief regardless of income level. The bill provides that funding for the additional toll relief shall be paid by the Commonwealth from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), as possible, and any costs not covered by the ARPA shall be the responsibility of the Commonwealth. The bill expires on January 1, 2025.

Department of Regulatory Innovation; Virginia Regulatory Sandbox Program; created. Creates the Department of Regulatory Innovation to oversee the Virginia Regulatory Sandbox Program, also created by the bill, which allows an individual or business to demonstrate a product, production method, or service under a waiver or suspension of one or more state laws or regulations. The bill sets out the process by which an individual or business may apply for participation in the Program, the role of the Department in reviewing such applications for approval or denial, and the requirements for participation in the Program, including provisions related to consumer protection.

Peninsula Airport Commission. Adds to the Peninsula Airport Commission (the Commission) two members from the City of Poquoson, two members from the City of Williamsburg, one member from James City County, and one member from York County, appointed by the governing bodies thereof. The bill provides that any such locality is automatically excluded from the Commission if it fails to pay its proportionate share of the cost of participation by June 30, 2023. The bill repeals various provisions authorizing certain localities to join the Commission upon the terms and consent of the Commission. The bill provides a schedule for original appointments and requires the City of Newport News to determine which two of its four members will continue as members and provides that the terms of the other two members representing the City of Newport News expire on July 1, 2022.

Sales tax; data center exemption. Reduces the new job creation requirement from 50 to 25 for the sales tax exemption for data center operators.

Zoning; wireless communications infrastructure; application process. Provides that in its consideration of certain communications infrastructure applications, a locality shall not disapprove an application if (i) the proposed new structure provides additional wireless coverage or capacity for first responders or (ii) the proposed tower is not within a four-mile radius of an existing tower that is part of the applicant's network. Additional changes in the bill provide that a locality shall not be prohibited from disapproving certain applications for any zoning approval required for non-administrative review-eligible projects on the basis of the fact that the proposed height of any wireless support structure, wireless facility, or wireless support structure with attached wireless facilities exceeds 200 feet above ground level. Current law sets the limit at 50 feet above ground level.

Feasibility, expense, and implementation of statewide coverage of public defender offices; study. Directs the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission (the Commission) to establish a work group to study the feasibility, cost, and implementation of statewide coverage of public defender offices. The bill directs the Commission to report its findings and recommendations to the chairmen of the Virginia State Crime Commission, the House Committee for Courts of Justice, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the House Committee on Appropriations, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations by November 1, 2022.

Opioid Abatement Authority and Fund; board of directors; allocation of funds. Increases from 11 to 15 the number of members of the board of directors of the Opioid Abatement Authority by increasing from one to five the representatives of the addiction and recovery community. The bill also delineates the allocation of the unrestricted portion of deposits to the Opioid Abatement Fund.

State Air Pollution Control Board; motor vehicle emissions standards. Repeals the requirement that the State Air Pollution Control Board implement a low-emissions and zero-emissions vehicle program for motor vehicles with a model year of 2025 and later. The bill prohibits the Board from adopting or enforcing any model year standards related to control of emissions from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines, including low-emission vehicle and zero-emission vehicle standards pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act and prohibits the Commonwealth from requiring any new motor vehicle or new motor vehicle engine to be certified as compliant with model year standards related to the control of emissions adopted by California for which a waiver has been granted pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act.

State subsidy of property tax exemptions for disabled veterans and surviving spouses. Requires the Commonwealth to subsidize local real estate tax relief for disabled veterans and surviving spouses of members of the United States Armed Forces killed in action when more than one percent of a locality's real estate tax base is lost due to such state-mandated tax relief programs. The Commonwealth would subsidize only that portion of tax-exempt real estate that exceeds the one percent threshold. The bill requires the Auditor of Public Accounts to establish an application process whereby a locality would demonstrate that more than one percent of its real estate tax base was lost. The Auditor would certify to the Governor and the General Assembly those localities that would be eligible for a subsidy, and the Governor would include in the Budget Bill a proposed appropriation of the amount of the state subsidy to be provided to localities certified as eligible localities.

Adult protective services; central registry. Creates a central registry of substantiated complaints of adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation to be maintained by the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. The bill establishes (i) investigation requirements for local departments of social services related to reports of adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation; (ii) record retention and disclosure requirements for the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services and local departments of social services; (iii) notice requirements related to findings by local departments and central registry entries; and (iv) an appeals process to contest the findings of a local department related to substantiated reports of adult abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

Constitutional amendment (first reference); local government; sale of property; authority to grant perpetual easements to units of government. Allows easements on public property to be granted in perpetuity to a public body, political subdivision, or authority of the Commonwealth or to the United States or any of its departments or agencies. The requirement to advertise and publicly receive bids does not apply to easements conveyed to any such governmental entity.

Custodial interrogation of a child; advisement of rights. Requires that prior to any custodial interrogation of a child by a law-enforcement officer, the child and, if no attorney is present and if no exception to the requirement that the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian be notified applies, the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian shall be advised that (i) the child has a right to remain silent; (ii) any statement the child makes can and may be used against the child; (iii) the child has a right to an attorney and that one will be appointed for the child if the child is not represented and wants representation; and (iv) the child has a right to have his parent, guardian, custodian, or attorney present during any questioning. The bill states that if a child indicates in any manner and at any stage of questioning during a custodial interrogation that he does not wish to be questioned further, the law-enforcement officer shall cease questioning. The bill also requires, before admitting into evidence any statement made by a child during a custodial interrogation, that the court find that the child knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his rights and states that no admission or confession made by a child younger than 16 years of age during a custodial interrogation may be admitted into evidence unless it was made in the presence of the child's parent, guardian, custodian, or attorney.

STEM+C; Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board. Adds science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computing (STEM+C), which includes real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational instruction and preparation of students in STEM+C, to the list of topics that shall be included in the Standards of Learning for the Commonwealth. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to develop and submit to the Board of Education (i) a rubric that shall be used by the Board of Education in setting out what factors permit a school to be defined as a STEM school and (ii) recommendations for the Board to create a measurement for quality of STEM programming in general education instruction. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to draft and report to the Department of Education proposed common language and terminology that better defines the basic literacies employed in STEM+C as methodological approaches to solving universal human challenges and, as essential, generalizable and transferable literacy toward the application of skills and content needed to solve those challenges. The bill also directs the Department of Education, based on such proposed language and terminology and no later than December 1, 2022, to recommend finalized language and terminology to the Board of Education. The bill clarifies that nothing in the foregoing provisions of the bill shall be construed to establish any new course or credit requirements for students. STEM+C; Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board. Adds science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computing (STEM+C), which includes real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational instruction and preparation of students in STEM+C, to the list of topics that shall be included in the Standards of Learning for the Commonwealth. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to develop and submit to the Board of Education (i) a rubric that shall be used by the Board of Education in setting out what factors permit a school to be defined as a STEM school and (ii) recommendations for the Board to create a measurement for quality of STEM programming in general education instruction. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to draft and report to the Department of Education proposed common language and terminology that better defines the basic literacies employed in STEM+C as methodological approaches to solving universal human challenges and, as essential, generalizable and transferable literacy toward the application of skills and content needed to solve those challenges. The bill also directs the Department of Education, based on such proposed language and terminology and no later than December 1, 2022, to recommend finalized language and terminology to the Board of Education. The bill clarifies that nothing in the foregoing provisions of the bill shall be construed to establish any new course or credit requirements for students.

Electric utilities; energy efficiency programs; definition. Provides that energy efficiency programs may include electrification, including measures that electrify space heating, water heating, cooling, drying, cooking, industrial processes, and other building and industrial end uses that would otherwise be served by on-site combustion of fossil fuels provided that the electrification measures reduce total on-site energy consumption.