Emergency custody; temporary detention; alternative transportation; use of restraint. Requires magistrates to authorize alternative transportation of a person subject to an emergency custody order or temporary detention order if appropriate alternative transportation is available. The bill allows an employee or contractor of an entity providing alternative transportation services pursuant to a contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services who has completed training approved by the Department in the proper and safe use of restraint to use restraint (i) if restraint is necessary to ensure the safety of the person or others or prevent escape and (ii) if less restrictive techniques have been determined to be ineffective to protect the person or others from harm or to prevent escape. Emergency custody; temporary detention; alternative transportation; use of restraint. Requires magistrates to authorize alternative transportation of a person subject to an emergency custody order or temporary detention order if appropriate alternative transportation is available. The bill allows an employee or contractor of an entity providing alternative transportation services pursuant to a contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services who has completed training approved by the Department in the proper and safe use of restraint to use restraint (i) if restraint is necessary to ensure the safety of the person or others or prevent escape and (ii) if less restrictive techniques have been determined to be ineffective to protect the person or others from harm or to prevent escape.

Virginia Education Success Account Program; establishment. Permits the parents of qualified students, defined in the bill, to apply for a one-year, renewable Virginia Education Success Account that consists of an amount that is equivalent to a certain percentage of all applicable annual Standards of Quality per pupil state funds appropriated for public school purposes and apportioned to the school division in which the qualified student resides, including the per pupil share of state sales tax funding in basic aid and any state per pupil share of special education funding for which the qualified student is eligible. The bill permits the parent of the qualified student to use the moneys in such account for certain qualified expenses of the qualified student, including tuition, deposits, fees, and required textbooks at a private elementary school or secondary school that is located in the Commonwealth. The bill also contains provisions relating to program and account administration by the Department of the Treasury and a third-party financial institution that serves as program administrator pursuant to a contract with the Department of the Treasury.

Study; JLARC; efficiency of the legislative system; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the efficiency of the legislative system in the Commonwealth. In conducting its study, JLARC shall (i) analyze trends in the volume of legislation, number of days spent in session, and costs associated with the legislative process by year; (ii) examine the pros and cons of the legislative system as it currently exists and make recommendations regarding improvements to key elements of the legislative system, including the timing of regular sessions, committee size and scheduling, organizational processes, legislative deadlines, bill introduction limits, and staffing; (iii) compare the legislative systems of other states to Virginia's legislature and identify processes that may be implemented to improve the General Assembly's efficiency; and (iv) recommend procedural and legislative actions regarding the legislative system that would serve to increase legislative efficiency.

Wetlands zoning permit; notarization requirement. Eliminates the notarization requirement for a permit issued by a local wetlands board for the use or development of any wetland.

Teacher compensation; at or above national average. Teacher compensation; at or above national average. Requires public school teachers to be compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average. Under current law, compensation at such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a five percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries, effective for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2024.

Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; requirements. Law-enforcement civilian oversight bodies; requirements. Requires every member appointed to a locality's law-enforcement civilian oversight body to observe within 90 days of the member's appointment a law-enforcement officer employed with such locality's law-enforcement agency while such law-enforcement officer is engaged in his official duties and that such observation total no fewer than 24 hours, a portion of which includes a ride-along with a law-enforcement officer. The bill also provides that any disciplinary determination recommended by a law-enforcement civilian oversight body shall be advisory and that if any law-enforcement agency declines to implement such recommendation, such agency shall create and make available to the public within 30 days from the date such recommendation is reported to such agency a written public record of its rationale for declining to implement such recommendation. Finally, the bill requires each law-enforcement civilian oversight body to include at least one retired law-enforcement officer as a voting member; under current law, a retired law-enforcement officer may serve on such body as an advisory, nonvoting ex officio member.

Absentee voting; availability of absentee voting in person. Limits the availability of absentee voting in person to the two-week period immediately preceding an election. Under current law, absentee voting in person is available beginning on the forty-fifth day prior to an election.

Deferred disposition in a criminal case for persons with autism or intellectual disabilities; child pornography offenses. Adds child pornography offenses to the list of offenses that are ineligible for a court to apply the deferred disposition provisions where the defendant has been diagnosed with autism or an intellectual disability.

Commending the Amelia Dixie Youth Major League All-Star Team.

Felony homicide; certain drug offenses; penalty. Provides that a person is guilty of felony homicide, which constitutes second degree murder and is punishable by confinement of not less than five nor more than 40 years, if the underlying felonious act that resulted in the killing of another involved the manufacture, sale, gift, or distribution of a Schedule I or II controlled substance to another and (i) such other person's death results from his use of the controlled substance and (ii) the controlled substance is the proximate cause of his death. The bill provides that venue for a prosecution of this crime shall lie in the locality where the underlying felony occurred, where the use of the controlled substance occurred, or where death occurred. The bill also provides that if a person gave or distributed a Schedule I or II controlled substance only as an accommodation to another individual who is not an inmate in a community correctional facility, local correctional facility, or state correctional facility, or in the custody of an employee thereof, and not with intent to profit thereby from any consideration received or expected nor to induce the recipient of the controlled substance to use or become addicted to or dependent upon such controlled substance, he is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Felony homicide; certain drug offenses; penalty. Provides that a person is guilty of felony homicide, which constitutes second degree murder and is punishable by confinement of not less than five nor more than 40 years, if the underlying felonious act that resulted in the killing of another involved the manufacture, sale, gift, or distribution of a Schedule I or II controlled substance to another and (i) such other person's death results from his use of the controlled substance and (ii) the controlled substance is the proximate cause of his death. The bill provides that venue for a prosecution of this crime shall lie in the locality where the underlying felony occurred, where the use of the controlled substance occurred, or where death occurred. The bill also provides that if a person gave or distributed a Schedule I or II controlled substance only as an accommodation to another individual who is not an inmate in a community correctional facility, local correctional facility, or state correctional facility, or in the custody of an employee thereof, and not with intent to profit thereby from any consideration received or expected nor to induce the recipient of the controlled substance to use or become addicted to or dependent upon such controlled substance, he is guilty of a Class 5 felony.

Public elementary and secondary schools; fundamental right of parents. Requires each school board and employee and agent thereof to seek to ensure that the fundamental right of parents in the care and upbringing of their children is recognized and protected and also requires each local school board to provide opportunities for parental involvement in several ways, including providing to parents of students enrolled in the local school division direct access to and an opportunity to review, within a reasonable period of time after the parent so requests, the complete curricular content in the local school division and the option to opt out of policies, surveys, research studies, or programs of instruction and instructional material that are inconsistent with the parent's beliefs, values, or goals and standards for his child. Public elementary and secondary schools; fundamental right of parents. Requires each school board and employee and agent thereof to seek to ensure that the fundamental right of parents in the care and upbringing of their children is recognized and protected and also requires each local school board to provide opportunities for parental involvement in several ways, including providing to parents of students enrolled in the local school division direct access to and an opportunity to review, within a reasonable period of time after the parent so requests, the complete curricular content in the local school division and the option to opt out of policies, surveys, research studies, or programs of instruction and instructional material that are inconsistent with the parent's beliefs, values, or goals and standards for his child.

Constitutional amendment (first reference); marriage. Proposes the repeal of the constitutional amendment dealing with marriage that was approved by referendum at the November 2006 election. That amendment to the Bill of Rights (i) defines marriage as "only a union between one man and one woman"; (ii) prohibits the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing "a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage"; and (iii) prohibits the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing "another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage." The provisions of this section of the Constitution of Virginia are no longer valid as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015).

Theft of or trafficking in trade secrets; penalty. Provides that any person who willfully and without authorization obtains or uses, or endeavors to obtain or use, a trade secret, as defined in the bill, with the intent to either temporarily or permanently (i) deprive or withhold from the owner thereof the control or benefit of a trade secret or (ii) appropriate a trade secret to his own use or to the use of another person not entitled to the trade secret is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that any person who willfully traffics in, or endeavors to traffic in, a trade secret that he knows or should know was obtained or used without authorization is guilty of a Class 5 felony. The punishments for such violations increase to the Class 5 felony and Class 4 felony when such offenses are committed with the intent to benefit a foreign government, a foreign agent, or a foreign instrumentality. Theft of or trafficking in trade secrets; penalty. Provides that any person who willfully and without authorization obtains or uses, or endeavors to obtain or use, a trade secret, as defined in the bill, with the intent to either temporarily or permanently (i) deprive or withhold from the owner thereof the control or benefit of a trade secret or (ii) appropriate a trade secret to his own use or to the use of another person not entitled to the trade secret is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides that any person who willfully traffics in, or endeavors to traffic in, a trade secret that he knows or should know was obtained or used without authorization is guilty of a Class 5 felony. The punishments for such violations increase to the Class 5 felony and Class 4 felony when such offenses are committed with the intent to benefit a foreign government, a foreign agent, or a foreign instrumentality.

Passing stopped school buses; rebuttable presumption. Extends from 10 days to 30 business days the deadline for issuing a summons for an alleged violation of passing a stopped school bus in order for proof that the motor vehicle passed a stopped school bus and that the defendant was the registered owner of the vehicle to give rise to a rebuttable presumption that the owner of the vehicle was the operator during the violation.

Adoption Tax Credit. Establishes a nonrefundable income tax credit for taxable years 2023 through 2027 for the amount of qualified adoption expenses, as defined by the bill, paid or incurred by an individual or married couple who finalize a legal adoption. The aggregate amount of qualified adoption expenses that may be claimed shall not exceed $10,000. In the case of an adoption of a child with special needs, as defined by the bill, the taxpayer will be treated as though he incurred $10,000 in qualified adoption expenses. Adoption Tax Credit. Establishes a nonrefundable income tax credit for taxable years 2023 through 2027 for the amount of qualified adoption expenses, as defined by the bill, paid or incurred by an individual or married couple who finalize a legal adoption. The aggregate amount of qualified adoption expenses that may be claimed shall not exceed $10,000. In the case of an adoption of a child with special needs, as defined by the bill, the taxpayer will be treated as though he incurred $10,000 in qualified adoption expenses.