Celebrating the life of Michael Eugene Holbrook.

Commending Kashvi Ramani.

Voter registration; list maintenance activities; cancellation procedures; required record matches; required identification information; data standards. Requires certain, specified identification information to be included on the lists received by the Department of Elections for list maintenance purposes and requires the Department, upon receiving any such list, to do an initial comparison of the information included on such list with the list of registered voters and determine the confidence score for any match. Matches with a confidence score of at least 80 are transmitted to the appropriate general registrars. The bill prohibits the use of voter data received from another state or jurisdiction or through a list comparison for list maintenance purposes when the data file does not include a unique identifier for each individual whose information is contained in the data file. The bill requires the Department of Elections to annually review all sources of data utilized for list maintenance activities for the purpose of determining the validity, completeness, accuracy, and reliability of the data received from each source, and to include the results of such review in its annual report to the Committees on Privileges and Elections regarding its list maintenance activities. The bill requires the general registrars to send notice prior to cancelling a voter's record regardless of the reason for cancellation. Lastly, the bill clarifies that when a voter's registration is canceled, a cancellation record must be created, and that such records are public in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the National Voter Registration Act. The bill includes numerous technical amendments for organizational purposes.

Legal holidays; Indigenous Peoples' Day. Replaces Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, with Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday.

Proton radiation therapy; clinical evidence for decisions on coverage. Permits a health insurance carrier to consider (i) coverage of a proton radiation therapy treatment by Medicare, Medicaid, or any other governmental health care coverage for any type of cancer or (ii) a recommendation of proton radiation therapy by a patient's treating physician or radiation oncologist as a sufficient standard of clinical evidence to justify coverage of proton radiation therapy. Proton radiation therapy; clinical evidence for decisions on coverage. Permits a health insurance carrier to consider (i) coverage of a proton radiation therapy treatment by Medicare, Medicaid, or any other governmental health care coverage for any type of cancer or (ii) a recommendation of proton radiation therapy by a patient's treating physician or radiation oncologist as a sufficient standard of clinical evidence to justify coverage of proton radiation therapy.

Emergency custody; transportation; transfer of custody. Provides that, in cases in which transportation of a person subject to an emergency custody order is ordered to be provided by an alternative transportation provider, the primary law-enforcement agency that executes the order may transfer custody of the person to the alternative transportation provider immediately upon execution of the order, and that the alternative transportation provider shall maintain custody of the person from the time custody is transferred to the alternative transportation provider by the primary law-enforcement agency until such time as custody of the person is transferred to the community services board or its designee that is responsible for conducting the evaluation or the temporary detention facility, as is appropriate. The bill adds employees of and persons providing services pursuant to a contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to the list of individuals who may serve as alternative transportation providers for emergency custody orders. Additionally, the bill allows for the transfer of custody to the temporary detention facility if the magistrate issuing the emergency custody order determines that the person subject to the order is not at risk to seriously harm others in the near future without any additional conditions being met.

Electric utilities; pilot program for underground transmission lines; additional project. Adds one project to the existing pilot program for underground transmission lines. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to approve one additional application filed between January 1, 2024, and October 1, 2024, as a qualifying project to be constructed in whole or in part underground, as a part of the pilot program. The bill requires that the added qualifying project be a newly proposed 230-kilovolt underground line and that (i) an engineering analysis demonstrates that it is technically feasible to place the proposed line, in whole or in part, underground; (ii) the governing body of each locality in which a portion of the proposed line will be placed underground indicates, by resolution, general community support for the project and that the governing body supports the transmission line to be placed underground; (iii) a project has been filed with the Commission or is pending issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity by October 1, 2024; (iv) the estimated additional cost of placing the proposed line, in whole or in part, underground does not exceed $40 million or, if greater than $40 million, the cost does not exceed 2.5 times the cost of placing the same line overhead, assuming accepted industry standards for undergrounding to ensure safety and reliability; if the public utility, the affected localities, and the Commission agree, a proposed underground line whose cost exceeds 2.5 times the cost of placing the line overhead may also be accepted into the pilot program; (v) the public utility requests that the project be considered as a qualifying project under the pilot program; and (vi) the primary need of the project is for purposes of grid reliability or grid resiliency or to support economic development priorities of the Commonwealth, including the economic development priorities and the comprehensive plan of the governing body of the locality in which at least a portion of line will be placed, and not to address aging assets that would have otherwise been replaced in due course. Electric utilities; pilot program for underground transmission lines; additional project. Adds one project to the existing pilot program for underground transmission lines. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to approve one additional application filed between January 1, 2024, and October 1, 2024, as a qualifying project to be constructed in whole or in part underground, as a part of the pilot program. The bill requires that the added qualifying project be a newly proposed 230-kilovolt underground line and that (i) an engineering analysis demonstrates that it is technically feasible to place the proposed line, in whole or in part, underground; (ii) the governing body of each locality in which a portion of the proposed line will be placed underground indicates, by resolution, general community support for the project and that the governing body supports the transmission line to be placed underground; (iii) a project has been filed with the Commission or is pending issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity by October 1, 2024; (iv) the estimated additional cost of placing the proposed line, in whole or in part, underground does not exceed $40 million or, if greater than $40 million, the cost does not exceed 2.5 times the cost of placing the same line overhead, assuming accepted industry standards for undergrounding to ensure safety and reliability; if the public utility, the affected localities, and the Commission agree, a proposed underground line whose cost exceeds 2.5 times the cost of placing the line overhead may also be accepted into the pilot program; (v) the public utility requests that the project be considered as a qualifying project under the pilot program; and (vi) the primary need of the project is for purposes of grid reliability or grid resiliency or to support economic development priorities of the Commonwealth, including the economic development priorities and the comprehensive plan of the governing body of the locality in which at least a portion of line will be placed, and not to address aging assets that would have otherwise been replaced in due course.

Local anti-rent gouging authority; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance adopt anti-rent gouging provisions. The bill provides for notice and a public hearing prior to the adoption of such ordinance and specifies that all landlords who are under the ordinance may be required to give at least two months' written notice of a rent increase and cannot increase the rent by more than the locality's calculated allowance, described in the bill as the maximum amount a landlord can increase a tenant's rent during any 12-month period, in effect at the time of the increase. The bill sets such allowance as equal to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is less, states that such allowance is effective for a 12-month period beginning July 1 each year, and requires the locality to publish such allowance on its website by June 1 of each year. Certain facilities, as outlined in the bill, are exempt from such ordinance. The bill also allows a locality to establish an anti-rent gouging board that will develop and implement rules and procedures by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions from the rent increase limits set by the ordinance. Finally, the bill provides that a locality may establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in the ordinance.

Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act. Permits electronic nontestamentary estate planning documents, defined in the bill as certain enumerated records relating to estate planning that are readable as text at the time of signing and are not wills or contained in wills, to be signed and notarized, as appropriate, by electronic means. The bill provides that such electronic nontestamentary estate planning documents shall not be denied legal effect or enforceability or excluded as evidence in a proceeding solely because such documents are in electronic form. The bill also allows for the electronic presence, as that term is defined in the bill, of any witness who is otherwise required by law to be in the physical presence of the person signing the nontestamentary estate planning document.

Employee protections; medicinal use of cannabis oil. Amends the provision that prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee for such employee's lawful use of medical cannabis oil, with certain exceptions, by specifying that such use must conform to the laws of the Commonwealth and by including the employees, other than law-enforcement officers, of the Commonwealth and other public bodies in such protections.

Department of Law; compensation for veterans' benefits matters; work group; report. Directs the Department of Law's Division of Consumer Counsel to convene a work group to examine and make recommendations regarding the practice of persons receiving compensation for preparing, presenting, prosecuting, advising, consulting, or assisting any individual regarding any veterans' benefits matter, as defined in the bill. Department of Law; compensation for veterans' benefits matters; work group; report. Directs the Department of Law's Division of Consumer Counsel to convene a work group to examine and make recommendations regarding the practice of persons receiving compensation for preparing, presenting, prosecuting, advising, consulting, or assisting any individual regarding any veterans' benefits matter, as defined in the bill.

Sexual extortion; penalty. Makes it a Class 5 felony for any person to maliciously threaten eviction, loss of housing, property damage, or any financial loss with the intent to cause the complaining witness to engage in sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus, anal intercourse, inanimate or animate object sexual penetration, or an act of sexual abuse and thereby engage in sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus, anal intercourse, inanimate or animate object sexual penetration, or an act of sexual abuse. The bill also creates an unclassified felony punishable by not less than one nor more than 20 years and a fine of not more than $100,000 for any adult who violates the provisions of the bill with a person younger than 18 years of age.

Study; JLARC; waiver of tuition and mandatory fees at certain comprehensive community colleges; report. Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the feasibility of waiving tuition and mandatory fees for Virginia students who attend Mountain Empire Community College, Southwest Virginia Community College, and Virginia Highlands Community College and report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than November 30, 2024.

Personal property taxation rates; restrictions and conditions. Restricts differences in the rates of taxation of personal property for taxpayers who are elderly or handicapped to owners of motor vehicles (i) whose income does not exceed the greater of $80,000 or the median income for the respective locality as published by the U.S. Census Bureau and (ii) whose net financial worth does not exceed $450,000. The bill provides that certain localities may restrict such differences to owners of motor vehicles (a) whose income does not exceed the greater of $130,000 or the median income for the respective locality as published by the U.S. Census Bureau and (b) whose net financial worth does not exceed $750,000. The bill requires the General Assembly to assess, every four years, whether such restrictions require adjustment based on the change in the Consumer Price Index.

Campaign finance; prohibited contributions to candidates. Prohibits candidates, campaign committees, and political committees from soliciting or accepting contributions from any public utility, as defined in the bill, and prohibits any public utility or any political committee established by such public utility from making any such contribution.