Student safety and discipline; certain reports to school principals and division superintendents; form and scope. Requires local law-enforcement authorities to prepare in writing and provide to the principal or his designee and the division superintendent a report on (i) any suspected offense, offense for which any charge has been filed, or offense that is subject to investigation that was committed or is suspected to have been committed by a student enrolled at the school if the offense would be (a) a felony if committed by an adult, (b) a violation of the Drug Control Act and occurred on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, or (c) an adult misdemeanor involving certain enumerated incidents and (ii) whether the student is released to the custody of his parent or, if 18 years of age or older, is released on bond. The bill requires division superintendents to report all such incidents to the Department of Education in an annual report that is made available to the public. Current law does not require such reports to be in writing and only applies to student offenses but does not specify whether such reports are required to be made for student offenses that are suspected, charged, or subject to investigation.

Alcoholic beverage control; advertisements. Directs the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to promulgate regulations that prescribe the terms and conditions under which manufacturers, brokers, importers, and wholesalers may advertise and promote alcoholic beverages via the Internet, social media, direct-to-consumer electronic communication, or other electronic means.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; removal of Virginia residency requirement for access to certain criminal investigation files. Removes the requirement that persons to whom non-ongoing criminal investigation files shall otherwise be disclosed be citizens of the Commonwealth. Current law limits disclosure of public records to individuals who are citizens of the Commonwealth unless a clear exception applies.

Northern Virginia Transportation Authority; technical advisory committee; appointments. Provides that six members of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's technical advisory committee are appointed by the Authority rather than appointed by localities embraced by the Authority as provided in current law.

Secretary of Health and Human Resources; work group; wholesale prescription drug importation programs; report. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a work group to investigate wholesale prescription drug importation programs in other states and evaluate best practices for the establishment and application of such a program in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to provide a report to the Governor, the House Committees on Appropriations and Health and Human Services, and the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Education and Health by November 1, 2024.

Electric utilities; data center demand; allocation of costs among customer classes. Directs the State Corporation Commission to ensure that any plan, petition, or proposal from a utility to meet demand associated with data centers considers generation, transmission, and distribution system costs so as to meet such demand at the lowest aggregate reasonable cost. The bill also directs the Commission to initiate a proceeding, on or before December 31, 2024, (i) to determine if the current allocation of costs among customers and the different classifications of customers of electric utilities results in customers that are data centers receiving unreasonable subsidies from other customers or classifications of customers and (ii) if it determines unreasonable subsidies exist, to amend such allocation of costs.

Fleeing from a law-enforcement officer; penalty. Removes the requirement that a law-enforcement officer have the immediate physical ability to place a person under arrest for the crime of fleeing from a law-enforcement officer.

Division of Early Childhood Care and Education; Department of Education; comprehensive review of certain findings and recommendations relating to the quality of early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth; report. Requires the Division of Early Childhood Care and Education of the Department of Education, in consultation with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to (i) conduct a comprehensive review of the findings and recommendations contained in the 2017 report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Improving Virginia's Early Childhood Development Programs, to determine what barriers, gaps, and deficiencies continue to exist in the provision of high-quality early childhood education and care in the Commonwealth, with a particular focus on gaps and deficiencies in the ongoing monitoring of Virginia Preschool Initiative program quality, including the collection and analysis of data relating to outcomes and kindergarten readiness, and (ii) report its findings and any associated policy recommendations to the Board of Education, the Governor, and the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2024.

Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; school safety audits; list of items required to be reviewed. Requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to include specific technology systems in the list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in required annual school safety audits. Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; school safety audits; list of items required to be reviewed. Requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to include specific technology systems in the list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in required annual school safety audits.

Universal certification for certain law-enforcement officers. Provides that any sworn law-enforcement officer with at least one year of experience (i) whose training qualifications meet or exceed current training standards established by the Board of Criminal Justice Services and who is in compliance with the minimum qualifications, (ii) who has not had a break in service of more than 24 months, and (iii) who is leaving the transferring agency in good standing with no pending investigations or disciplinary actions shall be eligible for employment at any law-enforcement agency within the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions. Prior to any conditional offer of employment, the bill requires the hiring law-enforcement agency to request certain specified information from all prior law-enforcement agencies and to employ all reasonable means to obtain personnel records for law-enforcement officers transferring from an out-of-state or federal law-enforcement agency. The bill requires that upon the receipt of all requested information by the hiring law-enforcement agency, the applicant law-enforcement officer shall complete a sworn declaration that the provided information or records are, to the best of the applicant's knowledge, a true, correct, and complete response to such request.

Advertisement of legal notices; website. Allows a locality to advertise legal notices on the locality's website instead of, or in addition to, publishing such notices in a newspaper having general circulation in the locality.

Requirement for electric vehicle charging stations for certain developments. Provides that any locality may by ordinance require electric vehicle charging stations as part of subdivision or site plan approval for a development containing commercial, industrial, or multifamily residential uses with a density of seven residential dwelling units per acre or greater. The bill contains a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025.

Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act established; regulation of skill game machines; penalties. Establishes the Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act for the purpose of providing a regulatory and registration scheme for skill game machines in the Commonwealth. The bill authorizes and specifies the registration requirements for the distribution, operation, hosting, and play of skill game machines, as defined in the bill. The bill imposes a 25 percent tax on the gross receipts from the play of each skill game machine from each distributor and provides for the use of such tax proceeds, with most being deposited into the PreK-12 Priority Fund, established in the bill. The bill directs the Virginia Lottery Board to promulgate regulations no later than January 1, 2027, to implement the provisions of the bill and authorizes the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to grant a provisional registration, beginning July 1, 2024, to any entity that provides a laboratory certification from a laboratory approved by the Authority that the game being distributed, operated, or placed in an establishment meets the definition and requirements of a skill game machine. Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act established; regulation of skill game machines; penalties. Establishes the Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act for the purpose of providing a regulatory and registration scheme for skill game machines in the Commonwealth. The bill authorizes and specifies the registration requirements for the distribution, operation, hosting, and play of skill game machines, as defined in the bill. The bill imposes a 25 percent tax on the gross receipts from the play of each skill game machine from each distributor and provides for the use of such tax proceeds, with most being deposited into the PreK-12 Priority Fund, established in the bill. The bill directs the Virginia Lottery Board to promulgate regulations no later than January 1, 2027, to implement the provisions of the bill and authorizes the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to grant a provisional registration, beginning July 1, 2024, to any entity that provides a laboratory certification from a laboratory approved by the Authority that the game being distributed, operated, or placed in an establishment meets the definition and requirements of a skill game machine.

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; practice of geology; definitions. Expands the definition of the practice of geology to include the performance of any professional service or work wherein the principles and methods of geology are applied, including (i) investigating, evaluating, and consulting; (ii) geological mapping; (iii) describing the natural processes that act upon the earth's materials; (iv) predicting the probable occurrence of natural processes; and (v) inspecting, planning, and performing and supervising geological work in order to enhance and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public and the environment. The bill also defines "geological mapping." The bill contains technical amendments.

Alcoholic beverage control; food-to-beverage ratio. Reduces the current 45 percent food-to-beverage ratio for certain mixed beverage licensees. The bill requires that a mixed beverage restaurant, caterer's, or limited caterer's licensee meet or exceed the following: (i) for such licensees with monthly food sales of at least $4,000 but less than $10,000, the food-to-beverage ratio shall be 35 percent and (ii) for such licensees with monthly food sales of at least $10,000, there shall be no food-to-beverage ratio requirement imposed.