Department of Education; public school accountability; delayed implementation and review of revised public school accountability system; report; emergency. Directs the Department of Education to delay for a period of one year the implementation of the revised public school accountability system adopted pursuant to applicable Board of Education regulations in order to conduct a review of and establish a stakeholder advisory committee to solicit input on such revised public school accountability system for the purpose of ensuring that such accountability system is designed to achieve fair, transparent, and actionable results aimed at improving student growth and learning outcomes across the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Department to, by April 1, 2026, (i) publish a report on the process and findings of the review conducted in accordance with the provisions of the bill and (ii) submit to the Governor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the House Committee on Education a plan for modifying and implementing the revised public school accountability system that incorporates the findings of the review conducted and the input from the stakeholder advisory committee established in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; loan and grant program; eligible recipients; federally recognized tribes; Virginia recognized tribes. Expands the type of eligible recipients for loans and grants from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund to include federally recognized tribes and Virginia recognized tribes. Under current law, only localities are eligible to receive loans or grants from the Fund. This bill is identical to SB 1335.

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 his campaign committee for 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 allows a contribution to be used for 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 dependent care expenses that are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity. The bill provides that any person subject to the personal use ban may request an advisory opinion from the State Board of Elections on such matters. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026. 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 publish an updated summary of Virginia campaign finance law that reflects the State Board of Elections' and Attorney General's guidance on the provisions of such law that prohibit the personal use of campaign funds and any new regulations promulgated by the State Board of Elections. This bill incorporates HB 1686 and is identical to SB 1002.

Current and Mature Semiconductor Technology Grant Fund. Establishes the Current and Mature Semiconductor Technology Grant Fund to, subject to appropriation, fund 15 annual grant award installments, in an aggregate amount not to exceed $60 million, to a qualified company that engages in the manufacture of semiconductors and that executes a memorandum of understanding with the Commonwealth and, on and after July 1, 2024, but before June 30, 2040, is expected to (i) make a capital investment, defined in the bill, of at least $2,170,130,850 and (ii) create and maintain at least 340 new full-time jobs, in an eligible locality, defined in the bill. The bill also authorizes bonus grants of up to $10 million that a qualified company may earn for certain new full-time job creation and maintenance. The bill also repeals the existing Semiconductor Manufacturing Grant Fund and is identical to SB 1208.

Charitable gaming; conduct of athletic event drawings. Authorizes affiliated nonprofit organizations to conduct athletic event drawings in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The bill places limits on when and where an athletic event drawing may be held and requires the prize amount of any such drawing to be 50 percent of the total amount collected from the sale of the tickets. The bill requires the organization to donate a certain percentage of the remaining funds in accordance with Department regulations.

Health insurance; coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices. Requires health insurance carriers to provide coverage, under any health insurance contract, policy, or plan that includes coverage for prescription drugs on an outpatient basis, for contraceptive drugs and contraceptive devices, as defined in the bill, including those available over-the-counter. The bill prohibits a health insurance carrier from imposing upon any person receiving contraceptive benefits pursuant to the provisions of the bill any copayment, coinsurance payment, or fee, except in certain circumstances. This bill is identical to SB 780.

Report of motor vehicle accident; damage threshold. Increases from $1,500 to $3,000 the property damage threshold at which law enforcement is required to forward a written report of a motor vehicle accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

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 requires 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 shall establish a civil penalty for failure to comply with the requirements set out in its ordinance.

Department of Motor Vehicles; incorrect vehicle title or registration address. Authorizes the owner or lessee of any real property in the Commonwealth to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles if the address of the real property is used for the titling or registration of a vehicle that does not belong to any owner, lessee, or resident of the real property. The bill requires the Department to (i) attempt to notify the vehicle owner of such report and (ii) conduct a search of the National Change of Address System and provides that if the Department is unable to identify the correct address for the vehicle, the Department may revoke the registration, registration card, license plates, and decals issued for the vehicle.

Attorneys; preliminary proof of education required of applicant for Virginia Bar examination. Allows individuals who have received a master's or doctoral degree from an institution of higher education accredited by an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and studied law for three years, consisting of not less than 18 hours per week for at least 40 weeks per year, (i) in the office of an attorney practicing in the Commonwealth, whose full time is devoted to the practice of law, or (ii) with a retired circuit court judge who served the Commonwealth as a circuit court judge for a minimum of 10 years to sit for the Virginia Bar examination.

Retail sales and use tax; media-related exemptions; sunset. Extends from 2025 to 2028 the expiration of the retail sales and use tax exemption for certain printed materials purchased by an advertising business from a printer in the Commonwealth, so long as such materials are distributed outside of the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to HB 2675.

Virginia Sports Tourism Grant Program; work group; report. Creates the Virginia Sports Tourism Grant Program, to be administered by the Virginia Tourism Authority, to provide grants to sports tourism activity sponsors, defined in the bill, in order to develop and attract sports tourism activities, also defined in the bill, to the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Virginia Tourism Authority to establish guidelines and criteria for grant awards and to report annually on the Program. The bill also requires a work group of stakeholders to be convened to recommend guidelines for grant awards by the Program and report such recommendations to the General Assembly by October 31, 2025.

Compensation of court-appointed counsel. Clarifies that, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, no person found indigent or child's parents or other persons responsible for the care of a child found indigent and who is represented by a public defender or court-appointed counsel shall have fees assessed against him for legal representation in an amount greater than the amount such person or such child would have owed if the assessment took place on or before June 30, 2024. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission. This bill is identical to HB 1757.

Charter; City of Chesapeake. Amends the charter for the City of Chesapeake to clarify the dates for (i) the election and terms of members of council and the mayor, (ii) when a sitting council member must resign when running for mayor, and (iii) the election of a successor in the event of a vacancy in office. This bill is identical to HB 1645.

Virginia Water Protection Permit; interbasin transfers of water prohibited. Prohibits the Department of Environmental Quality from issuing a Virginia Water Protection Permit for a surface water withdrawal if more than five percent of the nonconsumptive volume of such withdrawal will be returned to a different major river basin, as defined in the bill. The bill clarifies that such prohibition does not apply to any lawful withdrawal in existence on July 1, 2025.