Commissioner of Highways; prequalification program for self-bonding program; certain reports; repealed. Removes (i) the biennial report requirement for the Commissioner of Highways regarding the use of funds in the Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund; (ii) the requirement for a prequalification program agreed upon by the Commissioner of Highways and the Department of the Treasury for the self-bonding program for transportation-related construction projects; and (iii) reporting requirements for the Department of Transportation regarding certain information related to performance or payment bonds, waivers, and self-bonding program enrollment.

Professions and occupations; alternative to education requirement for licensure of architects. Requires the Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects to adopt regulations establishing work and education experience equivalencies that shall provide an alternative to the requirement of a professional degree in architecture from a program accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. The bill also requires the Board to adopt regulations establishing a credit system to account for varying degrees of work and education experience and to develop requirements for applicants seeking licensure to certify work and education experience on an annual basis. The bill requires the Board to evaluate any past work or education experience of any applicant under this bill until July 1, 2028. This bill is identical to SB 1310.

Erosion and sediment control for certain localities; bond for sediment basin. Limits the amount of the performance bond that an agency issuing a permit for a land-disturbing activity under the erosion and sediment control laws for certain localities can require when the final site plan includes a stormwater management facility that is built on top of a sediment basin or other sediment trap. The bill also sets a cap on the amount of the security that must be in the form of a letter of credit or cash required for performance for a sediment basin of 25 percent of the estimated cost.

Proposed plat, site plan, or plan of development or preliminary subdivision plat; time period for action by local planning commission. Reduces from 45 days to 30 days the period of time that a local planning commission or other agent has to act on any proposed plat, site plan, or plan of development that it has previously disapproved after the first time such plat or plan has been modified, corrected, and resubmitted for approval, and provides that such planning commission or other agent has within 15 days after the second or any subsequent time such plat or plan has been resubmitted for approval to act on such plat or plan. The bill makes similar changes to the review timelines for state agencies that review such plats. The bill also provides that, in any instance in which an initial review by a locality determines that the resubmitted application contains solely technical changes requiring less than 60 minutes of review, a locality's approved agent shall approve such application within five business days. The bill further provides that if a local planning commission has the responsibility of review of preliminary subdivision plats and conducts a public hearing, it shall act on the proposed preliminary subdivision plat within 35 days, rather than the current 45 days, after receiving approval from all state agencies.

Professions and occupations; practice of medicine; advertising of prescription drugs or devices. Excludes prescription drugs or devices, as such terms are defined in relevant law, from the definition of "commercial appliances or remedies," as such term relates to the practice of medicine and other healing arts, and provides that the sale of such prescription drugs or devices shall not be prevented or prohibited. Current law provides that the advertising or sale of commercial appliances or remedies shall not be prevented or prohibited.

Elections; campaign finance disclosure reports; searchable electronic database. Requires the Department of Elections to provide an interface for the campaign finance database maintained by the Department that allows users to easily search for and sort information by individual candidates and types of elections, offices, committees, other spenders, and contributors; contributions, receipts, disbursements, expenditures, loans, and other categories of information included in campaign finance reports; and late filings, incomplete filings, and other violations. The bill specifies that the interface shall also provide users tools for manipulating and exporting data. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Signs or advertisements within the limits of a highway; civil penalty. Increases the civil penalty for placing advertisements and signs within the limits of any highway from $100 to $250 but retains the $100 civil penalty for identical signs and advertisements located within a 100-yard radius of a sign or advertisement for which the $250 civil penalty is imposed. The bill clarifies that when such signs and advertisements are removed, civil penalties may be collected in addition to the cost of removing such advertisements or signs.

Domestic and Sexual Assault Conviction Database. Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish a Domestic and Sexual Assault Conviction Database that would include information on persons who were convicted of certain offenses against a family or household member, defined in the bill. The Database will be available to the public on the Department of State Police website. Persons whose information is on the Database may petition for removal of their information from the Database if certain requirements are met, and the State Police shall include such petition information on the Database website. Under the bill, the Superintendent of State Police is required to complete the Database by July 1, 2026.

State Corporation Commission; certificate of operation for high load facilities. Prohibits any person from operating a high load facility, defined in the bill as a facility whose electricity demand exceeds 25 megawatts that was not operating before July 1, 2026, without first having obtained a certificate of operation from the State Corporation Commission. The bill requires the Commission to permit the operation of a high load facility upon a finding that such facility and associated facilities (i) will have no material adverse effect upon the rates paid by customers of any regulated public utility in the Commonwealth, taking into account any likely generation, transmission, or distribution needs attributable to the operation of the high load facility; (ii) will have no material adverse effect upon reliability of electric service provided by any regulated public utility; (iii) would be consistent with the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy; and (iv) are not otherwise contrary to the public interest. The bill requires the Commission to consider certain factors in a review of a petition for a certificate to operate a high load facility, including whether there is sufficient energy, capacity, and grid infrastructure to support the operation of the high load facility and whether the operation of the high load facility would create an unreasonable cross-subsidy across customers served by the incumbent electric utility. Finally, the bill requires the Commission to conduct a proceeding to establish minimum criteria for the issuance of a certificate of operation for a high load facility and requirements for public notice and an opportunity for hearing.

Voter registration; cancellation of registration by voter; effective for the immediately proceeding election. Provides that any valid authorization for cancellation submitted by a registered voter prior to the day of the immediately proceeding election shall be effective in such election. Under current law, when submitted by any means other than when notarized or in person, such cancellation must be made at least 22 days prior to an election in order to be valid in that election.

Board of Education; support services personnel; annual collection of certain staffing data required; report. Requires (i) each school board to, beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, annually collect and submit to the Department of Education a report on data on the average salaries of support services personnel, as that term is defined in the bill, employed by the school board and (ii) the Department to, beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, annually compile such data, include it in the Annual School Report, and publicly post it on the Department's website. The bill requires each school board and the Department to disaggregate the data by career categories of support services personnel and specialized student support personnel as set forth in applicable law. This bill is identical to SB 968.

Statewide Fire Prevention Code; State Fire Marshal; consumer fireworks; penalties. Authorizes the use of consumer fireworks in the Commonwealth and distinguishes by definition consumer fireworks from display fireworks and permissible fireworks. The bill provides that the storage and transportation of consumer fireworks are to be considered the same hazard class as the storage and transportation of 1.4G explosives under the Statewide Fire Prevention Code (SFPC) and Uniform Statewide Building Code. The bill requires any locality authorizing the sale of consumer fireworks to require annual permits for any business offering consumer fireworks for retail sale and provides that the State Fire Marshal or other issuing authority may charge a fee for the retail sale of fireworks on a permanent basis or on a temporary basis in localities that do not employ a local fire marshal. The bill excludes from the provisions of the SFPC, unless prohibited by a local ordinance, (i) the sale of consumer or permissible fireworks; (ii) any person using, igniting, or exploding consumer or permissible fireworks on private property with the consent of the owner of such property; or (iii) such consumer or permissible fireworks when they are being transported from a locality where they were legally obtained to a locality where they are legally permitted. Current law only excludes the sale of permissible fireworks or the use of such fireworks on private property. The bill also directs 13 percent of the sales and use tax revenue generated by the local sales and use tax on the sale of consumer or permissible fireworks to be allocated to a special fund and specifies that, of such 13 percent, 10 percent will be used for providing funding for first responders, as defined in the bill, and three percent will be allocated to the local fire marshal or, for localities that do not appoint a fire marshal, to the State Fire Marshal to be used solely on behalf of the locality that transferred such funds. The bill contains technical amendments and has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2026.

Adult adoptee access to original birth certificate; contact preference form. Allows the State Registrar to provide, upon written request, any adult adopted person access to his original birth certificate. The bill allows a birth parent to indicate whether they would like to be contacted by an adoptee on a contact preference form provided by the State Registrar that shall accompany the adoptee's original birth certificate, which shall be released to an adopted person when he requests his original birth certificate.

Voter registration; automatic registration of hunting, fishing, and milk distributor license and concealed handgun permit applicants; penalty. Provides for automatic voter registration by the clerk of any circuit court of the Commonwealth, the Department of Wildlife Resources, and the Milk Commission upon the application for any hunting, fishing, or milk distributor license or Virginia resident concealed handgun permit.

Medicare supplement policies; annual open enrollment period. Requires an insurer, health services plan, or health maintenance organization issuing individual Medicare supplement policies or certificates in the Commonwealth to offer to an individual currently insured under any such policy an annual open enrollment period commencing on the day of the individual's birthday and remaining open for at least 60 days thereafter, during which time the individual may purchase any Medicare supplement policy made available by any insurer in the Commonwealth that offers the same benefits as those provided by the current coverage. The bill also requires such insurer, health services plan, or health maintenance organization to notify, at least 15 days but not more than 30 days prior to the commencement of such annual open enrollment period, each individual to whom such open enrollment period applies of the dates of that open enrollment period, the rights of the individual during that open enrollment period, and any modification of benefits provided by or adjustment of premiums charged for such Medicare supplement policy. This bill is identical to SB 1199.