Transportation district commissions; contracts or agreements. Expands the localities and entities with which transportation district commissions may enter into contracts or agreements to provide transit facilities and services and other modes of transportation.

Zoning; recovery residences. Provides that zoning ordinances for all purposes shall consider a certified recovery residence in which no more than eight individuals with substance use disorder reside, either with or without one or more resident or nonresident staff persons, as residential occupancy by a single family and that no conditions more restrictive than those imposed on residences occupied by persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption shall be imposed on such certified recovery residence. The bill provides that no clinical treatment shall take place in such recovery residence and that the recovery residence shall submit the individual name and contact information for the person responsible for the residence to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Absentee voting in person; available beginning 14 days prior to election; hours of operation. Limits the availability of absentee voting in person to beginning 14 days prior to any election. During these two weeks, the bill requires that absentee voting in person be available Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. each day. Under current law, absentee voting in person is available during regular business hours of the office of the general registrar beginning 45 days prior to any election with a requirement to be open a minimum of eight hours between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the first and second Saturdays immediately preceding the election.

School boards; employment of school resource officers in each public elementary and secondary school. Requires each school board to enter into a collaborative agreement with the local law-enforcement agency to employ at least one school resource officer in each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division and provides that no school board shall be granted any full or partial waiver from such staffing requirements. The bill contains a contingent effective date that states that the foregoing requirement shall become effective beginning with the fiscal year in which funding has been provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to fully fund such requirement.

Discovery. Allows the accused to request the Commonwealth to copy or photograph any discovery materials or evidence he is permitted to inspect and review, including relevant police reports, witness statements, and the name and contact information of any potential witness, and requires the Commonwealth to provide such copies or photographs, electronically or otherwise, to him or his counsel. The bill also requires all attorneys for the Commonwealth to provide (i) discovery material for all courts to counsel of record for the accused, if requested, by electronic means, defined in the bill, unless such material is prohibited from being distributed by law or impossible to provide by electronic means and (ii) to counsel of record for the accused, if requested, in any district court a copy of any police report by electronic means at least 10 days prior to the date the case is set for trial.Lastly, the bill requires the attorney for the Commonwealth to provide a copy of a person's criminal history record information, including criminal history record information maintained in the National Crime Information Center and the Interstate Identification Index System that is in his possession, pursuant to the rules of court for obtaining discovery or for review by the court. Current law provides that nothing shall preclude the dissemination of a person's criminal history record information pursuant to such rules of court but does not require the attorney for the Commonwealth to provide the copy nor identify specific types of information. This bill was incorporated into HB 1627.

Department of Law; Division of Emerging Technologies, Cybersecurity, and Data Privacy established. Establishes within the Department of Law a Division of Emerging Technologies, Cybersecurity, and Data Privacy to oversee and enforce laws governing cybersecurity, data privacy, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. The bill requires the Division to submit an annual report to the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) by November 1 of each year detailing (i) trends in enforcement, audit findings, and compliance rates under cybersecurity, data privacy, and AI-related laws and (ii) legislative recommendations for addressing emerging challenges and technological advancements. The bill also requires JCOTS to (a) collaborate with the Division to hold public hearings to gather community input on the impact of emerging technologies and issue legislative recommendations to address gaps in existing laws or emerging risks related to cybersecurity, data privacy, and AI and (b) monitor the implementation and enforcement of laws governing cybersecurity, data privacy, and AI.

Education and workforce data ecosystem in the Commonwealth; Virginia Education and Workforce Data Governing Board and Office of Virginia Education and Workforce Data established. Establishes in the executive branch of state government the 10-member Virginia Education and Workforce Data Governing Board and establishes with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency a supporting Office of Virginia Education and Workforce Data to (i) govern, administer, and support the ecosystem of education and workforce data collection and analysis systems in the Commonwealth, defined in the bill as the Commonwealth Data Trust, the Virginia Longitudinal Data System, the Virginia Office of Education Economics, and the Virginia Workforce Data Trust, and (ii) replace several separate data system governance and administration structures established in current law. The bill renames the Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment as the Virginia Office of Education Economics and directs its governance by the Board. The bill establishes several powers and duties for such Board and Office, certain of which are subject to delayed implementation dates.

Electric utilities; renewable energy portfolio standard program; zero-carbon electricity. Amends the definition of renewable energy for purposes of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act to include energy derived from hydrogen and nuclear power. The bill provides that the existing renewable energy portfolio standard program that establishes goals for the sale of renewable energy shall also include goals for the sale of zero-carbon electricity and adds zero-carbon electricity generating resources and certain other resources approved by the State Corporation Commission to the list of eligible sources for purposes of the renewable portfolio standard program.

Public elementary and secondary school libraries; model policies for review of print and audiovisual materials; sexually explicit visual content prohibited. Requires the Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board model policies prohibiting any school library in any public elementary or secondary school from obtaining or possessing any print or audiovisual materials that contain sexually explicit visual content, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill requires such model policies to (i) require the review of any print or audiovisual material that is (a) made available to any such school for placement in any school library or (b) accessible to students in any school library for the purpose of determining whether such material contains sexually explicit visual content; (ii) provide for the removal or exclusion from any school library of any print or audiovisual material that, upon review, is determined to contain sexually explicit visual content; and (iii) establish guidelines for implementing such policies in accordance with the provisions of the bill to ensure compliance with the First Amendment to the Constitution of United States and Article 1, Section 12 of the Constitution of Virginia. The bill requires each school board to adopt policies that are consistent with but may be more comprehensive than the model policies adopted by the Department of Education pursuant to the bill. Finally, the bill amends the exception in current law to the prohibition of certain sales and loans to juveniles for the purchase, distribution, exhibition, or loan of certain materials to schools to clarify that the exception does not apply in the case of public school libraries as provided in the provisions of the bill.

Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact. Enters the Commonwealth into the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, the purpose of which is to facilitate the mobility of teachers across the member states, with the goal of supporting teachers through a new pathway to licensure. The Compact is presently in effect, as it has reached the enactment threshold of 10 state members.

Admission to bail; pregnant persons or persons who have recently given birth. Requires the judicial officer to consider any evidence a person provides indicating that such person (i) is currently pregnant, (ii) has recently given birth, or (iii) is currently nursing a child when determining whether such person shall be admitted to bail.

Cash proffers; land transfer; extinguishing development rights. Provides that (i) cash payments proffered pursuant to relevant zoning law and (ii) the transfer of land may be used by an applicant for the purpose of extinguishing development rights elsewhere in the locality if the development rights to be extinguished are greater than the development rights being granted and the extinguishing of those development rights results in a perpetual conservation easement. The bill also provides that cash payments proffered may be used to seek matching funds from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund.

Voter registration; jury commissioners; list of unqualified persons transmitted to general registrars; list maintenance. Requires jury commissioners to collect information obtained from those persons not qualified to serve as a result of a condition that would also make them unqualified to register to vote. The sheriff, clerk of court, or other official responsible for maintaining such information provided by the commissioners is required to regularly transmit such information to the general registrar for the locality or localities served by such official. The bill requires general registrars to utilize such information to identify voters who are no longer qualified to vote and to initiate list maintenance procedures. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Line of Duty Act; payments to beneficiaries. Provides that if a deceased person, as that term is defined in the Line of Duty Act, died as a result of certain cancers within 10 years from his date of retirement, his beneficiary shall be entitled to the payment of certain benefits. Under current law, such beneficiary shall be entitled to such payment if the deceased person's death (i) arose out of and in the course of his employment or (ii) was within five years from his date of retirement.

Department of Corrections; designated employees with same power as sheriff or law-enforcement officer. Allows the Department of Corrections to designate employees to have the same power as a sheriff or a law-enforcement officer for the purpose of enforcing the criminal laws of the Commonwealth. Under current law, the Department can designate such employees with internal investigations authority to have such law-enforcement powers in the investigation of allegations of criminal behavior affecting the operations of the Department. Accordingly, the bill makes technical changes to additional sections that reference such designated employees, including in the definition of a law-enforcement officer used in various places throughout the Code and for the purposes of the Line of Duty Act, assault and battery of a law-enforcement officer, retired law-enforcement officers being able to carry a concealed handgun, and certain retired law-enforcement officers being able to purchase their service handgun or other weapon.