Real estate appraisers; educational requirements for licensure; fair housing and appraisal bias course. Requires applicants for licensure as a certified residential real estate appraiser, a certified general real estate appraiser, or a licensed residential real estate appraiser to successfully complete a minimum of two hours of education on fair housing and appraisal bias administered or approved by the Real Estate Appraiser Board prior to licensure. The bill requires any such educational course on fair housing and appraisal bias to be audited annually by the Fair Housing Board. This bill is identical to HB 1693.

Solar Interconnection Grant Fund and Program; established; sunset. Establishes the Solar Interconnection Grant Program for the purpose of awarding grants on a competitive basis to public bodies to offset costs associated with the interconnection of solar facilities to the grid. The Program is administered by the Division of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the Department of Energy. The bill requires that priority be given to solar facilities located on previously developed project sites. The bill requires the Division to establish and publish guidelines and criteria for the awarding of grants and general requirements of the Program. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2026.

Workers' compensation benefits; post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder incurred by law-enforcement officers and firefighters. Increases from 52 weeks to 104 weeks the maximum duration after the date of diagnosis that workers' compensation benefits are payable for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder incurred by law-enforcement officers and firefighters acting in the line of duty.

Speech-language pathology assistants; licensure, qualifications, scope of practice; revocation or suspension of license; continuing education. Adds speech-language pathology assistants to the professions governed by the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. The bill also establishes qualifications, scope of practice, and supervision requirements for speech-language pathology assistants. The bill directs the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology to adopt regulations governing the speech-language pathology assistant profession by July 1, 2026, and specifies that the provisions governing the licensure of speech-language pathology assistants have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Department of Taxation; collection of state taxes; period of limitations on collection. Removes provisions requiring that the period of limitations on tax collection by the Department of Taxation be suspended during the effective period of an installment agreement between a taxpayer and the Tax Commissioner for the payment of income taxes.

High-energy facilities; water and energy usage information reports; statewide clearinghouse established. Requires any owner or operator of a high-energy facility, as defined in the bill, to submit to the Department of Environmental Quality no later than May 1, 2026, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, a report that contains certain information relating to water and energy usage for each such facility. The bill requires the Department, no later than July 1, 2026, to design, implement, and maintain a publicly accessible website to serve as a statewide clearinghouse for information relating to water and energy usage of all high-energy facilities operating in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that, in order to fully cover the costs of designing, implementing, and maintaining the statewide clearinghouse, the Department shall assess an initial fee to each owner or operator of a high-energy facility and may assess an annual fee thereafter for each year that such high-energy facility is in active use. The bill requires any owner or operator of a high-energy facility to notify the Department of any substantial change in operations or technologies that would require an update to the information required by the bill at least 60 days prior to making such change. The bill also requires the Department to convene a work group of stakeholders for the purpose of identifying additional information required to be published to the statewide clearinghouse. Such work group is required to convene at least three times by July 1, 2026, in a manner that is open to the public, and each such meeting is required to include a public comment period of no less than 60 days following such meeting.

Emergency Response Exposure Grant Fund and Program. Creates the Emergency Response Exposure Grant Fund and Program to award grants to localities to support certain emergency responders who were exposed to a qualifying emergency, defined in the bill. The bill requires funding to be used for annual cancer screenings and health care expenses incurred by eligible emergency responders, defined in the bill, in the event such emergency responders are diagnosed with cancer from toxic material exposure. The bill permits funding to be used for out-of-pocket medical expenses not otherwise covered by insurance, workers' compensation, or other available funding. The Department of Fire Programs shall administer the Fund and Program.

Local land use decision authority. Provides that the authority for a locality's planning and land use decisions belong solely to the locality and shall not be ceded to any state agency or state-sanctioned body.

Student health and safety; responsibility to contact parent of student at imminent risk of suicide; provision of suicide prevention materials required. Requires any person licensed as administrative or instructional personnel by the Board of Education (the Board) and employed by a local school board who in the scope of his employment has reason to believe, as a result of direct communication from a student, that such student is at imminent risk of suicide to, in addition to contacting at least one of such student's parents to provide notice of the student's mental state, provide to the parent materials on suicide prevention that (i) shall include information on the requirements set forth in current law relating to the safe storage of firearms in the presence of minors and (ii) may include guidance on best practices and strategies for limiting a student's access to lethal means, including firearms and medications. The bill requires any such materials on suicide prevention to be selected in accordance with the guidelines developed by the Board pursuant to applicable law and to include materials that have been pre-approved for such use by the Board.

Absentee voting in person; voter satellite offices; days and hours of operation. Authorizes the governing body of any county or city establishing voter satellite offices for absentee voting in person to prescribe, by ordinance, the dates and hours of operation for such offices. The bill requires the governing body to provide notice to the general registrar of the county or city at least two weeks prior to the enactment of any such ordinance.

Driver's licenses and identification cards; indication of non-apparent disability. Adds non-apparent disabilities, defined in the bill, to the list of conditions that the Department of Motor Vehicles, when requested by an applicant and upon presentation of a signed statement by a licensed physician confirming the applicant's condition, is required to indicate on such applicant's driver's license. Such requirement is also extended to identification cards. Such an indication on a person's driver's license allows for the voluntary indication of a disability that can impair communication on a motor vehicle registration.

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act; land preservation distributions and appropriations. Provides that beginning July 1, 2026, (i) after required distributions for transportation and localities under current law, no less than $200 million of the remaining recordation tax revenues shall be distributed for specified land protection and preservation purposes and (ii) no less than $30 million of the proceeds of bonds issued by the Virginia Public Building Authority shall be made available for infrastructure improvements and other capital projects for state parks each year The bill also repeals provisions requiring the Governor to include in the budget bill or in his amendments to the general appropriation act a recommended appropriation from the general fund, up to $20 million, for land preservation as follows: (i) 80 percent of the unissued credits to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund, of which at least 50 percent must be used for acquisitions with public access; (ii) 10 percent to the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund; and (iii) 10 percent to the Virginia Farmland Preservation Fund.

Intelligent Speed Assistance Program established; penalty. Establishes the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program to be administered by the Commission on the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program. The bill authorizes enrollment in such Program as an alternative to suspending a person's driver's license upon such person's conviction of certain speed-related offenses. The bill requires a court to order enrollment in such Program for a person convicted of reckless driving and who was found to have been driving in excess of 100 miles per hour, unless the court has otherwise ordered the suspension of such person's driver's license. The bill requires the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide the option in a written notice for enrollment in such Program instead of license suspension for a person who has accumulated certain amounts of demerit points, and if such person does not respond to such notice within 30 days, the bill requires such suspension of his license. The bill requires any person enrolled in the Program to enter into and successfully complete the Program and install an intelligent speed assistance system, defined in the bill, in any motor vehicle owned by or registered to the participant and prohibits such person from driving any motor vehicle that does not have such a system installed. The bill creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for tampering with or attempting to bypass or circumvent such a system. The bill provides that any person who enters into the Program prior to trial may pre-qualify with the Program to have an intelligent speed assistance system installed on any motor vehicle owned or operated by him and that the court may consider such pre-qualification and installation. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Labor and employment provisions; application of law; payment of wages; definition of employer. Provides that the exemption for the Commonwealth or any of its agencies, institutions, or political subdivisions, or any public body, under Title 40.1 does not apply when expressly provided otherwise. The bill provides a definition of "public body" for Title 40.1. Additionally, the bill provides that for the purposes of various requirements related to the protection of employees, including the payment of wages, "employer" includes the Commonwealth and its agencies, institutions, and political subdivisions, or any public body. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Virginia Fire Personnel and Equipment Grant Program established. Establishes the Virginia Fire Personnel and Equipment Grant Program for the purpose of providing grants to localities to hire additional firefighters and to improve their firefighting and emergency medical services. The bill specifies that the Department of Fire Programs shall administer the Program and two types of grants shall be made from the Program. The first shall provide grants to localities to increase the number of firefighters. Such grants shall be made for up to three years and shall be used by localities for programs to (i) hire new, additional full-time firefighters; (ii) convert part-time or volunteer firefighters to full-time firefighters; or (iii) recruit and retain volunteer firefighters. The second shall provide grants to localities for improving firefighting and emergency medical services, including by acquiring firefighting and emergency medical services vehicles and equipment and modifying facilities. For both grants, the bill provides that funds shall not be used to supplant any funds currently provided by the Commonwealth or by the locality and shall be used to increase the total amount of funds available for the provision of firefighting or emergency medical services. The bill requires the Department to report annually, beginning November 1, 2026, to the Governor and the General Assembly information regarding a list of grants, the amount of each approved grant, information on the performance assessment system that the bill directs the Department to create, an evaluation of each grant based on such system, and any other criteria deemed relevant by the Department.