Exemptions to article; cruise ship gaming in the offshore waters of the Commonwealth.

Sales and use tax; exemption for data centers.

Early childhood care and education; publicly funded providers. Provides that any locality wishing to participate in the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) must submit a proposal by May 15 of each year identifying a lead VPI agency responsible for developing a local plan for the delivery of preschool services to at-risk children. A local match based on the composite index of local ability to pay is required to fund such a proposal. The proposal must include the number of at-risk four-year-olds and three-year-olds to be served and eligibility criteria for participation. Upon acceptance, the Department will disburse state VPI funds to the lead VPI agency in such localities, which may be used with local matching funds to provide preschool education, health services, social services, parental involvement services, and transportation. The Department must establish academic standards for VPI programs that prepare students to successfully enter kindergarten. Full day VPI programs must operate for a minimum of five and a half instructional hours per day, while half day VPI programs operate for a minimum of three instructional hours per day. The bill requires the Department of Education to collect information from VPI and the Mixed Delivery Grant Program to compile a comprehensive report on the use of state funds, including the number of slots and funding allocated to each local program or provider and the number of slots that have been filled. The bill codifies the Child Care Subsidy Program, which is currently established pursuant to regulations of the Board of Education, for the purpose of assisting families who meet certain eligibility criteria with the cost of child care provided by approved vendors. The bill requires the Child Care Subsidy Program to be overseen by the Department of Education and permits the Department to contract with state and local agencies to administer the Program. The bill requires the Department and Board of Education, as applicable, to establish rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and standards for the Program. The bill also codifies the Mixed Delivery Grant Program, which is currently established pursuant to the general appropriation act, for the purpose of awarding grants on a competitive basis to local public entities that enter into partnerships with local private early childhood care and education entities and other community organizations, as applicable, to provide, under the direction and leadership of a lead agency identified in the grant proposal, high-quality care and education, either part time or full time, for at-risk infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children who reside in the locality. The bill requires the Mixed Delivery Grant Program to be administered by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation in partnership with the Department of Education and, consistent with any provisions relating to the Program in the general appropriation act, requires the Foundation and the Department to establish policies, procedures, and standards for the Program.

Casino gaming; eligible host localities. Adds Fairfax County to the list of localities eligible to host a casino in the Commonwealth and provides that any proposed site for a casino gaming establishment considered by Fairfax County shall be (i) located within one-quarter of a mile of an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development, (iii) outside of the Dulles airport flight path, (iv) within two miles of a major shopping destination containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area, and (v) outside of the Interstate 495 Beltway. The bill also requires an eligible host locality in selecting a preferred casino gaming operator to consider and give substantial weight to the proposer's history of or commitment to (a) paying or contracting for the payment of prevailing wages to those individuals providing construction labor during the initial construction of the casino gaming establishment and any hospitality facilities on the premises, and (b) entering into labor peace agreements with labor organizations that are actively engaged in representing or seeking to represent employees in the gaming or hospitality industries in the Commonwealth. The bill also requires an eligible host locality to provide with its submission of its preferred casino gaming operator to the Virginia Lottery an executed agreement with its preferred casino gaming operator certifying that such casino gaming operator and any subcontractor or sublessee responsible for the performance of casino gaming or hospitality operations at the proposed casino gaming establishment will enter into a labor peace agreement with each labor organization actively engaged in representing or seeking to represent employees in the gaming or hospitality industries in the Commonwealth that requests such labor peace agreement, and evidence of all such signed labor peace agreements.

Constitutional amendments (first reference);executive branch of government; Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General; term limits. Prohibits any person from being eligible to be elected to more than two terms as Lieutenant Governor or Attorney General. The amendments provide that service for a partial term does not preclude serving the allowed number of full terms and applies the limits to terms of service to persons elected to serve as Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General in 2029 and thereafter.

Statewide prioritization process; primary evacuation routes. Adds maintenance of primary evacuation routes to the list of factors that must be considered by the Commonwealth Transportation Board as part of the statewide prioritization process for project selection. The bill directs the Board, in incorporating this new factor into the prioritization process, to not assign a weight to such factor and, instead, to set a bonus point value that may be added for projects that include maintenance of primary evacuation routes and shall apply such bonus point values to such projects when applicable.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; survey; baccalaureate public institutions of higher education; student application fees; report. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to survey each baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to determine, for the 2023–2024 academic year, (i) the median, average, and full per-student application fee charged by the institution; (ii) the total number and percentage of student applicants who receive an application fee waiver from the institution; (iii) the total number and percentage of student applicants who were charged the full student application fee by the institution; (iv) the total and per-student applicant revenue generated by the institution through student application fees; and (v) the total and per-student applicant cost to the institution to process student applications, including fully reviewing and acting upon such applications, disaggregated by each cost category deemed relevant by the Council and the institution. The bill requires each baccalaureate public institution of higher education to conduct such internal audits as it deems necessary to fully comply with and respond to such survey. The bill requires the Council to report its findings and any associated recommendations to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than November 1, 2024.

Dam Safety, Flood Prevention, and Protection Assistance Fund; percentage of funds available; owner match requirements.

Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention; Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund; creation. Creates the Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention (the Center) within the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund, to be administered by the Center, to replace the existing Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund.

Consumer Data Protection Act; controller privacy notice; cookies; consumer consent. Requires the privacy notice that a controller must provide to consumers to include a method by which a consumer may opt out of the automatic placement of a data file, commonly referred to as a "cookie," on the consumer's computer or web browser and a disclosure of the purposes for which the data files are used. The bill prohibits controllers from using cookies, except those that are strictly necessary, without the prior express consent of the consumer and prohibits controllers from preventing access to their services if such consent is not granted. The bill also requires controllers to document and store proof of such consent and make available an easily accessible method by which consumers may withdraw such consent.

Department of Environmental Quality; protection of existing tidal and nontidal wetlands; wetland restoration and creation; work group; report. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to establish a work group to develop (i) strategies for protecting the existing tidal and nontidal wetlands of the Commonwealth and (ii) plans for wetland restoration and creation to address losses and adverse impacts from human activities and climate change. The bill specifies that such work group shall include certain relevant stakeholders and will focus on (a) evaluating existing approaches to wetland conservation strategies in the Commonwealth and other states, (b) identifying wetlands adaption areas where tidal wetlands can persist in the landscape, and (c) exploring the circumstances in which climate can impact the wetlands' health and survival. The bill requires the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources by December 1, 2024.

Certain public institutions of higher education; enrollment limitations in incoming freshman classes; Virginia Higher Education Scholarship Act Fund and Program established. Requires, beginning with the incoming freshman class in the 2025 academic year, the board of visitors of each baccalaureate public institution of higher education, with the exception of Norfolk State University, Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia State University, to ensure that the annual percentage of undergraduate non-Virginia students in each incoming freshman class does not exceed 45 percent. The bill also establishes the Virginia Higher Education Scholarship Act Fund and Program whereby certain Virginia public high school graduates who graduated at or near the top of their graduating classes are permitted to apply to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for a scholarship in an amount equal to the cost of tuition, room and board, and mandatory fees to attend a public institution of higher education enumerated in the bill for eight semesters.

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; flood-related disclosures. Requires the Real Estate Board to include on its repetitive risk loss disclosure form for owners of residential real property space for the disclosure of historical flood damages, flood insurance claims, and costs to such residential real property along with other related information. The bill also requires the owner of residential real property within the Commonwealth to disclose to any purchaser or renter of such property certain facts related to the flood history and risk of such property.

Affordable housing; City of Richmond. Adds the City of Richmond to the list of localities with authority to provide for an affordable housing dwelling unit program.

Dam Safety, Flood Prevention, and Protection Assistance Fund; percentage of funds available; owner match requirements. Reduces from 50 percent to 30 percent the project match required of applicants to receive funds from the Dam Safety, Flood Prevention, and Protection Assistance Fund for grants (i) to a local government that owns a dam, (ii) to a local government for a dam located within the locality, or (iii) to a private entity that owns a dam for the design, repair, and safety modifications of such a dam if it is identified in a safety report. The bill provides that grants made from the Fund to a local government or private entity for the determination of the hazard classification for impounding structures, dam break analysis, the mapping and digitization of dam break inundation zones, incremental damage analysis, and other engineering requirements shall require no more than a 10 percent match by the applicant except that such applicant shall be required to provide a minimum of $5,000 of the cost of the project, if funded, and such match provided by such applicant may be used to pay the application fees for the necessary impounding structure operation and maintenance certificate. The bill removes the 50 percent limit on matching grants that owners of impounding structures may be eligible for from the Fund and other sources of funding available to the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation to assist in the development of dam break inundation zone maps and for conducting incremental damage assessments in accordance with the Virginia Impounding Structure Regulations. The bill also removes the limitation that the total amount of expenditures for grants in any fiscal year are not to exceed 50 percent of the total noninterest or income deposits made to the Fund during the previous fiscal year together with the total amount collected in interest or income from the investment of moneys in the Fund from the previous year as determined at the beginning of the fiscal year.