Electric utilities; State Corporation Commission; energy policy of the Commonwealth. Requires the State Corporation Commission to ensure that the Commonwealth implements the energy policy of the Commonwealth, as defined by relevant law, at the lowest reasonable cost, taking into account all cost-effective demand-side management options and the security and reliability benefits of the regional transmission entity that each incumbent electric utility has joined. The bill establishes a rebuttable presumption that plans, petitions, or proposals from utilities that do not ensure such implementation at the lowest reasonable cost are not in the public interest.

Joint Commission on Technology and Science; study; advancements in artificial intelligence; report. Directs the Joint Commission on Technology and Science to study advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), including assessing (i) the impacts of deep fakes, data privacy implications, and misinformation; (ii) measures to ensure these technologies do not indirectly or directly lead to discrimination; (iii) strategies to promote equity in AI algorithms; and (iv) ways in which AI can be utilized to improve government operations and services, and to make recommendations on any appropriate legislation for consideration by the General Assembly.

Financial institutions; regulation of money transmitters; penalty. Replaces existing state law regulating money transmitters with comprehensive provisions aimed at standardizing the regulation of money transmitters across the 50 states. The bill includes provisions for the licensure of money transmitters, supervision and implementation by the State Corporation Commission, acquisition of control of a licensee, mandatory disclosures, reporting and records requirements, authorized delegates, mandatory disclosures, prudential standards, and enforcement.

Parking Lot Solar Development Pilot Grant Program; report. Establishes the Parking Lot Solar Development Pilot Grant Program for the purpose of encouraging development of distributed parking lot solar projects up to one megawatt in size in Chesterfield County and Richmond City through grants. The bill directs the Department of Energy, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality, to administer such program, to establish and publish guidelines and criteria for solar projects funded through such program, and to report annually to the General Assembly regarding the administration of the program for the preceding fiscal year.

Department of Juvenile Justice; work group to study Length of Stay Guidelines and Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center; report. Directs the Department of Juvenile Justice to convene a work group to study issues related to the Department's Length of Stay Guidelines and the Department's direct care capacity in response to the Department's report on the 2023 Length of Stay Guidelines. The work group is directed to study (i) the evidence and research relied upon by the Department as identified in the Department's report, including adjusting for changes in risk profiles for committed juveniles over time; (ii) best practices on staffing ratios, the current actual staffing ratios at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center (BAJCC), and the projected population forecast; (iii) the ability of BAJCC to operate the community treatment model without single coverage on units and maintain consistent staffing on each residential unit and unit population not to exceed 14 residents; (iv) the ability of BAJCC to maintain all therapeutic, vocational, and educational programming; (v) a detailed comparison of youth by age, risk level, and offense level and their projected length of stay under the 2015 Length of Stay Guidelines and the 2023 Length of Stay Guidelines; (vi) trends in determinate commitments, including the percentage of such commitments in circuit court and with an active Department of Corrections sentence; and (vii) how the Department will maintain current programming and the continuum of services for youth when direct care capacity exceeds actual capacity. The work group is also directed to study the rates of serious incidents and contributing factors at BAJCC since January 2022. The bill requires the work group to submit a report with its recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice by November 1, 2024. Such report shall include evidence or research relating to the 2023 changes to the Length of Stay Guidelines and whether such evidence or research supports the changes.

Study; Department of Housing and Community Development; revenue sharing program for localities hosting data center infrastructure; report. Directs the Department of Housing and Community Development to study creating a revenue sharing program for localities hosting data center infrastructure for data centers located in other localities.

Charter; City of Richmond. Makes extensive updates to the charter for the City of Richmond. Many changes in the bill have the effect of removing outdated or duplicative provisions and more closely aligning the city's powers with those set out in general law. Other changes include authorizing compensation to individual council members as may be set by the city council by resolution as compensation for attending meetings of standing committees or other meetings of the city council, in addition to the sums permitted by general law. In addition, the bill authorizes the city council to fix an additional sum to be paid to the president and vice president of the city council, notwithstanding the limitations set out in general law. The bill makes the city's chief administrative officer, rather than the mayor, responsible for making certain recommendations to the council concerning the personnel system. Further changes in the bill provide for additional protected classes to include all of the protected classes recognized under general law. The bill also removes the requirement that the mayor annually submit a capital budget program to the city council and authorizes the city's chief administrative officer, not the mayor, to make transfers between completed projects and projects that are incomplete. The bill contains numerous technical amendments.

Earned income tax credit. Allows eligible low-income taxpayers to claim a refundable income tax credit equal to 20 percent of the federal earned income tax credit claimed that year by the taxpayer for the same taxable year. The bill also states that individuals who would have been entitled to the federal equivalent of this credit but for the fact that the individual, the individual's spouse, or one or more of the individual's children does not have a valid social security number are eligible to claim this credit.

Sales tax exemption; certain baby products.

Virginia Land Conservation Foundation. Allows land trusts that have been accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission or a similar set of standards and practices adopted by the Virginia Land Conservation Board of Trustees (the Board) to hold an interest in land other than a fee simple interest as a result of a grant or transfer from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation (the Foundation) without a co-holder. Current law requires that certain interests in land as a result of a grant or transfer from the Foundation be held jointly by a holder and a public body. The bill also allows, whenever a holder acquires fee simple interest in land as a result of a grant or transfer from the Foundation, the Board to accept a reversionary interest in such land as an alternative to a public body holding an open space easement in such land.

Recognition of the Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe of Virginia. Extends state recognition to the Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe of Virginia within the Commonwealth.

Property Owners' Association Act; managed conservation landscaping; unreasonable restrictions prohibited. Provides that no association shall prohibit an owner from installing managed conservation landscaping, defined in the bill, upon such owner's property unless such prohibition was recorded in the declaration for the association. The bill allows associations to establish reasonable restrictions concerning the management, design, and aesthetic guidelines for managed conservation landscaping features.

Collective bargaining by firefighters and emergency medical services providers. Authorizes firefighters and emergency medical services providers employed by a political subdivision of the Commonwealth to engage in collective bargaining through labor organizations or other designated representatives. The bill provides for the appointment of a three-member board of arbitration regarding any dispute arising between an employer and firefighters or emergency medical services providers. Under the bill, determinations made by such board of arbitration are final on a disputed issue and are binding on the parties involved.

Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices; mandatory fees disclosure. Prohibits a supplier in connection with a consumer transaction from advertising, displaying, or offering any pricing information for goods or services without prominently displaying the total price, which shall include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes imposed.

Taxation. Decreases, beginning in taxable year 2025, the income tax imposed (i) on income less than $3,000, from two percent to 1.75 percent; (ii) on income in excess of $3,000 but less than $5,000, from three percent to 2.65 percent; (iii) on income in excess of $5,000 but less than $17,000, from five percent to 4.4 percent; and (iv) on income in excess of $17,000, from 5.75 percent to 5.1 percent. The bill increases from 20 to 25 percent, beginning in taxable year 2025, the amount of credit eligible taxpayers may claim pursuant to the income tax credit for low-income taxpayers. The bill also increases the annual aggregate amount of Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits that are available from $25 million to $30 million beginning fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter. The bill defines "digital personal property," "streaming," and "taxable service" for the purposes of the retail sales and use tax. The bill increases the sales and use tax from 4.3 percent to 5.2 percent. Amendments are made throughout the bill to impose the sales and use tax on taxable services in addition to tangible personal property. The bill requires that one half of the additional sales and use tax revenues generated by taxable services and digital personal property that is deposited in the Commonwealth Transportation Fund be distributed to the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund, and the additional one half of such revenues be distributed to the Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Fund until June 30, 2031, or until $400 million has been deposited in the Interstate 81 Corridor Improvement Fund. Certain provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025.