Misdemeanor; maximum term of confinement. Reduces from 12 months to 364 days the maximum term of confinement in jail for a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill contains technical amendments. The bill also requires the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission to revise all labels on Sentencing Guidelines worksheets and instructions in the Sentencing Guidelines manual so that any conviction for an offense defined as a Class 1 misdemeanor or any other misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 364 days of incarceration, as provided by the bill, shall be scored as if the maximum penalty were 12 months for the purposes of preparing and using the discretionary sentencing guidelines.

Health insurance; denial of referral by direct primary care provider prohibited. Prohibits a health insurance carrier from (i) denying payment for any health care service covered under an enrollee's health benefit plan based solely on the basis that such enrollee's referral was made by a direct primary care provider or (ii) imposing a cost-sharing requirement greater than the applicable cost-sharing requirement that would apply to the same health care service if the service was referred by a participating provider. The bill provides that a health insurance carrier may require a direct primary care provider to provide information demonstrating that such provider has entered into a direct primary care agreement with the enrollee.

Study; Department of Social Services; Department of Housing and Community Development; unaccompanied minor housing program; report. Directs the Department of Social Services and the Department of Housing and Community Development to convene a work group to study the implementation of an unaccompanied minor housing program. The bill requires the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the relevant committees of the General Assembly no later than December 1, 2024.

Mattress stewardship program established; civil penalty. Prohibits the disposal of a mattress, as defined in the bill, in a landfill or an incinerator beginning January 1, 2028, and requires producers of mattresses sold at retail in the Commonwealth or a representative organization acting on a producer's behalf to submit a plan for the establishment of a mattress stewardship program. Such mattress stewardship program plan shall establish an assessment for all mattresses sold in the Commonwealth and a network of convenient and free collection sites for postconsumer mattresses, defined in the bill, that will facilitate higher rates of recycling and materials recovery for postconsumer mattresses. The bill establishes annual reporting requirements for mattress producers or representative organizations and establishes a Mattress Stewardship Program Advisory Board to advise on the proper implementation and sustainability of the mattress stewardship program. The bill also establishes the powers and duties of the Department of Environmental Quality as they relate to the bill and civil penalties for improper mattress disposal and violations of the mattress stewardship program.

Local government actions related to comprehensive plans, local planning commissions, subdivision plats and site plans, and zoning ordinances; approval process. Makes several changes to local government land use approval processes, including (i) prohibiting use of the comprehensive plan as the basis, in whole or in part, for the disapproval of a site plan that is otherwise in conformity with duly adopted standards, ordinances, and statutes and (ii) allowing automatic approval of certain land use applications rather than a right to petition the circuit court, as provided under current law, if a locality does not approve or disapprove the application within the required timeframe. The bill also reduces from 12 months to four months the time within which a locality must initially act upon certain proposed zoning ordinance amendments and requires a locality to act on all such proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance or map that it has previously disapproved within 45 days after an amended proposal has been resubmitted for approval.

Virginia Abortion Care and Gender-Affirming Health Care Protection Act; reproductive and gender-affirming health care services; prohibitions on extradition for certain crimes; civil penalties. Establishes the Virginia Abortion Care and Gender-Affirming Health Care Protection Act. The bill provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth that all persons are entitled to provide, receive, and help others provide or receive abortion care and gender-affirming health care services not prohibited under the laws of the Commonwealth, and that such provision, receipt, and assistance is not diminished, chilled, or infringed by public or private actors. The bill provides that no law-enforcement officer acting in the Commonwealth or employed by the Commonwealth or any of its localities or political subdivisions may investigate, arrest, or detain any person, seek the issuance of a warrant, or otherwise assist in or provide support for any investigation regarding either the provision or receipt of abortion care or gender-affirming care not prohibited under the laws of the Commonwealth or any person's menstrual health data. The bill creates a private right of action for any person who is aggrieved by such unlawful investigation to obtain an injunction or other equitable relief against such law-enforcement officer. The bill also creates a private right of action for any person who sustains any injury, damages, or other harm resulting from another person who, under the law of a jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth, engages or attempts to engage in abusive litigation, as defined in the bill. The bill also provides that no demand for extradition of a person charged with a criminal violation of law of another state shall be recognized by the Governor if such alleged violation involves the receipt of or assistance with protected health care activity, as defined in the bill, within the Commonwealth unless the alleged criminal violation would also constitute a criminal offense under the laws of the Commonwealth. The bill provides that any subpoena under the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act or any summons for a witness for another state in a criminal case shall include an attestation, made under penalty of perjury, stating whether the subpoena or summons seeks documents, information, or testimony related to the provision, receipt, attempted provision or receipt, assistance in the provision or receipt, or attempted assistance in the provision or receipt of protected health care activity, as defined in the bill.

Disqualification from office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; affidavit of eligibility for candidates for elective office; removal from office for current officeholders. Provides that any person who is found to have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States or to have given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof shall be disqualified from holding any office of the Commonwealth or of its governmental units in accordance with Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Persons holding office who are so disqualified may be removed by a writ of quo warranto, except that a member of the General Assembly may be removed by the house in which he sits. The bill requires any candidate for any elective office to submit an affidavit of eligibility attesting that such candidate is eligible to hold elective office under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sales and use tax exemption; data centers. Requires data center operators to meet certain energy efficiency standards in order to be eligible for the sales and use tax exemption for data center purchases. Under the bill, a data center operator shall be eligible for the exemption only if such operator demonstrates that (i) its facilities either (a) have a power usage effectiveness score of no greater than 1.2 or (b) for data centers co-located in buildings with other commercial uses, achieve an energy efficiency level of no less than the most efficient 15 percent of similar buildings constructed in the previous five years and (ii) it will procure carbon-free renewable energy and associated renewable energy certificates from facilities equal to 90 percent of its electricity requirements or that its electricity will be otherwise derived from non-carbon-emitting, renewable sources.

Personal property tax relief; qualifying vehicles; reimbursement and appropriation. Provides for a portion of the general fund surplus at the close of the immediately preceding fiscal year to be appropriated for increased car tax relief. If more than $250 million in general fund surplus remains after all mandatory assignments under current law, then the total amount the Commonwealth shall pay in reimbursements to localities for providing required tangible personal property tax relief on qualifying vehicles for the immediately following tax year, beginning in tax year 2025, shall be $950 million plus up to 25 percent of the remaining surplus. In such case, the surplus amount would be held in reserve for appropriation for such tax relief and not further assigned by the Comptroller. If less than $250 million in general fund surplus remains after such mandatory assignments, the total amount of reimbursements from the Commonwealth to localities would remain at $950 million, the fixed amount under current law, and the remaining surplus would be assigned by the Comptroller for nonrecurring expenditures. Also beginning in tax year 2025, the bill increases from $20,000 to $30,000 the base vehicle value for which a county, city, or town shall establish its tangible personal property tax rate for each qualifying vehicle and reimbursements from the Commonwealth therefor.

State correctional facilities; telephone calls and communication services. Requires the Department of Corrections to provide telephone systems and web-based or electronic communications systems free of charge to any person, whether such person is initiating or receiving the communication. The bill also requires that a minimum ratio of one telephone per every 10 inmates be available within each housing unit at each correctional facility and that the maximum number of telephone numbers permitted on an approved call list must be no fewer than 20.

Study; Department of State Police; Starr Alert Program; report. Requests the Department of State Police to study the need for an alert program, to be known as the Starr Alert Program, to notify vehicle repair shops of nearby hit-and-run incidents.

Guardianship and conservatorship; duties and powers of guardian and conservator; self-dealing prohibited. Provides that a guardian and conservator shall avoid all conflicts of interest and self-dealing, including all appearances of conflicts of interest and self-dealing, when addressing the needs of the incapacitated person to whom the guardian or conservator owes a fiduciary duty. The bill provides that a conflict of interest arises when the guardian or conservator has a personal or agency interest that can be perceived as self-serving or adverse to the position or best interest of the incapacitated person, and self-dealing arises when the guardian or conservator seeks to take advantage of his position as guardian or conservator and acts for his own interests rather than for the interests of the incapacitated person. The bill further provides that any sale or transaction that constitutes self-dealing shall be voidable by the court.

Building service employees; public contracting. Permits any county, city, or town in the Commonwealth to provide for certain requirements concerning incumbent and successor service employers, defined in the bill, by local ordinance or resolution. For example, such local ordinance or resolution may require that successor service employers retain incumbent service employees during a transition period of 90 days. Under the bill, service employees are those who perform work in connection with the care or maintenance of property, services at an airport, or food preparation services at schools. The bill provides that a employer that violates the provisions of a local ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to the bill may be subject to a civil action and monetary damages.

Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security; work group to study recruitment and professional development of firefighters and emergency medical services personnel; report. Requires the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, to convene a work group to (i) study the recruitment and professional development of firefighters and emergency medical services personnel, (ii) make recommendations to ensure the uniformity of training for firefighters and emergency medical services personnel, and (iii) examine whether the state regulation of firefighters and emergency medical services personnel should be consolidated under a single secretariat and if a new secretariat should be created to oversee such regulation. The bill requires the work group to submit a report to the relevant General Assembly committees by November 1, 2024.

Virginia taxable income; standard deduction. Removes the sunset on elevated standard deduction amounts for single individuals and married persons that was scheduled to expire for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2026.