Office of Data Governance and Analytics; oversight; Chief Data Officer; duties. Changes oversight of the Office of Data Governance and Analytics from the Office of the Secretary of Administration to the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. The bill directs the Chief Data Officer to obtain from VITA the office space and human resources, procurement, fiscal, and other administrative support and resources that are necessary to support the operations of ODGA. This bill is identical to HB 1632.

Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation; powers and duties. Requires the Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation to (i) review and comment on the budget for the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and (ii) periodically review professions and occupations regulated by the Department and determine whether the regulation level for such professions or occupations should change or whether such professions or occupations should be deregulated. Should the Board determine that a profession or occupation should be regulated at a different level than its current level of regulation or should be deregulated, the bill provides that it must make such recommendation to the General Assembly. This bill is identical to HB 2553.

Interment rights; public property. Allows any immediate family member or descendant of a deceased person buried in an identified family cemetery located on public property owned by a locality or held in trust for such a locality to petition the circuit court of the county or city where the property is located for interment rights upon such property.

Voluntary contributions during electronic Department of Motor Vehicles transactions. Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide a method by which an individual conducting an electronic Department transaction for the renewal of a driver's license, other form of identification issued by the Department, or vehicle registration may make a voluntary contribution to the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program. Under current law, the Department is only required to provide a method by which voluntary contributions may be made to the Virginia Donor Registry and Public Awareness Fund.

Application for change of name; person required to register on the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; victim notification. Requires the attorney for the Commonwealth to make a reasonable effort to notify the victim of an offense for which a person is required to register with the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry or such victim's immediate family member if such victim has died when such registrant applies for a change of name with the court. This bill is identical to HB 1846.

Possession of retail tobacco products and hemp products intended for smoking by a person younger than 21 years of age prohibited; penalty. Prohibits any person younger than 21 years of age from possessing any retail tobacco product or hemp product intended for smoking, as those terms are defined in relevant law. Any person who violates such prohibition is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Electric utilities; electric distribution infrastructure serving data centers. Prohibits the costs associated with the construction or extension of any electric distribution infrastructure that primarily serves the load of a data center from being recovered from any other customer.

Watershed general permits for nutrients; priority projects; compliance schedule; emergency. Amends the compliance schedule for three priority projects for additional nitrogen and phosphorus removal under the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan Enhanced Nutrient Removal Certainty Program: the Fredericksburg Wastewater Treatment Facility, the Spotsylvania County-FMC Wastewater Treatment Facility, and the Spotsylvania County-Massaponax Wastewater Treatment Facility. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Public school funding; composite index of local ability-to-pay; use value of real estate devoted to certain uses. Requires, for the purpose of determining the state and local shares of basic aid funding, that the composite index of local ability-to-pay utilize the use value of all applicable real estate (i) devoted to agricultural use, horticultural use, forest use, and open-space use in each locality that has adopted an ordinance by which it provides for the use valuation and taxation of such real estate and (ii) used in agricultural and forestal production within an agricultural district, forestal district, agricultural and forestal district, or agricultural and forestal district of local significance in each locality that provides for the use valuation and taxation of such real estate, regardless of whether it has adopted a local land-use plan or local ordinance for such valuation and taxation.

Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Premium Assistance Program and Fund established. Directs the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish and administer the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Premium Assistance Program. The bill allows any person to participate in the Program if such person (i) owns livestock that graze in the Commonwealth, (ii) is enrolled in the federal Rainfall Index Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage insurance program (PRF insurance) and provided proof of payment of his annual premium, and (iii) certifies to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that, within the past three years and in accordance with the general sampling recommendations from Virginia Cooperative Extension for the land enrolled in PRF insurance, soil samples have been taken from the land enrolled in PRF insurance and analyzed. The bill allows the Commissioner to request documentation of such soil sampling from a Program participant who receives reimbursement through the Program and requires the person to repay such reimbursement to the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Premium Assistance Program Fund if the person fails to provide the requested documentation. The bill allows the Department to reimburse 50 percent, up to a maximum of $500, of the Program participant's annual premium payment. The bill specifies that such reimbursement shall be provided on a first-come, first-served basis and shall be subject to availability of funds. Finally, the bill creates the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Premium Assistance Program Fund to be used for carrying out the provisions of the bill. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2030.

Local prohibition or regulation of gas-powered leaf blowers; civil penalty. Provides that any locality may by ordinance prohibit or regulate the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. The bill provides that the ordinance may include provisions for a civil penalty and that the funds from such civil penalties may be used by the locality to assist with the purchase of nonprohibited leaf blowers by residents and local businesses.

Department of Veterans Services; powers and duties of Commissioner; identification of incarcerated veterans. Provides that the Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services shall assist the Department of Corrections, sheriffs, and local and regional jails in utilizing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Re-Entry Search Services system to identify veterans incarcerated in state prisons and local and regional jails to help such veterans prepare for release or reentry, reduce recidivism and homelessness, connect such veterans to resources to address the challenges of post-traumatic stress disorder, and divert eligible veterans to treatment dockets. This bill is identical to HB 2071.

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers, animal control officers, and municipal park rangers. Allows local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service to (i) full-time salaried 911 dispatchers, (ii) full-time animal control officers, and (iii) sworn municipal park rangers qualifying as conservators of the peace. The bill provides that such enhanced retirement benefits apply only to service earned in such positions on or after July 1, 2026, but allows an employer, as that term is defined in relevant law, to provide such enhanced retirement benefits for service earned in such positions before July 1, 2026, in addition to service earned on or after that date. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Awareness Month. Designates May, in 2025 and in each succeeding year, as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Awareness Month in Virginia.

Income tax; subtraction; retirement income of certain federal employees. Establishes, beginning in taxable year 2025, an individual income tax subtraction for 20 percent of the retirement income of retirees covered under the federal Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).