Secretary of Transportation; autonomous driving systems; work group; report. Directs the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, to convene a work group to identify operational, technical, and legal issues presented by the operation of autonomous driving systems in the Commonwealth for the purpose of developing draft legislation addressing governance of such systems in the Commonwealth. The bill directs the work group to report its findings to the General Assembly by November 1, 2026.

Assignment of causes of action. Provides that the limitations on assignable causes of action shall not prohibit any injured party or his estate from making a voluntary assignment of the proceeds or anticipated proceeds into a self-settled trust for which the injured party is the beneficiary, including self-settled trusts for the charitable purpose of one or more charitable organizations.

Commercial entity offering social media accounts; restricted hours for minors; civil liability. Provides that no commercial entity that offers social media accounts, as defined in the bill, shall knowingly or intentionally allow a minor to access his social media account during the hours of 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. unless the minor's parent, guardian, or legal custodian has provided permission for the minor to use such social media account during these hours. The bill provides that any commercial entity that violates these provisions shall be subject to civil liability for damages resulting from the interference with a minor's sleep cycle or mental health by allowing such minor to access to his social media account during the hours of 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. and reasonable attorney fees and costs.

Commercial Waterman Safety Week. Designates the third full week of September, in 2025 and in each succeeding year, as Commercial Waterman Safety Week in Virginia.

Short-term rentals; registration; civil penalty. Directs the Department of Taxation to establish a registry of short-term rental properties and requires accommodations providers and accommodations intermediaries to register with the Department. Under the bill, an accommodations provider shall provide to the Department its name and the address of each property it offers for short-term rental. The bill states that the Department shall issue each such accommodations provider a unique numerical identifier for each such property. Furthermore, an accommodations intermediary shall provide the Department with its name and the contact information for the individual responsible for liaising with state and local officials regarding noncompliant short-term rental listings. The bill states that as a condition of listing a short-term rental on its platform, an accommodations intermediary shall require each accommodations provider to provide such provider's name and the unique numerical identifier and specific address for each short-term rental offered. Under the bill, such information, as well as information regarding receipts and taxes paid, shall be provided to the Department by the accommodations intermediary on a quarterly basis, unless the accommodations intermediary submits monthly reports containing the property addresses and gross receipts for all accommodations facilitated by such intermediary in a locality during such quarter.The bill states that the Department shall provide the commissioner of the revenue for each locality with access to the registry and information contained therein. The commissioner of the revenue shall notify an accommodations intermediary of any short-term rental on its platform that is not lawfully authorized to be offered on its platform, and the accommodations intermediary shall remove any such listing from its platform. Under the bill, any accommodations intermediary that does not remove such a listing from its platform shall be subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 to be paid into the Virginia Housing Trust Fund.The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Public schools; Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program established. Establishes the Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program, to be administered and managed by the Department of the Treasury pursuant to guidelines developed by the Board of Education in collaboration with the Department of the Treasury, for the purpose of ensuring that all children in the Commonwealth have access to quality educational opportunities by annually awarding a grant in the amount of $5,000 per eligible student, as that term is outlined in the bill, for up to 10,000 eligible students each year. The bill requires the grant funds awarded pursuant to the Program to be used to support qualified educational expenses of attending an accredited private school in the Commonwealth, as enumerated by the bill. The bill also (i) directs the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Department of the Treasury, to develop guidelines for the implementation and administration of the Program; (ii) requires the Board of Education to develop and make available to each school board and each school board to make available to parents at the start of each school year informational materials relating to the Program; and (iii) requires the Department of Education to annually collect data on and include as a part of the Board of Education's Annual Report on the Condition and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia the total student participation in the Program.

Tax administration; award for tax underpayment detection assistance. Authorizes the Tax Commissioner to award monetary compensation to individuals who provide information that assists the Department of Taxation in the successful collection of delinquent state taxes owed by other individual or business taxpayers. The bill provides that such awards may be given only if (i) the underpaying individual taxpayer's gross income exceeds $100,000 or the underpaying business taxpayer's gross income exceeds $500,000 and (ii) the amount in question exceeds $50,000.

Virginia Gaming Commerce Regulation Act established; penalties. Establishes the Virginia Gaming Commerce Regulation Act for the purpose of providing a regulatory and registration scheme for electronic gaming devices in the Commonwealth. The bill authorizes and specifies the registration requirements for the distribution, operation, hosting, and play of electronic gaming devices, as defined in the bill. The bill imposes a $1,200 monthly tax on each electronic gaming device from each distributor, as defined in the bill, and provides for the use of such tax proceeds after deposit in the Virginia Gaming Commerce Regulation Fund, established in the bill, with most being distributed to the Elementary and Secondary Education Fund, also established in the bill. The bill directs the Virginia Lottery Board to promulgate regulations no later than June 30, 2026, to implement the provisions of the bill and authorizes the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to grant a provisional registration, until the Virginia Lottery Board regulations are promulgated, to any entity that meets the respective criteria.

Carbon-free energy  or clean energy; fusion energy; definitions. Adds fusion energy, as defined in the bill, to the list of generation sources that qualify as carbon-free energy or clean energy. This bill is identical to HB 1779.     

Maternal Health Coordinator Program; purpose. Creates the Maternal Health Coordinator Program to serve preconception, pregnant, postpartum, and interconception women and their families within clinical, community, virtual, and home settings. Under the bill, the Department shall appoint a maternal health coordinator in each of the 35 health districts to conduct (i) case finding and outreach, (ii) assessment of risk factors, (iii) case management, (iv) home visitation, (v) childbirth and parenting education, and (vi) father engagement activities. The bill directs the Department to also appoint a regional coordinator in each of the five health regions of the Commonwealth to provide consultation and assistance to the district maternal health coordinators and collect data on the Program for each local health district and compile a report to be submitted to the Department no later than December 1, 2026, and annually thereafter.

Coastal storm risk management; Office of Commonwealth Resilience to study costs of feasibility studies; report. Directs the Office of Commonwealth Resilience to conduct a study to (i) examine the methodologies and criteria, if any, that other states in the United States use to apportion responsibility between the state and the participating localities for that portion of the cost of coastal storm risk management (CSRM) feasibility studies and plan implementation for which the nonfederal sponsor is responsible and (ii) develop a recommended methodology and associated criteria for apportioning responsibility of the same for CSRM feasibility studies and plan implementation in Virginia. The bill directs the Office of Commonwealth Resilience to complete its work no later than November 30, 2026, and the Chief Resilience Officer of the Commonwealth to submit a report of the findings and recommendations of the study to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 31, 2026.

Department of Education; development of guidelines and information relating to virtual or online learning; public health emergencies. Provides for the Department of Education to develop and post on its official website guidelines and information relating to virtual or online learning. Such guidelines and information shall include (i) statewide policies relating to virtual learning, (ii) the availability of online or virtual learning options and pertinent information on such options, and (iii) guidelines for educators and schools relating to online or virtual learning policies and best practices. In addition, the bill requires each K-12 school in the Commonwealth to include as a component of its annual safety audit a review of the school's plan for school closures during public health emergencies. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth and is identical to HB 2640.

License to teach dentistry; foreign dental program graduates; repeal sunset. Repeals the July 1, 2025, sunset on the current provision of law allowing the Board of Dentistry to grant, without examination, a faculty license to teach dentistry in an accredited dental program to a graduate of a dental school or college or the dental department of an institution of higher education in a foreign country who has been granted a certification letter from the dean or program director of an accredited dental program confirming that the applicant has clinical competency and clinical experience that meet the credentialing standards of the dental school with which the applicant is to be affiliated. This bill is identical to HB 1899.

Study; Division of Purchases and Supply; development of dynamic stockpile strategy; report. Directs the Division of Purchases and Supply, in conjunction with the Department of Emergency Management, to study and recommend a dynamic stockpile strategy for use in times of emergencies. The bill directs the Division to complete its work and report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than November 30, 2025. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth.

Retail sales and use tax; exemption for prescription medicine and drugs purchased by veterinarians; sunset. Extends to July 1, 2028, the exemption from sales and use tax available for the purchase by veterinarians of prescription medicines and drugs that are administered or dispensed to patients within a veterinarian-client-patient relationship that is currently set to expire on July 1, 2025. This bill is identical to HB 1698.