Department of Workforce Development and Advancement; powers and duties. Requires the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement to ensure that all workforce development programs and workforce education and training programs (i) address an industry need identified on a high-demand occupation or field list created by the Department and the Virginia Board of Workforce Development and Advancement and (ii) include a job placement component in their implementation and operating plans. Publicly funded workforce development and workforce education and training programs may apply for an exemption from such requirements, and the Commissioner shall approve or disapprove such application within 45 days of receipt.

Retired justices and judges; per diem payments for attendance at mandatory judicial conferences. Provides that justices and judges who are retired under the Judicial Retirement System and are eligible for recall shall receive a per diem payment for attendance at any mandatory judicial conference at a rate established by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. This portion of the bill does not become effective unless reenacted by the 2026 Session of the General Assembly. In addition, the bill directs the Office of the Executive Secretary to study the provision of an hourly rate of payment for any retired judge or justice eligible for recall and any member of the State Corporation Commission or Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission for time necessarily expended when such judge, justice, or member is not actually sitting and report its findings to the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees for Courts of Justice by October 1, 2025.

Relocation, conversion, and addition of beds in medical care facilities; application for certificate of public need; expedited review. Expands the State Board of Health's procedures for expedited review of applications for certificates of public need for certain projects to include the relocation or conversion of beds from, or the addition of beds to, an already existing medical facility, as well as the establishment of a new psychiatric medical care facility by an existing medical care facility.

Gas pipeline safety; regulations. Requires that for pipeline facilities used in the interstate transport of gas, as defined in federal regulations, any gas transported in transmission lines in the Commonwealth shall be adequately odorized, with an exception for certain pipelines in operation before May 5, 1975. The bill directs the State Corporation Commission to promulgate regulations related to the provisions of the bill.

Elementary and secondary schools; athletics; participation in female sports; civil cause of action. Requires each public elementary or secondary school and each private elementary or secondary school that competes in sponsored athletic events against such public schools to designate all athletic teams and intramural athletic teams sponsored by such school based on biological sex as follows: (i) as "males," "men," or "boys"; (ii) as "females," "women," or "girls"; or (iii) as "coed" or "mixed" if such team is open to participation by (a) males, men, or boys and (b) females, women, or girls. The bill prohibits any student whose biological sex is male and who has not physically transitioned to female prior to puberty from participating on any school athletic team or squad designated for "females," "women," or "girls." Finally, the bill creates a civil cause of action for students and schools that suffer harm as a result of a violation of the provisions of the bill, provided that such action is initiated within two years of the harm occurring.

Department of Education; Virginia Community College System; College and Career Ready Virginia Program. Makes the following changes to the College and Career Ready Virginia Program (the Program) and the duties of certain entities relating to the Program: (i) modifies the provisions requiring both the Virginia Community College System (the System) and the Online Virginia Network Authority to offer each school board access to certain courses, including virtual courses, at each high school by eliminating all references to the Online Virginia Network Authority, thereby requiring only the System to offer each school board such courses pursuant to the Program; (ii) provides that the provisions of the Program requiring the System to offer each school board access to certain programs at no cost to the school board do not apply to any advance college academy or early college academy; (iii) removes from the membership of the advisory committee that the Department of Education and the System are directed to establish pursuant to applicable law representatives of Richard Bland College and representatives of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; and (iv) delays from course registration for the fall term of the 2025 academic year to course registration for the fall term of the 2026 academic year the effective date of provisions of applicable law requiring the System to offer each school board access to certain courses.

Discharge plans; copies to public elementary and secondary schools. Provides that, prior to the discharge of any minor admitted to inpatient treatment (i) who is a student at a public elementary or secondary school and (ii) for whom the facility deems (a) such discharge poses a threat of violence or physical harm to himself and others or (b) additional educational services are needed, such facility is required to provide to the school's mental health professional or school counselor the portions of such discharge plan relevant to the threat of violence or harm or the necessary additional educational services. The bill requires such facility to, prior to providing any such portions of any minor's discharge plan, provide to the parent of such minor student reasonable notice of the types of information that would be included in any portions of the discharge plan being provided and of the parent's right to, upon written request, refuse the provision of any such information.

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service to full-time salaried 911 dispatchers. The bill provides that such enhanced retirement benefits apply only to service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher 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 as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcher 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.

Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; best practice training; telehealth visits for patients with disabilities. Directs the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to develop and disseminate best practice educational training for health care providers on how to conduct telehealth visits for patients with disabilities. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health Care.

Virginia Forensic Nursing Advisory Council established; sexual assault forensic examiners; physical evidence recovery kits; report. Establishes the Virginia Forensic Nursing Advisory Council (the Council), which consists of five members appointed by the Governor, each of whom shall have expertise in forensic examination of sexual assault victims and shall currently reside and practice in the Commonwealth. The Council shall review and make recommendations as necessary to the Board of Health with support from the Coordinator of the Virginia Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner Coordination Program concerning (i) criteria to become a sexual assault forensic examiner, (ii) the process for certification as a sexual assault forensic examiner, (iii) the curriculum and training program of an entity seeking approval to train sexual assault forensic examiners, (iv) qualifications of prospective sexual assault forensic examiners, and (v) strategies for expanding access to sexual assault forensic examiners. The bill requires the Council to report, at least annually, to the General Assembly regarding the status of sexual assault forensics in the Commonwealth, including any recommendations to improve the quality of such services. The bill also amends provisions of law related to physical evidence recovery kits. This bill is identical to HB 2088.

Public housing authorities; indigent parties; unlawful detainer. Exempts indigent defendants from having to post an appeal bond in unlawful detainer actions brought by a public housing authority. The bill also amends certain provisions of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to (i) prohibit any landlord that is a public housing authority from requiring a tenant to pay any fees for the maintenance or repair of a dwelling unit unless such repair is necessitated by the tenant's action or omission and (ii) require, if a public housing authority issues a notice of nonpayment of rent to a tenant, such public housing authority to provide the tenant certain information printed on pink or orange paper explaining how the tenant may recertify the tenant's income in accordance with federal law and policy. This bill is identical to HB 2415.

National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund; eligibility; incentive grant awards. Renames the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund as the National Board Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund, expands eligibility for incentive grant awards from such Fund pursuant to such Program from solely teachers who have obtained national certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to (i) all public school staff who are candidates for initial national certification or maintenance of national certification to cover certain costs of obtaining or maintaining such certification and (ii) all public school staff who have successfully obtained or maintained such certification. The bill also declares as eligible for an annual incentive grant award in the amount of $7,500 all public school staff who have obtained or maintained such certification and an additional $2,500 in any year during the life of certificate in which the public school staff member is employed in a Title 1 school. Current law declares as eligible for an annual incentive grant award of $5,000 in the first year and $2,500 in each subsequent year all teachers who have obtained or maintained such certification.

Electric utilities; generation of electricity from renewable and zero carbon sources; projects on or adjacent to public elementary or secondary schools. Provides that for purposes of compliance with a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) program, to the extent that low-income qualifying projects, as defined in existing law, are not available and projects located on or adjacent to public elementary or secondary schools are available, a certain percentage of the required projects shall be composed of projects located on or adjacent to public elementary or secondary schools. This bill is identical to HB 1934.

Transfer of certain incarcerated persons to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Requires the Director of the Department of Corrections, sheriff, or other official in charge of the facility in which an alien is incarcerated to, upon receipt of a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (i) provide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with prerelease notification of such alien's release and (ii) upon request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, transfer custody of the alien to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement upon such alien's release, which shall occur no more than five days prior to the date on which he would otherwise be released from custody. Current law states that the Director, sheriff, or other official in charge of the facility may transfer such incarcerated person upon receipt of a detainer.

Authority of Attorney General; criminal cases; criminal sexual assault and commercial sex trafficking committed against children. Authorizes the Attorney General to institute or conduct criminal prosecutions in cases involving a violation of criminal sexual assault or commercial sex trafficking when such crimes are committed against children.