Virginia 2027 bills

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Education (K-12) · primary · confidence highTitle: Public education; enrollment of children in foster care; assessment requirements. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description; Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Public education; enrollment of certain children placed in foster care; assessment requirements; guidance. Provides that if a child placed in foster care transfers from one school division to another, the receiving school division is required to obtain the child's academic records from the sending school division and, within 15 working days of receipt, review such academic records to evaluate whether additional educational assessment is necessary for the child to make appropriate academic progress in the context of the child's circumstances. The bill requires any additional educational assessment determined necessary by the receiving school division upon review of such child's academic records to be completed within 60 days of such determination. The bill also directs the Department of Social Services, in coordination with the Department of Education, to develop and make available policy guidance on the provisions of the bill by January 1, 2028.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Taxation · primary · confidence highTitle: State fuel taxes; suspension Feb 1 - Jul 1, 2027; summary suspends statewide motor fuel tax and alternative fuel tax. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description; Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Suspension of statewide fuel taxes; emergency. Temporarily suspends the statewide motor fuel tax and the tax on alternative fuel from February 1, 2027, through July 1, 2027. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Taxation · primary · confidence highTitle: Sales and use tax; food and hygiene products; summary eliminates remaining 1% local sales and use tax on these items. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description; Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Sales and use tax; food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products; emergency. Eliminates the remaining one percent local sales and use tax that is imposed on food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products on and after February 1, 2027. Under current law, no other sales and use tax is applied to such products. The bill requires that an equivalent amount of revenue be distributed to cities and counties on a monthly basis in compensation for the lost local tax revenue. The bill contains an emergency clause.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Energy & Data Centers · primary · confidence highTitle: Electric utilities; renewable energy portfolio standard, zero-carbon nuclear facilities. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description; Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Electric utilities; renewable energy portfolio standard eligible sources; zero-carbon electricity generating nuclear facilities. Provides that, for the purposes of the renewable energy portfolio standard program, eligible sources include zero-carbon electricity generating nuclear facilities located in the Commonwealth. The bill also contains technical amendments.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Energy & Data Centers · primary · confidence highTitle "Virginia Clean Energy & Community Flood Preparedness Act; repeal, electric utility customer credit." and SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: directs DEQ to suspend participation in RGGI and requires revenue be remitted to electric utilities for distribution as a customer credit. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description; Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Virginia Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act; repeal; electric utility customer credit. Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to suspend the Commonwealth's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The bill requires the Commonwealth to remit all revenue collected pursuant to a market-based trading program consistent with RGGI to each electric utility that has a rate adjustment clause approved or pending approval for recovery of the costs of emissions allowances or that has otherwise increased customer bills to recover such costs. The bill directs each such utility to subsequently distribute such funds as a credit to its customers in the Commonwealth.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Courts & Justice · primary · confidence highTitle: Misdemeanor; maximum term of confinement; summary reduces Class 1 misdemeanor maximum jail term from 12 months to 364 days. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description; Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: 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.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Disability Rights · primary · confidence highTitle "Persons with disabilities; nondiscrimination; integration." and SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: goods, services, facilities, advantages, and accommodations shall be afforded to a person with a disability in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of the person. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description + Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Persons with disabilities; nondiscrimination; integration. Specifies that goods, services, facilities, advantages, and accommodations shall be afforded to a person with a disability in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of the person.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Energy & Data Centers · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Data centers, large; moratorium, approval requirements, utility independent classifications, report. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Large data centers; moratorium; approval requirements; prevailing wage required; public utility independent classifications; community investment program; report. Places a one-year moratorium on the issuance of permits by the Department of Environmental Quality for large data centers, as defined in the bill. The bill prohibits the Department from issuing approvals for a large data center unless the large data center complies with specified conditions including conducting public hearings and implementing and funding a community investment program. The bill provides that a worker employed in the performance of construction undertaken in connection with a data center project, as defined in the bill, shall receive the prevailing wage rate, as determined by the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, for such work. The bill also directs the State Corporation Commission to require each water, gas, or electric utility under its jurisdiction to establish and file an independent classification of service for customers that are large data centers by July 1, 2031. The bill directs the Department of Environmental Quality to (i) prepare an environmental impact report on data center development in the Commonwealth by January 1, 2029, and (ii) commence a proceeding to establish a community investment program through which large data centers may comply with the bill's provisions. The bill also directs the Department of Energy to determine reasonable energy consumption efficiency goals for the design and operation of large data centers. Finally, the bill prohibits a locality from granting final approval on or after July 1, 2027, of any application for a rezoning, special exception, special use permit, site plan, or plan of development for the siting of a data center, as defined in existing law, until July 1, 2028.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Legislative Procedure & Resolutions · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Seeking the expulsion of Senator L. Louise Lucas. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Seeking the expulsion of Senator L. Louise Lucas. Seeks the expulsion of Senator L. Louise Lucas in accordance with Article IV, Section 7 of the Constitution of Virginia and the Rules of the Senate and the process prescribed therein. Such process includes referral of the matter to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, hearings conducted by the Committee, and a report of the Committee's determination including recommendations for disciplinary action. The resolution calls for the Committee on Privileges and Elections to, among other things, consider whether violations of the General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act occurred.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Corrections & Prisons · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Pregnant & postpartum inmates; reporting requirements of state, regional, & local correctional fac. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Health & Behavioral Health · confidence mediumTitle concerns pregnant and postpartum inmates. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Reporting requirements of state, regional, and local correctional facilities; pregnant and postpartum inmates. Requires additional data on pregnant and postpartum prisoners to be collected and reported, including (i) the method of pregnancy identification for each pregnant prisoner; (ii) the gestational age at the time of pregnancy identification for each pregnant prisoner; (iii) each pregnant prisoner's access to prenatal care and the total number of prenatal care encounters for each pregnant prisoner; (iv) any pregnancy-related complaints and the nature of such complaints; (v) the amount of time elapsed between any pregnancy-related complaint and any clinical evaluation in response to such complaint; (vi) the treatment provided or recommended in response to any pregnancy-related complaint; (vii) any instance in which no clinical action was taken in response to any pregnancy-related complaint; (viii) labor and delivery conditions; (ix) pregnancy outcome and any associated complications; and (x) postpartum care and follow-up during custody for each applicable prisoner. The bill also provides that any such data collected shall not be used for criminal investigations, prosecution, immigration enforcement, or disciplinary action related to pregnancy outcomes. Further, the bill exempts such data from disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Higher Education · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Hampton University; recognition and restoration of status as a land-grant university, report. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Educational and cultural institutions; recognition and restoration of status of Hampton University as a land-grant university; requirements; task force established; report. Recognizes and restores the status of Hampton University as an 1862 and 1890 land-grant university of the Commonwealth, in accordance with the provisions of applicable federal law, and enumerates the funding and programs Hampton University shall be eligible for as a land-grant university. The bill also provides for the establishment, upon federal recognition of Hampton University as an institution eligible to receive federal funding and participate in federal and state programs established under applicable law relating to land-grant universities, of an evaluation task force by the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations and the House Committee on for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of recognizing Hampton University as a land-grant university of the Commonwealth in accordance with the provisions of the bill.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Crime Victims & Trafficking · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Human trafficking and ongoing domestic violence; issuance of writs of vacatur for victims, sealing. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Courts & Justice · confidence mediumTitle concerns writs of vacatur and sealing. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Issuance of vacatur for victims of human trafficking or ongoing domestic violence ; sealing. Expands the current process for the issuance of writs of vacatur for victims of human trafficking to include victims of ongoing domestic violence, defined in the bill, and any charge or arrest related to a qualifying offense as defined in current law. The bill also permits sealing of such writ and the record of the proceedings.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Courts & Justice · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Newport News & Hampton pilot program for compensation of private court-appointed counsel. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Local Government · confidence mediumTitle names Cities of Newport News & Hampton pilot program. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Pilot program for the compensation of private court-appointed counsel in the Cities of Newport News and Hampton; hourly rate; felony fee caps; report; sunset. Creates a two-year pilot program for the compensation of private court-appointed counsel in the Cities of Newport News and Hampton. The bill provides guidelines for the pilot program and requires the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia to report on the pilot program on or before December 1, 2028. The bill provides that the pilot program sunsets on June 30, 2029.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Taxation & Revenue · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Income tax, state; establishes a new bracket on income above $1 million. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Individual income tax; rates and distribution. Establishes a new individual income tax bracket on income above $1 million at a rate of 10 percent beginning in taxable year 2027. Under current law, all income in excess of $17,000 is taxed at the rate of 5.75 percent. The bill provides that 40 percent of revenues generated by the new tax bracket will be dedicated to providing additional basic aid funding for public schools, 35 percent to the Child Care Subsidy Program, and 25 percent to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund. This bill also contains technical amendments.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Health & Behavioral Health · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Licensed clinical psychologists; prescriptive authority, report. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Licensed clinical psychologists; prescriptive authority; report. Authorizes licensed clinical psychologists who meet specified requirements and obtain a license from the Board of Psychology to prescribe certain medications pursuant to a collaborative practice agreement with a qualified prescribing provider. The bill establishes education, training, and practice requirements and limits prescribing for certain patient populations. The bill requires the Board to adopt implementing regulations by July 1, 2028, and directs the Joint Commission on Health Care to evaluate the implementation of such prescriptive authority and report its findings.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Courts & Justice · primary · confidence highSummary: admissibility of statements by individuals with DD/ID in certain cases. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description + Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.
• Disability Rights · confidence highTitle/summary expressly concern developmental or intellectual disabilities. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description + Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Admissibility of statements by individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities in certain cases. Prohibits admission of any evidence from an individual with developmental disabilities or intellectual disabilities, as defined in relevant law, in certain criminal prosecutions unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that such individual's decision to speak to law enforcement did not have a direct and substantial relationship to such individual's disability. The bill requires notice be given to the attorney for the Commonwealth if a defendant intends to introduce expert testimony regarding his disability. The bill prohibits any statements made by a defendant during an examination by an expert witness from being used against him except for impeachment or perjury.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Privacy & Student Data · primary · confidence highTitle and summary: school service providers; deletion of student and family personal information. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description + Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.
• K-12 Education · confidence highSummary defines school service provider and student/family personal information. Source: Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: School service providers; deletion of student and family personal information. Requires, unless otherwise required by state or federal law or regulation, each school service provider, defined in the bill as a provider, pursuant to a contract with a school division or a private elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth, of software or a website, mobile application, or online service that (i) is designed and marketed primarily for use in elementary or secondary schools; (ii) is used (a) at the direction of teachers or other employees at elementary or secondary schools or (b) by any school-affiliated entity; and (iii) collects and maintains, uses, or shares student personal information or family personal information, to delete all student personal information and family personal information within six months of the termination of the contract between the school service provider and the school or school division and to delete all relevant student personal information and family personal information within six months of a student's graduation from high school.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Energy & Data Centers · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Data centers; state permitting, local approval, moratorium, sunset. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Local Government · confidence mediumTitle includes local approval. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Data centers; state permitting; local approval; moratorium; sunset. Prohibits a locality from granting final approval on or after July 1, 2027, of any application for a rezoning, special exception, special use permit, site plan, or plan of development for the siting of a data center. The bill also prohibits any agency of the Commonwealth from (i) issuing any permit, certificate, registration, license, or other form of approval in connection with the development or siting of a data center or (ii) authorizing the construction of any facilities designed to provide electric distribution service, interconnection, on-site electric generation, or related services for a data center on or after July 1, 2027. The bill sunsets on July 1, 2030.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Local Government · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Local governing bodies; member nondisclosure agreements prohibited. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Transparency & Accountability · confidence mediumTitle prohibits member nondisclosure agreements. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Members of local governing bodies; nondisclosure agreements prohibited. Prohibits members of local governing bodies from signing or executing a nondisclosure agreement that prohibits them from discussing matters of public concern related to the performance of their official duties. The bill provides that any such agreement is against public policy, void, and unenforceable. The bill exempts any such member from the prohibition if such nondisclosure agreement is necessary to prevent disclosure of (i) factual circumstances relating to the member's performance of official duties that reasonably implicate privacy interests held by the member, if the member elects to restrict such disclosure; (ii) matters required by law to be kept confidential; or (iii) information related to active civil or criminal investigations. Finally, the bill exempts from its provisions any contracts, covenants, or agreements entered into or renewed prior to July 1, 2027.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Corrections & Prisons · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Corrections, Director of the Department of; placement of inmates, Red Onion State Prison. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Director of the Department of Corrections; placement of inmates; Red Onion State Prison. Directs the Director of the Department of Corrections to continue accepting and reviewing applications for the confinement of inmates from a state that is a party to the Interstate Corrections Compact entered into pursuant to relevant law but prohibits any placement of any such inmate at the Red Onion State Prison until such time as the General Assembly reauthorizes such placement by an act of assembly. The bill also requires the Director to allow for any inmate who is (i) a citizen of the Commonwealth and (ii) incarcerated in any state that is a party to the Interstate Corrections Compact to be placed in a Department facility.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Energy & Data Centers · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Data centers; public hearing and notice requirements. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Local Government · confidence mediumTitle addresses public hearing and notice requirements (local process). Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Transparency & Accountability · confidence mediumPublic hearing and notice requirements in title. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Data centers; public hearing and notice requirements. Provides additional requirements for local land use decisions regarding zoning changes for data center development. The bill requires, in addition to existing requirements for public advertisements, that the published advertisement providing notice for a public hearing regarding any proposed amendment to a zoning ordinance or application for a special exception for a change in use to permit the by-right development of a data center contain (i) the applicant or developer's name; (ii) the anticipated owner or end user of the development, if known; (iii) the street address, tax map parcel numbers of the parcel or parcels, or a description of the boundaries of the area subject to the changes and a link to a map of the subject area; (iv) the approximate acreage subject to the action; and (v) the expected utility infrastructure to be constructed in connection with the development, including electric, sewer, stormwater, and fuel lines, if known. The bill also requires the local governing body, before approving and adopting any zoning ordinance or amendment, and the board of zoning appeals, before authorizing a special exception or variance, to hold at least two public hearings whenever the subject of a land use decision is a data center development. Under current law, the local governing body and the board of zoning appeals are only required to hold one public hearing.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• K-12 Education · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: High school student athletes; eligibility, enrollment. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Student Athletics · confidence mediumTitle expressly concerns student athletes eligibility/enrollment. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: High school student athletes; eligibility; enrollment. Requires any nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 that currently organizes and governs interscholastic activities among the public high schools to develop, implement, and enforce rules requiring that a student who is a member of a high school athletic team be deemed to satisfy any residency requirements established by such corporation in order to be eligible for participation on such team if the student is duly enrolled in the high school at which he is a member of such team.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Consumer Protection · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Surveillance pricing practices; consumer transactions, civil penalties. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Surveillance pricing practices; civil penalties. Prohibits an entity or a service provider, as those terms are defined in the bill, from using certain surveillance pricing practices, defined in the bill, in connection with a consumer transaction. The bill provides that the Office of the Attorney General shall enforce the provisions of the bill.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Retirement & Pensions · primary · confidence highTitle and SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: extends VaLORS membership to emergency dispatchers. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description + Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.
• Public Safety · confidence highSummary references emergency dispatchers employed by Department of State Police / CAPS context in VaLORS. Source: Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System; emergency dispatchers. Extends membership in the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System (VaLORS) to emergency dispatchers who are employed by the Department of State Police, Capitol Police, and agencies whose law-enforcement officers are eligible for membership in VaLORS. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2028, and provides that such membership applies only to service earned on or after July 1, 2028.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Retirement & Pensions · primary · confidence highTitle and summary: enhanced VRS retirement benefits for 911 dispatchers. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description + Summaries.csv SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: 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, 2028, 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, 2028, in addition to service earned on or after that date. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2028.

Editorial categories · not LIS subjects

• Courts & Justice · primary · confidence mediumOfficial title: Individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities; admissibility of statements in cases. No Summaries.csv row yet. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.
• Disability Rights · confidence mediumSame title language on developmental or intellectual disabilities. Source: BILLS.CSV Bill_description only.

Official summary

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Admissibility of statements by individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities in certain cases. Prohibits admission of any evidence from an individual with developmental disabilities or intellectual disabilities, as defined in relevant law, in certain criminal prosecutions unless the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that such individual's decision to speak to law enforcement did not have a direct and substantial relationship to such individual's disability. The bill requires notice be given to the attorney for the Commonwealth if a defendant intends to introduce expert testimony regarding his disability. The bill prohibits any statements made by a defendant during an examination by an expert witness from being used against him except for impeachment or perjury.