Summary: Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; Board for Barbers and Cosmetology; hair styling license.Adds hair styling as a profession that is regulated by the Boardfor Barbers and Cosmetology. The bill defines "hair styling" as arranging,dressing, curling, waving, cutting, shaping, singeing, shaving, bleaching,coloring, relaxing, or straightening, or performing similar workupon, human hair, or a wig or hairpiece, by any means, includinghands or mechanical or electrical apparatus or appliances.

Summary: Persons employed to perform forensic science duties; training and certification; policies for reporting wrongdoing or misconduct. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish a comprehensive framework, in coordination with the Department of Forensic Science and with the approval of the Forensic Science Board, for the employment, job entry training, and certification requirements for any person employed by any state or local law-enforcement agency to perform forensic laboratory services or forensic science duties, including a forensic specialist or forensic analyst, which training and certification shall be administered by the Department of Forensic Science. The bill provides that the comprehensive framework shall include (i) developing policies and procedures for such employees to report instances of wrongdoing or misconduct committed by another such employee, a law-enforcement officer, or an attorney for the Commonwealth; (ii) establishing and publishing a model policy for the employment, job entry training, and certification for such employees; and (iii) establishing compulsory minimum training standards for basic training and recertification of such employees.Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to appoint a policy and curriculum review committee to assist the Department in carrying out its duties in establishing the comprehensive framework and requires that such establishment shall require approval of the majority of the members of the policy and curriculum review committee and is subject to final approval of the Forensic Science Board. The bill requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish the comprehensive framework by January 1, 2025, and all law-enforcement agencies to adopt the policies and procedures by July 1, 2025. The bill also requires any person employed by any state or local law-enforcement agency to perform forensic laboratory services or forensic science duties, including a forensic specialist or forensic analyst prior to July 1, 2024, to complete the training required by the bill by January 1, 2026.The bill also requires the Forensic Science Board to develop policies and procedures for employees of the Department of Forensic Science to report instances of wrongdoing or misconduct committed by another employee of the Department of Forensic Science or an employee of an entity for which the Department of Forensic Science has the responsibility to perform forensic laboratory services.

Summary: Board of Social Work; licensure of clinicalsocial workers; examination alternative; regulation amendments.Directs the Board of Social Work to amend the regulations for thelicensure of clinical social workers to allow applicants to utilizean examination alternative, which shall consist of at least 1,500hours of supervised experience that is obtained within the five calendaryears immediately preceding the date of application. The bill clarifiesthat the examination alternative shall be in addition to any othersupervised clinical experience required for licensure.

Summary: Funeral arrangements; disputes between next of kin; proof of next of kin status. Establishes a dispute resolution process for disagreements about what persons are responsible for a decedent's funeral and the disposition for such decedent's remains. The bill permits funeral service licensees to require a person claiming next of kin status to execute a document affirming that such person is the next of kin.

Summary: Six-year financial plan. Modifies the requirements for the six-year financial plan submitted by the Governor to the General Assembly by (i) requiring that such plan be submitted on or before the first day of each regular session of the General Assembly instead of on or before the first day of each regular session of the General Assembly held in an even-numbered year as required by current law and (ii) providing that such plan ensure structural balance between projected revenues and expenditures for the six-year period. This bill is identical to SB 399.

Summary: Veterinary medicine; traineeships. Allowsany veterinary medicine licensure applicant enrolled in a traineeshipprogram to engage in the limited practice of veterinary medicine,as that term is defined by the Board of Veterinary Medicine, underthe direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian. The bill directsthe Board to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisionsof the bill.

Summary: State Department of Social Services; Home Energy Assistance Program. Authorizes the State Department of Social Services to allow applications for the Home Energy Assistance Program to be submitted over an application period that provides adequate time for individuals to apply and is extended beyond the current application period subject to the availability of adequate funding.

Summary: Human trafficking investigators; licensing bythe Department of Criminal Justice Services. Authorizes the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services to register and issue licenses for humantrafficking investigators. The bill provides that a human traffickinginvestigator is a private investigator who is GSA compliant and engagesin the business of, or accepts employment to make, investigationsto obtain information on sex trafficking or severe forms of traffickingas defined in the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000and in the federal Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.

Summary: Civil penalties for violations of zoning ordinance; short-term rentals. Allows any locality to adopt a uniform scheduleof civil penalties for the violation of provisions of the zoningordinance related to short-term rentals. The schedule of civil penaltiesshall not exceed (i) $500 for the initial violation, (ii) $1,000 for the second violation, or (iii) $1,500 for the third or subsequentviolation, with each day during which the violation is found to haveexisted constituting a separate offense. The bill provides that designationof a particular zoning ordinance violation for a civil penalty shallbe in lieu of criminal sanctions, and except for any violation resultingin injury to persons, such designation shall preclude the prosecutionof a violation as a criminal misdemeanor, unless such civil penaltiestotal $5,000 or more.

Summary: Department of Labor and Industry; asbestos andlead project permit; usage of licensing fees. Provides that feescollected by the Department of Labor and Industry paid by licensedasbestos and certified lead contractors for obtaining asbestos andlead project permits are to be used by the Department in carryingout its mission under the Virginia Asbestos NESHAP Act.

Summary: Department of Fire Programs; work group; options for local government employees who respond to emergencies with toxic material exposure. Directs the Department of Fire Programs to convene a work group to identify and analyze options to help ensure that local government employees who respond to emergencies that expose them to toxic materials have appropriate preemptive and ongoing health care and are able to pay any health expenses related to such emergency and its aftereffects that are not covered by relevant health insurance plans. The work group is directed to report its findings to the General Assembly by November 1, 2024. This bill is identical to SB 650.

Summary: Department of Energy; building standards for certain local buildings. Requires the Department of Energy, upon request, to provide technical assistance to localities, subject to available budgetary resources, as localities implement mandates related to onsite renewable energy generation, energy storage, and resilience standards for construction or renovation of certain public buildings. The bill also makes several technical and clarifying changes to the existing statute, in part by defining or redefining existing terms found in the statute. This bill is identical to SB 245.

Summary: Rental conveyances; leases; assignments. Relocates certain provisions of Title 55.1 (Property and Conveyances) of the Code of Virginia related to assignments of rent from a chapter related to nonresidential tenancies to a chapter related to leases. The bill corrects a technical error from the 2019 recodification of Title 55 of the Code of Virginia. This bill is identical to SB 589.

Summary: Line of Duty Act; payment of benefits. Increases from $25,000 to $75,000 the death benefit payout under the Virginia Line of Duty Act for a death caused by occupational cancer, respiratory disease, or hypertension or heart disease for those deaths that will occur on or after January 1, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 649.

Summary: Restaurant exemptions; certain organizations participating in fundraising events. Clarifies that the provision in current law that exempts certain organizations from provisions applicable to restaurants, including churches, fraternal or school organizations, organizations that are exempt from taxation under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and volunteer fire departments and volunteer emergency medical services agencies, applies when such organizations offer food for sale to the public as a participant in an occasional fundraising event, provided that certain conditions are met. Current law exempts such organizations from provisions applicable to restaurants when such organizations hold occasional fundraisers that offer food for sale to the public, provided that certain conditions are met.

Summary: Department of Professional and OccupationalRegulation; Department of Health Professions; certain suspensionsnot considered disciplinary action. Prohibits any board of theDepartment of Professional and Occupational Regulation or the Departmentof Health Professions issuing a suspension upon any regulant of suchboard pursuant to such regulant's having submitted a check, moneydraft, or similar instrument for payment of a fee required by statuteor regulation that is not honored by the bank or financial institutionnamed from considering or describing such suspension as a disciplinaryaction.

Summary: Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; practice of geology; definitions. Expands the definition of the practice of geology to include the performance of any professional service or work wherein the principles and methods of geology are applied, including (i) investigating, evaluating, and consulting; (ii) geological mapping; (iii) describing the natural processes that act upon the earth's materials; (iv) predicting the probable occurrence of natural processes; and (v) inspecting, planning, and performing and supervising geological work in order to enhance and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public and the environment. The bill also defines "geological mapping." The bill contains technical amendments. This bill is identical to SB 184.