General Assembly update: A snapshot 27 days in 

The General Assembly session is approaching the end of its fourth week and unlike in previous years, I’ve not been paying as much attention. This morning I thought it would be prudent to review some of what’s happening.

As this morning began, there were 2,089 bills and resolutions pending in both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate. Delegates had passed 362 pieces of legislation compared with 297 in the Senate. February 13 is Crossover Day when those pieces of legislation will go to the other chamber.  Another 182 items had been continued to the next session. 

Some of the bills that failed have simply been incorporated into other bills, such as District 55 Delegate Amy Laufer’s bill that sought to make it a misdemeanor for people to possess certain weapons in facilities that provide mental health or developmental services. HB23 was incorporated into HB861 carried by Delegate Phil Hernandez which awaits a vote in the full House after passing out of the Committee on Public Safety by a 12 to 10 vote. 

The same thing happened to District 54 Delegate Katrina Callsen’s HB780 which sought to allow governing bodies of transit providers to recognize a union as a collective bargaining unit. The bill was incorporated into HB1001 and was reported out of the Labor and Commerce Committee on a 12 to 10 vote. 

Many bills that have passed the House and the Senate reflect the thin margins held by the Democratic Party in both chambers. The following bills have all passed on a 51-49 vote except where noted. 

• HB1 would increase the minimum wage to $13.50 an hour in 2025 and $15 an hour in 2026. 
• HB2 would prohibit large capacity ammunition feeding devices and assault rifles. 
• HB84 would compel a firm conducting exploratory work for mining to meet certain public notice requirements (53-47)
• HB183 would require those with firearms in residents with minors present to keep the weapons and their ammunition stored in a locked container. This would also extend to people who live with others who have been barred from possessing a firearm. 
• HB208 would allow localities to consider “healthy community strategies” in their Comprehensive Plan. (49-45)
• HB456 would remove the state-mandated cap on salaries for members of City Councils. (64-31)
• HB597 would allow localities to enforce the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (53-45)
• HB81 would eliminate the common-law crime of committing suicide (62 to 37)

Other bills have passed the House of Delegates unanimously, or close to it. 

• HB15 would increase to four the number of flashing lights that are allowed to be on a vehicle owned by a member of a volunteer fire company or volunteer emergency medical services agency. (98 to 0)
• HB25 would establish a retail sales and use tax holiday the weekend of August 1, 2025. (98 to 0)
• HB66 would require public schools to conduct a fire drill within the first ten days of a session (98 to 0)
• HB71 would give an additional year for localities with combined sewer overflow systems to be compliant with Virginia and federal law, extending the deadline from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 2026. (100 to 0)
• HB128 would clarify that localities with bans on door-to-door solicitation cannot extend to political activities to those bans. (98 to 0)
• HB100 would increase the civil penalty for child labor law violations from $10,000 to $25,000. (98 to 0)
• HB233 would reduce the threshold for Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority grants for site development from 100 acres to 50 acres. (100 to 0)
• HB477 would extend the Eviction Diversion Pilot Program to July 1, 2025. (98 to 0)
• HB517 would establish the European honey bee as the official state pollinator.  (98 to 0)

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment comes from the February 6, 2024 edition of the newsletter and podcast. It was posted here on February 8, 2024 and backdated. It’s all a work in progress but this way I didn’t have to update the copy.

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