Legislative update: Bill to allow localities to pass anti-rent gouging rules fails to pass

Time is running out for the 2025 Virginia General Assembly. February 17 was the last day for action by committees in the House and the Senate. The statistics dashboard on the Virginia Legislative Information System reports that 965 bills and resolutions have passed and 1,366 bills have failed. Breaking down the numbers any further may be a recipe for a headache and may cause an aversion to Sudoku.

This time around, let’s take a look at bills that didn’t make it. There are many reasons why legislation fails, and many of these may come back for another time. The 2026 General Assembly will take place after a campaign where all 100 seats of the House of Delegates are up.

Before the session, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced he wanted there to be a further reduction of the personal property tax. He suggested that the General Assembly provide a credit to consumers. Senator Tara Durant (R-27) filed SB1443.

When legislation is introduced and assigned to a committee, fiscal impact statements are conducted. The Virginia Department of Taxation conducted the one for this bill.

“This bill would result in a General Fund revenue loss of $362.04 million in FY 2026, $367.66 million in FY 2027, and $372.47 million in FY 2028,” reads the impact statement. “However, because the Introduced Executive Budget pre-funds this tax credit by appropriating $1.1 billion to a special fund for the purpose of funding such credits, no budget amendment is needed.”

These impact statements also provide a glimpse into history. In the late 1990’s, Governor Jim Gilmore took office after a campaign against what is referred to as the “car tax.” This took the form of the Personal Property Tax Relief Act of 1998.

“The PPTRA originally was intended to eliminate the tangible personal property tax imposed on the first $20,000 of value on passenger cars, pickup or panel trucks, and motorcycles owned or leased by natural persons and used for nonbusiness purposes,” reads the statement.

The reduction was to happen in phases, but only if Virginia’s revenue growth was high enough to cover the cost of reimbursing localities for lost revenue. In 2004 the legislation was changed to a flat payment of $950 million to be shared among localities.

SB1443 was “passed by indefinitely” in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on January 25.

Here is a limited look at some of what has not passed this year.

Data centers:

• SB1353 from Senator Kannan Srinivasan (D-32) would have required owners of any “high-energy facility” to submit a quarterly report to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality with energy and water usage. This data would have been public. This was reported from the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee on a 9 to 5 vote, but did not make it out of the Finance and Appropriations Committee.
• SB1196 from Senator Creigh Deeds (D-11) would have required data centers to meet certain energy efficiency standards before they could qualify for sales and use tax exemptions. This was left in the Finance and Appropriations Committee without a vote on February 5.

Elections:

• SB1454 from Senator Glen Sturtevant Jr. (R-12) would have required the Department of Elections to take more steps to prevent non-citizens from voting. This was passed by indefinitely on a 8 to 7 vote in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.
• SJ271 from Senator Mark Obenshain (R-2) would have called for a constitutional amendment on the 2025 ballot that would establish the right to work without having to join a union. This was passed by indefinitely in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on January 21.
• SJ255 from Senator Aaron Rouse (D-22) would have directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study Virginia’s campaign finance laws. This made it out of the Senate on a voice vote on January 29, 2025 but the House Rules Committee passed it by indefinitely on a unanimous vote.
• SB1469 from Senator Creigh Deeds (D-11) would have put a cap on the amount people and corporations could contribute to a state-wide campaign in Virginia, and put a cap on the amount someone could spend on their own campaign. This made is out of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on a 8 to 7 vote, but “failed to pass” from the Senate.
• SB1185 from Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy would have required a more detailed definition of the word “coordinated” as it relates to campaign finance activities. This made it out of the Senate Privileges and Elections on a unanimous vote but was left in the Rules Committee.

Health care:

• SB1493 from Senator David Sutterlein (R-4) would have established a right to access contraception. This was passed by indefinitely in the Senate Education and Health Committee on a 9 to 6 vote on January 23.
• SB1480 from Senator Sutterlein would have removed a 16-hour-a-day cap on people who work with individuals with development disabilities. This was passed by indefinitely in the Finance and Appropriations on a 10 to 5 vote on January 29.

Infrastructure and Transportation:

• SB1487 from Senator Luther Cifers (D-10) would have created two committees to study infrastructure resiliency to protect from hazards. This was passed by indefinitely in the Senate Rules Committee on a 7 to 4 vote. The legislation would have put a cap of $2 million to run the committees and also would have directed the National Guard to come up with a plan to maintain order after an attack or a natural disaster.
• SB1374 from Senator David Suetterlein (R-4) would have directed the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to study the establishment of a centralized Continuity of Operations in the case of an emergency. This passed the House unanimously on January 29, 2025 but was tabled in the House Rules Committee of February 17, 2025.
• SB1458 from Senator William Stanley Jr. (R-7) would allow someone to pay the Department of Motor Vehicles $100 a year to only have one license plate on a vehicle rather than the two currently required. This was passed by indefinitely in Senate Transportation Committee on a 9 to 6 vote on January 30.
• SB1341 from Senator David Marsden (D-35) would have established the Wildlife Corridor Grant Fund to assist localities and regional entities that seek to build infrastructure to allow animals to safely cross highways. This was reported out of the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee on a unanimous vote but was left in the Senate Finances and Approrpriations Committee. VDOT estimated the program would cost $500,000 in the first year.

Land use and housing:

• SB1468 from Senator Bill DeSteph (R-20) would have made it unlawful for “no person” to purchase land near or adjacent to a military base until they comply with 50 U.S.C. § 4565. This was passed by in the General Laws and Technology on a 9 to 6 vote on January 29, 2025.
• SB1424 from Senator Schuyler T. VanValkenburg (D-16) would have prevented any corporation with assets in excess of $50 million from purchasing a single family home. This made it out of the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee on a 9 to 6 vote, but was left in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
• SB1400 from Senator Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37) would have prohibited the use of algorithms to be used for the “purpose of setting or recommending the amount of rent to be charged to a tenant for the occupancy of a dwelling unit.” This was passed by indefinitely in the General Laws and Technology Committee with nine yes, three no, and three abstentions.
• SB1312 from Senator Jeremy McPike (D-29) would have allowed localities with a high amount of tax-exempt properties to get reimbursed for least half of the lost revenue by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The threshold was defined as one percent. This was passed by indefinitely in the Senate Finance and Appropriations on a 7 to 6 vote.
• SB1178 from Senator Ghazala F. Hashmi (D-15) would have given localities authority to encourage the development of more affordable housings on property owned by religious organizations or nonprofit organizations. This was reported out of the Senate Local Government Committee on a 12 to 3 vote but was left in the Finance and Appropriations Committee.
• SB1136 from Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-38) would have allowed localities to establish anti-rent gouging ordinances. This failed to report from the Senate General Laws and Technology committee on a 6-6-3 vote.

Democracies function on details and a population that has access to them. That’s why I keep returning to this. I want people to become curious about how all of these things work and how they fit together. Please ask questions. Tell me when I may not have explained things correctly.

Before you go: This post and all of the others are intended to increase awareness about the role local government plays in American democracy, especially in and around Charlottesville. This was originally sent out in the February 17, 2025 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. If you would like to support the work, you can buy a paid subscription or support through Patreon.