General Assembly at midpoint: Bill advances that would allow split taxation in Charlottesville

A key milestone in Virginia’s legislative machinery has occurred now that Crossover Day has passed. That marks the time when bills must pass the chamber in which they were introduced in order to stay alive.

As of the early morning of February 18, a total of 849 bills have passed the House of Delegates and 520 have passed the Senate.

One of the bills that has passed the House is HB282 which in its current form would allow Charlottesville and three localities to levy a different tax rate for improvements and property.

The legislation passed the House on January 27 with a 91 to 8 vote and referred to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.

A fiscal impact statement was released yesterday that indicates there would be no impact to state revenues.

“This bill could have an unknown impact on administrative costs in the Cities of Charlottesville, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, and Newport News to the extent it chooses to exercise the authority granted in the bill.

Another bill being watched closely is HB334 which would allow all cities and counties to hold a referendum on whether to levy a one cent sales tax to go toward school construction costs.

Charlottesville Planning Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates sits on a school capital subcommittee and said if city voters agreed, the additional tax would levy $15 million. That group is working on a list of what the revenue would go toward.

“The facilities plan is on track for about June which is related to HB334,” Solla-Yates said on February 10.

The bill passed the House on January 27 on a 70 to 28 vote.

Here is some more of what jumps out at me.

Housing

Several bills that have passed the General Assembly are intended to reduce local control of land use policy in order to encourage construction of more housing.

• HB804 would require localities to increase their housing stock by 7.5 percent in a five-year period beginning January 1 2026. This would require localities to develop a plan to demonstrate how they will change their land use policies to accomplish the government. This passed the House on January 29 on a 63 to 35 vote.
• HB1279 would allow for by-right development of residential units on land owned by religious organizations and qualified nonprofit organizations. This passed the House of Delegates on February 5 on a 60 to 36 vote and is now before the Senate Local Government.
• HB816 would require localities to allow for by-right multifamily in commercial or business zoning districts. This passed the House on January 29 on a 64 to 35 vote and is now before the Senate Local Government committee.
• HB594 would allow localities to adopt a process to speed up the approval process for projects with affordable units. This passed the House on January 29 on an 89 to 10 vote and is now before the Senate Local Government committee.
• HB95 would amend the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to require landlords with more than rental units to offer a payment to tenants before terminating rent for non-payment. This passed the House on February 2 on a 64 to 35 vote and awaits action in the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.
• HB678 would require landlords with more than four tenants to provide written notice of a rent increase 90 days before the higher amount goes into effect. This passed on a 79 to 19 vote on February 16 and is also before the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.
• HB329 would amend the VRLTA to add several actions to a list of examples of retaliatory conduct. This passed the House on February 2 on a 85 to 13 vote.
• HB379 would amend the VRTLA to require landlords to notify prospective tenants before seeking information about them. This passed the House on a 63 to 34 vote.
• Another bill to amend the VRTLA to require landlords to present, upon request, a tenant with a statement of payments made over the past 12 months. HB616 passed the House 64 to 34 on February 9 and is now before the Senate General Laws and Technology
• HB164 would eliminate a cap on the amount of money a locality can grant to an employee for the purchase of housing. The current cap is $25,000. This passed the House on January 29 on a 65 to 32 vote and is now awaiting action in the Senate Local Government Committee.
• If the new Congressional maps take place, you may be seeing more articles in this newsletter making comparisons to the City of Roanoke. HB181 would add that locality to the list of those allowed to create an affordable dwelling unit program. This would take a second adoption in 2027 to take effect. Passed the House on January 29 on a 93 to 5 vote.
• HB196 would create a Virginia Residential Development Infrastructure Fund to help local governments pay for provision of utilities and roadways for areas of new housing. This passed the House on a 92 to 6 vote on February 5 and awaits action in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
• HB352 would allow any locality with an industrial development or economic development authority to create an affordable housing performance grant program. This is related to tax abatement and tax increment financing. This passed the House on January 29 with a 78 to 21 vote.
• HB1444 would allow localities to reimburse first-time homebuyers for water and sewer connection fees. This passed the House on a 64 to 34 vote on February 6 and is now before the Senate Local Government Committee.

Land Use

• HB1212 would require localities with 20,000 residents or more to adopt at least one zoning district that allows for a minimum lot size of 3,000 square feet to encourage housing construction. This passed the House on February 12 on a 62 to 35 vote and is now before the Senate Local Government committee.
• HB888 would prohibit localities from requiring off-street parking for residential developments. This passed the House on February 6 on a 61 to 37 vote and is now before the Senate Local Government Committee.
• HB256 would require cities above 20,000 people and counties above 100,000 to include an environmental justice strategy in their Comprehensive Plans. The definition is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of every person, regardless of race, color, national origin, income, faith, or disability, regarding the development, implementation, or enforcement of any environmental law, regulation, or policy.” This passed the House on a 63 to 35 vote on February 3 and awaits action in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources.
• HB257 would encourage localities to consult data on social determinants of health when considering how a Comprehensive Plan will impact access to health care services. This passed the House on February 5 on a 68 to 30 vote. This one goes next to the Senate Local Government committee. You can look up data for Virginia on the Department of Health website.
• HB277 would reduce local control over placement of cell towers including prohibiting disapprovals if new infrastructure would serve pubic schools or safety. This passed the House on a 90 to 7 vote on February 5 with one abstention. This will go next to the Senate Local government.
• HB446 would expand the eminent domain powers granted to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. This passed the House on a 73 to 24 vote and now goes before the Senate Transportation Committee.
• HB549 would expand the authority localities have to require developments to replace trees and allow higher tree canopy percentages. This passed the House on a 64 to 34 vote on February 12 and the bill moves on to the Senate Local Government committee.
• HB1072 would allow localities to test and monitor sewage sludge within their boundaries to ensure compliance. This passed the House on a 62 to 34 vote on February 17.

Elections and charters

• HB630 would allow localities to expand the use of ranked-choice voting to more races and would eliminate a sunset provision that would end the practice after 2031. This passed the House on a 62 to 34 vote on February 17.
• HB640 would eliminate a practice that allows a voter to challenge the voter registration of another. This passed the House on a 63 to 35 vote on February 3 and is now before the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.
• HB82 would add five more hours to the deadline for receipt of an absentee ballot after elections. Currently they are due at noon on the third day of an election but this legislation would extend that to 5 p.m. The bill passed the House on February 17 on a 60 to 35 vote. This would also apply to the provision of identification for a provisional ballot.
• HB773 would extend the deadline for an absentee ballot to be cured from the Friday after an election to the following Monday. This passed the House on February 3 on a 62 to 35 vote.
• HB319 would direct the Department of Elections to study the implementation of a “back-end, opt-out automatic voter registration” system. This passed the House on February 17 on a 61 to 35 vote.
• HB657 would grant a new charter for the Town of Louisa. This passed the House 93 to 1 and is now before the Senate Local Government committee.

Education

• HB253 would enter Virginia into the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact to assist with the licensure of instructors. This passed the House on February 17 unanimously (97 voting).
• HB355 would direct the Department of Education and Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services to provide guidance to school systems on annual mental health screenings for students in 6th to 12th grade. This passed the House on a 64 to 33 vote on February 10 and now awaits action in the Senate Education and Health
• HB614 would require the Commission on Civic Education to make recommendations on the “inclusion of the contributions, perspectives, and experiences of historically marginalized communities” in history and social science standards. This passed the House on a 61 to 35 vote on February 17.
• HB786 would allow school boards the authority to ban the sale of caffeinated beverages in public high schools. This passed the House on February 17 on an 83 to 13 vote.
• HB1385 makes changes and clarifications ot the process through which the Governor appoints members of governing boards of higher education boards. This passed the House on a 62 to 35 vote.

Technology and transportation

• HB320 would ban the practice of live-streaming while driving. This passed unanimously on February 17.
• HB515 would prohibit the director of the Virginia Lottery from approving the use of credit cards for sports bettors to fund their accounts.
• HB564 would allow localities to use bus obstruction monitoring systems used by public transit agencies to enforce various ordinances related to bus stop zones and transit lanes. This passed the House on February 17 on a 80 to 14 vote.
• HB581 would expand a person’s right to seek action against someone who uses their likeness, name, voice, or identity to make a digital replica. This passed the House unanimously on February 10 and is before the Senate Court of Justices Committee.
• HB591 would make it the policy of the Commonwealth “to encourage the responsible operation of data centers in the Commonwealth while supporting grid reliability, affordability, and the deployment of renewable resources” with six specific steps to take. This passed the House on a 62 to 34 vote on February 17.
• HB707 would prohibit a public body from using any other website domain than a .gov, .edu, or .museum address. This passed 54 to 43 on February 17. According to a fiscal impact statement, this would cost the Virginia Department of Transportation $370,000 million in 2027 to implement and the Virginia Lottery $850,000 million.
• HB994 would make changes to the rules for photo speed monitoring devices and to clarify that their use in highway zones would only be when workers are present. The bill also “directs the Commissioner of Highways to develop criteria for designating a highway segment as a high-risk pedestrian corridor for purposes of identifying safety red zones.” This passed the House on a 59 to 38 vote on February 17, 2026.

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