2021 Legislation
Elections
SB 1101 Enters Virginia into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Under the compact, Virginia, and other states in the compact, would award electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes nationwide. The compact would take effect once the electoral votes represented by the states in the compact total 270.
Stricken at request of the Patron in Privileges and Elections Committee.
LGBT Equality
SJ 270 Repeals the now inoperable ban on same sex marriage in the Virginia Constitution and replaces it with an affirmative right to marry regardless of gender. The amendment must be passed again next year and then by the voters to go into effect.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Gun Violence Prevention
SB 1381 Codifies current state policy to ban firearms and dangerous weapons in state owned or leased buildings and and expands the ban to Richmond’s Capitol Square.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Environment
SB 1309 Allows localities to use their local flood water assistance for short-term, stop-gap projects to protect neighborhoods and homes from inland flooding, provided that the projects are in alignment with the localities long term flood mitigation plan.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Criminal Justice Reform
SB 1179 Ends the operation of private prisons in Virginia. (Effective at the end of Virginia’s contract with the GEO Group for the operation of its one private prison).
Defeated in Committee.
SB 1406 Eliminates criminal penalties for personal possession of marijuana for those 21 and older, creates a regulated adult-use market for cannabis centered on equity, and expunges certain criminal records for the possession of marijuana.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Housing
SB 1215 Allows tenants to sue landlords for illegally evicting them from their home. The bill expedites the timeline in which hearings to remedy illegal evictions are heard, and allows for tenants to receive 4 months rent or $5,000, whichever is greater as well as reasonable attorney’s fees, from the landlord if the judge deems they were evicted illegally.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
General Government and Taxation
SJ 271 Permits a Governor elected in 2025 and thereafter to run for a second, consecutive four year term.
Defeated in the Senate.
Healthcare
SB 1178 Repeals a medically unnecessary and potentially harmful barrier to patient-centered-care for those seeking genetic counseling.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Marijuana Legalization:
During the 2021 session, Senator Ebbin passed legislation that legalized adult possession of up to an ounce of cannabis and began the process of creating a regulated, adult-use market by 2024. The bill provided for the expungement of prior misdemeanor cannabis convictions and established criteria for Virginians most impacted by the war on cannabis to receive startup funding and training to own licenses and work in the legal cannabis industry. The law will generate significant revenue from the cannabis industry, funding to help impacted communities by expanding access to pre-k, and increasing funding for public health and addiction treatment (see SB 1406 above).
SB 1101 Enters Virginia into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Under the compact, Virginia, and other states in the compact, would award electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes nationwide. The compact would take effect once the electoral votes represented by the states in the compact total 270.
Stricken at request of the Patron in Privileges and Elections Committee.
LGBT Equality
SJ 270 Repeals the now inoperable ban on same sex marriage in the Virginia Constitution and replaces it with an affirmative right to marry regardless of gender. The amendment must be passed again next year and then by the voters to go into effect.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Gun Violence Prevention
SB 1381 Codifies current state policy to ban firearms and dangerous weapons in state owned or leased buildings and and expands the ban to Richmond’s Capitol Square.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Environment
SB 1309 Allows localities to use their local flood water assistance for short-term, stop-gap projects to protect neighborhoods and homes from inland flooding, provided that the projects are in alignment with the localities long term flood mitigation plan.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Criminal Justice Reform
SB 1179 Ends the operation of private prisons in Virginia. (Effective at the end of Virginia’s contract with the GEO Group for the operation of its one private prison).
Defeated in Committee.
SB 1406 Eliminates criminal penalties for personal possession of marijuana for those 21 and older, creates a regulated adult-use market for cannabis centered on equity, and expunges certain criminal records for the possession of marijuana.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Housing
SB 1215 Allows tenants to sue landlords for illegally evicting them from their home. The bill expedites the timeline in which hearings to remedy illegal evictions are heard, and allows for tenants to receive 4 months rent or $5,000, whichever is greater as well as reasonable attorney’s fees, from the landlord if the judge deems they were evicted illegally.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
General Government and Taxation
SJ 271 Permits a Governor elected in 2025 and thereafter to run for a second, consecutive four year term.
Defeated in the Senate.
Healthcare
SB 1178 Repeals a medically unnecessary and potentially harmful barrier to patient-centered-care for those seeking genetic counseling.
Passed Senate, Continued to Special Session I of the House.
Marijuana Legalization:
During the 2021 session, Senator Ebbin passed legislation that legalized adult possession of up to an ounce of cannabis and began the process of creating a regulated, adult-use market by 2024. The bill provided for the expungement of prior misdemeanor cannabis convictions and established criteria for Virginians most impacted by the war on cannabis to receive startup funding and training to own licenses and work in the legal cannabis industry. The law will generate significant revenue from the cannabis industry, funding to help impacted communities by expanding access to pre-k, and increasing funding for public health and addiction treatment (see SB 1406 above).