Sine Die

The General Assembly adjourned Sine Die on Saturday, marking the official close of the 2023 legislative session. Though we have completed work on the nearly 2000 pieces of legislation filed during our short, 46-day session, our budget conferees still need to iron out the differences between the proposed Senate and House budgets. Though we complete the budgeting process by the close of most legislative sessions, it is not unheard of for budget negotiations to continue into a special session. I am hopeful that, when the conferees report their compromise proposal, it will look closer to the proposed Senate budget, which makes historic investments in education and funds long overdue core services. 

For my part, nine of the bills I introduced have passed both chambers and are on their way to the Governor’s desk. I wanted to provide you with a brief summary of my legislative agenda below. 

SB 1085 Muffler Regulation - Would require the Superintendent of State Police to convene a work group to examine the issue of vehicle noise in Virginia and recommend legislative fixes to excessive vehicle noise. 
Passed Senate and House. 

SB 1086 Paid Leave Donor Protection Act - Would ensure that employees at companies of 50 or more employees who donate an organ are allowed up to 60 days of unpaid leave to recover from surgery. 
Passed Senate and House. 

SB 1087 Genetic Data Privacy - Would establish privacy rights over genetic data for users of direct-to-consumer tests like ancestry.com by requiring consent from consumer to the storage, dissemination, and use of their genetic data.
Passed Senate and House. 

SB 1088 PTSD Coverage for 9-1-1 Dispatchers - Would allow 9-1-1 dispatchers to claim workers' compensation benefits relating to post-traumatic stress disorder under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act.
Passed Senate. Defeated in House Commerce and Energy Committee.

SB 1089 Eviction Reporting - Would require the Virginia Supreme Court to collect data on how many evictions are executed in Virginia each year, increasing available data to aid in policy making decisions to reduce evictions. 
Passed Senate and House. 

SB 1090 Medical Cannabis Expansion - Would add a new medical marijuana license to the one currently unserved health service area, ban the consolidation of licenses by a single entity, and initiate a study the expansion of the medical marijuana program. 
Passed the Senate, Defeated in the House Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee.  

SB 1091 Stormwater Management - Would expand the allowable uses of grants from a local Stormwater Management Fund to include joint flooding mitigation projects of condominium owners. 
Passed House and Senate. 

SB 1092 Protecting Election Officials - Would make it a felony to hinder or prevent an election official or their employees from administering elections and allow election officials to keep their address private on publicly available databases. 
Passed Senate, Defeated in House Privileges and Elections Committee. 

SB 1093 Notary Reforms - Creates standards for Virginia notaries based on nationally accredited best practices. These include required training and testing, and record keeping requirements. 
Defeated in Senate Judiciary Committee. 

SB 1095 Cannabis Tax Revenue - Decouples cannabis business taxes from federal law in Virginia, allowing businesses to deduct usual and necessary expenses from their state tax liability.
Passed Senate, Defeated in House Finance Committee. 

SB 1096 Freedom to Marry - Would clarify that a marriage between two parties is lawful regardless of the sex of the parties. 
Passed Senate, did not receive hearing in the House. 

SB 1133 Creating a Retail Market for Cannabis - Would establish a framework for the creation of a regulated, adult-use retail marijuana market in Virginia. 
Passed Senate. Defeated in a House General Laws subcommittee. 

SB 1180 Elections Administration - Would allow election officials to receive nongovernmental grants or services for the purpose of supporting voter education and election support programs.
Passed Senate, Defeated in House Privileges and Elections Committee.

SB 1181 Ghost Guns - Would ban the sale, creation, or possession of the parts used to make “ghost guns” - unserialized firearms built from at home kits which allow users to skirt background checks.
Passed Senate. Defeated in House Public Safety Committee. 

SB 1190 Statewide Housing Needs Assessment - Would require a comprehensive statewide affordable housing needs assessment every 5 years, to develop a biennial statewide affordable housing plan. 
Passed Senate and House. 

SB 1192 Public Carry Assault Weapon Ban - Would prohibit the carrying of assault style semi-automatic rifles and pistols in places open to the public.
Passed Senate. Defeated in House Public Safety Committee. 

SB 1324 Child Tax Credit - Would create a refundable tax credit of $500 per child for households with a child under the age of 18.  
Passed Senate, Defeated in House Finance Committee. 

SB 1327 Cover All Kids - Would create a state-funded comprehensive health care coverage program for those 19 years or younger who currently remain uncovered due to their immigration status.  
Passed the Senate, Defeated in the House Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee.  

SB 1350 Regulating Vaporized Nicotine Products - Would require the Secretary of Finance to assess a licensing scheme for the sale of liquid nicotine and the most appropriate manner to enforce and administer licensing, age verification, product safety, and advertising restrictions for liquid nicotine. 
Passed House and Senate. 

SB 1458 Assisted Living Staffing Regulations - Creates regulations related to temporary employee staffing agencies who supply staff to assisted living facilities in order to create long term employment opportunities and address price-gouging through employment contracts.
Passed the Senate, Defeated in the House Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee. 

SB 1456 - Streamlining Daycare Food Safety Regulations - Would ensure that caterers who supply food to child or adult day care centers or schools can continue to hold VDH restaurant permits and not require them to secure additional, unnecessary permitting in order to continue to provide meals to these schools and daycare centers.
Passed Senate and House. 

SJ242 - Right to Marry - Would repeal the now defunct ban on same sex marriage in Virginia’s Constitution. 
Passed Senate, Defeated in House Rules Committee. 

SJ243 - Addressing Inland Flooding - Would add two local government members from areas impacted by inland flooding to the existing Joint Subcommittee on Recurrent Flooding. 
Passed Senate and House. 

While I am glad at the outcome on some of these important pieces of legislation, critical issues which passed the Senate were defeated by a slim GOP House majority. Similarly, our narrow, two seat majority in the State Senate was able to defeat the most extreme far-right proposals of the Youngkin agenda - legislation to restrict reproductive care, move backward on combating climate change, and discriminate and harass transgender youth were all defeated by the tightest of margins in the Senate.