What’s alive and what’s dead at the Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 midway point
Democrats advance constitutional amendments, gun restrictions, immigration limits and a minimum wage hike as budget negotiations loom in session’s second half.
By Markus Schmidt, Shannon Heckt, Charlotte Rene Woods and Samantha Willis
The 2026 General Assembly reached its midpoint Tuesday night as lawmakers hit crossover, the session’s deadline for legislation to pass its chamber of origin and move to the other side of the state Capitol.
The procedural milestone offers the clearest snapshot yet of how Democrats are wielding their governing trifecta in Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s first session in office.
Nearly 30 days in, the majority has advanced a slate of signature proposals on constitutional rights, guns, immigration enforcement, cannabis, environmental regulation and wages — reshaping the policy landscape after years of divided government under Republican former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration.
When lawmakers convened in January, Democratic leaders signaled they would press forward on a platform of affordability measures, while testing how far they could go under a new governor from their own party. Meanwhile, Republicans warned of tax increases and state overreach.
At crossover, Democrats have moved several of their highest-profile priorities, and they approved three constitutional amendments that will appear on November’s ballot.
Two drew bipartisan support. One would protect same-sex marriage in Virginia if federal protections were overturned, and another would provide for the automatic restoration of voting rights for people with felony convictions once they have completed their sentences.
The third, advanced by Democratic majorities, would enshrine reproductive rights in the state Constitution, including access to contraception, fertility treatments and abortion. While similar measures have passed in states across the political spectrum, Virginia’s constitutional amendment has only advanced because of Democratic majorities in the state legislature..
Democratic leaders have said the final decision now rests with voters statewide.
Separately, lawmakers also approved a fourth amendment that would allow the General Assembly to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts mid-term if voters ratify the change in a special April 21 referendum. The measure advanced even before the Supreme Court of Virginia cleared the way for the referendum to proceed amid an ongoing legal dispute over redistricting.
Democrats also advanced a phased minimum wage increase. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, would raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2028, with incremental increases beginning in 2026 and future adjustments tied to inflation.
The proposal passed the Senate along party lines and is now headed to the House.
Gun legislation again took center stage. The House advanced a ban on assault firearms and large-capacity magazines, along with measures setting new standards for firearm industry conduct, targeting ghost guns and tightening transfer rules for people subject to protective orders.
Senate counterparts also moved forward, setting up negotiations in the session’s second half.
On immigration, Democrats pushed a package of bills regulating how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in Virginia, including limits on most civil courthouse arrests without a judicial warrant and new restrictions on cooperation between state and federal authorities following Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s order ending the state’s prior ICE partnership.
Environmental and energy debates focused on proposed PFAS limits in biosolids and new oversight of rapidly expanding data centers, including shifting certain infrastructure costs onto large energy users. One revised rate proposal could trim the average residential electric bill by about $5.52 per month.
Lawmakers also cleared legislation establishing a regulated retail market for adult-use cannabis, with Spanberger pledging to sign it.
Days before the session’s midway point, Democrats’ paid sick leave bill cleared the House, signaling progress in a years-long effort that they framed as a priority this year.
With crossover complete, the surviving bills now move to the opposite chamber, where lawmakers will amend, pare back or press forward their proposals before they can reach the governor’s desk.
The second half of the session will also be defined by negotiations over the state’s biennial budget, talks that have already been underway behind closed doors.
Democrats are expected to unveil their spending plan early next week, setting up some of the most consequential debates of the year.
Some of the proposals that The Mercury will continue to track in the next 30 days:
Cannabis
Adult-use cannabis retail sales could arrive in Virginia this year after Spanberger pledged to sign legislation establishing a regulated market, breaking from the repeated vetoes issued by Youngkin.
House Bill 642, sponsored by Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, would create a statewide retail licensing framework, prioritize small and independent businesses, remove local opt-out provisions, and bolster testing, zoning and public safety standards — clearing the way for legal sales to begin later in 2026.
The measure passed the House Tuesday by a 65-32. A nearly identical Senate companion, Senate Bill 542 by Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, advanced in that chamber Tuesday afternoon by 21-19.
House Bill 26, sponsored by Del. Rozia Henson, D-Woodbridge, would establish a process allowing people convicted of certain marijuana-related felonies before July 1, 2021, to receive an automatic court hearing to consider modifying their sentences.
The legislation would apply to individuals who remain incarcerated or on community supervision as of July 1, 2026, and would sunset July 1, 2029.
It passed the House Tuesday on a 63-34 vote, and a Senate companion cleared that chamber on Monday by a 21-17 vote.
Data centers
Data center regulation has taken center stage in the legislature, but many bills that aimed to regulate them have struggled to make it out of committee. Those that remain now face debate in the opposite chamber and more potential amendments.
HB 155 by Del. Joshua Thomas, D-Prince William, would have given the State Corporation Commission the ability to approve or deny certificates of operation for high load energy users over 25 megawatts, including data centers. While that bill was laid on the table, the Senate version, SB 619 carried by Sen. Kannan Srinivasan, D-Loudoun, is still in play and passed the Senate on Monday.
A recent amendment to Lucas’ SB 253 now levies the cost of distribution lines and substations as well as energy capacity costs onto data centers in the new Dominion Energy rate class GS5. That shift is expected to save the average residential ratepayer $5.52 on their monthly bills. It also would extend the strategic undergrounding program that maintains a cost to ratepayers bills.The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday.
There is also an effort to allow localities to require data center applicants to conduct site assessments to understand the environmental, sound, and other impacts on the surrounding areas. SB 94 by Sen. Danica A. Roem, D-Manassas, mirrors Thomas’ HB 153, but also requires future data centers to be allowed only in industrially zoned areas. The bill passed the Senate and now waits for a House committee hearing.
Education
For years, local governments have argued they need additional revenue to support their school divisions, but efforts to authorize new local taxes have faced resistance from Republicans, including Youngkin.
Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, again introduced Senate Bill 66, which would permit localities to impose up to a 1% additional local sales and use tax for public school capital projects, contingent on voter approval.
The measure was incorporated into SB 607, sponsored by Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, which failed and was left in the chamber’s Finance and Appropriations committee Tuesday.
Lawmakers are also weighing measures aimed at bolstering support for teachers and school staff.
Democratic Del. Michael Feggans of Virginia Beach filed House Bill 31 to establish a supplemental pay program for experienced, fully licensed teachers working in schools with ongoing vacancies. The proposal was unanimously defeated in subcommittee.
Sen. Tammy Mulchi, R-Mecklenburg, introduced SB 61 to provide financial incentives for school psychologists who obtain national certification and to broaden eligibility under an existing state program. That measure was continued to the 2027 session.
House Education Committee Chair Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, is carrying HB 92, which would revise staffing ratios for teachers, librarians and counselors in public schools. The measure passed with unanimous approval Tuesday.
Several other bills focus on student well-being and access to services.
Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, introduced Senate Bills 33 and 39 to expand permitted supports for at-risk students and to study how schools can better deploy technology to enhance student safety and mental health. Both measures passed the Senate with unanimous support last week.
Roem has reintroduced Senate Bills 4 and 42 to broaden access to school meals and address student meal debt. SB 4 and its companion, HB 96, would provide free school breakfast to all students, but both were continued to the 2027 session.
SB 42, aimed at prohibiting penalties related to unpaid meal balances, passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month.
Lawmakers also took up proposals affecting student assessments and classroom policies.
SB 16, filed by Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, would extend a temporary option allowing alternate assessments.The measure was rolled into a similar proposal by Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, which passed the Senate by a unanimous vote Tuesday.
In higher education, Feggans’ HB 56 would broaden eligibility for free tuition under the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, shifting the associated costs to colleges and universities.
In January, Feggans also introduced HB 1374, which originally sought to eliminate VMI’s independent Board of Visitors and transfer oversight of the institute to the Board of Visitors at Virginia State University, a sweeping change that would have shifted governance away from Lexington.
The proposal came amid ongoing scrutiny of VMI’s leadership and board structure following prior investigations into the school’s culture.
But lawmakers later adopted a substitute that abandons the oversight transfer and instead restructures VMI’s existing board.
Child care
Virginia families are facing a persistent lack of affordable child care options, spurring legislative attempts to expand access this year.
Bills to create the Employee Child Care Assistance Program passed in the House and Senate. HB 18 by Del. Adele McClure, D-Arlington, and SB 3 by Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, would incentivize employers to help fund their workers’ child care costs.
SB 20 by Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, survived the Senate and will now be considered by the House. The measure would broaden the eligibility criteria for the state’s Child Care Subsidy Program to allow more low-income families to qualify.
Elections and voting
Lawmakers have introduced a slate of election-related bills focused on campaign finance transparency, voting rights and election administration.
House Bill 44, sponsored by Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, would direct the Department of Elections to develop a searchable, sortable public database for campaign finance reports, enabling users to filter, export and analyze information on candidates, committees, donors and expenditures. The measure was referred to the chamber’s appropriations committee.
Favola, the Democratic delegate representing Arlington, is carrying two measures.
Her Senate Bill 34 – which passed by 37-1 Monday — would specify that a finding of incapacity in guardianship or conservatorship proceedings does not automatically strip someone of voting rights, instead requiring a court to explicitly determine that the person lacks the capacity to understand the act of voting.
Favola’s SB 58 would extend the deadline for receiving absentee ballots and related materials from noon to 5 p.m. on the third day after an election; it passed the Senate 22-16 along party lines last month.
Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, introduced SB 52 to expand the existing 90-day “quiet period” for voter list maintenance to all primary and general elections and to lengthen response timelines for registrars and voters receiving cancellation notices.
The bill passed the Senate on Feb. 2 by a 21-19 party-line vote, and its companion, HB 28, cleared the House last week on a 61-35 vote.
VanValkenburg filed SB 76 to consolidate all primaries in presidential election years with the presidential primary, permit earlier petition signature collection and adjust campaign finance deadlines. The measure failed at the committee level.
Meanwhile, HB 51, sponsored by Del. Rob Bloxom, R-Accomack, would have allowed certain localities to revert from November elections back to May, potentially creating multiple election dates in a single year. A Democratic-controlled subcommittee killed that bill on a party-line vote last month.
Energy
The tax incentive the state offers data centers totals $1 billion annually. HB 897 from Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, would extend the tax incentive only if data center applicants contract a certain percentage of energy, capacity and renewable energy certificates from clean energy resources. The measure, which cleared the House Tuesday, also requires non-carbon emitting backup generators.
Multiple bills would require reports on data centers’ use of diesel generators. HB 1502 by Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, passed the House Tuesday and requires the Department of Environmental Quality to study the emissions of generators currently in commercial use.
The backup power sources are used in times when the grid is strained, such as especially hot and cold days, in an effort to ease the power demand. Northern Virginia communities and lawmakers cite concerns about the generators’ emissions and potential health impacts.
Other generator-related bills were amended before clearing the chamber, including HB 507 by Del. John McAuliff, D-Fauquier. The measure will ban generators that rank below a certain emissions quality level.
Solar project siting approval has proved challenging at the local level, despite rising energy demands. VanValkenberg’s SB 347 essentially stops localities from prematurely banning solar energy projects in their jurisdictions. Communities can still deny any solar project they want, but they have to first consider all applications that are filed.
The bill also creates a “best practice” standard for what a large-scale solar project could look like, including setbacks from homes and other siting regulations. The bill has crossed over and cleared the House.
Environment
Lawmakers have had extensive debates on how to manage the prevalence of PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, in biosolids – the cheap fertilizer created by treated municipal waste. SB 386 carried by Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, aimed to ban the use of biosolids on Virginia farms, but it met strong pushback from farmers who use the product and municipal waste facilities that need somewhere to put the waste. The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday with a promise of a compromise substitute bill being added on to it on the House side.
HB 1443 by Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, has been pitched as an achievable solution for the issue. That bill focuses on limits on the use of biosolids if certain thresholds of PFOA or PFOS, compounds under the PFAS umbrella, are met on a rolling 12-month basis. Amendments are also expected for this legislation once it is heard in Senate committee.
Menhaden have also made a splash in the legislative session, after efforts to fund a Chesapeake Bay-specific study on the forage fish’s population failed to get off the ground. Richmond Democratic Del. Betsy Carr’s HB 1048 looked to shut down the only reduction fishery allowed in the Bay, Ocean Harvesters, during extended data collection, in response to conservationists’ concerns over other species starving in the area. That bill failed in committee.
Carr’s HB 1049 would have created quota periods with certain harvest caps for the fishery within the Bay. The goal of the quota periods is to allow the menhaden migrate further into the Bay, where Maryland fishermen have said they have had increasingly low yields of the oily fish in recent years.
The fishery has fiercely opposed this bill, saying it’s not based on science and could put people out of a job. The bill failed to make it to the House floor before crossover.
Guns
As they did in 2020, Democrats are again using their control of state government to push a new round of gun control legislation this session — a strategy that sparked protests from Second-Amendment advocates on Lobby Day in January.
Earlier this month, the House voted 58-34 to pass House Bill 2017, reintroduced by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, which would ban the importation, sale, manufacture, purchase and transfer of assault firearms and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, with limited exceptions.
Violations would be Class 1 misdemeanors, and a conviction would result in a three-year prohibition on firearm possession. The bill would also bar anyone under 21 from possessing or transferring an assault firearm.
Another Helmer proposal, HB 21, passed 62-35 and would establish new standards of “responsible conduct” for firearm industry members.
It permits the attorney general, local prosecutors or individuals who suffer harm to bring civil actions against manufacturers and sellers that fail to implement reasonable safeguards, including measures to prevent straw purchases, theft and unlawful marketing.
The House also approved HB 40,, sponsored by Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, targeting so-called ghost guns and plastic firearms, and HB 93, by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, which would tighten firearm transfer rules for individuals subject to protective orders.
Meanwhile, HB 106, sponsored by Del. Jason Ballard, R-Giles, would have reduced the fees local law enforcement agencies may charge to process concealed handgun permit applications. A subcommittee killed the bill last month.
Across the hall, Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, carried SB 27 to create standards of responsible conduct for firearm industry members and require safeguards to prevent unlawful sales and misuse.
The bill authorizes civil enforcement actions by the attorney general, local prosecutors or injured individuals, and passed on a 21-19 party-line vote last week.
Favola introduced SB 38 to strengthen firearm transfer requirements for people subject to protective orders or convicted of domestic assault, adding age, residency and reporting provisions to ensure firearms are relinquished. That measure also cleared the Senate on a party-line vote.
Health care
A variety of health bills aimed at price reductions and transparency have advanced this year.
House Bill 1214 by Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, which would lower insulin costs and set caps for diabetes equipment. As the mother of a child with the disorder, she said she’s seen the benefits of medication and glucose monitoring, but knows treatment is a challenge for some to afford.
Making sure people can continuously take their prescribed insulin levels is paramount to their health and saves money beyond just their own, she said.
House Bill 484 by Del. Irene Shin, D-Fairfax, would prohibit downcoding insurance claims without a health care provider providing reasons for the decision. The bill aims to tackle a problem sometimes triggered by artificial intelligence use.
House Bill 6 by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, and the Senate counterpart by Carroll Foy have also cleared their respective chambers.
The bills would create a right to access contraception in Virginia should the reproductive rights amendment fail or federal contraception protections fall. Beyond family planning purposes, contraception medication can also be used to treat disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis.
Perhaps most contentious among other health care proposals are efforts to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board by Del. Delaney and Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville. The board, if established, could set caps on certain prescription drug prices.
Lawmakers have carried the bill for several years in a row, and former Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed it twice. Delaney, whose bill cleared the House last week, said she is gleaning insights from Spanberger’s administration on what might get a signature while coordinating with different stakeholders in the bill. Amendments are likely in the weeks ahead, she said.
Housing
Amid rising costs to rent or buy homes and noted demand for more housing stock, lawmakers pitched a variety of state-level solutions to help localities address the issue.
From localities’ authorities over local zoning and construction approvals to landlords and tenants’ rights to businesses and consumers, state lawmakers have proposed a variety of guardrails, guidances and mandates to expand pathways to more housing.
Senate Bill 454 by VanValkenburg would allow for by-right development of multifamily or mixed-use developments in certain commercial corridors. Think of redeveloping aging strip malls or incorporating apartments and townhomes into areas with shopping centers or office spaces.
The goal, he said, is to bolster “housing near jobs.”
Helmer’s House Bill 804 is more controversial. Described as a “housing targets bill,” the legislation is meant to spur localities to take various actions to increase their housing supply and address affordability struggles. Should a locality not take any steps within a set time frame, the state could then step in and override certain local decisions.
Opponents, like Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, has called it an “erosion of local control,” while VanValkenburg (who is carrying the Senate version) has emphasized that the proposal has “give and take” conditions to help localities do their part to solve a statewide problem.
Rental protections have also advanced, like House Bill 15, by Price, which would increase the residents’ late rent payment grace period from five to 14 days before eviction proceedings could occur.
Senate Bill 388, by Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, which would allow faith-based organizations to build affordable housing on land they already own.
Senate Bill 328, by Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, would lift local caps on housing grants for government employees so they can afford to live in the communities they serve.
House Bill 1212 by Brianna Sewell, D-Prince William, would require localities with 20,000 or more in population to maintain zoning districts that permit single family homes or townhomes as by-right use in small lots.
Immigration
Democrats have advanced a series of bills this session seeking to regulate how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operate in Virginia, tightening limits on civil arrests and setting new rules for cooperation with federal authorities.
The centerpiece is House Bill 650, sponsored by Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Albemarle, which passed the House 63-35 last week.
The bill would prohibit most civil arrests in courthouses without a judicial warrant or order and protect people required to attend court — along with family members, witnesses and others accompanying them — from civil arrest while traveling to, attending or leaving proceedings. Violations could be punished as contempt of court.
Several related measures were folded into HB 650 before floor action.
HB 1260 by Del. Irene Shin, D-Fairfax, would require public K-12 schools to notify parents and staff if federal immigration officers are present and bar access to nonpublic areas without a judicial warrant, with similar rules for public colleges and universities. HB 1265 by Del. Jackie Glass, D-Norfolk, mirrors the courthouse protections.
HB 1440 would restrict federal immigration enforcement in nonpublic areas of certain “protected areas,” including schools and hospitals, without a judicial warrant or subpoena, and HB 1442 would prohibit immigration enforcement within 40 feet of polling places and certain election sites.
Other ICE-related bills also passed. HB 1482, by Del. Charlie Schmidt, D-Richmond, cleared the House 63-35 and would bar most state and local officers from wearing facial coverings while on duty, require visible identification and create criminal penalties and civil liability for violations.
HB 1492, also by Shin, would make impersonating a federal law-enforcement officer a felony; it passed 62-35.
Two bills governing cooperation between Virginia law enforcement and federal immigration authorities were consolidated, with Del. Elizabeth Guzman’s proposal folded into Lopez’s legislation before the combined measure passed the House by 63-35 last week.
The move follows Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 12 ending an agreement that had allowed Virginia State Police and state correctional officers to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
HB 1441, also by Lopez, would bar state and local officers from aiding federal immigration enforcement absent a valid judicial warrant, subpoena or detainer unless otherwise required by law, and now incorporates Guzman’s HB 1438, which prohibits agencies from entering deputization agreements and requires existing ones to end by September 2026.
Taxes
Spanberger put affordability at the center of her 2026 agenda, promising relief for Virginians grappling with high housing costs, rising energy bills and other everyday expenses.
But dozens of tax-increase bills filed by Democratic lawmakers early in the session gave Republicans an opening to argue she is moving in the opposite direction, prompting an aggressive social media campaign — even though she has not endorsed the measures and most have not advanced.
Many of the proposals have since been continued to future sessions.
Among them is House Bill 900, sponsored by Sullivan, which would reduce the statewide sales tax rate from 4.3% to 4% while broadening the tax base beginning in 2027 to cover certain services and digital goods.
A similar measure, HB 978 by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, would apply the sales tax to a wide array of services — including fitness facilities and pet care — while exempting groceries and hygiene products from local sales taxes and directing new revenue to schools and transportation.
Unlike Sullivan’s proposal, Watts’ bill does not lower the base rate, meaning some consumers could pay more depending on their purchases. Both bills were continued until 2027.
Other Democratic proposals include HB 188 by Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, D-Virginia Beach, which would create a new 10% income tax bracket for earnings over $1 million, and HB 979 by Watts, pairing higher tax brackets for top earners with a larger standard deduction and grocery tax exemptions.
Those measures were merged and continued to 2027.
Democrats have also introduced taxes on firearms, which was continued, and fantasy sports operators, which passed the House Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the House voted 68-25 to pass a resolution by Del. Lily Franklin, D-Montgomery, directing the Department of Taxation to study options for eliminating the car tax on certain qualifying vehicles.
Republicans have advanced their own tax proposals, fully aware they would face Democratic headwinds. Most failed.
HB 12, sponsored by Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, would have permanently extended the state’s higher standard deduction — $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for married couples filing jointly — which is set to decrease after the 2026 tax year; the bill was killed in subcommittee.
McNamara’s HB 13 would have eliminated the remaining 1% local sales tax on groceries and essential hygiene products starting July 1 and require the state to reimburse localities for lost revenue; it was continued until next year.
Del. Tim Griffin, R-Bedford, filed House Joint Resolution 14, a proposed constitutional amendment to exempt one personally owned, noncommercial motor vehicle — limited to automobiles, motorcycles and pickup trucks — from state and local personal property taxes for vehicles acquired after voter approval.
He also sponsored HJ 15, directing the Department of Taxation to study repealing the individual income tax and identify broader reforms needed to replace that revenue, with findings due before the 2027 session.
Both Griffin measures were continued until 2027.
Transportation
Last fall, a legislative subcommittee discussed dedicating Virginia’s share of $460 million in new capital funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority starting in fiscal year 2028, alongside Maryland and Washington, D.C., to stabilize service and support long-term investments.
This week, the House advanced House Bill 200 by a nearly-unanimous vote. The measure revises the purposes and geographic reach of the Transit Ridership Incentive Program and removes several administrative requirements, including a mandate that the Secretary of Transportation coordinate efforts to revise the 1966 WMATA Compact.
It also repeals a sunset allowing local building officials to enforce the Uniform Statewide Building Code for certain bus shelters funded through the Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund.
Lawmakers also approved HB 1179, with 97 delegates voting yes and three who didn’t vote on it. The measure restructures portions of the Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund and WMATA Capital Fund while creating new regional transit funds in Northern Virginia and for localities within the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission.
The bill imposes a regional sales and use tax in certain localities, along with taxes on transportation network companies, retail deliveries and regional commercial parking, and applies a regional highway use fee to vehicles already subject to that fee.
Earlier this month, the Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 41, allowing voluntary donations for highway safety improvements during online license or vehicle registration renewals.
Carroll Foy reintroduced SB 31 to require two qualified workers on freight trains. The measure died in the Senate Commerce and Labor committee, nearly three weeks after the House approved a companion measure, carried by Del. Bonita Anthony, D-Norfolk, on a 65-31 vote.
Lawmakers have also advanced several bills expanding automated traffic enforcement and updating who may certify speed camera violations, including Senate Bills 81, 84 and 59, all of which passed in recent weeks.
A proposal to allow single rear license plates was defeated in the Senate Transportation Committee, while a measure eliminating certain vehicle registration fees for disabled veterans and their un-remarried surviving spouses cleared the House unanimously.
Workforce development
Lawmakers tried to advance measures to boost workforce development programs in the state and expand employment pipelines in a range of sectors.
Feggans introduced HB 67, which directs the Department of Energy to create training resources for workforce development in the state’s offshore wind industry. It passed and is now under review in the Senate.
HB 693 by Del. John McAuliff, D-Fauquier, would streamline Virginia’s workforce development programs under one agency, and transfer Department of Labor and Industry internships to the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.
It would also mandate the state’s higher education council share data about certain internship and workforce development programs with the agency. It cleared the House and is up for debate in a Senate subcommittee.
Suetterlein introduced Senate Bill 10, which cleared the chamber and is now being heard by the House Labor and Commerce committee. The measure would allow minors who are at least 16 to participate in information technology and culinary apprenticeships, with conditions. It would apply the same conditions to minors working as apprentices in licensed barber shops and beauty salons.
Measures on minimum wage, FOIA, child abuse, recalling delegates
Lawmakers have introduced a range of labor, transparency and social policy bills this session, many of them highlighting clear partisan divisions.
SB 56, carried by Roem, would restrict how much public bodies may charge for responding to requests under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
The bill caps fees based on employee pay rates, clarifies notice requirements and streamlines court procedures when agencies seek additional time or relief from fee limits. It passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month.
House Bill 158, sponsored by Del. Tim Griffin, R-Bedford, would broaden the definition of child abuse or neglect to include situations in which a parent or guardian attempts to transition a child to a sex or gender different from the child’s “biological sex.” The proposal was left in committee.
Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, introduced HB 8 to establish procedures for selecting and overseeing Virginia delegates to a potential constitutional convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution.
The bill would have permitted lawmakers to recall delegates, required adherence to legislative instructions and imposed criminal penalties for exceeding their authority, but a House subcommittee killed it this month.
Legislators will continue to debate and tweak the bills that survived the first half of the session, preparing to send them to Spanberger for approval, amendment or rejection. The governor and both chambers will also work together to pass the state budget in the coming weeks. The legislative session is slated to end March 14.
Re-published with permission of Virginia Mercury