Bills & Legislation

Local ordinances; regulation of pet shops.

Sale of dogs and cats by pet shops; consumer education; work group; report. Directs the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (the Department) to convene a work group to analyze and evaluate currently collected data on the sale of dogs and cats by pet shops to identify what information a pet shop shall make available to a prospective dog or cat owner. The bill requires the work group to include representatives from animal welfare organizations, pet shops that sell dogs and cats, and any other relevant stakeholders the Department deems appropriate. The bill requires the Department to submit a report on the work group's findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources no later than November 1, 2025.

Saddam Azlan SalimDemocrat

Juvenile & domestic relations district courts; delinquent juveniles; social assessment & evaluation.

Juvenile and domestic relations district courts; mental health and social assessments. Provides that if a juvenile is found to be delinquent, that a juvenile and domestic relations district court may, before final disposition of the case, direct the appropriate public agency to evaluate such juvenile's service needs using an interdisciplinary approach. The bill permits the juvenile and domestic relations district court, in the alternative, to consider an existing report from an interdisciplinary team if such interdisciplinary team met not more than 90 days prior to the finding that the juvenile is delinquent.

Barbara A. FavolaDemocrat

Virginia Retirement System; return to work, sunset date.

Virginia Retirement System; return to work. Allows a retired sworn law-enforcement officer who returns to employment as an instructor at a regional criminal justice academy to continue receiving his service retirement allowance. Such employment shall not increase, decrease, or affect in any way his retirement benefits before, during, or after such employment. Under current law, a retired law-enforcement officer may return to full-time employment without impact on his retirement benefits only if he is employed as a school security officer. The bill has a sunset date of July 1, 2028.

Tara A. DurantRepublican

High-risk artificial intelligence; development, deployment, and use by public bodies, report.

High-risk artificial intelligence; development, deployment, and use by public bodies; work group; report. Creates requirements for the development, deployment, and use of high-risk artificial intelligence systems, as defined in the bill, by state public bodies. The bill also directs the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth (CIO) to develop, publish, and maintain policies and procedures concerning the development, procurement, implementation, utilization, and ongoing assessment of systems that employ high-risk artificial intelligence systems that are consistent with such requirements created by the bill. The bill directs the CIO to convene a work group to examine the impact on and the ability of local governments to comply with the requirements of the bill. The substantive requirements of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Lashrecse D. AirdDemocrat

Emergency resource management system; Chief Information Officer, et al.; to develop.

Chief Information Officer and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency; development of an emergency resource management system for the Commonwealth. Directs the Chief Information Officer and the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, in cooperation with the Department of Emergency Management, to develop an emergency resource management system for use by the Commonwealth during a declared state of emergency. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Pandemic Response and Preparedness in the Commonwealth.

Barbara A. FavolaDemocrat

Remote monitoring services for pregnant and postpartum patients; reimbursement.

Department of Medical Assistance Services; remote monitoring services for pregnant and postpartum patients; reimbursement. Expands provision for payment of medical assistance for remote patient monitoring services provided via telemedicine to include all pregnant and postpartum persons. Under current law, only high-risk pregnancies are covered.

Mamie E. LockeDemocrat

Foster care; housing services, housing plan, report.

Foster care; housing services; housing plan; report. Requires local departments of social services to develop housing plans for individuals leaving foster care due to age that includes a description of housing options being pursued. The bill requires the Commissioner of Social Services to provide reports to the Governor and General Assembly on housing services for individuals aging out of foster care on or before October 1 of each year. The bill grants the Department of Social Services the authority to enter into a memorandum of understanding with local public housing authorities or housing programs to facilitate access to grant dollars for the Foster Youth to Independence Initiative under the Family Unification Program Housing Choice Vouchers. The bill directs local departments of social services to collaborate with local housing authorities to secure Family Unification Program Housing Choice Vouchers for certain youth enumerated in the bill. Finally, the bill directs local public housing authorities and local departments of social services to collaborate to administer the Foster Youth to Independence Initiative.

Barbara A. FavolaDemocrat

Casino gaming; eligible host localities.

Casino gaming; eligible host localities. Adds Fairfax County to the list of localities eligible to host a casino in the Commonwealth and provides that any proposed site for a casino gaming establishment considered by Fairfax County shall be (i) located within one-quarter of a mile of an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development consisting of no less than 1.5 million square feet, (iii) within two miles of a regional enclosed mall containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area, and (iv) outside of the Interstate 495 Beltway.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Line of Duty Act; payments to beneficiaries.

Line of Duty Act; payments to beneficiaries. Provides that if a deceased person, as that term is defined in the Line of Duty Act, died as a result of certain cancers within 10 years from his date of retirement, his beneficiary shall be entitled to the payment of certain benefits. Under current law, such beneficiary shall be entitled to such payment if the deceased person's death (i) arose out of and in the course of his employment or (ii) was within five years from his date of retirement.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Garnishments; automatic exemption, accounts with depository institution.

Poor debtor's exemption; depository institution account exemption. Allows a householder to hold exempt from creditor process up to $500 held in a depository institution. The bill provides that a depository institution shall, upon receipt of an order of garnishment, attachment, or other levy, answer such order and, if the householder maintains a deposit account or accounts with such depository institution, state that (i) the total amount in such account or accounts does not exceed $500 or (ii) the total amount in such account or accounts does exceed $500 and that the amount of funds in excess of $500 is being held by such institution pending further order of the court. The bill further provides that, beginning on April 1, 2027, any increases in exempt amounts shall be adjusted at three-year intervals to reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill provides that such adjustments shall be calculated by the Department of Planning and Budget.

Phil M. HernandezDemocrat

Public elementary & secondary schools; copies of minor's discharge plan sent to schools and parents.

Discharge plans; copies to public elementary and secondary schools. Provides that, prior to the discharge of any minor admitted to inpatient treatment (i) who is a student at a public elementary or secondary school and (ii) for whom the facility deems (a) such discharge poses a threat of violence or physical harm to himself and others or (b) additional educational services are needed, such facility is required to provide to the school's mental health professional or school counselor the portions of such discharge plan relevant to the threat of violence or harm or the necessary additional educational services. The bill requires such facility to, prior to providing any such portions of any minor's discharge plan, provide to the parent of such minor student reasonable notice of the types of information that would be included in any portions of the discharge plan being provided and of the parent's right to, upon written request, refuse the provision of any such information.

Mark D. ObenshainRepublican

Commending Phyllis Randall.

Commending Phyllis Randall.

Marty MartinezDemocrat

FOIA; procedure for responding to requests, charges, posting of notice of rights & responsibilities.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; procedure for responding to requests; charges; posting of notice of rights and responsibilities. Limits the fees charged for producing public records to the median hourly rate of pay of employees of the public body or the actual hourly rate of pay of the person performing the work, whichever is less, and provides that a public body may petition a court for relief from this fee limit if there is no one who can process the request at the median hourly rate of pay or less. The bill makes corresponding amendments to the required statement on charges in the notice of rights and responsibilities that must be posted on a public body's website. The bill also amends existing law providing that a public body may petition a court for additional time to respond to a request for public records to allow such petitions to be heard in either general district or circuit court, to give such petitions priority on the court's docket, and to toll the response time while such a petition is pending before a court. The bill makes technical amendments, including moving provisions regarding charges for the production of public records into a separate section of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat

Governor; confirming appointments.

Confirming Governor's appointments; January 24. Confirms appointments of certain persons made by Governor Glenn Youngkin and communicated to the General Assembly January 24, 2025.

Aaron R. RouseDemocrat

Commending Felix Maurizio.

Commending Felix Maurizio.

Bill DeStephRepublican

Horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering; amends definition of breakage.

Horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering; breakage. Amends the definition of "breakage" for the purposes of horse racing other than historical horse racing to mean the odd cents by which the amount payable on each dollar wagered exceeds one cent ($0.01). The bill also provides that 70 percent of the legitimate breakage from each pari-mutuel pool for historical horse racing shall be distributed to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund and 30 percent of such breakage shall be deposited in the Racing Benevolence Fund.

Paul E. KrizekDemocrat

Adult adoptee access to original birth certificate; contact preference form.

Adult adoptee access to original birth certificate; contact preference form. Allows the State Registrar to provide, upon written request, any adult adopted person access to his original birth certificate. The bill allows a birth parent to indicate whether they would like to be contacted by an adoptee on a contact preference form provided by the State Registrar that shall accompany the adoptee's original birth certificate, which shall be released to an adopted person when he requests his original birth certificate.

Wendell S. WalkerRepublican

High-risk artificial intelligence; development, deployment, and use by public bodies, report.

High-risk artificial intelligence; development, deployment, and use by public bodies; work group; report. Creates requirements for the development, deployment, and use of high-risk artificial intelligence systems, as defined in the bill, by public bodies. The bill also directs the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth (CIO) to develop, publish, and maintain policies and procedures concerning the development, procurement, implementation, utilization, and ongoing assessment of systems that employ high-risk artificial intelligence systems that are consistent with the requirements created by the bill. The bill directs the CIO to convene a work group to examine the impact on and the ability of local governments to comply with the requirements of the bill. The substantive requirements of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Bonita G. AnthonyDemocrat

Commending Ross A. Mugler.

Commending Ross A. Mugler.

W. Chad GreenRepublican

Unemployment benefits; maximum duration.

Unemployment benefits; maximum duration. Provides that, beginning July 1, 2025, for claims effective on or after July 1, 2025, an eligible individual's weekly unemployment compensation benefit amount shall be paid for a maximum duration of 26 weeks.

Marty MartinezDemocrat

Commending Scott McGeary.

Commending Scott McGeary.

Bryce E. ReevesRepublican

Commending Kimberly Ann Bobo.

Commending Kimberley Ann Bobo.

Betsy B. CarrDemocrat

Postrelease supervision; revocation of parole, supervision of certain felons, etc.

Revocation of postrelease supervision. Moves the supervision and oversight related to postrelease supervision from the Virginia Parole Board to the circuit court and probation office of the original sentencing jurisdiction.

Mark D. ObenshainRepublican

Commending Dave Perno.

Commending Dave Perno.

Mike A. CherryRepublican

Electric utilities; data center cost allocation.

Electric utilities; data center cost allocation. Directs the State Corporation Commission to initiate proceedings to determine if the current allocation of costs among different customer classifications of electric utilities requires customers that are not data centers to unreasonably subsidize the costs of customers that are data centers. If the Commission determines that the current allocation of costs requires customers that are not data centers to unreasonably subsidize the costs of customers that are data centers, the bill directs the Commission to promulgate such rules as necessary to eliminate or minimize such unreasonable subsidies to the maximum possible extent.

Russet PerryDemocrat

Standards of Quality; class size limits, exception for ensemble music classes.

Standards of Quality; class size limits; exception for certain ensemble music classes. Exempts any ensemble music class offered in grade six from the provision limiting the size of any class offered in grades four through six to no larger than 35 students and, instead, permits any such ensemble music class to have up to 45 students.

Tara A. DurantRepublican

Taxation; extension of expiring sunsets, etc.

Taxation; extension of expiring sunsets. Extends to taxable year 2026: 1. The exemption for discharged loans for eligible veterans currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 2. The credit for amounts paid to another state for income taxes of a pass-through entity currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 3. The standard deduction in an amount equal to $8,500 for single individuals and $17,000 for married persons currently set to revert to $3,000 for single individuals and $6,000 for married persons as of January 1, 2026; 4. The deduction for eligible educator expenses currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 5. The tax credit for low-income taxpayers currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 6. The tax credit for reforestation and afforestation currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 7. The election for eligible owners of pass-through entities to be taxed at the entity level currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 8. The subtractions from the numerators of the property and payroll apportionment factors for eligible companies for (i) property acquired in any qualified locality before January 1, 2025, and (ii) payroll attributable to jobs created within such locality before January 1, 2025; 9. The major business facility job tax credit currently set to expire July 1, 2025; 10. The worker training tax credit for (i) expenses incurred by a business for eligible worker training currently set to expire July 1, 2025, and (ii) direct costs incurred by a business engaged primarily in manufacturing in conducting orientation, instruction, and training in the Commonwealth, relating to the manufacturing activities undertaken by the business currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 11. The tax credit for purchase of machinery and equipment used for advanced recycling and processing recyclable materials currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 12. The tax credit for participating landlords renting qualified housing units (i) in eligible census tracts currently set to expire January 1, 2026, and (ii) in eligible non-metropolitan census tracts currently set to expire January 1, 2026; 13. The tax credit for green and alternative energy job creation currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 14. The tax credit for qualified research and development expenses currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 15. The tax credit for Virginia qualified major research and development expenses currently set to expire January 1, 2025; 16. The exemption from sales and use taxation for gold, silver, or platinum bullion or legal tender coins currently set to expire June 30, 2025; 17. The exemption from sales and use taxation for certain printed materials purchased from an advertising business from a printer within the Commonwealth and distributed outside the Commonwealth before July 1, 2025; and 18. The exemptions from sales and use taxation for (i) parts, engines, and supplies for aviation component parts currently set to expire July 1, 2025, and (ii) prescription medicines and drugs purchased by veterinarians currently set to expire July 1, 2025.

Vivian E. WattsDemocrat

Senate chamber; sale of chairs.

Senate chamber; sale of chairs. Provides for the sale of the chairs used in the Senate chamber to former and current Senators in accordance with guidelines established by the Clerk of the Senate.

Mamie E. LockeDemocrat

Commending Kimberly Ann Bobo.

Commending Kimberley Ann Bobo.

Barbara A. FavolaDemocrat

Commending Ken Jessup.

Commending Ken Jessup.

Christie New CraigRepublican

Unauthorized use of name, portrait, etc.; digital replica, civil liability, statute of limitations.

Unauthorized use of name, portrait, voice, likeness, or picture of any person; digital replica; civil liability; statute of limitations. Expands the existing ability for any person to maintain a suit in equity, including the accompanying remedies available, for the unauthorized use of his name, portrait, or picture for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade to include the unauthorized use of his voice or likeness. The bill also creates civil liability for a person who produces, distributes, or makes available the digital replica, defined in the bill, of a person's voice or likeness in an expressive audiovisual work or sound recording without prior written consent, with exceptions enumerated in the bill. The bill also extends the current statute of limitations for such civil suits from 20 years to 100 years after the death of such person.

Jackie H. GlassDemocrat

Loudoun County; DCR to accept certain property to establish a state park.

Department of Conservation and Recreation; acceptance of property to establish a state park; Loudoun County. Authorizes the Department of Conservation and Recreation to accept or acquire from The Conservation Fund approximately 1,240 acres of real property and any buildings or structures thereon between Little River Turnpike, James Monroe Highway, and Tail Race Road, known as Oak Hill Farm, in Loudoun County for the purpose of establishing and operating a state park that provides outdoor recreation and historical interpretation opportunities and supports agricultural uses on such property.

Alfonso H. LopezDemocrat

Firearms; secure storage, penalties.

Secure storage of firearms; penalties. Creates a Class 4 misdemeanor for any person who fails to securely store a firearm on any premises where such person knows, or reasonably should know, that a minor or a person who is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm is, or is likely to be, present. The bill increases the penalty to a Class 1 misdemeanor if a minor or a person who is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm obtains such firearm. The bill includes certain exceptions and requires firearms dealers to post a notice stating firearm storage requirements and the penalty for improperly storing such firearms. The bill also creates a Class 4 misdemeanor for any person who fails to report to law enforcement the theft or loss of a firearm from a vehicle and a Class 1 misdemeanor if another person obtains such firearm. Finally, the bill requires the Superintendent of State Police, in conjunction with the Commissioner of Health, to create a public awareness campaign on the importance of the secure storage of firearms by January 1, 2026.

Michael B. FeggansDemocrat

Illegal sale of cannabis; retail tobacco & hemp products, possession by person under 21yrs. of age.

Possession of retail tobacco products and hemp products intended for smoking by a person younger than 21 years of age prohibited; penalty. Prohibits any person younger than 21 years of age from possessing any retail tobacco product or hemp product intended for smoking, as those terms are defined in relevant law. A violation of such prohibition is punishable by seizure and forfeiture of such retail tobacco product or hemp product for a first violation. The bill imposes a civil penalty not to exceed $100 for a second violation and a civil penalty not to exceed $250 for a third or subsequent violation. The bill also provides that a court may, as an alternative to the civil penalty, and upon motion of the defendant, prescribe the performance of up to 20 hours of community service for a second violation and up to 40 hours of community service for a third or subsequent violation, but if the defendant fails or refuses to complete the community service as prescribed, the court may impose the civil penalty. Additionally, upon such violation, the judge may enter an order suspending the motor vehicle and driver's license of such person pursuant relevant law.

Mark J. PeakeRepublican

Commending the Cave Spring High School cheerleading team.

Commending the Cave Spring High School cheerleading team.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Celebrating the life of Matthew Charles Obenshain.

Celebrating the life of Matthew Charles Obenshain.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Commending Kathryn Ha.

Commending Kathryn Ha.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Commending The Family Foundation of Virginia.

Commending The Family Foundation of Virginia.

T. Travis HackworthRepublican

Celebrating the life of Gary Stephen Michel.

Celebrating the life of Gary Stephen Michel.

Stella G. PekarskyDemocrat

Commending the Salem Red Sox.

Commending the Salem Red Sox.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Commending the Roanoke Higher Education Center.

Commending the Roanoke Higher Education Center.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Celebrating the life of Jackson Stuart White, Jr.

Celebrating the life of Jackson Stuart White, Jr.

Todd E. PillionRepublican

Commending Tarrick McGuire.

Commending Tarrick McGuire.

Adam P. EbbinDemocrat

Celebrating the life of the Honorable Gerald ONeal Clemens.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable Gerald O'Neal Clemens.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Commending the Roanoke Bar Association.

Commending the Roanoke Bar Association.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

Celebrating the life of Shannon Clay Scott.

Celebrating the life of Shannon Clay Scott.

Todd E. PillionRepublican

Commending Evan Kinsel.

Commending Evan Kinsel.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat

Commending Colonel Douglas E. Moore, USA, Ret.

Commending Colonel Douglas E. Moore, USA, Ret.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat