Bills & Legislation

Commending Richmond Raceway.

Commending Richmond Raceway.

Lamont BagbyDemocrat

Commending Alexander Yui.

Commending Alexander Yui.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Celebrating the life of the Honorable Barnie Keith Day.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable Barnie Keith Day.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Miller, Yvonne Bond; portrait thereof to be framed and placed in the Capitol.

The Honorable Yvonne Bond Miller; portrait. Authorizes the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission, in consultation with the Clerks of the Senate of Virginia and the House of Delegates, to contract for, have painted, and have appropriately framed and placed in the Capitol a portrait of the Honorable Yvonne Bond Miller. As introduced, this resolution was a recommendation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.

Mamie E. LockeDemocrat

Commending the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

Commending the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Martin Gerald Farber.

Celebrating the life of Martin Gerald Farber.

Richard H. StuartRepublican

Celebrating the life of Edward Douglas Harris.

Celebrating the life of Edward Douglas Harris.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Commending Thomas D. Harvey.

Commending Thomas D. Harvey.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Commending the Reverend Dr. Roberta Young-Jackson.

Commending the Reverend Dr. Roberta Young-Jackson.

Jerrauld C. "Jay" JonesDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Harlan Ray Beckley.

Celebrating the life of Harlan Ray Beckley.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Commending the NAC Save Our Youth Foundation, Inc.

Commending the NAC Save Our Youth Foundation, Inc.

Angelia Williams GravesDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Sincere B. Allah.

Celebrating the life of Sincere B. Allah.

Jennifer B. BoyskoDemocrat

Commending W.T. Nottingham.

Commending W.T. Nottingham.

Bill DeStephRepublican

Booker T. Washington Commemorative Commission; reconstituted as a joint commission.

Booker T. Washington Commemorative Commission; reconstituted as a joint commission. Provides for the Booker T. Washington Commemorative Commission, established originally as a Senate commission for the purpose of honoring Booker T. Washington with a statue in the Old Senate Chamber, to be reconstituted as a joint commission consisting of members of both the Senate and the House of Delegates. The commission's purpose is also expanded to study and recommend an appropriate statue to be located on Capitol Square.

Mamie E. LockeDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Lucille Murray Brown.

Celebrating the life of Lucille Murray Brown.

Lamont BagbyDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Marvin Sherlock Holmes, Sr.

Celebrating the life of Marvin Sherlock Holmes, Sr.

Lashrecse D. AirdDemocrat

Commending Huntley Meadows Park.

Commending Huntley Meadows Park.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Virginia Mozell Jefferson Tyler.

Celebrating the life of Virginia Mozell Jefferson Tyler.

Lashrecse D. AirdDemocrat

Commending Jerren Lucas, Sr.

Commending Jerren Lucas, Sr.

Lashrecse D. AirdDemocrat

Commending Woodley Hills Elementary School.

Commending Woodley Hills Elementary School.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Margaret Peters Stalnaker.

Celebrating the life of Margaret Peters Stalnaker.

Christie New CraigRepublican

Commending Curtis Allen.

Commending Curtis Allen.

Lashrecse D. AirdDemocrat

Commending Groveton Elementary School.

Commending Groveton Elementary School.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Claudia Hantman Arko.

Celebrating the life of Claudia Hantman Arko.

Jennifer B. BoyskoDemocrat

Celebrating the life of Gladys Mae West.

Celebrating the life of Gladys Mae West.

Richard H. StuartRepublican

Commending Historic Huntley.

Commending Historic Huntley.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Commending Corner Bakery.

Commending Corner Bakery.

Bill DeStephRepublican

Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program; establishment of student meal plan credit donation program.

Institutions of higher education; Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program; establishment of student meal plan credit donation program. Renames the Hunger-Free Campus Food Pantry Grant Program, established pursuant to applicable law, as "the Hunger-Free Campus Grant Program" and amends the Program by expanding the criteria that a public institution of higher education or eligible private institution of higher education must satisfy to receive a designation as a "Hunger-Free Campus" and be awarded a grant under the Program to include a requirement that any such institution to establish both (i) an on-campus food pantry, pursuant to current law, and (ii) if such institution offers a meal swipe program or equivalent student meal swipe plan, a student meal credit sharing program, whereby students may voluntarily donate unused meal plan credits to be distributed for use by other students at campus dining halls or at its on-campus food pantry or to otherwise support its on-campus food pantry. The bill also requires grants awarded pursuant to the Program to be used to support on-campus efforts and initiatives to eliminate student food insecurity at such institution through the maintenance and operation of both its food pantry, pursuant to current law, and its student meal credit sharing program established in accordance with the bill.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat

Challenges of qualified voters; duty of local electoral board to certify, civil penalty.

Elections; challenges of qualified voters; duty of local electoral board to certify; civil penalty. Provides that the certification of the results of an election is a clear ministerial duty of the local electoral boards and that a member of the local electoral board who neglects or refuses to perform such duty in accordance with law shall be subject to removal proceedings by the State Board of Elections and assessed a civil penalty not exceeding $1,000. The bill also authorizes the State Board of Elections to intervene and carry out the duties related to election certification in the event a local electoral board fails or refuses to do so. Additionally, the bill prohibits challenges to a voter's qualification to vote from any person who is not an officer of election.

Kannan SrinivasanDemocrat

Artificial Intelligence Companion Chatbots and Minors Act; established, enforcement, civil penalty.

Artificial Intelligence Chatbots and Minors Act established; enforcement; civil penalties; individual action. Creates the Artificial Intelligence Chatbots and Minors Act to require a covered entity, defined in the bill, to (i) implement certain reasonable systems and processes, (ii) make reasonable efforts to notify appropriate emergency services or law enforcement if it obtains knowledge that a user faces an imminent risk of death or serious physical injury, and (iii) submit a report to the Attorney General after obtaining knowledge of certain covered incidents, defined in the bill, connected to one or more of its chatbots. The bill also requires an operator, defined in the bill, to disclose the non-human nature of the chatbot to users at certain intervals. The bill authorizes the Attorney General to initiate an action to seek an injunction and civil penalties for violations and also provides an individual civil action for any person harmed by a violation or the parent or legal guardian of a minor harmed by a violation.

Tara A. DurantRepublican

Retail Sales and Use Tax; definitions, imposes firearm and ammunition tax.

Retail sales and use tax; firearm and ammunition tax. Imposes a firearm and ammunition tax equal to 11 percent of the gross receipts from the sale and distribution of any firearm or ammunition by a firearms or ammunition manufacturer, as such terms are defined in the bill. The bill provides that proceeds from such tax shall be distributed to the general fund with the intent that such proceeds are used for gun violence prevention efforts and community safety in the Commonwealth. The bill contains a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Angelia Williams GravesDemocrat

Transit-oriented housing overlay districts; definitions, ordinances, report, sunset.

Transit-oriented housing overlay districts. Requires certain localities to establish one or more transit-oriented housing overlay districts covering qualifying areas, as defined in the bill, within their boundaries. The bill provides that within such overlay districts, the locality shall permit, by right, a minimum height of six stories and a minimum average density of 30 units per acre within one-quarter of a mile of a major transit stop and allow two units per lot and four units per corner lot between one-quarter of a mile and one mile from a such a stop. The bill further provides that applications for such housing development shall be approved ministerially by the zoning administrator or other designated official and that no public hearing is required for approval. The bill allows certain areas within a locality to be excluded from its provisions and sunsets on September 1, 2030. The bill has a delayed effective date of September 1, 2027.

Saddam Azlan SalimDemocrat

Oral threat to kill or to do bodily harm; employees of local or state dept. of social serv. penalty.

Oral threat to kill or to do bodily harm; employees of local or state department of social services; penalty. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who orally makes a threat to kill or do bodily injury to any employee the Department of Social Services or a local department of social services, as those terms as defined in relevant law, who is engaged in the performance of his duties.

Tammy Brankley MulchiRepublican

Health insurance; coverage of medications prescribed for treatment of cancer & diseases of blood.

Health insurance; treatment of cancer and certain diseases; coverage of certain medications. Requires an insurer, corporation providing preferred provider subscription contracts, or health maintenance organization that provides coverage for drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration and prescribed for the treatment of cancer or diseases of the blood to allow, at the patient's direction, (i) provider-administered drugs for such treatment to be dispensed by an in-network treating provider consistent with a provider agreement; (ii) provider-administered drugs for such treatment to be dispensed by an in-network treating provider when there is a documented delay of at least three days in the delivery of a medication from the designated specialty pharmacy; and (iii) self-administered drugs for such treatment to be sent to the pharmacy of the patient's choosing.

Todd E. PillionRepublican

Six-Year Capital Outlay Plan Advisory Committee; agencies shall provide assist. to Comm. on request.

General funds, bonds, and capital outlay. Removes the Executive Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the Secretary of Finance from the Six-Year Capital Outlay Plan Advisory Committee. The bill also provides that the Six-Year Capital Outlay Plan Advisory Committee consists of four members, with voting privileges, including the staff directors of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget, and the Director of the Department of General Services.

L. Louise LucasDemocrat

Marcus alert system; external database information removal.

Marcus alert system; external database information removal. Clarifies that an individual's information may continue to appear on a voluntary Marcus alert system external database that cannot be modified by a locality after such individual reaches 18 years of age. This bill is a recommendation of the Behavioral Health Commission.

Tara A. DurantRepublican

Health carriers; use of artificial intelligence, disclosures.

Health carriers; use of artificial intelligence; disclosures. Requires health carriers to disclose to the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance how artificial intelligence is used to manage claims coverage and to submit all information enabling decisions made by artificial intelligence to the Bureau upon request. The bill also requires health carriers to provide notice to enrollees and health care providers when artificial intelligence has been used to issue an adverse determination and to provide a clear and timely process for appeal of such determination.

Saddam Azlan SalimDemocrat

Unlicensed care homes; homes to register with Department of Social Services.

Department of Social Services; unlicensed care homes; registration. Requires every person that constitutes, or that operates or maintains, an unlicensed care home, defined in the bill, to register such home with the Commissioner of the Department of Social Services.

Jen Kiggans - to resign 12/31Republican

Time zone; permanent Eastern Standard Time in the Commonwealth.

Time zone; permanent Eastern Standard Time in the Commonwealth. Provides that the Commonwealth shall observe Eastern Standard Time year-round upon the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland enacting legislation providing that United States Eastern Standard Time shall be observed in all parts of the respective district or state year-round.

Richard H. StuartRepublican

Parole; investigation prior to release, input from the attorney for the Commonwealth.

Parole; investigation prior to release; input from the attorney for the Commonwealth. Requires the Parole Board to notify the attorney for the Commonwealth in each jurisdiction in which an offense occurred for which a prisoner is incarcerated as part of the required investigation to determine if such prisoner will be released on parole. The bill further provides that the attorney for the Commonwealth may submit his input to the Board regarding the impact the release of the prisoner will have on the jurisdiction. The bill requires that any such input received shall be considered by the Board but shall not infringe on the Board's authority to exercise its decision-making authority.

David R. SuetterleinRepublican

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 seven 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

Land and urban areas; DCR shall assess how best to achieve permanent conservation by 2036, report.

Department of Conservation and Recreation; permanent land conservation feasibility; report. Directs the Department of Conservation and Recreation to assess how best to achieve permanent conservation by 2036 of (i) 20 percent of the land area of the Commonwealth and (ii) 10 percent of urban areas of the Commonwealth. The bill directs the Department to submit a report on its findings and any recommendations to achieve such permanent conservation goals to the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committees on Appropriations and Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources no later than November 1, 2026.

R. Creigh DeedsDemocrat

Children's Ombudsman, Office of the; study extending oversight to include committed juveniles.

Virginia Commission on Youth; work group to study extending oversight of Office of the Children's Ombudsman to include committed juveniles; report. Directs the Virginia Commission on Youth, in coordination with the Office of the Children's Ombudsman, to convene a work group of relevant stakeholders to study the changes necessary to extend the purview of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman to include juveniles who are committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice. The bill requires the work group to submit to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 2026, a report of its findings and any recommendations for any legislative and organizational changes needed to implement such extension of oversight. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Commission on Youth.

David W. MarsdenDemocrat

Sodium Chloride; alternatives to use to treat and pretreat roadways for winter weather, report.

Study; Virginia Department of Transportation; alternatives to use of Sodium Chloride to treat and pretreat roadways for winter weather; report. Directs the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to conduct a study on safe and environmentally sensitive alternatives to using Sodium Chloride, or rock salt, to treat and pretreat roadways for winter weather. Such study shall measure the impact of current treatment and pretreatment substances on infrastructure and the environment and their corrosive effects on personal property and compare such impacts with those of potential alternatives, including nonchemical substances and new technologies. VDOT is directed to submit a report to the chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Transportation by November 15, 2026, on its findings and include in such report an accounting of the annual spending by the state and local governments since 2020 on treating and pretreating activities and the amounts budgeted for 2026-2028.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat

School boards; payment of school meal debt.

Department of Education; impact of requiring each school board to pay unpaid meal balance from uncollectible school meal debts; report. Directs the Department of Education to evaluate and submit to the chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Education and Health and the House Committees on Appropriations and Education by November 1, 2026, a report on the impact of requiring each school board, at the end of each school year, to pay for the total unpaid school meal balance on the nonprofit food service account of each public elementary or secondary school in the school division resulting from uncollectible school meal debts on any student account.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act; established, creates data center land conservation tax.

Virginia's Great Outdoors Act established; land preservation distributions and appropriations. Creates a data center land preservation tax on and after January 1, 2027, in an amount equal to $3 per square foot of each data center facility footprint, as defined in the bill, and directs no less than $250 million of revenues from the tax to be distributed for various land protection and preservation purposes, including into the Virginia Tribal Commitment Fund, as created in the bill. The bill also repeals provisions requiring the Governor to include in the budget bill or in his amendments to the general appropriation act a recommended appropriation from the general fund, up to $20 million, for land preservation as follows: (i) 80 percent of the unissued credits to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund, of which at least 50 percent must be used for acquisitions with public access; (ii) 10 percent to the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund; and (iii) 10 percent to the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund.

Russet PerryDemocrat

Site cleanup guidelines; residential property and other buildings used for illicit drugs.

Board of Health; site cleanup guidelines; other illicit drugs. Directs the Board of Health to establish guidelines for the cleanup of residential property and other sites formerly used to manufacture illicit drugs. Under current law, the Board of Health is only required to establish such guidelines for sites formerly used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Emily M. JordanRepublican

Motor vehicle collisions; preservation and collection of certain mobile telephone data.

Motor vehicle collisions; preservation and collection of certain mobile telephone data; collision reports. Allows an attorney who has certified that he represents a party involved in a motor vehicle collision to request in writing that the mobile telephone provider of another party alleged to have caused or contributed to the cause of such collision preserve for a period of 180 days from the date of such preservation request certain information related to such other party's mobile telephone. In addition, the bill requires any collision report filed as a result of such collision to include the mobile telephone number, mobile telephone provider, and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number for any driver involved in a motor vehicle collision. The bill also creates a rebuttable presumption of spoliation of evidence where a person refuses to provide such information to a law-enforcement officer for such collision report and where such refusal materially prevents another person involved in such collision from showing liability for the collision.

Scott A. SurovellDemocrat

Civil actions; assignment as business litigation action, requirements, delayed effective date.

Civil actions; assignment as business litigation action; requirements. Allows counsel for any party or the judge of the circuit court initially assigned to certain civil actions to request to have such action assigned by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia to have such civil action assigned as a business litigation action. The bill provides that an action to be eligible to be considered a business litigation action, the action shall (i) have a minimum amount in controversy of $1,000,000, (ii) present special complexity, including specialized issues or acute litigation management needs, and (iii) fall into one or more of several enumerated categories of civil actions. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

Jennifer D. Carroll FoyDemocrat

Absentee voting; counting ballots prior to the close of polls.

Elections; absentee voting; counting ballots prior to the close of polls. Allows officers of election at a central absentee precinct to begin ascertaining and recording the number of votes cast by absentee ballots at any time after noon on the day of the election. Under current law, absentee ballots that are counted by hand may be tallied, but not counted, at any time after noon on the day of the election, and no ballot totals for any absentee ballots shall be ascertained until after polls close. The bill also clarifies that vote totals for absentee ballots cast in person on voting systems cannot be determined until the day of the election. The bill also requires that general registrars begin processing absentee ballots on the fourteenth day prior to the day of the election. Under current law such processing is not required until the seventh day prior to the day of the election.

Danica A. RoemDemocrat