2024 Priority Legislation

of the Virginia Grassroots Coalition

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Climate

Campaign Finance

Passed House & Senate

Vetoed

Approved by Gov

Gov made recommendations

Cat	Number	Title	Patron	House	Senate	GA	Governor	updated
2024 Priority Bills Approved by Governor
climate	HB 106 Support	Shared solar programs; amends existing program provisions to apply to Dominion Energy Virginia. more... Amends existing shared solar program provisions to apply to Dominion Energy Virginia (Phase II Utility). The bill provides that a customer's net bill for participation in the shared solar program means the resulting amount a customer must pay the utility after the bill credit, defined in relevant law, is deducted from the customer's monthly gross utility bill. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to establish a minimum bill, below which a subscriber's net bill cannot go, that is calculated based on the amount of kilowatt-hours billed by the utility. The bill also changes the shared solar program capacity to at least 10 percent of each utility's adjusted Virginia peak load and requires the Commission's regulations to allow for program participation by all jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional customer classes. ...	Sullivan (D)	Passed (54-Y 44-N)	Passed 22-17	Enrolled	Approved Effective 7/1/24	4/9/24
voting rights	HB 128 Support	Local regulation of door-to-door vendors; political parties exempted. more... Provides that local ordinances regulating the activities of door-to-door vendors shall not apply to any person participating in certain specified political activities.	Watts (D)	Passed (98-Y 0-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/3/24
justice	HB 555 Support	Corrections Ombudsman, Office of the Department of; created, report. more... Creates, within the Office of the State Inspector General, the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (the Office) headed by an Ombudsman who is selected by a Corrections Oversight Committee (the Committee), also created by the bill.	Hope (D)	Passed (98-Y-0-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
education	HB 626 Support	Public schools; certain local school divisions; youth and community violence prevention. more... Establishes the Community Builders Pilot Program and Fund for the purpose of reducing youth involvement in behaviors that lead to gun violence and increasing community engagement among public school students by providing to students who are entering the eighth grade and enrolled in Roanoke City Public Schools and Petersburg City Public Schools ...	Rasoul (D)	Passed (99-Y 0-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/3/24
education	HB 632 Support	Teachers; certain licenses and certificates. more... Makes several changes to provisions of law relating to the licensure and certification of teachers, including (i) establishing universal licensure by reciprocity as a category of teacher licensure in the Commonwealth for certain licensed out-of-state teachers, regardless of the traditional or alternative nature of the education preparation programs that they completed;	Rasoul (D)	Passed (99-Y 0-N)	Passed w substitute (39-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
campaign finance	HB 730 Support	Campaign finance; independent expenditure reports; electronic filing required. more... Requires independent expenditure reports to be filed electronically. Current law allows such reports to be filed either electronically or in writing.	Sickles (D)	Passed (99-Y 0-N)	Passed (39-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/25)	4/2/24
governance	HB 894 Support	Virginia Freedom of Information Act; electronic meetings. more... Amends the number of all-virtual public meetings that public bodies, with certain exceptions, may convene in a calendar year to no more than two times per calendar year or 50 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater. ...	Bennett-Parker (D)	Passed (74-Y 26-N)	Passed (32-Y 7-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	3/9/24
rights	HB 994 Support	Legal age for marriage. more... Establishes the legal age of marriage to be 18 years of age and eliminates the ability for a minor to be declared emancipated on the basis of the intent to marry.	Keys-Gamarra (D)	Passed (55-Y 42-N)	Passed w amendment (39-Y 1-N)	Enrolled by House	Approved Effective 7/1/24	4/9/24
governance	HB 1040 Support	Virginia Freedom of Information Act; definition of 'caregiver;' remote participation in meetings. more... Provides that for purposes of determining whether a quorum is physically assembled, an individual member of a public body who is a person with a disability or a caregiver, defined in the bill, and uses remote participation counts toward the quorum as if the individual was physically present. ...	Bennett-Parker (D)	Passed (100-Y 0-N)	Passed (26-Y 12-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
workers	SB 16 Support	Search warrants; menstrual health data prohibited, definition. more... Prohibits the issuance of a search warrant for the search and seizure of menstrual health data, as defined in the bill, stored on a computer, computer network, or other device containing electronic or digital information.	Favola (D)	Passed (51-Y 49-N)	Passed (22-Y 18-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/8/24
governance	SB 85 Support	Virginia Freedom of Information Act; definition of "caregiver;" remote participation in meetings by persons with disabilities and caregivers; remote voting. more... Provides that for purposes of determining whether a quorum is physically assembled, an individual member of a public body who is a person with a disability or a caregiver, defined in the bill, and uses remote participation counts toward the quorum as if the individual was physically present. ...	Favola (D)	Passed (95-Y 3-N)	Passed (28-Y 11-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
climate	SB 253 Support	Shared solar programs; amends existing program provisions to apply to Dominion Energy Virginia. more... Amends existing shared solar program provisions to apply to Dominion Energy Virginia (Phase II Utility). The bill provides that a customer's net bill for participation in the shared solar program means the resulting amount a customer must pay the utility after the bill credit, defined in relevant law, is deducted from the customer's monthly gross utility bill. ...	Surovell (D)	Passed (51-Y 47-N)	Passed (23-Y 17-N)	Enrolled	Approved Effective 7/1/24	4/9/24
education	SB 272 Support	Public school staffing ratios; teachers; English language learner students. more... Requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support divisionwide ratios of English language learner students in average daily membership to full-time equivalent teaching positions as follows: ...	Hashmi (D)	Passed w. sub (57-Y 43-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/10/24
justice	SB 456 Support	Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman; created. more... Creates, within the Office of the State Inspector General, the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (the Office) headed by an Ombudsman who is selected by a Corrections Oversight Committee (the Committee), also created by the bill. The bill provides that the Committee is made up of four members of the General Assembly and 11 nonlegislative citizen members who monitor the activities of the Ombudsman and the Department of Corrections (the Department). ...	Marsden (D)	Passed (97-Y 0-N)	Passed (37-Y-2-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	4/9/24
campaign finance	SB 692 Support	Campaign finance; independent expenditure reports; electronic filing required. more... Requires independent expenditure reports to be filed electronically. Current law allows such reports to be filed either electronically or in writing.	Perry (D)	Passed (100-Y 0-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/25)	4/2/24
governance	SB 734 Support	Virginia Freedom of Information Act; electronic meetings. more... Amends the number of all-virtual public meetings that public bodies, with certain exceptions, may convene in a calendar year to no more than two times per calendar year or 50 percent of the meetings held per calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater. ...	Marsden (D)	Passed (79-Y 20-N)	Passed (35 Y 4N)	Enrolled	Approved (effective 7/1/24)	3/29/24
climate	SB 737 Support	Energy efficiency programs. more...	Surovell (D)	Passed w. substitute (50-Y 46-N)	Passed w. substitute (21-Y 19-N)	Enrolled	Approved Effective 7/1/24	4/9/24

No. of bills: 17

General info

2024 Session dates

Jan 10: Session begins
Jan 19: Last day to introduce bills
Feb 13: Crossover*
Mar 7: Last day to act on remaining bills
Mar 9: Session adjourns
April 17-24: Reconvened session

House Meeting Schedule
Senate Meeting Schedule

Overriding a Veto

"The Governor may veto the bill if he objects to it by returning the bill with his objections to the house in which the bill originated. The house shall enter the objections in its journal and reconsider the bill. The house may override the veto by a two-thirds vote of the members present, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the members elected to that house. If the house of origin overrides the Governor's veto, it shall send the bill and Governor's objections to the other house where the bill shall be reconsidered. The second house may override the Governor's veto by a two-thirds vote of the members present, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the members elected to that house. If both houses override the Governor's veto, the bill shall become law without his signature. If either house fails to override the Governor's veto, the veto shall stand and the bill shall not become law." -Virginia Constitution

Constitutional Amendments

Amendments to the Virginia Constitution require that a resolution be passed by a majority of both houses during a session and then held over to be passed again by the next elected legislature, with an election intervening between the two approvals. If it succeeds the second time, voters must approve the change in a referendum before it can take effect.

Glossary

Dillon Rule. Restricts local government authority to enact ordinances.

Conference Committee. A temporary committee w. members from both the House and Senate, tasked with reconciling differences in legislation that passed both chambers.

Continued/Carried over. Action taken in an even-numbered year to postpone the consideration of a measure until the next regular session of the General Assembly.

Crossover. The last day for a bill to pass out of the chamber in which it was introduced and move forward for consideration in the opposite chamber. If a bill does not move forward, it is "Left" (dead).

Engrossed. A legislative stage when a bill passes the second reading in the House of origin. Every bill has to be "read" on the floor three times before voting on it. The action or any debate or discussion usually comes on the day of the second reading or the third reading.

Enrolled. Legislation which has passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate, signed by the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate, sent to the Governor, but not yet signed.

Failed to report. Defeated. The rejection of a motion to 'report' a bill to the full chamber.

Incorporated. Rolled into someone another bill. Either because they're identical, or they have incorporated *some* of the language in, and the patron agreed to have her name on the other bill.

Patron. Bill sponsor. There can be many patrons.

PBI. Passed by Indefinitely. Action to allow a committee to reconsider legislation at a later meeting. If the committee takes no further action, the bill is dead. [Usually the bill is dead.]

Referred. The assignment of legislation to another standing committee with no stance on the policy of the measure (neither endorses nor rejects the legislation).

Reported. The approval of a measure by the majority of the committee. The legislation may be reported by the committee with or without amendments. A bill may also be reported and referred to another committee.

Stricken. Legislation removed from a committee's docket, frequently at the request of the patron.

More definitions from League of Women Voters Virginia
More definitions from University of Virginia