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 Good Governance
governance	HB 265 Support	Removal of public officers from office; petition requirements; procedure. more... Requires the signatures collected on a petition for removal of certain public officers to be collected within 90 days of the first signature being collected and provides that no signatures gathered after such period shall count toward the required number. ...	Simon (D)	Passed (58-Y 37-N), then (63-Y 37-N) w Senate substitute	Passed w substitute (22-Y 17-N)	Enrolled	Vetoed 4/8/2024	4/9/24
governance	HB 440 Support	Elections; candidates for office; electronic filing of forms, petitions, and notifications. more... The bill requires the Department of Elections to develop and implement an online filing system to accept any form, petition, or notification filed by electronic means by a party official or candidate. The bill requires the State Board of Elections to develop standards for the electronic preparation, production, submission, and transmittal of all forms required of party officials and candidates. The bill also requires the State Board to prescribe all candidate and party forms in both paper and electronic formats. ...	Cole (D)	Continued Bill will be heard in 2025 after ELECT system updated				2/2/24
governance	HB 658 Support	Elections; conduct of election; ranked choice voting; locally elected offices; report. more... Allows elections for any local or constitutional office to be conducted by ranked choice voting. Under current law, only elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council are allowed to be conducted by ranked choice voting. The bill also clarifies requirements for conducting elections using ranked choice voting and requires results for elections conducted by ranked choice voting to be reported along with other results reported on election night, except that such results must clearly be identified as preliminary and based on the first rankings in a ranked choice voting election. ...	Cole (D)	Continued by house vote - continuing until 2025				1/23/24
governance	HB 841 Support	Elections; conduct of election; ranked choice voting; locally elected offices; report. more... Allows elections for any local or constitutional office to be conducted by ranked choice voting. Under current law, only elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council are allowed to be conducted by ranked choice voting. ...	Hope (D)	Left Rules				2/13/24
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
governance	HB 911 Support	Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council; staffing; annual audit of certain disclosure forms; lobbyist registration and reporting; civil penalties. more... Provides for an annual audit of the Statement of Economic Interests disclosure forms filed by members of the General Assembly to ensure the completeness and material accuracy of the information disclosed. The bill directs the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council to appoint and employ an executive director; currently, the Division of Legislative Services employs the executive director and provides additional staff assistance. ...	Shin (D)	Left Rules				2/13/24
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
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
governance	SB 270 Support	Elections; presidential primaries; ranked choice voting. more... Allows political parties to hold presidential primaries using ballots that allow a voter to rank such party's candidates in his order of choice.	Subramanyam (D)	Continued to 2025 by voice vote	Passed (21-Y 0-19 N)			2/24/24
governance	SB 428 Support	Elections; any local or constitutional office may be conducted by ranked choice voting. more... Allows elections for any local or constitutional office to be conducted by ranked choice voting. Under current law, only elections of members of a county board of supervisors or a city council are allowed to be conducted by ranked choice voting. ...	VanValkenburg (D)	Passed w sub (54-Y 44-N)	Passed (21-Y 19-N)	Agreed	Vetoed 4/8/24	4/9/24
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

No. of bills: 11

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