Legislative Tracker
HB340
Migrant labor camp permits; removes expiration date.
Removes the annual December 31 expiration date for all issued migrant labor camp permits and provides that such permits expire 12 months from the date of issuance.
HB341
Plastic bag tax; distribution to towns.
If a county or city has a disposable plastic bag tax, then the towns within the county will also recieve the revenue from that tax.
HB342
Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission; magistrates, availability of complaint forms in courthouses.
Requires that paper copies of any standardized form developed and utilized by the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission and any standardized form developed and utilized by the Department of Magistrate Services in the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia for the filing of a complaint be made available to the public in the clerk’s office in all state courts of the Commonwealth. The bill also requires that a sign be posted in all such courts, in a location accessible to the public, that notes the availability and location of such forms.
HB343
Helmets; wearing whenever riding/carried on skateboard or scooter or nonmotorized scooter.
Permits localities to adopt ordinances requiring children 14 years of age or younger to wear protective helmets whenever riding or being carried on a motorized skateboard or scooter or a nonmotorized scooter. Current law authorizes localities to adopt such ordinances for riders of bicycles, electric personal assistive mobility devices, toy vehicles, and electric power-assisted bicycles.
HB373
Restaurants; food allergy awareness notice required.
Requires the State Health Commissioner to publish in multiple languages a notice on the Department of Health’s website containing procedures for restaurant staff to follow when a customer has a food allergy. The bill requires restaurants to post such notice in a conspicuous location. The bill also requires restaurants to include the phrase, “If you have a food allergy, please notify us,” and its translation, if applicable, on their menus or on a sign posted conspicuously in the restaurant.
HB513
Suicide fatality review teams, local and regional; established, membership, penalty.
Permits localities or combinations of localities to establish a local or regional suicide fatality review team. The bill provides exemptions from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for information and records obtained or created regarding a review of a fatality by such team.
HB515
Sports betting; prohibition on use of credit cards.
Prohibits the Director of the Virginia Lottery from approving the use of credit cards as a method for sports bettors to fund sports betting accounts. The bill also requires a permit holder to take reasonable measures to prohibit the acceptance of credit cards to fund sports betting accounts on its sports betting platform.
HB518
Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices, streaming advertisement volume control.
Requires a video streaming service, social media video service, or third-party advertising manager, as defined in the bill, that serves consumers residing in the Commonwealth to exercise reasonable care to normalize the audio of short-form content, as defined in the bill, so that such audio is not transmitted at a louder volume than the long-form content, also defined in the bill, it accompanies, consistent with the regulations adopted by the Federal Communications Commission pursuant to the federal Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act for television broadcast stations, cable operators, and other multichannel video programming distributors. The bill provides that the Office of the Attorney General shall enforce the provisions of the bill. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.
HB519
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; definition of essential services.
Adds central air conditioning when supplied by the landlord and operating or represented as operating as of the effective date of the rental agreement to the list of what constitutes an essential service for purposes of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
HB1061
Housing for local employees; grants for homeownership and workforce housing alternatives.
Eliminates the maximum amount a locality may provide (i) to employees of the locality, employees of the school board, and employees of constitutional officers for homeownership grants to purchase primary residences in the locality and (ii) to school division personnel for residential housing assistance grants to provide affordable workforce housing alternatives. The bill also eliminates the requirement that such grants adhere to the Virginia Housing and Development Authority regional sales price and household income limitation guidelines. Current law imposes a maximum grant amount of $25,000 for individual grants per employee, as well as a maximum lifetime cumulative amount of $25,000 per employee.
HB1144
Water and sewer connection fees; first-time homebuyers, affordable housing.
Provides that any locality may provide for the full or partial reimbursement to a first-time homebuyer of water and sewer connection fees, capital recovery charges, and availability fees paid in connection with any new residential development conveyed to such homebuyer. The bill also permits any locality that has adopted an affordable dwelling unit ordinance pursuant to general law to provide for a waiver of such fees and charges for any development subject to the requirements of such ordinance.
hb1320
Unemployment benefits; increase weekly benefit amount.
Provides that, for unemployment compensation claims effective on or after July 1, 2026, an eligible individual’s weekly benefit amount shall be $48 higher than the current weekly benefit amount, as denoted in the table in the printed bill.