Legislative Update: 27 January 2024

The General Assembly hit the ground running on January 10th and will soon have been in session for three weeks. The same day that the legislature came back, Governor Youngkin delivered his State of the Commonwealth address. One remark from his address, “Please don’t bring me a bill that impacts Virginians’ Right to Work, as it will be met with the business end of my veto pen” is a statement that we hope is a foreshadowing of his plan for all anti free market legislation. 

2024 Session Overview Numbers
(Total # of bills and resolutions)

• Introduced: 2520
• Passed the House: 76
• Passed the Senate: 134
• Continued to next session: 20
• Failed: 99
• Vetoed: 0

Here’s a reminder of the key dates during the 2024 General Assembly session: 

• First day: Wednesday, January 10th
• Last day for a legislator to submit a bill: 3pm Friday, January 19th
• Crossover deadline: Tuesday, February 13th
• Last day of session (also known as Sine Die): Saturday, March 9th
• Reconvene Session: Wednesday, April 17 

The report below includes bills that fall into alignment with Virginia Institute’s policy recommendations, either for good policy or bad policy, and received a vote in a committee or on the House or Senate Floor last week. See the bottom of the page for a full list of bills we are following. 

DONOR PRIVACY 

HB 276: Donor Disclosure
This bill would require, in some cases, nonprofit donors’ names to be displayed on public ads when they support a referendum or make other contributions as outlined in the bill. Online public documents already disclose these donors, but displaying their names on ads would make them exceptionally more vulnerable to targeting and doxing. – PASSED

• Status: 1/24, the House Privileges and Elections Subcommittee on Campaign Finance voted to pass this bill. Next, this bill will be heard in the full House Privileges and Elections Committee.
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE

EDUCATION

SB 380: Local Authority for ESA
This bill would have required each school board to create a process allowing a qualified student to access funding set aside for alternative educational opportunities to earn class credit or satisfy a graduation requirement. This bill proposed to facilitate the option for education dollars to follow the student at the local level. – KILLED 

• Status: Thursday, 1/18, this bill was killed in the Senate Public Education Subcommittee.
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE

SB 421: Foster Child Scholarship Program
This bill would have established the Foster Child Scholarship Program to allow school-age children in foster care who reside in Virginia to attend the participating public or private school of their caregiver’s choice. – KILLED 

• Status: Thursday, 1/18, this bill was killed in the Senate Public Education Subcommittee. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 533: Education Savings Account (ESA)
Would have established the Education Excellence for All program, to allow education dollars to follow a student if a student leaves the public education system to utilize alternatives like private school or homeschool. Parents would have then received education dollars to cover costs like tuition or curriculum. Students would be eligible for this program if their parents’ income was at or below 300% of the poverty level. – KILLED 

• Status: Thursday, 1/18, this bill was killed in the Senate Public Education Subcommittee. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 552: Open Enrollment for Public Schools
This bill would have allowed open enrollment for public schools in Virginia, which would give a student the option to attend a different public school than the one assigned to them based on the address of their residence. – KILLED 

• Status: Thursday, 1/18, this bill was killed in the Senate Public Education Subcommittee.
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 421: Foster Child Scholarship Program
This bill would have established the Foster Child Scholarship Program to allow school-age children in foster care who reside in Virginia to attend the participating public or private school of their caregiver’s choice. – KILLED 

• Status: Thursday, 1/18, this bill was killed in the Senate Public Education Subcommittee. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

LICENSING

SB 22: Dentist & Dental Hygienist Compact
This bill would enter Virginia into an interstate licensing compact for dentists and dental hygienists. Any dentist or dental hygienist licensed in any state participating in the compact would be able to practice in any compact state, increasing access to dental services. – PASSED

• Status: Thursday, 1/25, this bill passed in the Senate Education and Health Committee with amendments and was sent to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. Previously, this bill passed in the Senate Health Professions subcommittee.
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE

SB 239: Social Work Compact
This bill would enter Virginia into an interstate licensing compact for fully licensed social workers. Social workers licensed in any state participating in the compact would be able to practice in any compact state, filling a need for more social workers. – PASSED

• Status: Thursday, 1/25, this bill passed in the Senate Education and Health Committee and was sent to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. Previously, this bill passed in the Senate Health Professions subcommittee.
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE

ELECTIONS

SB 315: Automatic DMV update for Voter Info
Although the intent of this bill is to provide the Department of Elections with current information for registered voters who visit the DMV by updating their information automatically, passing this bill would create errors in the registered voter information. Visitors to the DMV often register vehicles that are not housed at their primary residence, but at a secondary residence. There is already a known problem where voters accidentally become registered at the location where they house a vehicle (instead of their primary residence) after getting the vehicle registered at the DMV. This bill would exacerbate that problem. – VOTE DELAYED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/23, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to pass by this bill for the week. The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee is scheduled to meet again next Tuesday and this bill is expected to be voted on at that time. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 428: Ranked Choice Voting Expansion
This bill expands the option for elections to be conducted by ranked choice voting to any race for local or constitutional office. Currently, ranked choice voting is only an option for City Council and Board of Supervisors races. Ranked choice voting creates unnecessary barriers for voters by making voting confusing and prone to errors, making vote counting extremely complicated and ensuring audits for these elections are difficult (if not impossible) to conduct. – VOTE DELAYED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/23, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to pass by this bill for the week. The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee is scheduled to meet again next Tuesday and this bill is expected to be voted on at that time. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 606: Re-enter ERIC
This bill would require Virginia to re-join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). Although ERIC claims to be a service to help states keep accurate voter rolls, Virginia left ERIC last year after serious concerns over data privacy breaches and partisanship influence within the organization. – VOTE DELAYED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/23, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to pass by this bill for the week. The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee is scheduled to meet again next Tuesday and this bill is expected to be voted on at that time. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 364: Election Officer Intimidation & Harassment Penalties
This bill proposes to create higher criminal penalties for intimidation, harassment, and other offenses against election officials and election office staff, continuing a debunked narrative that election officials frequently experience harassment and threats. Recently, some election officials have stated that they feel harassed or intimidated by polite citizens who simply asked questions or were exercising their right to participate in an election as a poll observer. To protect citizens from inaccurate or subjective allegations, we oppose this bill. – VOTE DELAYED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/16, this bill was on the agenda for the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee meeting; however, at the beginning of the meeting the chair of the committee asked for it to be rereferred to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. The vote was made to rerefer the bill to that committee instead.
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE
  

SB 32: SSN Administration Verification for Voters
This bill would have ensured that the Social Security Number an individual provides when registering to vote actually belongs to them. – KILLED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/16, this bill was killed in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 42: 21 Days of Early Voting
This bill would have reduced the in-person absentee voting time frame from 45 days to three weeks (21 days). – KILLED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/16, this bill was killed in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE 

SB 45 & SB 81: Photo ID Required for Voting
To require a photo ID when voting. – KILLED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/16, SB 45 was incorporated into SB 81 and then the bill was killed in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. 
• To see bill text and info for SB 45: Click HERE 
• To see bill text and info for SB 81: Click HERE 

SB 303: Printed Receipt for Voter
Requires a voting machine to print a receipt for each voter that casts a ballot. – VOTE POSTPONED 

• Status: Tuesday, 1/16, SB 303 was on the agenda of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee but was passed by for the day because the sponsor of the bill was not available to present. 
• To see bill text and info: Click HERE

All Bills Virginia Institute is Following