This week included some startling developments at the General Assembly. It started Monday with a distasteful series of events where House leadership prevented amendments on HB 404 and forced a vote of the bill on the House floor, and continued into the middle of the week when a long-standing member of the House Appropriations Committee, Delegate Barry Knight, was unexpectedly removed by the Speaker of the House from serving on the committee and replaced with another legislator. Delegate Amanda Batten was also replaced on the House Rules Committee.
Of note, further details will be released today, Sunday, February 18th, from the General Assembly about the most recent developments with the state budget proposal. The Chairman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee has made a statement of bold opposition to the Governor’s priority to build a professional sports arena, saying financial backing for the project would not be part of the Senate version of the budget.
Crossover, which is the deadline for House bills to pass the House and Senate bills to pass the Senate, was on Tuesday, February 13th. Here are a number of bad policy proposals that will not be continuing forward this year:
| Donor disclosures | HB 276 |
| Public higher ed campus precincts | HB 941 |
| National Popular Vote | HB 375 |
| Electronic ballot return | HB 796 |
| Counting absentee ballots early | HB 694 |
| Automatic DMV update for voter info | HB 565 |
| Change General Registrar term | HB 1529 |
| Chief deputy registrar required | HB 1530 |
| Prevention for running for office – insurrections |
HB 280 |
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
With just shy of three weeks left in the 2024 General Assembly session, we’ll continue to follow legislation and provide you valuable weekly updates.
2024 Session Overview Numbers
(Total # of bills and resolutions)
- Introduced: 2815
- Passed the House: 1011
- Passed the Senate: 725
- Continued to next session: 333
- Failed: 814
- Vetoed: 0
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
SB 78: Donor Disclosure Privacy
Originally, this bill required nonprofit donors’ names to be displayed on public ads when they supported a referendum or made other contributions as specified. Online public documents already disclose these donors, but displaying their names on ads would make them exceptionally more vulnerable to targeting and doxing. An amendment to the bill removed the language that required donors’ names to be released when donating to support a referendum. The current amended version of the bill requires donor disclosures only when donating to a 501(C)(4) organization that runs ads about a specific candidate. – KILLED
- Status: Monday, 2/12, this bill was on the Senate third reading calendar and was killed in a floor vote.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
EDUCATION
HB 659: Open Enrollment
The original version of this bill would have established open enrollment for public schools in Virginia. After being amended, the bill directs the Department of Education to publish guidelines and best practices about open enrollment for the localities that choose to offer open enrollment within their district. It also makes a change regarding tuition in these circumstances. – PASSED
- Status: Status: Tuesday, 2/13, this bill was on the House third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
ELECTIONS
SB 606 (companion HB 1177): Voter Registration and Data Sharing
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. –PASSED
- Status: Monday, 2/12, this bill was on the Senate third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote. On Thursday, 2/15, it was referred to the House Privileges and Elections committee.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 1177 (companion SB 606): Voter Registration and Data Sharing
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. –PASSED
- Status: Tuesday, 2/13, this bill was on the House third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
SB 196: Process Change for Voter Registration Challenges
This bill would change the process of a challenge to a voter registration to being overseen by the court system instead of the current practice of those cases being handled by local registrars. Since registrars are responsible to keep current and accurate voter registration lists for their locality, we support them retaining oversight of this process. The bill also includes measures that would make it more difficult to raise challenges to a voter’s registration. –PASSED
- Status: Monday, 2/12, this bill was on the House third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote. On Friday, 2/16, it was passed in the House Privileges and Elections committee.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
SB 364: Protection of Election Officials
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 who exercised their right to participate in an election as a poll observer. To protect citizens from inaccurate or subjective allegations, we oppose this bill. – PASSED
- Status: Tuesday, 2/13, this bill was on the Senate third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
- Radio interview discussing this bill
SB 428 & SB 270: Ranked Choice Voting
The first bill, SB 428, 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. The second bill, SB 270, would allow ranked choice voting for presidential primary elections. 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. – PASSED
- Status: Monday, 2/12, SB 428 and SB 270 were on the Senate third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote.
- To see SB 428 text and info: Click HERE
- To see SB 270 text and info: Click HERE
SB 315 (companion HB 565): Automatic DMV Updates
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 wrong location, where they house a vehicle, after getting the vehicle registered at the DMV. This bill would exacerbate that problem. – PASSED
- Status: Monday, 2/12, this bill was on the Senate third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 565 (companion SB 315): Automatic DMV Updates
Like SB 315, the intent of this bill was to provide the Department of Elections with current information for registered voters who visit the DMV by updating their information automatically. Passing this bill, however, would have created errors in the registered voter information for the same reasons as listed above. – KILLED
- Status: On Friday, 2/9, this bill died for this year in the House Privileges and Elections Committee through the motion to continue the bill to 2025.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 280: Prevention of Public Office
This bill would prohibit persons who have been convicted of offenses related to rioting or unlawful assembly from obtaining elected office (or non elected “positions of public trust”). It establishes in Virginia law that there was an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and establishes that this new law (prohibiting public service) will apply to anyone who was convicted of an offense tied to the events at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. – VOTE DELAYED
- Status: On Friday, 2/9, this bill was on the agenda of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, but the vote was delayed through the motion to pass by the bill for the day because the sponsor of the bill was in another meeting.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 363: Affidavit of Innocence
This bill sets forth that any person who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S. or given aid to enemies of the U.S. is disqualified from serving in a government position. It also establishes a process whereby an individual serving in a public office can be removed if found disqualified in this manner. – KILLED
- Status: On Friday, 2/9, this bill died for this year in the House Privileges and Elections Committee through the motion to continue the bill to 2025.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 1529: General Registrar Term
This bill extends the term of General Registrars service from 4 years to 8 years; this would have an effective date in June 2029. It also specifies that the electoral board should presume that the incumbent general registrar wishes to stay in office unless they notify the electoral board otherwise. – KILLED
- Status: On Friday, 2/9, this bill died in the House Privileges and Elections Committee through the motion to pass by indefinitely.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 1530: Deputy Registrar Requirements
This bill requires each locality to have one designated chief deputy registrar. The bill requires chief deputy registrars serving on a full-time basis to be paid at least 60 percent of the salary of the general registrar. It also requires that chief deputy registrars serve on a full-time basis for localities whose population is greater than 10,000. – KILLED
- Status: On Friday, 2/9, this bill died in the House Privileges and Elections Committee through the motion to pass by indefinitely.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HB 742: Election Commissioner Appointment
This bill changes the process by which the state Commissioner of Elections is appointed. Currently, the Governor appoints the Commissioner; if this bill passes, the State Board of Elections (SBE) would be authorized to appoint the Commissioner instead of the Governor. The SBE would also be authorized to remove the Commissioner from their position. The General Assembly would still need to confirm the appointment for Commissioner. Originally, the bill also included expanding more positions on the State Board of Elections, but that part of the bill has been removed. – BILL REVIVED/RECONSIDERED
- Status: On Friday, 2/2, this bill died in the House Privileges and Elections Committee through the motion to continue the bill to 2025. On Friday, 2/9, the bill was reconsidered and brought before the committee again for a vote. The bill was amended and was passed in the House Privileges and Elections Committee. Next, the bill will be sent to the House floor for a vote.
- To see bill text and info: Click HERE
HEALTHCARE
HB 570: Drug Price Setting
This bill creates a Prescription Drug Affordability Board. Under this proposed legislation, the Board will be given authority to limit drug payment amounts and reimbursements to an upper payment limit amount for state sponsored and state regulated health plans. – PASSED
- Status: Tuesday, 2/13, this bill was on the House third reading calendar and passed in a floor vote.
To see bill text and info: Click HERE
LICENSING
SB 22: Dentists and 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, 2/15, this bill passed in the House Health and Human Services Committee. This bill previously passed on the Senate floor and will now be sent to the House floor for a vote.
- 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, 2/15, this bill passed in the House General Laws Committee. This bill previously passed on the Senate floor and will now be sent to the House floor for a vote.
To see bill text and info: Click HERE
All Bills Virginia Institute is Following
| ISSUE | DESCRIPTION | BILL | Good Policy or Bad Policy |
| Education | Open enrollment for Public Schools | HB 659 | Good policy |
| Election | Deadline for reviewing absentee ballots | HB 1171 | Good policy |
| Election | Re-enter ERIC | HB 1177 | Bad policy |
| Election | Re-enter ERIC | SB 606 | Bad policy |
| Election | Ranked Choice Voting expansion | SB 270 | Bad policy |
| Election | Ranked Choice Voting expansion | SB 428 | Bad policy |
| Election | Cancellation procedures etc | HB 904 | Bad policy |
| Election | Extend license/driver privilege cards | SB 246 | Bad policy |
| Election | Election Officer intimidation & harassment | SB 364 | Bad policy |
| Election | Automatic DMV update for voter info | SB 315 | Bad policy |
| Election | Electoral Boards | HB 998 | Bad policy |
| Election | Voter list maintenance changes | SB 300 | Bad policy |
| Election | Voter registration challenges | HB 1534 | Bad policy |
| Healthcare | Drug Price Setting | HB 570 | Bad policy |
| Healthcare | Certificate of Public Need | SB 277 | Good policy |
| Licensing | Social Work Compact | SB 239 | Good policy |
| Licensing | Dental Compact | SB 22 | Good policy |
| Transparency | FOIA | SB 324 | Bad policy |
