VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1349
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act and the General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act; deadline for annual filing of disclosure statements; deadline for public disclosure. Changes the filing deadline for statements of economic interests and financial disclosure statements from February 1 to December 15. The bill requires the forms to be made public within 30 days of the filing deadline; currently, this is required within six weeks of the filing deadline.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1350
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/30/25
Engrossed
2/3/25
Refer
2/7/25
Report Pass
2/13/25
Engrossed
2/18/25
Engrossed
2/19/25
Enrolled
3/7/25
Vetoed
3/24/25
Restaurants; food allergy awareness notice required. Requires the State Health Commissioner to publish in multiple languages a notice containing procedures for restaurant staff to follow when a customer has a food allergy on the Department of Health's website. 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.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1351
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Affordable housing; religious organizations and other tax-exempt properties. Provides that no local ordinance shall require a special exception, special use permit, conditional use permit, or additional fee to be obtained for the development and construction of affordable housing on real property owned by a religious organization or certain nonprofit organizations that is connected to a public sewage system. The bill requires that at least 60 percent of the housing development's total units be for affordable housing and that the housing development remain affordable for at least 50 years.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1352
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/30/25
Engrossed
2/3/25
Refer
2/6/25
Report Pass
2/11/25
Enrolled
2/18/25
Chaptered
3/24/25
Passed
3/24/25
Certified nurse midwives; licensed certified midwives; independent practice; organized medical staff. Permits licensed certified midwives who have completed 1,000 hours of practice under a practice agreement to practice without a practice agreement upon receipt of an attestation from the licensed physician or midwife with whom they entered into a practice agreement. The bill also permits certified nurse midwives and licensed certified midwives to enter into practice agreements with certified nurse midwives or licensed certified midwives who are authorized to practice independently. The bill directs the Department of Health to amend its regulations to clarify that an organized medical staff may include other practitioners, including independent practice midwives, in addition to physicians and dentists. This bill is identical to HB 1635.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1353
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/28/25
High-energy facilities; water and energy usage information reports; statewide clearinghouse established. Requires any owner or operator of a high-energy facility, as defined in the bill, to submit to the Department of Environmental Quality no later than May 1, 2026, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, a report that contains certain information relating to water and energy usage for each such facility. The bill requires the Department, no later than July 1, 2026, to design, implement, and maintain a publicly accessible website to serve as a statewide clearinghouse for information relating to water and energy usage of all high-energy facilities operating in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that, in order to fully cover the costs of designing, implementing, and maintaining the statewide clearinghouse, the Department shall assess an initial fee on each owner or operator of a high-energy facility and may assess an annual fee thereafter for each year that such high-energy facility is in active use. The bill requires any owner or operator of a high-energy facility to notify the Department of any substantial change in operations or technologies that would require an update to the information required by the bill at least 60 days prior to making such change. The bill also requires the Department to convene a work group of stakeholders for the purpose of identifying additional information required to be published to the statewide clearinghouse. Such work group is required to convene at least three times by July 1, 2026, in a manner that is open to the public, and each such meeting is required to include a public comment period of no less than 60 days following such meeting.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1354
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/28/25
Department of Education; Medicaid billing navigator positions; report. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish within the Department of Education two Medicaid billing navigator positions for the purpose of providing school divisions with guidance and assistance to effectively navigate the laws, policies, rules, regulations, and guidelines governing Medicaid billing for reimbursable services rendered at school sites and ensuring that all school divisions are able to fully leverage Medicaid funding opportunities to enhance student health services. The bill establishes the qualifications for and duties of such navigators and requires such navigators to annually report certain data to the Secretary of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1355
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Discovery; electronic means; report. Requires all attorneys for the Commonwealth to provide discovery materials for all courts to counsel of record for the accused by electronic means unless such materials are prohibited from being distributed by law or impossible to provide by electronic means. The bill directs the Supreme Court of Virginia to promulgate rules to implement this provision by July 1, 2027. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2028.The bill also requires the Executive Secretary of the Compensation Board, or a designee, to convene a work group to determine the costs associated with any changes in operations and technology infrastructure necessary to implement the provisions of the bill. The bill requires the Executive Secretary of the Compensation Board to provide an interim report to the General Assembly by November 30, 2025, and a final report to the General Assembly by August 1, 2026. This bill was incorporated into SB 963.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1356
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/20/25
Engrossed
1/23/25
Refer
2/5/25
Report Pass
2/13/25
Engrossed
2/18/25
Engrossed
2/19/25
Enrolled
3/7/25
Chaptered
4/2/25
Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; rental payment methods. Prohibits a landlord subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act from charging a tenant any fee for the collection or processing of any payment of rent, security deposit, or any other fees, unless the landlord offers an alternative method of payment that does not include additional fees. This bill is identical to HB 2218.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1357
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/29/25
Engrossed
2/3/25
Refer
2/6/25
State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act and General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act; definition of "personal interest in a transaction." Provides that a personal interest in a transaction exists, for purposes of the State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act and the General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act, when a subject of a transaction is the spouse of the officer, employee, or legislator, regardless of whether a financial benefit or liability is accrued by the spouse as the result of such transaction. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1358
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Pilot program for underground transmission lines; qualifying projects. Requires the State Corporation Commission to approve applications for a newly proposed 500-kilovolt transmission line filed between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2026, as a qualifying project to be constructed in whole or in part underground, as a part of a pilot program. The bill requires such a qualifying project to traverse along highways in developed areas and where the route of the proposed transmission lines and towers traverse areas are protected by a scenic easement, a view shed easement, areas of registered historic designation, or areas with conservation easements, where such easements run to the benefit of the public and are held by the governing body of the federal, state, or local jurisdiction in which the transmission line is to be placed and where the project is required to meet reliability requirements and at least a portion of the project is needed to support and promote economic development of the Commonwealth and its localities. The bill also requires that the governing body of each locality in which a portion of the proposed line will be placed has entered into an agreement with the public utility to pay its proportional share of 20 percent of any portion of the cost of the project not recoverable under applicable rates, terms, and conditions approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Under the bill, the remainder of the cost will be assigned to the utility's data center customers.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1359
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Prohibited conduct by health carriers and pharmacy benefits managers; civil penalty; enforcement. Prohibits any carrier, pharmacy benefits manager, or representative of a pharmacy benefits manager from (i) requiring that a covered individual purchase pharmacy services exclusively through a mail-order pharmacy or retail pharmacy affiliated with a pharmacy benefits manager or (ii) prohibiting or limiting a covered individual from selecting a pharmacy or pharmacist of his choice that has agreed to participate in the health benefit plan according to the terms of the plan. The bill adds a civil penalty of $5,000 for a violation of prohibited conduct by health carriers and pharmacy benefits managers and adds that the State Corporation Commission has authority to investigate any such violations.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB136
Introduced
1/5/24
Refer
1/5/24
Prohibition on certain local government appointments. Prohibits a local governing body from appointing a spouse, child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, or grandparent of a governing body member as a member of any local government board, committee, or commission or as a member of a board of directors of a not-for-profit organization that receives funding from the locality.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1360
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/30/25
Engrossed
2/3/25
Refer
2/6/25
Report Pass
2/11/25
Enrolled
2/18/25
Chaptered
3/18/25
Passed
3/18/25
License to teach dentistry; foreign dental program graduates; repeal sunset. Repeals the July 1, 2025, sunset on the current provision of law allowing the Board of Dentistry to grant, without examination, a faculty license to teach dentistry in an accredited dental program to a graduate of a dental school or college or the dental department of an institution of higher education in a foreign country who has been granted a certification letter from the dean or program director of an accredited dental program confirming that the applicant has clinical competency and clinical experience that meet the credentialing standards of the dental school with which the applicant is to be affiliated. This bill is identical to HB 1899.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1361
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Report Pass
1/29/25
Engrossed
2/3/25
Refer
2/6/25
Report Pass
2/10/25
Engrossed
2/13/25
Engrossed
2/21/25
Engrossed
2/21/25
Enrolled
3/7/25
Chaptered
3/21/25
Passed
3/21/25
Inhaling drugs or other noxious chemical substances or causing, etc., others to do so; distribution of nitrous oxide to persons under 18 prohibited; penalties. Prohibits the sale or distribution of a device that is designed or intended to deliver a gas containing nitrous oxide to persons under 18 years of age with exceptions as defined in the bill. Any person who fails to make diligent inquiry as to whether the person trying to obtain such a device is 18 years of age or older or sells, distributes, or attempts to sell or distribute such a device to a person under 18 years of age is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also adds nitrous oxide to the list of noxious chemical substances for which it is unlawful to deliberately smell or inhale with the intent to become intoxicated, inebriated, excited, or stupefied or to dull the brain or nervous system, or to deliberately cause another person to do so. This bill is identical to HB 2308.
VA
Virginia 2025 Regular Session
Virginia Senate Bill SB1362
Introduced
1/13/25
Refer
1/13/25
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; real estate brokers, sales persons and rental location agents; criminal history information; self-certification. Provides that the Real Estate Board must require each applicant for licensure to submit fingerprints and provide personal descriptive information to be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain criminal history record information regarding such applicant. The bill requires the Board to require an applicant for licensure to self-certify on his application whether he has any prior criminal convictions. The bill provides that if the Board has not yet received an applicant's criminal history record but his application is otherwise complete and Board approved and such applicant has certified that he has no prior criminal history, the Board will issue a real estate license to such applicant. If the Board later receives such applicant's criminal history record and it indicates a previously undisclosed criminal history, the Board shall immediately terminate such applicant's license and refer the application for further review. The bill states that if an applicant certifies on the application that he has a prior criminal history, the Board shall refer the application for further review to determine whether a license shall be issued.