Here’s a list of some of the bills drafted by lawmakers from Southwest and Southside Virginia that weren’t discussed in the accompanying General Assembly preview story.
If no bill number is listed, that means one hasn’t been assigned yet. We will continue to update the list as more bills are filed even after Wednesday’s pre-filing deadline.
Jump to a specific issue, or keep scrolling to read the full report:
Bills with implications unique to Southwest and Southside Virginia
Bills with statewide implications
Abortion
Senate Democrats in 2023 blocked Republican efforts to limit access to abortion in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Now Del.-elect Tim Griffin, R-Bedford County, has filed legislation that would prohibit the use of public funds for abortion procedures in the commonwealth.
Griffin’s House Bill 404 would further make it illegal for state agencies to enter into any contract with abortion providers in Virginia. It also would repeal provisions authorizing the Board of Health to use state general funds to pay for abortions for women who otherwise meet the financial eligibility criteria for services through the state plan for medical assistance services, in cases of rape or incest or severe mental or physical deficiencies of a fetus.
Cannabis
At a candidates forum hosted by Cardinal News in Blacksburg in October, Del.-elect Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery County, then the Republican nominee in his district, said that he doesn’t have a problem “if responsible adults want to use marijuana in their own home,” but he expressed concern when people “decide to use marijuana and get stoned, and then get behind the wheel of a vehicle and put people’s lives at risk.” This month, Obenshain filed House Bill 448, which establishes a presumption of intoxication if a driver has a blood concentration equal to or greater than 0.004 milligrams of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per liter of blood.
Criminal justice
Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, has introduced Senate Bill 38, which creates a rebuttable presumption against bail for certain criminal offenses. The bill also requires the court to consider specified factors when determining whether the presumption against bail has been rebutted and whether there are appropriate conditions of release. Del. Jed Arnold, R-Smyth County, filed the companion measure House Bill 427.
In the House, Del.-elect Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham County, has filed HB 488, which raises the penalty for sexual abuse of a child who is 13 or 14 years of age to a Class 6 felony. Under current law, the offense is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
K-12 education
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, has reintroduced legislation seeking to create a grant fund for STEM+C robotics competition teams in underserved public school divisions. If successful, Senate Bill 5 would fund qualifying schools with up to $10,000. Last year, a similar proposal by Stanley passed in the Senate with unanimous support, but it was killed by the House Appropriations Committee.
Stanley also filed SB 26, which would establish a Public School Trades Incentive Fund and Program that would provide grants to school districts aiming to restore programs that teach students skilled trades that lead to earning industry-recognized certifications or credentials.
Another Stanley proposal — SB 62 — would require the New College Institute in Martinsville to design and implement any workforce development programs necessary to support the initiatives of the Office of the Governor, including adult education and workforce training programs.
The state-run higher education center recently made news when it was cut from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed biennial budget. NCI, which hosts college courses as well as job training classes, has typically received about $4.5 million from the state in recent fiscal years, but it now may not be able to implement some of the strategies it announced this year to foster growth and sustainability.
Three Republicans from Southwest Virginia and Southside have filed nearly identical proposals that would give home-schooled students the right to play interscholastic sports. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia saw an increase of almost 56% in total home-schooled students in the 2020-21 school year. The number of K-5 home-schooled students doubled that year, and many parents have chosen to continue home schooling even since schools reopened.
Each of the proposals (HB17, filed by Del.-elect Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham County, HB65 by Del. Ellen Campbell, R-Rockbridge County, and HB411 by Del.-elect Tim Griffin, R-Bedford County) permits reasonable fees to be charged to home-schooled students to cover the costs of participation in such interscholastic programs.
In the Senate, Sen.-elect John McGuire, R-Goochland County, has introduced a similar measure with SB 84. McGuire also filed a proposal that removes some hurdles for parents wanting to home-school their children. Currently, a parent who wants to home-school a child must hold a high school diploma, be a teacher, provide the child with a program of study or curriculum that may be delivered through a distance learning program or in any other manner, or provide evidence that the parent can provide an adequate education for the child. SB83 would eliminate that requirement.
Economic development
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, has introduced Senate Bill 17, which would designate motor sports facilities as historic landmarks and make them enterprise zones for tax purposes.
Elections
In the state Senate, Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, has filed several bills that would add layers to ensure secure elections, but that would also make it harder for some voters to cast their ballots.
Peake brought back a proposal that requires general registrars to verify that the name, date of birth and Social Security number provided by an applicant on the voter registration application match the information on file in the Social Security Administration database or other database approved by the State Board of Elections.
If the information provided by the applicant does not match the information on file, SB 32 would allow for a provisional registration and a vote by provisional ballot, which would not be counted until the voter presents certain information. An identical measure that Peake sponsored last year was blocked by Senate Democrats.
Peake also filed SB 42, which seeks to limit the availability of absentee voting in person to the three-week period immediately preceding an election. Under current law, absentee voting in person is available beginning on the 45th day prior to an election.
And Peake’s SB 92 would allow voters to register in person up to the day of the election only at the office of their general registrar. Currently, voters can register to vote on the day of the election in the precinct where they live.
Peake also wants to bring back Virginia’s voter ID requirements. While Virginia already requires voters to present identification while voting, currently acceptable forms of ID include Virginia driver’s licenses, U.S. passports and student IDs, but also copies of utility bills or bank statements, which bear the voter’s address but no photo.
Peake’s SB 45 would add the photo requirement back to the statute while also repealing a provision allowing a voter who does not have one of the required forms of identification to vote after signing a statement. Under Peake’s bill, such a voter would cast a provisional ballot instead. Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, filed a similar measure with his SB 81.
Finally, Peake has introduced SJ10, a constitutional amendment that would limit the lieutenant governor and attorney general to two terms.
Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, is bringing back legislation that would prohibit lawmakers from fundraising for their campaigns on any day the General Assembly is scheduled to meet during a special session. Currently, such campaign fundraising is prohibited only during regular sessions of the General Assembly.
When Suetterlein introduced a similar version of SB 107 last year, it received bipartisan support in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, but the full Senate did not take it up for a floor vote.
This year, Suetterlein also sponsored SB 109, which provides that when a candidate’s name appears on the primary ballot but they do not receive their party’s nomination, their name must not be printed on the ballots for that office in the succeeding general election.
Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, and Del. Tommy Wright, R-Lunenburg, filed similar proposals in the House with HB 90 and HB 55.
“I don’t want people to say that they will run for a Republican primary, and meanwhile their opponent’s spent all their money and they’ve kind of hung back, and then boom, they are going to run as an independent and they have all their money and their opponent now has spent all their money four or five months earlier,” McNamara said. “If you want to run as a Republican, as a Democrat or as an independent, guess what, you don’t win, you don’t get to run.”
Wright also filed HB 56, which would require voters to disclose their party affiliation when registering to vote. Under Wright’s bill, voters who registered prior to Jan. 1, 2025, will be designated as independent by default unless they provide a political party affiliation to the general registrar.
However, voters could change their political party affiliation or independent status by written notice at any time before the registration records are closed prior to an election, according to the proposal. The bill also provides that voters who are on the permanent absentee voter list will receive primary ballots for the political party with which they are registered as affiliated.
And Del.-elect Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham County, filed a proposal to amend the state Constitution to allow a governor to serve two terms in office — either in succession or not in succession — beginning with the governor elected in 2029. Virginia is the only state where the Constitution prohibits a second consecutive term.
Another Garrett measure would establish a joint committee of the House and Senate Committees on Privileges and Elections to study the costs and benefits of 45 days of early voting. The panel would be tasked with surveying several localities within the commonwealth with different demographics, both urban and rural, to “evaluate the fiscal impact on the locality and the ability of the locality to meet the burden imposed by the need to increase staffing and maintain adequate facilities for early voting and to examine trends in voter turnout.”
Also in the House, Del. Ellen Campbell, R-Rockbridge County, filed HB 79, which would allow for special elections to be held on the same day as a primary election.
Del. Jed Arnold, R-Smyth County, has introduced a measure that would require all candidates running for constitutional offices that are nominated by a political party to be identified by the name of their political party on the ballot. Currently only candidates for federal, statewide and General Assembly offices are so identified. The constitutional offices are those of the treasurer, sheriff, commonwealth’s attorney, clerk of court and commissioner of the revenue, and HB 429 would add those to the requirement.
But the chamber’s most ambitious proposal may be one introduced by Del.-elect Tim Griffin, R-Bedford County. Griffin’s HB 393 pushes for an extensive overhaul of Virginia’s voter registration system.
For example, the measure requires that the general registrars publish on the official website of the locality a monthly updated list of all registered voters added to or removed from each precinct in the locality, including a reason for each change and a list of all qualified voters registered to vote in each precinct participating in the election on the day on which the registration records are closed for any election. After the election, registrars would have to publish a list of everyone who voted in each precinct.
Additionally, Griffin’s proposal requires registered voters to provide a reason for being absent or unable to vote at their polling place on Election Day in order to receive an absentee ballot to vote by mail. Registered voters offering to vote absentee in person would also be required to provide a reason.
Applicants for an absentee ballot would receive their ballot by mail and would be required to cast their vote in person before the second Saturday immediately preceding an election. The bill also would repeal the permanent absentee voter list and limit the special annual application to those voters with an illness or disability, among other provisions.
Guns
State Sen.-elect John McGuire, R-Goochland County, has filed a measure which would expand a concealed handgun permit to a concealed weapons permit, allowing the permit-holder to also carry a wide range of other weapons. Among the devices covered under Senate Bill 82: dirks, bowie knives, stiletto knives, ballistic knives, machetes, razors, sling bows, spring sticks, metal knucks, blackjacks, nunchaku and throwing stars.
Tax reform
Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, has reintroduced a proposal (Senate Bill 110) that would repeal the remainder of the state’s former 2.5% grocery tax. Two years ago, Democrats only agreed to slash the state’s 1.5% portion of the grocery tax while retaining the 1% portion that benefits local governments to fund schools. Attempts by Republicans to eliminate the entire tax during last year’s session failed.
Suetterlein also filed a proposal (SB 108) that would remove the sunset on the elevated standard income tax reduction for single individuals and married couples that is currently scheduled to expire by Jan. 1, 2026. Without legislative action, the standard deduction would be reduced to $3,000 for single filers and to $6,000 for married filers in two years. “It’s a pretty modest bill, but it’s important that we end the sunset, otherwise some people’s taxes would skyrocket in a few years,” Suetterlein said. Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, sponsored the companion legislation (House Bill 88) to Suetterlein’s bill in the House.
Del. Tommy Wright, R-Lunenburg County, has a bill (HB60) that would add Prince Edward County to the list of counties that are allowed to hold a referendum to raise the local sales tax for schools. Last year, then-Del. Jim Edmunds, R-Halifax County, who represented Prince Edward County, introduced a similar measure, which was defeated.
Miscellaneous bills
Senate Bill B26 by Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, would allow drinking alcohol at campgrounds located on private properties.
A proposal by Del. Ellen Campbell, R-Rockbridge County, would restrict social media access for minors without their parents’ consent. House Bill 562 would prohibit commercial social media platforms from allowing access during the hours of midnight to 6 a.m., unless the minor’s parent, guardian or legal custodian has given permission. Under Campbell’s bill, social media platforms that violate the statute would be subject to civil liability for damages resulting from the interference with a minor’s sleep cycle or mental health.
Del. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham County, filed a measure that would create a civil cause of action for anyone who has been coerced, intimidated or harassed while using a computer or other electronic means, regardless of whether the harasser has been criminally charged or convicted. HB 487 would permit the injured individual to recover for damages in addition to reasonable attorney fees and costs.
Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, reintroduced legislation (HB 6) that would abolish Eastern Standard Time in the commonwealth. Instead, Virginia would observe Eastern Daylight Time year-round upon the enactment of a law by the U.S. Congress allowing states to make the change. “Most everybody I talk to doesn’t like to change their clocks twice a year and would prefer to have daylight in the evening as opposed to in the morning,” McNamara said.
Bills with implications unique to Southwest and Southside
Last year, Del. Jason Ballard, R-Giles County, tried unsuccessfully to add Giles and Pulaski counties to the territory eligible for Tobacco Commission funds. He vowed to bring the bill back and he has, with an addition — House Bill 297 would add all of Planning District 4 (the counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski, and the city of Radford) to the commission’s territory. Floyd County is already a member but the other localities aren’t.
Last year, Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, also tried unsuccessfully to add Petersburg to the Tobacco Commission territory, but so far there’s no bill to try that again.
SB25, sponsored by Sen. Travis Hackworth, R-Tazewell County, would change the way Virginia Brownfield and Coal Mine Renewable Energy Grant Fund and Program can allocate funds. It’s currently prohibited from allocating funds unless there are federal funds available to cover the cost. His bill would eliminate that provision.