Here’s a roundup of some of the action Wednesday in the General Assembly. You can read more about the bills mentioned in this story — or any other legislation in the 2025 General Assembly session — at https://lis.virginia.gov/.
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Hackworth pushes bill to allow Pulaski County to hold referendum on taxes for schools; it’s rolled into a statewide bill
A bill patroned by Sen. Travis Hackworth, R-Tazewell County, that would have included Pulaski County in a list of already established localities authorized to seek school tax levies, was incorporated into another bill by Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince Wiliam County, during the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee meeting Wednesday morning. McPike’s bill, SB 1307, would do the same as Hackworth’s bill but on a statewide level.
The bill was recommended out of committee to be considered on the Senate floor. A similar bill, introduced by McPike in 2024, was passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly but vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican.
“I still approve of this bill although last year the governor vetoed it,” Hackworth said in a text message. “I don’t know if his view has changed or not.”
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Cifers sworn in following special election
The newly elected representative for Senate District 10, Sen. Luther Cifers, R-Prince Edward County, was sworn into office on Wednesday afternoon.
Cifers came out on top in a field of seven Republican candidates who sought nomination to the seat that John McGuire vacated when he won election to Congress in November. Cifers won in the third round of voting during a mass meeting in Goochland County on Dec. 13.
He beat the Democratic candidate, Jack Trammell, by a margin of 15.61 percentage points in the solidly Republican Senate district.
Cifers will take over McGuire’s assignments on the Senate Privileges and Elections, Local Governments and Transportation committees.
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Head’s bill to make Virginia Museum of Transportation into a state agency passes one committee but sent to another that has stopped it in the past
A bill that would convert the Virginia Museum of Transportation of Roanoke, currently a nonprofit, into a state agency is once again moving down the tracks, although it’s been derailed in the past.
The Senate General Laws Committee unanimously approved SB 795 by Sen. Chris Head, R-Botetourt County, and sent it to the Senate Finance Committee. A similar bill by Head last year went to Senate Finance but never emerged. A House version of the bill last year sponsored by Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, also died in the House Appropriations Committee.
However, at Rasoul’s request, the state budget last year included a directive for a state of the museum. That study has yet to be started, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin has asked for a one-year delay. That delay follows a turbulent year for the Roanoke-based museum, which saw allegations of financial mismanagement and an investigation into the nonprofit.
A 2023 fiscal year report showed that the museum brought in $850,000 in revenue and spent more than $1.5 million. The nearly $700,000 shortfall led to allegations by some former museum board members of mismanagement and to a subsequent audit of the museum’s finances. The allegations were determined to be unfounded, according to reporting by The Roanoke Times.
Roanoke Valley legislators have been trying since 2022 to have the state take over the museum. See Cardinal’s previous reporting.
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Ballard‘s bill to add the New River Valley to list of localities eligible to receive funds from the Tobacco Commission fails
Del. Jason Ballard, R-Giles County, opened his presentation of HB 1580 by referring to his bill as an “enhancement” of the Tobacco Commission rather than an “expansion” of the commission. His bill would have allowed localities in the New River Valley Region to be eligible to receive funds from the Tobacco Commission.
In the 1990s, multiple states sued big tobacco companies to recover health costs related to the use of their products. The result was a large “master settlement” split up among those states. Some used their settlements for health-related costs, some plugged budget holes.
Virginia and North Carolina were the only two that set aside some of the money in an endowment to help build a new economy in former tobacco-growing counties. That endowment was how the Tobacco Commission administers Virginia’s pot of money from the settlement. Most Southwest and Southside localities are eligible for money, but some are not because they did not grow much tobacco.
That money has gone toward economic development: the commission has paid for a lot of broadband, for instance, and often puts up monetary incentives for businesses locating in those counties.
“I understand, I think, where this bill is going to go,” he said during his presentation. “Last year, it actually got a little traction, got some votes on both sides.”
Ballard offered that, if the entirety of the New River Valley Region couldn’t be added to the list of localities that receive money under the Tobacco Commission, maybe only Giles County could be included. He noted that Celanese, a corporation that makes tobacco filters, employs roughly 1,000 people in Giles County, and the decline of the market has hurt the locality.
“Giles County would certainly benefit from the funds that are in the tobacco commission,” he said.
Ballard acquiesced that most members, if not all, of the Tobacco Commission are reluctant to add localities to the commission, before the bill was tabled, effectively killing it, by the House Appropriations Commerce, Agriculture and Natural Resources subcommittee. This was the third year that Ballard brought the bill forward, he said.
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Fireworks displays in Burke’s Garden could become cheaper
The Senate General Laws Committee unanimously passed a bill by state Sen. Travis Hackworth, R-Tazewell County, that would exempt communities of less than 10,000 from paying certain administrative fees to the state Fire Marshal.
Hackworth said that SB 1248 was prompted by the unincorporated Tazewell County community of Burke’s Garden, which now has to pay $300 for a fireworks permit and $95 per hour for the state fire marshal’s office to inspect the fireworks. Under Hackworth’s bill, the permits and inspections would still be required, but small communities wouldn’t have to pay.
A spokesman for the state fire marshal’s office said it had no objection to Hackworth’s bill.
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Stanley‘s bill to prohibit public bodies from entering into contracts with international manufacturers that use forced child labor advances
A bill by state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, SB 913, would prohibit public bodies from awarding contracts to acquire imported goods from a business that uses forced or indentured child labor.
“We say, as Virginians, we’re committed to ethical sourcing of our products,” he said, in reference to the bill, in an interview before the start of the 2025 session
It was reported from committee with a substitute unanimously Wednesday, Stanley’s first success of the session.
The Department of Planning and Budget determined that the bill is not expected to have any fiscal impact for the agency if it were passed.
