Here are some of the bills involving legislators from Southwest and Southside that were acted on Friday in the General Assembly. You can look up all the bills before the legislature and their status here: https://lis.virginia.gov/home.
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Stanley’s dental school bill moves forward
Sen. Bill Stanley introduced a bill, SB 1478, that would explore the possibility of establishing a dental school in what the bill calls “Southern Virginia. “
His bill, he said, is a result of the findings of the work group on rural health. That work group was established during the 2024 session to study ways to support access to health care in rural Virginia.
Stanley noted, during his presentation to the Senate Rules Committee on Friday, that there is a lack of dentists in the western part of the state. He noted that there are state buildings in the region that could accommodate and be repurposed into a dental school.
The goal of the bill is to assess whether that’s a viable option for Virginia Commonwealth University, to move a dental school to the region. He said that by “Southern Virginia” he means both Southside and Southwest. He also said that the New College Institute in Martinsville is one the places that ought to be evaluated.
“I am told that a new building will cost at least $400 million and years to build in downtown Richmond, when we have ready state-owned buildings like the Baldwin Building [at NCI] that is paid for and ready to go,” Stanley said via text message. “Plus, a school of dentistry in the region would be a huge win for us here, and falls in line with the conclusions of Speaker [Don] Scott’s rural healthcare workgroup.”
Stanley said he’d been working with Del. Eric Phillips, R-Henry County, who has a companion bill, HB 2778, pending in the House.
The idea of a dental school in the western part of the state is not new. Bluefield University announced in 2012 that it wanted to open a dental school in Tazewell County but dropped the plan in 2014 for lack of funding.
Stanley’s bill was moved to the Senate Finance Committee, to better assess the cost of the effort, in a unanimous vote to “report and re-refer,” on Friday.
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House committee approves incentive package for Microporous
A bill by Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, and presented by Del. Eric Phillips, R-Henry County, would create a new lithium-ion battery manufacturing grant fund to support the Microporus plant that is slated for construction at the Berry Hill Megasite in Pittsylvania County.
The bill, HB 2540, would create a fund of roughly $60 million that would be paid out in multiple installments between 2026 and 2045.
Abigail Wescott, from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, spoke in favor of the bill.
“There was an agreement for the grant of $60.6 million as the incentive,” she said. “That is based off of the completion of a capital investment of $1.35 billion and over 2,000 jobs created.”
The Microporus project is the first slated for the Berry Hill Megasite. No one spoke in opposition to the measure. The bill was successfully reported from the House Commerce, Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee with an amendment Wednesday morning.
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Senate committee backs study for possible Secretary of Rural Affairs
A bill, introduced in the state Senate by Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, and its companion in the House of Delegates by Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington County, would direct the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the need and feasibility of creating a Secretariat of Rural Affairs in the commonwealth. A similar bill was introduced during the 2024 session but died in the House Appropriations Committee.
“We are now optimistic that if it passes this body again, we might find greater success in the House because this was formally included as part of the recommendations for the House’s select committee on advancing rural and small-town health care,” Aird told the Senate Rules Committee on Friday morning, while presenting the Senate bill.
“Rural Virginia is all of us,” she said.
The bill was successfully reported from the Senate committee.