New Laws in 2024 Part 2

Ideas for legislation come from so many sources – constituent casework, conversations with a colleague, a community meeting, or even an NPR segment. While not all bill ideas are created equal, the general idea is to improve the lives of all Virginians whether we’re tweaking an existing law to avoid unintended consequences or creating a whole new Code Section to address a larger issue.   

Building on my article at the beginning of the month, here are some additional laws that went into effect on July 1st. Chances are, one or more of them will affect you or someone you know.  

Reducing Costs for Virginians  

Housing affordability and helping families avoid eviction has become a hot topic these last several years. To that end, we extended Virginia’s Eviction Diversion Pilot Program, giving the Virginia Housing Commission more time to assess its effectiveness, and perhaps recommend extending it further.   

If the Governor issues a state of emergency, electric, gas, water, and wastewater utility companies are prohibited from disconnecting service to a residential customer for nonpayment of bills or fees during said emergency. The suspension will last for 30 days after such declaration of the state of emergency.   

To reduce predatory towing, towing operators for a multifamily dwelling unit parking lot must post a written notice on a vehicle, providing at least 48 hours' notice to a resident prior to removing a resident's vehicle. This is specifically for vehicles with an expired registration or expired vehicle inspection sticker. The landlord must also receive a copy of such notice.  

Telephone companies that operate within local correctional facilities must now reinvest their net profits into each facility for educational, recreational, or medical purposes for the benefit of incarcerated individuals. This can include programs related to behavioral health, substance abuse, reentry, and rehabilitative services. This will reduce price gouging in these facilities while helping inmates get their lives back on track.  

Empowering Localities  

Local governments can now adopt an ordinance to support the planting and replacement of trees during the land development process by allowing a tree canopy fund, on both public and private property. The law also makes it easier to collect tree canopy funds while expanding the canopy credit.  

Another tool to curb predatory towing, localities have the authority to create a permitting system for all towing companies to better track them and hold them accountable.  

Counties that that do not maintain their own roads are now allowed to reduce speed limits to less than 25 miles per hour in business or residential districts. Localities can also restore a speed limit that was previously reduced. 

Making Virginia More Welcoming and Inclusive  

Reinforcing our non-discrimination laws, no one who is authorized to issue a marriage license can refuse to fulfill their obligation based on a couple’s sex, gender, or race. The law also requires that these marriages be recognized by the Commonwealth.  

Families that receive assistance through Medicaid or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children are also automatically eligible to receive assistance through the Child Care Subsidy Program.  

We amended the financial eligibility standards for those receiving the Family and Individual Support Waiver, Community Living Waiver, and Building Independence Waiver (the DD Waivers). This increases the number of people eligible to receive DD Waivers and requires a report on how many Virginians could benefit from changes to the eligibility standards.  

To ensure our most Virginians living with disabilities get the support and resources they need, a new law requires state agencies to seek federal authority to update Home and Community Based Services Waivers to remove burdensome regulations on parental caregivers.   

Protecting the Vulnerable  

Emergency services providers must now provide a behavioral health assessment, as well as further examination and treatment, when treating a patient. This will help ensure that a patient’s mental health doesn’t deteriorate while receiving emergency treatment.  

Elderly and vulnerable adults can submit and update a list of trusted persons that financial institutions can contact in the case of suspected financial exploitation. The law also permits financial institutions to train staff on how to identify and report suspected cases of financial exploitation. New training guidelines will be published on January 1, 2026.   

Local school boards are required to develop policies that ensure high school students learn to prevent and reverse an opioid overdose. The policy encourages students to complete this program before graduating.  

If you have questions about one of these new laws, please don’t hesitate to contact my office. Or if you’ve got a bill idea you’d like to share, I’m all ears! Although we’re limited in the number of bills we can introduce (15!) during the 2025 Session, hearing from constituents is always helpful in putting together my legislative agenda.  

Special Session Update

Virginia will be a more just and prosperous state as a result of the important actions taken by the Virginia General Assembly and approved by the Governor during our Special Session last week.

The General Assembly returned to Richmond on August 2nd for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Special Session was called so that we could allocate $4.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and appoint judges to the newly expanded Virginia Court of Appeals.

With this historic opportunity, my colleagues and I were committed to making sure that these funds were allocated in a way that maximized their impact. The pandemic highlighted a series of cracks in our government services – this budget helps fix that. Last week, we took the final vote on the budget and it will now go to the Governor for his signature.

Help for Small Businesses and Virginia Workers

We invested $260 million to fully fund the Rebuild Virginia Grant Fund Program so that we can clear out the application waiting list. We also allocated $76.5 million for additional small business and tourism & hospitality programs and put aside $862 million to replenish the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. The Virginia Employment Commission will also receive $73.6 million to upgrade their information technology system and to add additional call center staff and adjudication officers.

Public Health

Continuing our COVID vaccine outreach, $20 million will go to an information campaign targeted to hard-to-reach communities.

We’re also doing some major investing in our mental health services and substance abuse programs. $238 million has been allocated overall with specific set asides for retaining direct care staff at DBHS facilities, expanding community-based crisis services systems (like mobile crisis units and MARCUS Alert activities), renovating DBHDS facilities, and prevention programs.

Housing & Utilities

To better connect all Virginians, $716 million will be used to expand universal broadband access across the Commonwealth.

The budget continues our current rent relief policy by requiring a tenant or landlord to apply for rental assistance before proceeding with an eviction for non-payment of rent and we put an additional $2.5 million to Legal Aid for civil indigent defense in eviction cases. Customers with overdue utility accounts will have some more options with $120 million for the utility assistance program.

Education

Educating our kids is one of our highest priorities. As such, we’ve got money for teacher recruitment and $250 million for HVAC and ventilation system improvements in the school systems that need it the most.

For our public colleges and universities, there is $100 million in need-based financial aid and $11 million for the TAG Grant Program.

Elections

I’m proud of all the legislation we’ve passed in the past two years to expand voting rights and make the process more accessible. Keeping with that, we’ve allocated $3 million to assist localities with the expansion of early voting, including Sunday voting. We also have $1.5 million for a voter education campaign on new election laws and to combat misinformation.

Public Safety

We’ve also made a lot of progress in in criminal justice reform. This budget continues that effort with $34.8 million for the Department of Corrections to include funding for expansion of telehealth services, video visitation, and PPE. There is also $13.2 million for the Department of Criminal Justice Services sexual and domestic violence victim fund and $2.5 million to support the Office of the Attorney General's gun violence reduction programs.

In acknowledgment of the need to recruitment and retention, there is funding for bonuses for police officers, sheriffs, and new hires as well as compression adjustment bonuses from 2-8% as needed.

Expanding the Court of Appeals

During the special session, we also appointed eight new judges to the recently expanded Virginia Court of Appeals. This legal reform broadens the court’s jurisdiction guaranteeing appellate review of all civil and criminal court decisions. Previously, Virginia was the only state that didn’t automatically grant appeals.

This group of newly appointed judges is also historically diverse in profession, race, and gender. Of these eight, four are women, six are people of color, three are former public defenders, and one was a Legal Aid attorney. The appointees come from across the Commonwealth, offering geographic diversity as well.

New Laws 2021

 This historic Virginia General Assembly sworn in on January 13th, 2020 will meet again for at least two more special sessions prior to the end of the year. We’ll likely meet at the beginning of August to appropriate funds made available to states and localities under the American Rescue Plan, and again to adopt redistricting pans drafted by the Redistricting Commission on which I serve.  

In the meantime, in addition to new laws that took effect July 1st of last year, March 1st of this year, and May 1st of this year, many more bills passed during our 1st special session of 2021 go into effect ton July 1, 2021- almost exactly two weeks from now.  

I got into the weeds on Marijuana legalization in my April column, so this month just a reminder, starting on July 1st, adults over the age of 21 can legally possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use. You will also be allowed to grow up to four plants per household, provided that the plants are labeled, not in public sight, and out of the reach of anyone underage.  

For those that like to order take-out, you’ll still be able to order those special cocktails and other alcoholic beverages to-go as we extended the original legislation allowing restaurants to include this service on their menus. 

Pet lovers may feel reassured to learn that anyone who has been convicted of animal cruelty is prohibited from owning, operating, managing, breeding, or even staffing a pet shop beginning July 1.  

For those that don’t like lawyers, beginning in two weeks you can file a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death in the General District Courts for up to a maximum of $50,000, a much larger number than before. Litigants are able to appear without counsel in the General District Court. 

On the other hand, we’ve made more jobs for attorneys in appellate practice, creating an automatic right of appeal in most cases, and increasing the number of judges on the Virginia Court of Appeals (from 11 to 17) to handle the increased caseload. 

Virginia will become the first state in the south to abolish the death penalty on July 1st. 

Electric vehicle owners will be able to take advantage of a rebate program for the purchase or lease of new and used electric vehicles, administered by the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. 

A person who has been convicted of assault and battery of a family member will be prohibited from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm. There will be a process to have this right restored provided that there isn’t another subsequent disqualifying conviction. 

For those who are members of community organizations that use charitable gaming to raise funds, you’ll still be able to play bingo and hold raffles with some organizations being exempt from the required permit application and fees.  

You’ll be able to continue to take advantage of telemedicine opportunities as the Board of Medical Assistance Services will amend the state plan to provide payment for and the ability to use remote patient monitoring services. This means that health insurance providers will be able to cover these telehealth services. And health insurance providers will be allowed to offer coverage for abortions in any qualified health insurance plan that is sold or offered for sale through a health benefits exchange in Virginia. 

Virginia’s Dream Act will allow students who meet the criteria to be deemed eligible for in-state tuition regardless of their citizenship or immigration status shall be afforded the same educational benefits, including state-administered financial assistance programs or a public institution of higher education, as any other individual who is eligible for in-state tuition. ​ 

The Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back Fund and Program (G3 Fund)​ will require the Virginia Community College System to establish the G3 Program to provide financial assistance to certain low-income and middle-income students who are enrolled in program at a public institution of higher education that leads to an occupation in a high-demand field.​ 

Parents with kids in K-12 will be happy to learn that the total number and type of required SOL assessments will be reduced. 

This is just a sampling of the good legislation that passed and will become effective July 1st. For a larger summary of legislation, check out dls.virginia.gov where you can view the Department of Legislative Services’ In Due Course. 

What I'm thankful for

With Thanksgiving 2020 fast approaching, it's time to take stock those things in our life for which we are grateful. This year will go down in history as one of the most trying and difficult in our nation’s history. There will be plenty of time to look back at what went wrong and why.  This month, this week, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to focus on thinks we in the greater Falls Church community can be thankful for.  

After all, about this time last year we were so optimistic. The 2019 Election had produced another blue wave, sweeping in Democratic majorities in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate. With Democrats in charge of the Governor’s mansion as well, we had a blue trifecta of sorts and would soon take complete control of the lawmaking apparatus in Virginia. 

As our first order of business, we elected Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn as the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House and the first woman and the first African American majority leader, Delegate Charniele Herring. Keeping a campaign promise to make the Virginia legislature reflect ALL Virginians, the Speaker then appointed the most diverse slate of committee chairs ever. 

The transformation of the Virginia General assembly was about more than simply who we elected. It also is about what, together, we stand for.  With our new majorities and leaders from diverse communities in leadership positions, we were able to pass an aggressive and sweeping agenda to bring Virginia into the 21st century.  

First order of business was to improve Democracy in Virginia. We went from being ranked 49th to 12th according to the 2020 Cost of Voting Index. I’m thankful that a record number of Virginians were able to conveniently and safely participate in the 2020 elections with more options than ever to cast their ballots. You were able to vote early by mail, in person, at a drop box, or cruise in and out of a very uncrowded election day polling place this year. We also passed flexible voter ID laws and made Election Day a state holiday. 

We went from tied for last with a minimum wage of $7.25 to a gradual increase up to $15.00 an hour a few years down the road.  

We passed the Equal Rights Amendment. 

I’m thankful we passed a historic transportation funding bill to ensure that our state-wide transportation needs are met. We’ve finally identified and dedicated the revenue sources necessary to address our often worst in the nation congestion.  

Our communities are now safer because of gun violence prevention legislation designed to keep guns out of the hands of those that shouldn’t have them. Localities can prohibit the carrying of firearms in public places and government buildings. We’re working to improve Virginia’s reputation by reinstating the one handgun purchase per month law. 

Through legislation and the biennial budget, we addressed utility shutoffs and evictions related to the ongoing pandemic. The utility shutoff moratorium has been extended to 60 days after the declared state of emergency ends and includes language to create a repayment plan for customers who are behind. A universal eviction moratorium was established to the end of the year. Starting January 1st, we outlined an eviction policy that relies on the creation of payment plans and applications to the Rent and Mortgage Relief Program prior to any evictions related action taking place. 

During the Special Session, we passed substantive criminal justice reform to make our communities safer for all of us. Banning no knock warrants, increasing oversight of law enforcement agencies through civilian review boards, creating mental health response teams, requiring de-escalation and racial bias training, limiting the law enforcement agencies ability to purchase military grade equipment, and making it a hate crime to make false 911 calls motivated by race or other bias are just a few highlights. 

It is my privilege to serve you in the House of Delegates and I am thankful every day that I have the opportunity to make our community the best place to live, work, and raise a family.