General Assembly Update: Feb. 16, 2024
Legislative Update
This week, the General Assembly reached the half-way point of the session on Crossover Tuesday—the day when the House and Senate finish work on their own bills so they may crossover to the other chamber. Altogether, 734 of the 1547 (47.44%) introduced House bills passed out of the House, while 452 of the 737 (61.33%) introduced Senate bills passed out of the Senate. Many bills were defeated in the last committee meetings held before the deadline, but some bills of concern remain alive. As of this morning, 1195 bills remain under consideration.
Remaining Bills of Concern to the Business Community
Senate Bill 259 and House Bill 418, which would create class action lawsuits in the Commonwealth, both passed out of their respective chambers prior to Crossover. After Crossover, Senate Bill 259 reported from House Courts of Justice and was referred to House Appropriations. House Bill 418 reported with a substitute from Senate Courts of Justice.
House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1, bills that seek to raise the minimum wage to $13.50 per hour beginning January 1, 2025, and to $15 per hour beginning January 1, 2026, passed out of the House and Senate, respectively.
Senate Bill 256 would penalize an auto insurance company who denies, refuses, or fails to pay its insured, or refuses a reasonable settlement demand within the policy’s coverage limits, for a claim for uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits within a reasonable time. The penalty for these actions would be double the amount of the judgement, reasonable attorney fees and expenses, and interest for claims of more than $3,500 over the deductible. This bill passed the Senate and is assigned to the House Courts of Justice Civil subcommittee.
House Bill 570 and Senate Bill 274 require the Commonwealth to set up a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB). Both bills passed their respective chambers and will be debated in the opposing chamber.
Senate Bill 186 requires the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to convene a workgroup to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a Wholesale Prescription Drug Importation Program in Virginia. The bill passed the Senate unanimously. It is now pending action in the House Rules committee.
Senate Bill 373, which will require the Virgnia Employment Commission to establish a paid family medical leave insurance program, passed the Senate. The House version, House Bill 737, was left in House Appropriations prior to Crossover.
Defeated or Continued Bills of Concern to the Business Community
Senate Bill 493 failed to report from Senate Finance and Appropriations prior to Crossover. This legislation would have eliminated the recovery cap for actions against health care providers for medical malpractice against a patient aged 10 and under.
House Bill 325 was left in the House Labor and Commerce Committee prior to Crossover. The bill would have amended Virginia law such that the Commonwealth would be unaligned with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act as it relates to minimum and overtime wages for certain employees.
House Bill 1344, relating to nondisclosure agreements and nondisparagement provisions of such agreements, was continued to 2025 by the House Labor and Commerce Committee.
House Bill 721 was continued to 2025 by the House Courts of Justice Committee. Its companion, Senate Bill 366, failed to report from Senate General Laws and Technology. The bills would allow any locality to adopt an ordinance prohibiting landlords from increasing a tenant’s rent by an amount greater than the annual change in the Consumer Price Index or seven percent, whichever is less.
Virginia Business Ready Expedited Permitting Program Bills
Legislation establishing the Virginia Business Ready Expedited Permitting Program passed out of the House and Senate before Crossover in different formats.
House Bill 1125, as amended, would allow the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to annually designate up to two eligible sites and six projects for participation in the program. Within 45 days of site or project designation, the Authority is required to complete a review process to reduce permitting conflicts and provide guidance on site development. Decisions on permits issued by local government entities or state agencies for projects or sites in the program would be required to be made within 180 days of submission of a complete permit application.
Senate Bill 217, as amended, would allow the Authority to annually designate up to two eligible sites and four projects for participation in the program. The bill would require the Authority to complete a review process within 60 days of designation to reduce permitting conflicts and provide guidance on site development and steps the applicant may take to expedite permit application review. The bill also directs the Authority to coordinate with impacted agencies to facilitate the overall permit reviews for the designated site or project.
Both the House and Senate bills have a delayed enactment date of January 1, 2025, and a sunset date of June 30, 2028. Both bills also require the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority to report annually by December 1 to the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees on the program's progress.
Bills Referred to Commission on Electric Utility Regulation
Many bills introduced this year relating to the regulation of electric utilities or to the general energy policies of the Commonwealth are expected to be referred to the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (CEUR). Legislation enacted in 2023 made significant changes to the composition and duties of the Commission, with a general intent that the Commission would be a better forum to discuss complex energy policy issues than abbreviated General Assembly committee meetings. In committee meetings prior to Crossover, many bills were continued to the 2025 session or tabled and may be considered by the Commission before the 2025 session convenes. These bills include:
House Bill 638, which would, as amended, make several changes to the requirements for electric utilities under the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
House Bill 975, which would, as amended, require customers returning to electrical utility service from a non-utility energy supplier to provide 90 days notice, rather than five years notice, to the incumbent utility.
Senate Bill 137, which would require the SCC to implement the Commonwealth’s energy policy at the lowest reasonable cost, and would establish a rebuttable presumption that plans, petitions, or proposals from utilities that do not ensure implementation at the lowest reasonable cost are not in the public interest.
Senate Bill 230, which would, among other changes, require the SCC to establish a single, consistent cost-effectiveness test for use in evaluating proposed energy efficiency programs based on the National Energy Screening Project's National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources.
Senate Bill 557, which would provide that zero-carbon hydrogen and nuclear facilities in the Commonwealth placed into service after July 1, 2024, are eligible sources under the renewable energy portfolio standard.
Senate Bill 562, which would direct the SCC to establish a pilot program for Phase I and Phase II utilities to deploy electricity generation from captured coal mine methane. The bill also provides that electricity generated under such program is an eligible resource for the renewable energy portfolio standard program.
Senate Bill 567, which would establish a procedure for an independent power provider to obtain siting approval from the SCC rather than from the governing body of a locality.
Senate Bill 578, which would provide that non-utility owned offshore wind generation facilities are in the public interest and would require a competitive procurement process held by the Department of Energy for the purchase or development of such facilities.
Senate Bill 591, which would make several changes to the existing statute governing the ability of customers to purchase renewable energy from non-utility sources.
Data Center Bills to be Considered by JLARC in Ongoing Study
In December, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) met and adopted a resolution directing JLARC staff to review the overall impact of the data center industry in Virginia. As with other JLARC studies, the resolution authorizes staff to study many issues relating to data centers, among them the impact of data centers on natural resources and the impact of data centers on energy demand. With the study scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, many bills which would impact the data center industry in Virginia were continued to 2025 or tabled and may be considered after the JLARC report is complete. These bills include:
House Bill 910, which would require each data center in the Commonwealth to report quarterly to the Virgnia Department of Energy on the amount and sources of energy consumed by the data center. It would further direct a work group to be convened to estimate the future energy demands of the data center industry in Virginia.
House Bill 1288, which would require all public utilities to include a separate customer classification for data centers when satisfying existing requirements.
House Bill 1546, which relates to sales and use tax exemptions for data center purchases.
Senate Bill 191, which relates to SCC approval of utility plans to meet data center energy demands and the allocation of costs among customer classes.
Senate Bill 192, which would require data centers to meet certain energy efficiency standards to be eligible for the sales and use tax exemption for data center purchases.
Senate Bill 284 and House Bill 116, which would prohibit approval of data centers in certain locations and under certain conditions.
Senate Bill 285, which would add requirements for localities to perform prior to any approval for the siting of a data center.
Senate Bill 289, which would direct the State Water Control Board to adopt stormwater control management regulations for data centers located within one mile of national or state parks or forests.
Senate Bill 664, which would prohibit cost recovery of electric distribution infrastructure primarily serving a data center being recovered from any other customer.
Senate Bill 708 and House Bill 340, which relate to the undergrounding of an electrical transmission line in Planning District 8 where a data center proposal is under construction.
Artificial Intelligence Legislation
Several bills relating to the use of artificial intelligence in Virginia were introduced this session. Most of these bills were defeated or continued to 2025 to be considered again next year. Following Crossover, two bills relating to artificial intelligence remain before the General Assembly:
Senate Bill 487, which incorporates Senate Bill 621, prohibits any public body from implementing an artificial intelligence system prior to completion of an impact assessment to ensure that use of the system will not result in unlawful discrimination. Through incorporation of SB 621, the bill would also establish a Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The prohibition on use of artificial intelligence by public bodies has a delayed enactment date of July 1, 2025.
House Bill 697 expands the applicability of provisions related to defamation, slander, and libel to include synthetic media. The bill makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for an individual use any synthetic media to commit any criminal offense involving fraud, constituting a separate and distinct offense with punishment separate and apart from any punishment received for the commission of the primary criminal offense. The bill also authorizes the individual depicted in the synthetic media to bring a civil action against the person who violates such prohibition. The bill directs the Attorney General to convene a work group to study and make recommendations on the current enforcement of laws related to the use of synthetic media, including deepfakes, and any further action needed to address the issue of such use in fraudulent acts.