Local House of Delegates and state Senate members have filed proposed bills on a wide spectrum of topics in anticipation of the 2024 session, set to begin Jan. 10.
Del. Marcus Simon (D-Falls Church-McLean) has filed the following pieces of legislation:
• HB 40 would prohibit people from converting contributions to a candidate or his or her campaign committee to personal use.
• HB 54 would remove the requirement in the city of Falls Church’s charter that board and commission members be qualified voters and replace it with a requirement that they be at least 18 years of age. The city-residence requirement would remain.
• HB 63 would allow an accused person to withdraw a request for a jury to ascertain punishment up until the commencement of the sentencing proceeding.
• HB 81 would abolish the common-law crime of suicide.
Del. Holly Seibold (D-Vienna-Tysons) has put forth these bills:
• HB 45 would require that any period of incarceration in any correctional facility for which convicted people were held, including any time of incarceration before conviction, be used in calculating such person’s earned-sentence credits.
• HB 47 would require, for the retail sale of any invasive-plant species on the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s list, that such plants be accompanied by conspicuous signage identifying them as invasive.
• HB 100 would increase from $10,000 to $25,000 civil penalties for each violation of child-labor laws resulting in the employment of children who are seriously injured or die in the course of employment. The bill also would boost from $1,000 to $2,500 civil penalties for other violations of child-labor laws and require that such civil penalties not be less than $500.
Del. Rip Sullivan (D-McLean) has introduced these bills:
• HB 106 would set a minimum bill for Dominion Energy customers and allow co-location of two or more shared solar facilities if located on a single parcel of land, or on adjacent parcels of land for facilities up to 5 megawatts.
• HB 107 would create the Electric Vehicle Rural Infrastructure Program and Fund to assist private developers with non-utility costs for the installation of electric-vehicle-charging stations in certain localities.
• HB 108 would require the State Corporation Commission to establish a shared-solar program allowing customers of American Electric Power to purchase electric power through a subscription in a shared-solar facility.
• ˙HB 109 would require each electric utility that belongs to or has established a regional-transmission entity to submit an annual report by Feb. 1 each year detailing its votes cast.
• HB 110 would repeal the statute prohibiting any person, corporation or other entity from accepting compensation for recruiting or procuring surrogates or otherwise arranging or inducing an intended parent and surrogate to enter into surrogacy contracts.
• HB 111 would allow for disqualification and replacement of electors in elections for U.S. president and vice president if they did not present ballots, presented unmarked ballots or refused to cast ballots for the candidates nominated by their party.
• HB 112 would make various changes to statutes governing parental placement and agency adoptions.
• HB 113 would make people convicted within a five-year period of two misdemeanor driving or boating while intoxicated offenses ineligible to possess, purchase or transport a handgun.
• HB 115 would specify orders of appointment, certificates of qualification and annual reports required of guardians and conservators.
• HB 116 would require data-center operators to meet certain energy-efficiency standards to be eligible for the sales-and-use-tax exemption for data-center purchases.
• HB 117 pertains to net-energy metering, solar interconnection and cost recovery for utility companies.
• HB 118 pertains to cost recovery for Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Electric Power regarding electric-vehicle-charging infrastructure.
• HB 119 would add electrification to the definition of “energy-efficiency program” under the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act, provided that the electrification measures reduce total on-site energy consumption and seek to use federally authorized customer rebates for heat-pump technology.
• HB 120 would prohibit any board of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation or the Department of Health Professions from suspending regulants of such boards for having submitted a required check, money draft or similar fee payment that was not honored by a bank or other financial institution.
• HB 121 would require all public-high-school students to complete, within three months of their initial enrollment, in-person or online severe-allergic-reaction awareness training.
• HB 122 would allow those who had been aggrieved by a final decision of the Department of Environmental Quality while seeking permits to construct or operate small renewable-energy projects to seek a judicial review.
• HB 123 would modify requirements governing business practices of health carriers in the processing and payment of claims.
• HB 124 would permit people authorized by domestic or foreign stock or nonstock corporations to sign the corporations’ annual reports for purposes of the Virginia Stock Corporation Act and the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act.
• HJ 6 would designate Oct 4, starting in 2024 and in each succeeding year, as Energy Efficiency Day in Virginia.
• HJ 7 would designate Oct. 25, in 2024 and in each succeeding year, as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome Awareness Day in Virginia.
State Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Herndon-Great Falls) has introduced just one bill, in conjunction with colleagues Ghazala Hashmi, L. Louise Lucas, Mamie Locke and Barbara Favola. The constitutional amendment, SJ 1, would ensure reproductive freedom.
State Sen. Saddam Salim (D-Vienna-Tysons) has put forth three bills so far:
• SB 21 would require all public institutions of higher education to adopt a policy stipulating documentation or evidence that enrolled or admitted students could submit to establish that they have a disability.
• SB 55 would prohibit people from selling a firearm unless at least three days have elapsed since the prospective purchaser completed the written consent form to have a licensed dealer obtain criminal-history-record information, with exceptions enumerated in relevant law.
• SB 57 would make it a Class 2 misdemeanor for anyone, except for active and qualified retired law-enforcement officers, to carry a concealed handgun onto the premises of any restaurant or club having a Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority license to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption.
For a complete list of bills filed by General Assembly members, visit lis.virginia.gov/241/mbr/MBR.HTM.
