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Home My WebLink AboutGeneral Assembly Update1 2026 General Assembly Week 5 2 2026 Session Today’s update: •Status of Legislative Agenda items •Legislation of interest Goal of today’s presentation is to provide an update on the General Assembly session and highlight legislation of interest 3 Legislative Agenda items 10:1 Charter Election System HB 187 Convirs- Fowler SB 681 Rouse •Passed House 83-13-1; referred to Senate Local Gov't •Passed Senate 27-13; Passed House 72-25-1 and now heads to Governor Cancer Screenings for Public Safety HB 393 Askew •Reported from House Appropriations subcommittee 20-0 (3rd read on Tuesday) EMS "Four for Life" funding HB 57 Feggans •Passed the House 98-0 and referred to Senate Transportation Subaquatic Vegetation HB 390 Askew •Passed House 98-0; Referred to Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee Menhaden Fishing Study HB 1049 Carr •Reported from House Agriculture Committee 12- 10 and Rereferred to Appropriations 10-1 General Law HB 168 Askew SB 51 Rouse •Passed House 75-24; referred to Local Gov't •Passed Senate 26-14;Passed House 72-26 and now heads to the Governor 4 Legislation with Fiscal Impact SB 378 Surovell HB 1263 Tran Collective Bargaining for Public Employees •SB 378 reported from Finance 10-5 •HB 1263 reported from Appropriations 15-7 SB 228 Surovell Eliminates sovereign immunity up to the amount of insurance or self-insurance reserves for any tort case •Continued to 2027 HB 569 Feggans SB 518 Rouse Requires prevailing wage for public works projects •HB 569 reported from C&L 15-7 •SB 518 passed Senate 20-19 SB 233 Head Changes how aid to locality funds for fire departments are distributed, prioritizing fiscal distress instead of population •Changed to a study and Reported from Finance 15-0 HB 5 Convirs-Fowler SB 199 Favola Requires one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked for all employees. Delayed effective date of July 1, 2027 •Passed House 63-35 •SB199 reported from C&L 9-6 SB 2 Boysko HB1207 Establishes a mandatory paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits beginning January 1, 2029. Premiums assessed to employers and employees beginning January 1, 2028 •SB2 reported from Finance 10-5 •HB1207 reported from Appropriations 15-7 5 Major Tax Legislation HB 900 SB 730 SB638 Decreases the retail sales and use tax from 4.3 percent to four percent and expands such tax to taxable services,defined in the bill, and digital personal property. Also, increased taxes in NOVA for Metro •Continued to 2027 HB 378 Imposes a net investment income tax on individuals, trusts, and estates •Laid on the table 10-0 HB 188, HB 979 Taxes income in excess of $1 million at a rate of 10 percent •Continued to 2027 HB 243 Imposes on large employers a corporate welfare tax equal to 100 percent of the qualified employee benefits received by any employees of such large employer •Continued to 2027 HB 566 Eliminates the Car Tax •Laid on the table 7-3 6 Legislation of Interest HB 1238 Shinn Authorizes a locality to regulate or restrict by ordinance the acquisition, marketing, and sale of animals in a pet shop, provided that such ordinance is consistent with state law. Reported from CCT 12-8 HB 707 Hayes Prohibits a public body from maintaining an official website for use by the public with a domain other than a .gov domain Reported from Appropriations 15-7 HB 343Martinez Permits localities to adopt ordinances requiring children 14 years of age or younger to wear protective helmets whenever riding or being carried on a motorized skateboard or scooter or a nonmotorized scooter. Passed House 75-22 HB 1120 Singh Directs the Department of Motor Vehicles to convene a work group of relevant stakeholders to examine and make recommendations for options and measures for improving the safety of electric power-assisted bicycles Passed House 97-0 HB 269Reid Establishes a new class of vehicle, the motorized mobility vehicle, as defined in the bill, and establishes requirements for the sale, operation, registration, and titling of such vehicles. Continued to 2027 HB 514 Martinez Establishes an outreach program to ensure military service members transitioning from military to civilian life and their family members can easily access federal, state, and local benefits and other programs and services available to them. Passed House 97-0 HB 505 McAuliff Prohibits a member of a governing body of a locality from holding any other position of employment with such locality Reported from P & E 13-8 7 Speed Cameras HB 684 Hayes SB 59 Diggs DCJS to develop a training course for local government technicians or conservators of the peace (CoP) to review speed camera and red-light camera photos •Reported from Transportation 15-6 •Passed Senate 31-9 HB 1330 Seibold Authorizes state and local law enforcement agencies to place & operate pedestrian crossing and stop sign monitoring systems within school crossings, highway work zones and high-risk speed corridors to record violations Reported from Transportation 15-6 HB 994 Seibold Expands photo speed enforcement zones and incorporates all of HB1220 Reported from Transportation 14-7 SB 219 Jones Requires a second summons be issued before DMV can cancel vehicle registration for unpaid photo speed summons Passed Senate 37-2 SB 221 Jones Expands the hours school zones can be active to 1-hour prior to school and 1-hour after school Passed Senate 40-0 SB 436 Bagby Requires workers be present for a photo speed program in a work zone Passed Senate 40-0 8 Speed Cameras HB 1220 Delaney •Directs Virginia Supreme Court to establish a uniform summons to be used for photo speed enforcement violations. Use of the uniform summons is required starting July 1, 2027. •Establishes requirements for the summons to include information to contest or paying a civil violation and the opportunity for the inspection of photo speed device speed calibration information within 30 days of the mailing of a summons. •Requires 2 conspicuous signs placed within 1,000 feet of the photo speed device warning of the use of photo speed devices and one of these signs must be a speed display sign that measures the speed of oncoming vehicles and displays that speed in real time to drivers. Signage requirements have a delayed enactment date of July 1, 2027. •Restricts how fines and fees collected from violations may be used by a locality to specific road safety improvements such as traffic safety, speed management, bicycle and pedestrian safety, local systemic safety initiatives eligible for funding under the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program with projects prioritized in those areas where photo speed enforcement is in use in the locality. •Eliminates the ability of vendors to collect any fees for the mailing of violations or administrative fees other than for reasonable postage costs and no more than a 5% processing fee in addition to the civil penalty of $100. •Includes new requirements for vendors to provide calibration data of photo speed devices within 10 days electronically or postmarked within 10 days of receiving the request from a person issued a violation from a photo speed device. Vendors who fail to meet these requirements are subject to a $1,000 civil penalty per violation. Localities in violation of these requirements waive sovereign immunity •There are also new reporting requirements Reported from Transportation 15-6 On 3rd reading 9 Discussion