From housing to hemp, here’s what did and didn’t pass the Virginia General Assembly

The General Assembly is winding down Saturday after a 46-day legislative session that saw plenty of partisan gridlock.

With a Republican-held House of Delegates and a Democrat-majority Senate, little movement was made in either direction on issues such as guns, abortion or LGBTQ rights.

But some notable legislation still managed to get through both chambers, including a measure that would create new regulations for industrial hemp and a housing bill introduced after mass evictions in Newport News strained the city.

Other measures, including potential changes to the state budget, remain under debate in conference committees that House and Senate members use to reconcile differences.

Here’s a breakdown:

Same-sex marriage

Republicans on House committees shot down proposals from Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Fairfax, and Del. Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach, that would have removed language banning same-sex marriage in the state’s constitution.

Virginia’s constitution defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, meaning same-sex marriages wouldn’t be protected by state law if the Supreme Court overturned the ruling that legalized it nationwide.

Constitutional amendments must pass the General Assembly for two years in a row, and then pass a public vote, before taking effect.

Abortion

There was no movement on abortion in either direction this year, with Republicans defeating a push to enshrine reproductive rights into the state’s constitution and Democrats blocking several bills that would have banned or limited the procedure.

Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, proposed a constitutional amendment stating an individual has the right to make their own choices about all matters related to a pregnancy.

McClellan told a House subcommittee she had taken for granted her right to make fundamental health care decisions. Then Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer.

“Now I don’t have that right anymore; my children don’t have that right anymore,” she said. “This amendment is to put that right into our state constitution because the Supreme Court has put this fundamental question back in the political sphere.”

The measure was co-sponsored by several Hampton Roads Democrats, including Sens. Monty Mason, Mamie Locke, Aaron Rouse, Louise Lucas and Del. Shelly Simonds.

After lengthy debate, Republicans on the subcommittee shot it down.

“This is one of the most divisive issues in modern politics but there are millions of our citizens who hold a pro-life position and I am one of them,” said Chatham Republican Les Adams. “The adoption of an amendment enshrining this as a right takes that argument away.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats defeated several bills to restrict abortion, including one that asserted the right to life begins at conception and another that would have banned abortions at 15 weeks or later into pregnancy.

Under current state law, abortions are allowed during the first and second trimester. They’re also allowed in the final three months of pregnancy if three physicians agree the pregnancy will lead to the patient’s death or substantially impair her mental or physical health.

Housing

A bill requiring landlords to give more warning when terminating month-to-month leases is heading to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk.

Landlords who terminate monthly leases are required to give tenants 30 days notice in Virginia. But the bill would double that time frame if a significant number of leases were being terminated at the same time on the same multifamily premises.

The 60-day notice would not be required in situations where tenants had failed to pay rent.

Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, said she introduced the bill because social service agencies were overwhelmed after St. James Terrace Apartments issued roughly 100 eviction letters at the end of December.

Hemp regulations

On Friday, both chambers passed a bill from Augusta County Republican Emmett Hanger that tightens regulations on the industrial hemp industry.

The bill would require businesses that sell industrial hemp extract, or food containing it, to obtain a permit from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It states such products could only contain up to 0.3% THC (the chemical in marijuana responsible for producing a high) and two milligrams of THC per container.

The bill would also create new rules for labels and packaging, and require a bittering agent be added to topical products.

On the House floor, Majority Leader Terry Kilgore said the measure would help keep consumers and communities safe.

Minority Leader Don Scott, of Portsmouth, said he had concerns and believed regulations should be handled by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, not VDAC. However, he still voted for the bill.

“I will begrudgingly be a ‘yes’ now because I think it’s important to do as much as we can to create a safe environment,” said Scott, adding legislators could revisit the issue next year.

Industrial hemp is not the same thing as marijuana, which remains illegal to sell for recreational use.

Virginia decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2020, but the General Assembly has been unable to pass legislation that creates a legal retail market for selling it.

Education

A Senate committee shot down two education bills from Virginia Beach Republicans that passed the House with a vote along party lines.

Del. Karen Greenhalgh’s bill would have banned transgender girls and women from competing on women’s sports teams at K-12 schools and universities.

A separate bill from Anderson would have required schools to create a database of library books that contain graphic content. Parents could have viewed it and instructed schools to prevent their children from accessing certain material.

Another education bill expanding the Virginia Literacy Act passed both chambers.

The measure, introduced by Lucas, requires local school boards to provide reading intervention services to students with substantial deficiencies in fourth to eighth grades. These services are currently only required for students in kindergarten to third grade.

Gun violence

Amid a string of high profile shootings in Virginia, Democrats in both chambers introduced a slew of bills intended to prevent gun violence — by the end of session, Republicans had killed all but one.

A bill allowing a $300 income tax credit for the purchase of safety equipment, such as safes or trigger locks, passed both chambers with nearly unanimous support.

Del. Alfonso Lopez, the bill’s sponsor, told a House subcommittee it was a commonsense measure that would incentivize gun safety and help protect minors.

“An estimated 4.6 million minors, approximately 7% of all U.S. children, live in homes where at least one firearm is both loaded and unlocked,” the Arlington Democrat said.

Among the legislation nixed: A bill requiring unattended guns to be stored unloaded in a locked device in homes with children, and another intended to prevent impulsive violence by enacting a waiting period for firearm purchases.

In Newport News, a 6-year-old shot his teacher this year with a gun his family has said was locked and stored on a high shelf. Authorities said a Chesapeake Walmart employee purchased the gun used to kill six co-workers the day of the Nov. 22 shooting.

In a news release, Scott said gun violence was preventable and slammed Republicans for rejecting the measures.

“Gun violence impacts all of our communities — urban communities and rural communities; white, Black, and Latino communities,” he said. “It impacts kids and adults, impacts us in our schools and in our homes. This is an epidemic harming all of us.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have asserted their commitment to protect gun rights.

“Hundreds of thousands of citizens defend themselves with firearms yearly, and anti-gun politicians bear the responsibility for what happens to them when they no longer can,” Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, recently tweeted.

Gun violence is on the rise in the commonwealth, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The agency recorded 457 gun homicides statewide in 2020, 508 in 2021 and 555 in a preliminary count for 2022.

Environment

Senate Democrats killed a bill that would have removed Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — but Youngkin has said his administration will work to pull out through a regulatory process.

RGGI requires energy producers to buy allowances for each metric ton of carbon they produce. The companies can only buy a limited number, which decreases each year to encourage a shift to renewable energy production.

Another bill giving tax credits to restaurants and other businesses that recycle oyster shells is headed to the governor.

The bill, introduced by Anderson, offers a $4 tax credit per bushel of shells with a $1,500 cap per person. Old shells are needed to build reefs or to house baby oysters that are then planted to boost the population.

Antisemitism

The General Assembly passed a bill from Virginia Beach Republican Anne Ferrell Tata that directs the state to adopt a non-legally binding “working definition” of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

This definition would be used as a guide to recognize, track and report antisemitic hate crimes or discrimination.

An amendment clarified the bill should not be construed to infringe upon First Amendment rights.

Fort Monroe Authority

The General Assembly passed a bill that exempts the Fort Monroe Authority from complying with certain provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

The authority is a political subdivision that oversees development on the state’s property at the fort, which ceased to operate as an Army base in 2011.

The bill would allow it to withhold “trade secrets, proprietary information or financial information” received from a private individual or entity for the purposes of complying with a lease, license, permit, or other agreements of a commercial or residential real estate nature.

Campaign finance reform

Two bills from Democrats and one from a Republican attempted to tighten Virginia’s law on campaign spending this year by banning the use of campaign donations on personal expenditures.

The measures each died in a House subcommittee.

“I would suggest that donors need to not donate to people they don’t trust,” said Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, who voted against the bills.

Official pony

A bill designating the Chincoteague pony as the official pony of the commonwealth survived the gridlock this year and is heading to the governor’s desk.

The budget

A two-year state budget was signed into law last summer, but legislators this year are debating significant changes.

Negotiations were still under way as the session came to a close Saturday, and a budget conference committee will continue to hash out disagreements in the coming days or weeks.

Potential budget changes could impact a range of issues, including public safety, transportation and mental health support. But a particular point of contention is tax cuts.

Youngkin and Republicans are pushing to build on last year’s cuts by increasing the standard income tax deduction for individuals and couples and lowering the corporate tax rate from 6 to 5%.

Democrats, meanwhile, have stressed that the state has other priorities, such as education and schools.

Although the purpose of a state budget is to divvy up funding, in many instances it has also been used to resurrect legislation that had otherwise died in the General Assembly, meaning other surprises could be in store.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com