2024 Priority Legislation

of the Virginia Grassroots Coalition

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Passed House & Senate

Vetoed

Approved by Gov

Gov made recommendations

Cat	Number	Title	Patron	House	Senate	GA	Governor	updated
2024 Priority Bills Human Rights & Civil Rights
rights	HB 243 Support	Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission; availability of complaint forms in courthouses. more... Requires that paper copies of any standardized form developed and utilized by the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission for the filing of a complaint be made available to the public in the clerk's office in all state courts of the Commonwealth. ...	Martinez (D)	Passed (51-Y 48-N)	Passed (32-Y 6-N)	Enrolled	Vetoed 4/8/24	4/9/24
rights	HB 295 Support	Protective orders; prohibits parent of a minor from filing a petition for family abuse, etc. more... Prohibits the parent of a minor from filing a petition for a family abuse protective order against such minor, or from filing as next friend on behalf of his minor child against another of his minor children, provided that the minor has not otherwise been emancipated pursuant to law. ...	Martinez (D)	Left In Courts of Justice				2/13/24
rights	HB 335 Support	Employment; determining wage of tipped employee. more... Provides that an employer shall increase the amount paid to its tipped employees by an amount determined by the employer in accordance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, a tipped employee who regularly performs services in the course of his employment for which there is no reasonable expectation of receiving tips shall receive an amount not less than the minimum wage for the time that he performs such services. ...	Gardner (D)	Passed (49-Y 47-N)	Passed (20-Y 19-N)	Enrolled	Vetoed 4/8/24	4/9/24
rights	HB 370 Support	Employment; annual interactive training and education; harassment and workplace discrimination. more... Requires each employer with 50 or more employees, including the Commonwealth and its agencies, institutions, and political subdivisions, to provide annual interactive training and education regarding harassment and workplace discrimination, as both terms are defined in the bill, by July 1, 2025. ...	Martinez (D)	Left In Labor and Commerce				3/11/24
rights	HB 470 Support	Minor; petition for child in need of services or in need of supervision. more... Authorizes an attorney or guardian ad litem representing a minor, or a parent, guardian, or other person standing in loco parentis of a minor, to file a petition for a child in need of services or in need of supervision with the clerk of the juvenile and domestic relations district court. Under current law, such petitions are required to be filed with an intake officer and are prohibited from being filed directly with the clerk. ...	Martinez (D)	Passed (75-Y 23-N)	Passed w substitute (26-Y 14-N)	CC Report Rejected by House		3/11/24
rights	HB 569 Support	Employment discrimination; employee notification of federal and state statute of limitations. more... Requires an employer who receives an employee complaint alleging sexual assault, harassment, or any other form of discrimination for which the employee may seek enforcement by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the Office of the Attorney General to notify such employee that a charge may be filed with the EEOC or the Office of the Attorney General within 300 days after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice occurred. ...	Henson (D)	Passed (49-Y 48-N)	Passed w substitute (21-Y 19-N)	Enrolled	Vetoed	3/25/24
rights	HB 768 Support	Child victims and witnesses; using two-way closed-circuit television, expands age range. more... Expands the age range during which a child may testify using two-way closed-circuit television in a criminal case to include any child younger than 18 years of age at the time of the trial. Under current law, an alleged victim must be 14 years of age or younger at the time of the alleged offense and 16 years of age or younger at the time of the trial to testify by two-way closed-circuit television, and a child witness must be 14 years of age or younger at the time of the trial to so testify. ...	Delaney (D)	Left In Appropriations				2/13/24
rights	HB 782 Support	Virginia Human Rights Act; dual-filed civil actions. more... Clarifies timelines for dual-filing complaints alleging unlawful discrimination under the Virginia Human Rights Act and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The bill allows either the complainant or the respondent for any charge of discrimination to request a notice of the right to file a civil action after the Commission has closed its file on such charge of discrimination. ...	Herring (D)	Passed (99-Y 0-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled	Recommendations	4/9/24
rights	HB 994 Support	Legal age for marriage. more... Establishes the legal age of marriage to be 18 years of age and eliminates the ability for a minor to be declared emancipated on the basis of the intent to marry.	Keys-Gamarra (D)	Passed (55-Y 42-N)	Passed w amendment (39-Y 1-N)	Enrolled by House	Approved Effective 7/1/24	4/9/24
rights	HB 1344 Support	Employee protection; prohibited retaliation; prohibited nondisclosure and nondisparagement provisions; civil action. more... Prohibits the inclusion of a provision in any employment contract that has the purpose or effect of concealing illegal activity or activity an employee believes to be unlawful, including unlawful sexual harassment, discrimination, wage theft, and protected whistleblowing, as those terms are described in existing law.	McQuinn (D)	Continued to 2025				2/13/24
rights	HB 1492 Support	Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia; work group to study trauma-informed training and education; report. more... Directs the Office of the Executive Secretary to convene a work group to make recommendations on the development, adoption, and implementation of trauma-informed training and education for judges, magistrates, and court personnel. The bill requires the work group to submit its recommendations by December 1, 2024, to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice.	Cousins (D)	Continued to 2025				2/21/24
rights	SB 350 Support	Virginia Human Rights Act; right to sue. more... Permits a complainant who has not received a notice of the right to file a civil action from the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Law or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as requested after 180 days have passed from the date the complaint was filed to commence a timely civil action in an appropriate general district or circuit court having jurisdiction over the person who allegedly unlawfully discriminated against the complainant. ...	Perry (D)	Passed (85-Y 12-N)	Passed (40-Y 0-N)	Enrolled by Senate	Recommendations	4/9/24
rights	SB 592 Support	Department of Medical Assistance Services; Preferred Drug List/Common Core Formulary; approval. more... Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to eliminate the requirement that a patient try and fail a drug from the Preferred Drug List/Common Core Formulary in the six months immediately prior to approval of a nonpreferred drug when such patient has previously tried the drug from the Preferred Drug List/Common Core Formulary and experienced harmful side effects.	Salim (D)		Continued to 2025			2/21/24

No. of bills: 13

General info

2024 Session dates

Jan 10: Session begins
Jan 19: Last day to introduce bills
Feb 13: Crossover*
Mar 7: Last day to act on remaining bills
Mar 9: Session adjourns
April 17-24: Reconvened session

House Meeting Schedule
Senate Meeting Schedule

Overriding a Veto

"The Governor may veto the bill if he objects to it by returning the bill with his objections to the house in which the bill originated. The house shall enter the objections in its journal and reconsider the bill. The house may override the veto by a two-thirds vote of the members present, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the members elected to that house. If the house of origin overrides the Governor's veto, it shall send the bill and Governor's objections to the other house where the bill shall be reconsidered. The second house may override the Governor's veto by a two-thirds vote of the members present, which two-thirds shall include a majority of the members elected to that house. If both houses override the Governor's veto, the bill shall become law without his signature. If either house fails to override the Governor's veto, the veto shall stand and the bill shall not become law." -Virginia Constitution

Constitutional Amendments

Amendments to the Virginia Constitution require that a resolution be passed by a majority of both houses during a session and then held over to be passed again by the next elected legislature, with an election intervening between the two approvals. If it succeeds the second time, voters must approve the change in a referendum before it can take effect.

Glossary

Dillon Rule. Restricts local government authority to enact ordinances.

Conference Committee. A temporary committee w. members from both the House and Senate, tasked with reconciling differences in legislation that passed both chambers.

Continued/Carried over. Action taken in an even-numbered year to postpone the consideration of a measure until the next regular session of the General Assembly.

Crossover. The last day for a bill to pass out of the chamber in which it was introduced and move forward for consideration in the opposite chamber. If a bill does not move forward, it is "Left" (dead).

Engrossed. A legislative stage when a bill passes the second reading in the House of origin. Every bill has to be "read" on the floor three times before voting on it. The action or any debate or discussion usually comes on the day of the second reading or the third reading.

Enrolled. Legislation which has passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate, signed by the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate, sent to the Governor, but not yet signed.

Failed to report. Defeated. The rejection of a motion to 'report' a bill to the full chamber.

Incorporated. Rolled into someone another bill. Either because they're identical, or they have incorporated *some* of the language in, and the patron agreed to have her name on the other bill.

Patron. Bill sponsor. There can be many patrons.

PBI. Passed by Indefinitely. Action to allow a committee to reconsider legislation at a later meeting. If the committee takes no further action, the bill is dead. [Usually the bill is dead.]

Referred. The assignment of legislation to another standing committee with no stance on the policy of the measure (neither endorses nor rejects the legislation).

Reported. The approval of a measure by the majority of the committee. The legislation may be reported by the committee with or without amendments. A bill may also be reported and referred to another committee.

Stricken. Legislation removed from a committee's docket, frequently at the request of the patron.

More definitions from League of Women Voters Virginia
More definitions from University of Virginia