VA House Democrats Accept Governor’s Amendments on Crucial Legislation

From the VA House Democratic Caucus:

House Democrats Accept Governor’s Amendments on Crucial Legislation

RICHMOND, Va.—Today during Reconvene Session, the Virginia House of Delegates accepted Governor Ralph Northam’s amendments and substitutions to 22 pieces of the House Democratic Caucus’ legislation from the 2021 Regular and Special Session. Last month, the Virginia General Assembly adjourned Sine Die, having passed many of the House Democrats’ session priorities aimed at building a better Virginia.  

This marks the end of a productive legislative year for House Democrats, as many of their bills were already signed into law, including measures to repeal the death penalty, expand and protect voting access, ban the “gay/trans panic” defense, protect military families from housing and job discrimination, implement the G3 jobs training program, increase broadband access, widen the Virginia Human Rights Act to include those with disabilities, and expand the capacity of vaccination distribution. Gov. Northam signed and amended 550 bills since the General Assembly adjourned on March 1. 

Virginia Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn, House Democratic Majority Leader Charniele Herring, and House Democratic Caucus Chair Rip Sullivan released the following statement in response:

“We are grateful that the Governor recognized the work we have done and helped us make the technical changes that will ensure these measures are executed as intended. This helps put the final touches on what was an enormously impactful session and a historic first term for the House Democratic Majority. We can now confidently move into the campaign season knowing we have made major strides in building a better Virginia.”

Here is the list of House Democrats’ amended legislation which passed the House today:

• HB 1800 (Torian) Budget Bill
• HB 1855 (Sullivan) Changes the name of Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to Department of Energy
• HB 1890 (Price) Establishes the Voting Rights Act of Virginia
• HB 1936 (Watts) Establishes different degrees of punishment for robbery based on the severity of the offense
• HB 1962 (Gooditis) Ensures that relatives or fictive kin are involved in plans for children in foster care, including potential guardianship and placement
• HB 1992 (Murphy) Restricts domestic abusers from purchasing guns
• HB 1999 (Murphy) Authorizes the tax commissioner to waive interest accrued during a declared state of emergency
• HB 2031 (Aird) Prohibits local law-enforcement agencies and college police departments from using facial recognition systems without the General Assembly’s permission
• HB 2038 (Scott) Establishes classifications for probation violations and levels of sentencing for courts to use at revocation hearings
• HB 2040 (Hudson) Requires the Virginia Employment Commission to waive the obligation to repay overpayment of unemployment benefits in certain cases
• HB 2047 (Bourne) Allows admission of evidence of defendant’s mental condition, including development or intellectual disability
• HB 2055 (Scott) Revises child support calculation laws so that incarceration for 180+ days is not considered voluntary un- or underemployment 
• HB 2113 (Herring) Automatic expungement for certain misdemeanors
• HB 2133 (Delaney) Expungement for human trafficking survivors
• HB 2138 (Guzman) Extends availability of state-issued identification to non-drivers in the undocumented community
• HB 2167 (Scott) Adjusts deadlines and authorized methods for the Parole Board to communicate with victims and to provide notification of a grant of parole, and specifies timing of the Parole Board’s monthly report 
• HB 2168 (Scott) Sets civil penalties for operating unregulated gambling devices, and provides for enforcement by localities and the Attorney General
• HB 2174 (Torian) Establishes the VirginiaSaves IRA retirement savings program  for qualified persons working for companies with 25+ employees that do not have a qualified retirement plan
• HB 2207 (Jones) Adds COVID-19 causing death or disability as an occupational disease compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act for frontline medical and law-enforcement workers. 
• HB 2295 (Levine) Bars firearms in Capitol Square and state government buildings and offices
• HB 2312 (Herring) Marijuana legalization for adult consumption
• HB 2327 (Krizek) Includes transportation infrastructure projects within the public works projects required to pay workers the prevailing wage rate