by Cindy; cross-posted from VAPLAN
Welcome to the 2024 General Assembly session! With Democrats controlling both the House and the Senate by narrow margins, and a GOP Governor, it’ll be an interesting session. It’s already historic, as the first Black Speaker was sworn in on Wednesday, and the first Black Chair of Senate Finance took her seat.
Check out the hot bill topics for this session below:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: House Speaker Don Scott, speaking after swearing in: 30 years ago I went to federal prison. Now, I’m standing here today, and I remember people, some of whom were in rooms like this, telling me my life was over, I would never be what I thought I would be…There are those who would tell you that you should be defined forever by a mistake. I’m here to tell you: do not believe them.
2024 hot bill topic #1:
- Insurance co-payments/cost sharing: there are several bills that prohibit or reduce patient cost-sharing for particular services:
- Breast exams (HB921-Srinivasan and HB230-Simonds)
- Insulin and diabetic equipment (HB760-Delaney and HB610-Price)
- Cancer treatment (HB903-Srinivasan)
- Prescription drugs (HB946-Lopez and SB376-Boysko)
- Colorectal cancer screening (HB238-McQuinn)
- Contraceptives (HB902-Srinivasan and HB819-Mundon King and SB238-Hashmi)
- Autism diagnosis or treatment (HB1347-Srinivasan)
2024 hot bill topic #2:
- Lots of bills to address the housing crisis, from zoning changes to renter’s rights:
- Localities may adopt anti-rent gouging policies (HB721-Clark and SB366-Boysko)
- Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) permitted in single-family home zones (HB900-Srinivasan and SB304-Salim)
- Landlord and Tenant Fairness Act (HB192-Martinez)
- Extending expiration of Eviction Diversion Pilot Program (SB50-Locke and HB477-Coyner)
2024 hot bill topic #3:
- Kids and social media–a very hot topic! But do the kids have rights too?
- Restricting hours social media available to kids (SB532-Jordan and HB562-Campbell)
- Prohibiting “addictive feed” tactics (SB359-VanValkenburg and HB1115-Hodges)
- Prohibiting collecting and storing personal data of kids (HB707-Maldonado and HB821-Cherry and SB361-VanValkenburg and SB432-Suetterlein)
- Parental consent for accounts (HB1161-Wyatt)
- All of the above bill (HB877-Earley)
2024 hot bill topic #4:
- Gun violence prevention–still a lot of work to be done
- Safe storage where minors are present (HB36-Willett, SB44-VanValkenburg, HB183-Simon, SB368-Boysko)
- Assault weapon and auto sear bans and restrictions (HB2-Helmer, SB2-Deeds, HB22-Jones, SB210-Perry, HB175-Simon, SB99-Ebbin, HB1174-Sickles)
- Untraceable “ghost gun” bans (HB173-Simon, SB100-Ebbin)
- Locking devices (HB12-Jones, HB158-McClure, HB351-Clark)
- Waiting period, regardless of whether State Police can complete background check (HB1195-Hayes, SB55-Salim, SB273-Subramanyam, SB551-Deeds)
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