Virginia Latino Caucus Releases Crossover Update

Virginia Latino Caucus Releases Crossover Update

RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Latino Caucus (VLC) wishes to highlight the status of its policy priorities at Crossover, the moment in session where the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates review bills that have passed in the opposite chamber. At the time of writing, the VLC’s bill statuses include 16 bills that have passed their respective chambers, 6 bills that were continued to 2025, and 3 bills that were left in a committee.

VLC Delegates Alfonso López, Michelle Lopes Maldonado, Phil Hernández, and Marty Martínez remain committed to shepherding Latino priorities through the General Assembly, including support for English Language Learner (ELL) students, affordable healthcare, criminal justice reforms, support for New Americans, and aiding Virginia’s undocumented community.

Education

HB 211, sponsored by Delegate Martínez, was continued to 2025 in a House Education subcommittee. The bill would have changed from once every seven years to every two years the frequency with which the Department of Education is required to audit each education preparation program for compliance with relevant law relating to student coursework and mastery in science-based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction.

HB 386, sponsored by Delegate Hernández, was continued to 2025 in a House Appropriations subcommittee.  The bill would have increased the number of specialized student support positions required to be employed by each local school board from at least three to at least four such positions per 1,000 students in the local school division . Such specialized student support positions would have included school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions.

HB 1247, sponsored by Delegate Lopes Maldonado, passed the House of Delegates on a 58-41 floor vote and was referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee. The bill requires state funding to be provided to support divisionwide ratios of ELL students in average daily membership to full-time equivalent teaching positions.

SB 272, sponsored by Senator Hashmi,  unanimously passed the Senate and was referred to the House Education Committee. The bill requires the Department of Education to develop and implement a data collection process related to ELL expenditures and student English proficiency levels, and identify other options to support English language learners

SB 227 , sponsored by Senator Hashmi, was incorporated into Senator Lucas’ SB 105.  SB 105 unanimously passed the Senate and was referred to the House Education K-12 Subcommittee. The original bill would adjust Standards of Quality (SoQ) funding calculations performed by the Department of Education.

SB 228, sponsored by Senator Hashmi, was incorporated into Senator Lucas’ SB 105.  SB 105 unanimously passed the Senate and was referred to the House Education K-12 Subcommittee. The original bill would require state funding to be provided to cover the actual average school division cost to educate children with disabilities and a per-pupil SoQ funding add-on for English language learner (ELL) and special education students.

Housing

HB 192, sponsored by Delegate Martínez, was left in a House General Laws subcommittee. It would have established the Landlord and Tenant Fairness Act that requires any landlord who owns more than nine rental units or more than a 10 percent interest in more than nine rental units to meet certain requirements with respect to the advertisement of any rental unit, the charging of application fees, and terms of rental agreements.

HB 955, sponsored by Delegate López, passed the House of Delegates on a 51-48 floor vote and was referred to the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee. The bill would require landlords (at the request of the tenant) to include a summary page with any written rental agreement offered to a prospective tenant in a language other than English in an area where that language is commonly used. The summary page shall include the duration of the lease, the amount of rent and the date upon which such rent shall be due, an explanation of any deposits and late fees that may be charged, and any termination provisions.

HB 957, sponsored by Delegate López, passed the House of Delegates on a 69-29 floor vote and was referred to the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee. The bill provides a rebuttable presumption of a landlord’s noncompliance with the rental agreement if the leased premises was condemned by an appropriate authority due to the owner’s refusal or failure to fix a condition for which he was served a condemnation notice. The bill requires a court, when such rebuttable presumption is established, to award the tenant the amount of three months’ rent, any prepaid rent, and any security deposit paid by the tenant.

Healthcare

HB 970, sponsored by Delegate Tran, was left in the House Appropriations Committee. It would have established a health coverage program in Virginia available to children from low-income families regardless of immigration status.

SB 231, sponsored by Senator Hashmi, passed the Senate on a 21-19 floor vote and was referred to the House Health and Human Services Social Services Subcommittee. It would establish a health coverage program in Virginia available to children from low-income families regardless of immigration status.

Immigration

HB 956, sponsored by Delegate López, was left in the House Appropriations Committee. It would have reduced from 12 months to 364 days the maximum term of confinement in jail for a Class 1 misdemeanor.

SB 332, sponsored by Senator Salim, passed the Senate on a 21-19 floor vote and has been referred to the House Courts of Justice Committee. It would reduce from 12 months to 364 days the maximum term of confinement in jail for a Class 1 misdemeanor.

HB 962, sponsored by Delegate López, passed the House of Delegates on a 53-47 floor vote and has been referred to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. It would remove the term “alien” as it pertains to persons who are not citizens or nationals of the United States and replace it with synonymous language throughout the Code of Virginia.

Workers’ Protections

HB 1, sponsored by Delegate Ward, passed the House of Delegates on a 51-49 floor vote and has been referred to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee . It increases the minimum wage from the current rate of $12.00 per hour to $13.50 per hour effective January 1, 2025, and to $15.00 per hour effective January 1, 2026.

HB 157, sponsored by Delegate McClure, passed the House of Delegates in a 50-49 floor vote and has been referred to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. The bill eliminates the exemptions from Virginia’s minimum wage requirements for persons employed as farm laborers or farm employees and certain temporary foreign workers.

Taxes and Social Services

HB 407, sponsored by Delegate Hernández, unanimously passed the House of Delegates in a floor vote. It has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Public Education subcommittee. The bill provides that any family that receives public assistance through Medicaid or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children be deemed categorically eligible to receive assistance through the Child Care Subsidy Program.

HB 408, sponsored by Delegate Hernández, was continued to 2025  in a House Appropriations subcommittee. The bill would have required that the Department of Education periodically reimburse child care providers that are vendors through the Child Care Subsidy Program on the basis of authorized child enrollment.

HB 621/SB 183, sponsored by Delegate Price and Senator Rouse, were respectively continued to 2025. The bills would have allowed eligible low-income taxpayers to claim a refundable income tax credit equal to 20 percent of the federal earned income tax credit claimed that year by the taxpayer for the same taxable year. The bills also state that individuals who would have been entitled to the federal equivalent of this credit but for the fact that the individual, the individual’s spouse, or one or more of the individual’s children does not have a valid social security number would be eligible to claim this credit.

HB 969, sponsored by Delegate Tran, was continued to 2025 in a Finance subcommittee. The bill would have created a tax credit for taxable years 2024 through 2028 for individuals whose households include dependents younger than the age of 18. The bill provided that the amount of the credit will be equal to $500 for each such dependent whose family Virginia adjusted gross income (AGI) does not exceed $100,000.

Public Safety and Judicial

HB 470, sponsored by Delegate Martínez, passed on a 75-23  full vote in the House of Delegates and unanimously passed the Senate Courts of Justice Committee . The bill moves to increase transparency in court processes by allowing families, with adequate evidence, who were previously denied a petition in the court to be reevaluated and have the petition filed by another designated professional.

HB 972, sponsored by Delegate López, passed a full vote in the House of Delegates. It passed on a 51-47 vote and was referred to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. The bill provides that no Virginia court shall inquire into the immigration status of any defendant unless such inquiry is relevant to the offense for which such defendant is being prosecuted. It also requires that before the start of proceedings, Virginia courts shall advise any defendant that immigration consequences are possible if such defendant is convicted of a criminal violation of state or local law.

HB 1454/SB 246, sponsored by Delegate López and Senator McPike, passed their respective chambers. HB 1454 passed on a 55-44 vote and SB 246 passed on a 21-19 vote. These bills extend the validity of limited-duration licenses and driver privilege cards and permits to match the validity of driver’s licenses under current law.

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The Virginia Latino Caucus (VLC) is the legislative caucus representing Virginia’s diverse Hispanic and Latino community in the Virginia General Assembly. The VLC’s mission is to advance legislation and policies in the General Assembly that will improve the lives of Latinos, New Americans, and other underrepresented communities across the Commonwealth. This email was sent out by Lopez for Delegate on behalf of the Virginia Latino Caucus.