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Last week, I joined Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) and others at the Defend the VCEA Rally. The Virginia Clean Economy Act is common sense. It creates a more dynamic economy, good paying jobs, lower energy bills, and is the right thing to do for our children and grandchildren.

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We are more than half way through the 2025 General Assembly legislative session, and I have plenty of updates to discuss. Because Crossover is now underway, my surviving bills are now in the House of Delegates. Below you will find a list detailing the status of each, along with a brief description of what each bill does. 

SB 822 - This bill would limit the amount of time that public school teachers are required to participate in non-academic trainings, helping our school districts to prioritize and saving teachers precious time for planning and grading.

Status: Passed the Senate and is now assigned to the House Education Committee. 

SB 838 - This bill will charge uncertified recovery residences with a Class 1 Misdemeanor if they fail to become certified, or register their desire to become certified, by July 1, 2025. It also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to form a workgroup to recommend oversight measures and create credentialing guidelines for recovery residences.

Status: Passed the Senate unanimously and is now assigned to the House Health and Human Services, Behavioral Health Subcommittee. 

SB 854 - This bill limits the use of social media platforms with addictive feeds for users under 18 unless they get verified parental consent.

Status: Passed the Senate and is now assigned to the House Communications, Technology & Innovation Committee. 

SB 855 - This bill seeks to overhaul the K-12 assessment process, bolstering the quality of both SOL and local alternative assessments while limiting the window that the SOL tests can be given to the last 2 weeks in May.  

Status: This bill was rolled into the Senate biannual budget as a budget amendment, and I have become a co-patron of the House companion bill, HB 1957.

SB 871 - This bill extends from 2025 to 2028 the expiration of the retail sales and use tax exemption for certain printed materials purchased by an advertising business from a printer in the Commonwealth, so long as such materials are distributed outside of the Commonwealth.

Status: Passed the Senate and is now assigned to the House Finance Committee. 

SB 955 - This bill seeks to ensure all of our public schools have access to high quality instructional materials.

Status: Passed the Senate and is now assigned to the House Education Committee. 

SB 974: This bill will significantly reduce the time it takes to approve plat development plans by shifting approval authority from the local planning commission to a designated agent employed or authorized by a locality. 

Status: This bill passed the House Counties, Cities, Towns committee and is headed to the House floor! 

SB 1014 - This bill prohibits any state agency from requiring a Bachelor’s degree as a prerequisite for employment in a governmental job, with few exceptions. 

Status: This bill passed the House General Laws Committee and is headed to the House floor!

SB 1015 - This bill amends the definition of state code of "practice of chiropractic" to include recommending or directing patients on the use of vitamins, minerals, or food supplements. 

Status: This bill passed the House Health & Human Services Committee and is headed to the House floor!

SB 1040 - It updates several of Dominion Energy Virginia’s renewable energy portfolio standard programs. Under the pilot program, it’ll eliminate the need for a solar and wind powered generating plant to have a minimum capacity of 50 kilowatts in order to be eligible for the third party power purchase agreement. 

Status: Passed the Senate and is now assigned to the House Commerce & Labor Committee. 

SB 1119 - This bill would place all primaries in a Presidential election year on the same date, which would increase voter turnout, save localities money, and make it easier to fully staff those primary elections with qualified officers of election. 

Status: This bill passed the House Privileges and Elections Committee and is headed to the House floor!

In addition to my newsletter, you can continuously stay updated on my bills through the Legislative Information System (LIS). Livestreams and past recordings of Session, as well as committee meetings can all be found at this link. Legislation, as well as meeting calendars and committee information can be found here.

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An op-ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch this past week touches precisely on one of the barriers to accessing housing I’m trying to fix with my housing bill, SB 974. Long and unnecessary approval processes hurt the housing environment in Virginia. As the author writes, “The lack of adequate rezoning capacity and the cumbersome approval processes create a perfect storm of unaffordability and housing scarcity that threatens the future of the Richmond region.” 

My bill would significantly scale back the approval process for getting houses on the market, and speed up the unnecessarily lengthy development and approval process to make it more administrative, resulting in more houses being built faster with more affordable prices.

SB 974 is currently being considered in the House of Delegates–you can follow the bill’s progress here. Facilitating a quicker path to more housing is a priority for me, and I am doing everything in my power, as your Senator, to make it happen.

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Great news! Senate Bill 1223 (SB 1223) was incorporated into the Committee Approved Senate Budget as a budget amendment for the upcoming fiscal year. The Henrico Citizen recently published an article about this process and about the origin of this bill and what it attempts to achieve.

In brief, this budget amendment prohibits the Virginia Racing Commission from authorizing an HHR corporation to construct, operate, or own a facility using HHR machines in Henrico until a public referendum has been held and approved by the voters. Too often, large, private HHR corporations go around the public approval process, leaving citizens in the dark and operating without proper compliance. To read the full budget amendment language, click here and scroll down to page 258.

This is a huge step forward in ensuring Henrico voters have the same voice and opportunity that other localities did to allow these historical horse racing (HHR) machines in their community. 

The next step of the process is for the House and Senate budget appropriators to get together and negotiate the differences between the House and Senate approved budgets. If passed and included in the final budget, this budget language will give the Henrico community the opportunity to officially weigh in on the proposed Rosie’s gaming emporium. As I told the Henrico Citizen on Thursday, I am “cautiously optimistic” about the amendment’s inclusion to the final proposal for the Governor. 

Another budget amendment that I was proud to carry on the Senate side that made it into the budget is more funding for the Commonwealth’s free clinics. These free clinics do vital work to fill gaps and provide healthcare to all Virginians in need. While Del. Willett, on the House side, and I asked for $4,000,000, we received $500,000. This is a significant achievement and a start, but we know it’s not enough, especially given the Trump cuts to federal healthcare allocations. I will continue to advocate and facilitate better access to healthcare for the people of the 16th District and all Virginians.

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My office has received many phone calls and emails from anxious constituents about what’s going on at the federal level–with the DOGE attempted takeover of federal agencies, threats to the livelihoods of Virginia’s federal workers, attacks on Americans’ and Virginians’ civil rights, and the push to cut funding of vital federally-funded agencies, services and programs. Please know that my caucus and I share your concerns and we are monitoring the situation. In the meantime, I will continue to show up to do the work for, and protect the well being and rights of, the people of the 16th District and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

If you need anything, or to discuss any of my legislative priorities, share an opinion, make a scheduling request, or if you’d like me to come and share a legislative update at a community or organization meeting, please do not hesitate to contact my office at [email protected]. 

I am also preparing resolutions to celebrate notable achievements of residents of the 16th District and memorial resolutions for members of our community that we lost this year. If you know of a member of our community that you would like to recommend to be honored, please email me at [email protected].

Yours in service,