Virginia: Here is where 20 key issues stand at Crossover

Tuesday was Crossover, the deadline for the Virginia House of Delegates and state Senate to complete work on their own bills , aside from the budget. Surviving measures "cross over" to the other chamber for action before legislators adjourn on Feb. 22.

This General Assembly session is a prelude to fall elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the House of Delegates. Expect many of the high-profile bills that get defeated or vetoed to resurface as issues in the fall campaigns. Gov.



Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address on Jan. 13. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Here is a look at where 20 key issues stand at the session's procedural midpoint.

Three constitutional amendments proposed by Democrats are advancing in the legislature. One would protect abortion rights. Another would remove moot language in the constitution barring same-sex marriage.

A third would automatically restore voting rights to felons who have served their time. A Senate panel defeated a Republican proposal to put in the constitution Virginia's right-to-work law, which bans compulsory union membership as a condition of employment. To be enacted, a proposed constitutional amendment must pass the legislature in two different years with an election for the House of Delegates in between, then pass in a state referendum.

Senate Democrats voted to block nine of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointments requiring General Assembly confirmation in a series of party-line votes in late January. The nine include one position each on the state’s health and education boards and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, as well as four members of the George Mason University Board of Visitors and two members of Virginia Military Institute’s Board of Visitors.

Spruill BOB BROWN A Democrat-led House panel moved to block five additional Youngkin appointees, including former Sen. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, a member of the Norfolk State University Board of Visitors. Spruill served for 30 years in the General Assembly before he lost a 2023 primary to Sen.

Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, after redistricting. Democrats are again moving legislation to establish a legal market for cannabis sales. The Senate and House approved identical measures.

Youngkin vetoed nearly identical measures last year and continues to oppose the idea. The House and Senate backed measures to decrease the authority of the president of Virginia Commonwealth University at the VCU Health System following a failed development deal. The Senate passed legislation to give Richard Bland College independent governance – an outcome it has sought for over a decade – after an August report from the Virginia Secretary of Education recommended the General Assembly constitute a new, independent board of visitors for the college.

Senators voted to make it illegal to get around Virginia’s basic 12% cap on loan interest rates by disguising a loan as a different kind of transaction. Bills to bar firms from adding undisclosed fees after making a sale passed the Senate and the House. A House proposal to reserve up to $500 in a debtor’s bank account from seizure by a debt collector is headed to the Senate.

A bill to end Virginia’s unique-in-the nation approach to collecting tax debt – allowing state and local officials to garnish all of a taxpayer’s wages - passed the House and heads to the Senate. Probation reform measures to let former inmates on probation shorten their time under supervision if they comply with tough goals on employment, education, housing and therapy passed the Senate and House. Youngkin vetoed similar measures last year.

A bill to say drug dealers who sell fatal doses could be convicted of murder - which failed the last two years - was narrowed to only cover fentanyl sold to minors. It passed the Senate and heads to the House. There's consensus on several measures to enhance local governments' review of proposed data centers for their impact on neighborhoods, water resources and noise levels.

House and Senate committees balked at suggestions that the State Corporation Commission consider setting special rates for these electricity-hungry facilities or be empowered to say whether data centers can be constructed. Republicans introduced legislation that would have required law enforcement to transfer undocumented inmates to U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they had an ICE-issued detainer. The bills did not advance. A Senate panel defeated Republican bills to broaden checks on immigration status in the juvenile justice system.

The House and Senate budgets do not include Youngkin's proposal to deny state supports for police and jails to localities that do not cooperate with ICE when it seeks to deport criminals. A bill that passed the House would create a task force to develop strategies to protect wetlands. Two bills aimed at increasing tree canopy passed the House.

A slew of bills aimed at protecting or studying the environment died. Among the failed proposals is the Extreme Weather Relief Act , a system that would hold fossil fuel extractors or refiners of crude oil financially responsible for the state’s climate change-related costs. Bills to create a new Gaming Commission languished in the House and Senate money committees, but the House version of the state budget includes language to establish a commission.

The House budget also would let localities that host historical horse racing gaming parlors keep gaming revenues generated there instead of sending half back to New Kent County, home of the state's only live horse racing track. The Senate did not advance legislation to change the allocation of revenues. The Senate budget would allow electronic skill games at retail establishments, while the House version would not.

Separately, the Senate approved allowing Fairfax County to seek authorization for a casino at Tysons Corner. The Senate passed a bill to tackle the surge in thefts of guns from cars by striking the exemption now in state code that a gun secured in a vehicle does not violate the law. A slew of gun-rights bills died in House and Senate committees.

Efforts to limit access to firearms, including a measure to bar the sale of assault-style weapons, appear headed toward passage and likely vetoes from Youngkin, who previously rejected such measures. A bill that would open a door for localities interested in helping religious groups develop their buildings or land for affordable housing passed the House, though a Senate version stalled in committee. The House passed a measure to give localities first call on affordable housing if the owner wants to sell.

A Senate bill to ban hedge funds from buying single family homes, a practice that many advocates blame for driving up the cost of housing and rent, did not make it out of the Finance Committee. A bill to delay the state's new accountability system —a priority for Democrats who chair the education committees — died on the Senate floor, with two Democrats voting against it. A House version did not advance out of committee.

Youngkin likely would have vetoed the legislation if it passed. The Senate placed similar language in its budget proposal , which potentially gives it chance to be implemented — or used as a bargaining chip with Youngkin. Legislation seeking to end the nearly 20-year-old cap on state-funded support positions in public schools and provide additional funding for special education students did not advance out of committee, but the $865 million proposal is in both the House and Senate budget proposals.

Youngkin’s administration opposes the bill. A controversial bill to remove the state’s religious exemption statute for homeschooling failed to advance after Youngkin publicly said he would veto it , even after an amended proposal sought only to study the issue. Administration-backed legislation in the House and Senate to establish a private school voucher program did not advance.

Youngkin in December proposed “opportunity scholarships” that would give $5,000 grants to 10,000 students whose families earn less than 200% of the federal poverty limit, or $62,400 for a family of four. The House and Senate budget bills do not include the $50 million that the governor proposed to help families pay private school tuition and other costs. Legislators and interest groups nailed down peace settlements on proposed state dictates to local government over granny flats and solar farms.

In both cases, the General Assembly backed away from giving state officials power to supersede local decisions while directing localities to be more open to these projects. But the solar facility bills, still facing opposition from local governments and rural legislators, died. Legislation saying a person's mental health condition can be a defense against a felony charge of assaulting a police officer passed the Senate and heads to the House.

Youngkin vetoed a similar bill last year. The House also passed a bill to expand access to courts' behavioral health dockets. The House and Senate budget bills propose bonuses for state employees, state-supported local employees, teachers and school support staff, on top of the 3% raises they are scheduled to receive in the next fiscal year.

Both propose $1,000 bonuses for teachers and school staff. The Senate proposes a 1.5% bonus for state and state-supported local employees; the House proposes a 1% bonus.

The House and Senate budget bills take identical positions on taxes. Both propose a one-time income tax rebate of $200 for individuals and $400 for couples filing joint returns. Both bills would raise the standard deduction for income tax filers by $250 for individuals and $500 for couples for the next two tax years.

Both also would extend the refundable earned income tax credit for working families for two years, while raising the amount refundable from 15% to 20%. The budget bills rejected Youngkin's proposed for a three-year income tax credit for taxpayers who pay their local car tax, depending on how much they earn and where they live. They also eliminate the governor's proposed deduction of income received from tips.

The governor also had proposed to make current standard deduction levels permanent. A bill to establish the Virginia Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Protection Act passed the Senate on a party-line vote. The legislation would make it the state’s policy that all people are entitled to provide and receive reproductive and gender-affirming health care services.

Republican bills that sought to ban gender transition surgery for children and ban transgender women from women's sports did not advance. House and Senate bills that would have limited rent increases to 3% did not pass. A measure allowing local governments to sue landlords for failing to fix serious defects passed the House.

Youngkin has vetoed similar bills. The House passed legislation to ban landlords from increasing rent or security deposits or imposing more restrictive lease terms because of a prospective tenant’s history in dismissed suits for eviction. A Senate committee rebuffed a compromise that would require workers' compensation insurance to cover repetitive stress injuries.

Bills to set up a way for people to get some income when away from their jobs to take care of a new baby or family member, passed both the House and the Senate. Youngkin vetoed a similar measure last year. A bill to let all state and local government workers collectively bargain for wages and job conditions through a union passed the Senate on a party-line vote.

Republicans warned it would boost government spending, suggesting it would be a tough sell to Youngkin. Lt. Gov.

Winsome Earle-Sears and Speaker of the House Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, speak as Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address on Monday.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH First Lady Suzanne Youngkin applauds Gov. Glenn Youngkin as he arrives before the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin, shown leaving the House chamber after delivering his State of the Commonwealth address, opposes the proposed change to rules for homeschooling in Virginia. MIKE KROPF, RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH Gov.

Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov.

Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov.

Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address on Jan. 13. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov.

Glenn Youngkin arrives before giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH First Lady Suzanne Youngkin is applauded as she arrives before Gov.

Glenn Youngkin’s State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov.

Glenn Youngkin arrives before giving the State of the Commonwealth address in the House chamber on Monday. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Pages look on as Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the press after giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Members of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s cabinet arrive before the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the media after giving the State of the Commonwealth address on Monday.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH House Speaker Don Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth, speaks to members of the media after the State of the Commonwealth address on Monday. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov.

Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Del.

Luke Torian, D-Prince William, applauds as Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears applauds as Gov.

Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address on Monday. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the press after giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the press after giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the press after giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin shakes hands with Sen.

Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, before giving the State of the Commonwealth address on Monday. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Speaker of the House Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, speaks to members of the press after giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Del. Michael Jones, D-Richmond, listens as Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan.

13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Del. Michael Jones, D-Richmond, listens as Gov.

Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Del.

Michael Jones, D-Richmond, rubs his eyes as Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears; House Speaker Don Scott Jr.

, D-Portsmouth; and Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, applaud as Gov. Glenn Youngkin gives the State of the Commonwealth address on Monday.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks to members of the press after giving the State of the Commonwealth address, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025.

MIKE KROPF, TIMES-DISPATCH.