A MEMBERS ONLY PUBLICATION
February 23, 2024
2024 General Assembly, Week 6 Summary
By Nick Clemente, Chamber Vice President, Government Relations
The sixth full week of the 2024 General Assembly session is in the books and over 2,000 bills have been introduced. Adjournment is 15 days out and is taking place on March 9th. On Sunday, the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees released their versions of the $185 billion budget – a stark contrast to the budget Governor Youngkin released in December. The only part of Youngkin’s tax plan that they included is the proposal to increase the sales tax on digital services, with the rest of the Governor's tax plan carried over to next year. Instead, Democrats are pushing for more money to fund public education, pay increases for teachers, and the expansion of mental health services.  

Yesterday was the last day for each Chamber to consider their budget plans. Unfortunately, as of the publishing of our newsletter, they hadn’t finished that consideration. The next step will be a Budget Conference Committee, which generally includes six delegates and six senators. These conferees will negotiate the final version of the budget and present it to the House and Senate, where it is voted on again before heading to the Governor’s desk. Upon completion of the General Assembly, the Governor can use his line-item veto and send those changes back to the legislative branch for their review at the April 17th reconvene session.

In other news, the Virginia Public Access Project analyzed all the voters before crossover. These graphs, shown here, highlight that most floor votes had unanimous support; however, the highly contested issues fell along party lines.

For this week's summary, I’ll start by providing an update on topline stories; then details about the bills we are closely tracking; followed by other bills that we are monitoring. If you are tracking a bill not represented here, please contact me at nclemente@novachamber.org.
Scenes from Week 5
This week was a busy one for Nick along with Dr. David Ramadan, Ed.D. The two met with Delegate Josh Cole, Delegate Terry Kilgore, Mayor Levar Stoney and Sally McAuliffe, and Senator Stella Pekarsky, in addition to others, while advocating on our members' and Region's behalf.
TOPLINE UPDATES
Potomac Yard Entertainment District
As noted previously, one of the Chamber’s top priorities this session is bringing the Washington Capitals and Wizards to Virginia. In case you missed it, last week, Chamber President and CEO Julie Coons had an op-ed on why Alexandria’s new entertainment district is everyone’s business. You can see it here. Youngkin’s proposal to create a state authority to finance the entertainment district in Alexandria is in the House spending plan, but not the Senate’s. 

The House budget language incorporates Appropriations Chair Luke Torian’s HB 1514, which was amended last week, to give the legislature greater control over the Authority that would run the project. Additional amendments included in HB 1514 require the authority to pay the state back for transportation costs. Lastly, it also included a legislative reenactment clause, which means the General Assembly must approve it again next year. The budget component of the Entertainment District will be a part of the Budget Conference between the two chambers – while the legislative vehicle lives or dies in Senate Finance.

Given the Senate's budget has removed all provisions concerning this deal and considering the recent public expressions of opposition to the arena by several members, we have engaged in multiple discussions with elected officials this week to accurately gauge the situation. We maintain a cautious optimism regarding the possibility of a deal. However, Tuesday's announcement that labor was opposing the project greatly complicated things. And with every day passing, the prospects diminish. 
Metro Update
The Chamber is continuing to work with the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA) to find a sustainable path for WMATA. We are still advocating for the General Assembly to establish a financial oversight commission to end WMATA’s continuing cycle of crisis. Furthermore, we believe this reform commission needs to have robust resources and expertise to develop a solution for long-term success. We also believe the commission should have representation from labor and businesses.

This week, the Senate budget did not include any additional money for WMATA; however, the House budget included $149.5 million over the next two years. Regarding the Senate decision, Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas said, “I feel like Metro has not done a good job of managing their resources. They need to get their act together.” We applaud Senator Lucas for being the first elected official to publicly acknowledge the continuing crisis at Metro.

The Chamber and NVTA believe that Senator Lucas’s bold leadership provides an opportunity to create a robust, comprehensive, and well-funded oversight commission to evaluate WMATA’s financial challenges; therefore, this week we met with members of the General Assembly to advocate for tying Metro funding to the establishment of an oversight commission.

The Chamber and NVTA are dedicated to putting WMATA on a sustainable path for long-term success. The economic competitiveness of Northern Virginia and the Greater Washington Region depends on it. If we don't evaluate the bigger picture today, we won't have the tools or resources to fix WMATA long-term.
Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Update
As noted last week, there are budget amendments that will benefit VCCS that the Chamber strongly supports. Such as the VCCS effort for G3 expansion – a “language only” change that does not cost anything. Senator Jennifer Boysko is carrying the Senate amendment (Item 201 #1s) and Delegate Mark Sickles is carrying the House amendment (Item 201 #1h) – these amendments would expand the G3 program to include additional training programs.
NOTEWORTHY LEGISLATION
The following are noteworthy bills that are worthy of flagging for our members.

SENATE BILLS
SB 14 Sales and use tax, local; additional tax authorized in all counties & cities to support schools. PASSED.
Introduced by Senator Jeremy McPike. Would allow local governments to increase their local sales tax by 1% to fund school construction if approved by voters. Passed Senate, 27-13. Passed House Finance, 13-8. The House version, HB 805 introduced by Delegate Sam Rasoul, passed 69-28. Passed Senate Finance 11-3.

SB 27 Public School Trades Incentive Fund and Program; created and established. PASSED.
Introduced by Senator Bill Stanley. This seeks to restore high school programs for the skilled trades. Passed Senate, 38-0 and referred House Appropriations. The Chamber supports this.

SB 624 Public education; student literacy measures. PASSED BOTH CHAMBERS.
Introduced by Senator Louise Lucas. This clarifies the provisions of the Virginia Literacy Act. Passed Senate, 39-0 and House, 99-1. The Chamber supports this.

SB 635 Alcoholic beverage control; sale and delivery of mixed beverages & pre-mixed wine off-premises. EACH BILL PASSED BOTH CHAMBERS.
Introduced by Senator Aaron Rouse. This allows cocktails to be sold from bars, restaurants, distilleries for delivery. Passed Senate, 40-0 and House 82-16. House version, HB 688 introduced by Delegate Jay Leftwich, passed 81-18 and Senate 40-0. See our support letter here. The Chamber supports this.
HOUSE BILLS
HB 1 Minimum wage; increases wage to $13.50 per hour effective January 1, 2025. BOTH BILLS PASSED.
Introduced by Delegate Jeion Ward. This increases the minimum wage incrementally to $15.00 by January 1, 2026. Passed House, 51-49. Passed Senate Finance, 10-4. Senate version, SB 1 introduced by Senator Louise Lucas, passed 21-19. Passed House Commerce, 12-10. Youngkin said he will veto this.

HB 107 Electric Vehicle Rural Infrastructure Program and Fund; established and created. PASSED.
Introduced by Delegate Rip Sullivan. This would assist developers with non-utility costs from the installation of EV charging stations. Passed House, 71-27 and referred to Senate Agriculture.

HB 335 Employment; determining wage of tipped employee. PASSED.
Introduced by Delegate Debra Gardner. Federal law already requires this. Passed House, 49-47 and referred Senate Commerce. The Chamber opposes this.

HB 570 Prescription Drug Affordability Board; established, drug cost affordability review, report. BOTH BILLS PASSED.
Introduced by Delegate Karrie Delaney passed 52-46 and referred to Senate Commerce. Senate version, SB 274 introduced by Senator Creigh Deeds passed, 23-16. Passed House Commerce, 12-10. You can see our concerns with this in a letter, here. The Chamber opposes these.

HB 800 Public service companies; pole attachments; cable television systems and telecommunications. PASSED.
Introduced by Delegate Charniele Herring. This expands broadband access. You can see our support letter here. Passed House, 99-0 and referred to Senate Commerce. The Chamber supports this.

HB 1125 Virginia Business Ready Expedited Permitting Program; established. PASSED.
Introduced by Delegate Betsy Carr. This will streamline permitting for mega-site deals. Passed 94-5 and referred to Senate Finance. The Chamber supports this.
BILLS THE CHAMBER IS WATCHING
Senate Bills
House Bills
CONCLUSION
Thank you for your time. If anyone has any questions, concerns, or would like to participate in the weekly update calls on Friday at 8:30 AM, please contact me at nclemente@novachamber.org! 

Sincerely,

Nick Clemente
WE ADVOCATE ON YOUR BEHALF
To find out more about the Chamber's advocacy work, visit us online or contact Nick Clemente, Chamber Vice President, Government Relations, at nclemente@novachamber.org with any questions or concerns.
Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce
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