As we near the end of the 2023 legislative session, the House of Delegates has been busy considering successful Senate Bills, and the Senate has been doing the same with successful House Bills. Committee meetings are condensed and, in many cases, offer limited chance for testimony due to the time crunch necessitated by scheduled adjournment on February 25. The General Assembly has considered much legislation in 2023 with many bills still pending:
- Passed the House: 599 House Bills
- 220 of these bills have passed the Senate to this date
- Passed the Senate: 433 Senate Bills
- 70 of these bills have passed the House to this date
- Pending: 328 House Bills and 331 Senate Bills
Moving toward next week’s adjournment date, standing committees will meet less frequently while legislators will be busy working in conference committees, which are small bipartisan groups of Delegates and Senators who work on compromises between similar House and Senate bills. As mentioned last week, this includes work on amendments to Virginia’s budget.
In addition to ongoing work on the budget, I'm pleased to report a couple of positive legislative outcomes from this week:
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Legislation to consolidate workforce development programs “under one roof” (HB 2195, SB 1470) continue to receive favorable hearings in House and Senate Committees this week
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Workforce development programs in Virginia span at least 13 different executive agencies with little common oversight or organization. These bills seek to change that by consolidating these many programs into one state agency while not cutting any jobs or services
- The goal is to make workforce development more efficient and responsive to employers and prospective employees.
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SB 1101, the costly mandate on all businesses to provide 12 weeks of paid family medical leave to employees, failed in the House Committee on Commerce and Labor.
- In 2022, the business community successfully advocated for bipartisan legislation that created paid family leave insurance policies that businesses can purchase to cover such circumstances. We are pleased that this offering will remain optional (and we encourage interested business owners to explore those policies!)
Be sure to check your inbox next Friday for a summary of pro-business legislation that has been sent to Governor Youngkin for his signature.
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Created with guidance provided by you and the VA West 2023 Legislative Agenda, the bill tracker has been sent to VA West legislators to inform them of the priorities of our region's business community.
We encourage VA West members to contact their General Assembly members in support of legislation that improve's our region's business climate. If you have any additional questions on how best to reach your legislator, please email Terry at [email protected].
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ADVOCACY 101 - How to be an Effective Advocate this Session |
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FINDING INFORMATION ON LEGISLATION
You can find information on all legislation at the website https://lis.virginia.gov. If you know the bill number for the legislation you are tracking, you can enter it in “Bills & Resolutions” and you will be shown a summary of the bill, the bill text, its patron, and where it currently resides in the legislative process. If you are interested in finding a bill containing certain subject matter, you can do so in the same menu or by searching via keyword.
ACCESSING HOUSE/SENATE MEETING SCHEDULES
Among a ton of other information, you can find the House and Senate committee meeting schedules at https://virginiageneralassembly.gov under the “Members and Session” tab. At this webpage, you can also sign up to speak remotely at committee meetings and provide written comments. Since spoken testimony may be limited, I would highly recommend submitting written comment for each bill you intend to speak for or against.
TESTIFYING ON BILLS
If you are signed up to testify on a particular piece of legislation and are called on to speak in a committee meeting, start by thanking the committee chair, state your name, say where you are from, and inform the committee that you are a business owner or representative of your business. Briefly (and I mean briefly, testimony may be limited to 2 minutes or less) make a clear case for your position and then thank the committee members for their time.
CONTACTING YOUR LEGISLATOR(S)
Many of the same guidelines I mentioned for testifying to legislation also apply here. You can find your legislator at https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov and you will see the contact information for your representative. When calling or emailing your legislator in support or opposition to a bill, always state your name, your address, and that you are a business owner or representative residing in his or her district. Again, it is important to share your thoughts early and often.
Of course, feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions on pending legislation or would like more information on how to get involved.
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VA WEST Represents the Following Chambers:
Greater Augusta Regional, Bedford Area, Danville/Pittsylvania County, Halifax County, Harrisonburg-Rockingham, Lexington, Buena Vista, & Rockbridge County, Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, Martinsville & Henry County, Montgomery County, Roanoke Regional, Salem-Roanoke County, Shenandoah County, Smith Mountain Lake Regional, Top of Virginia, Two Virginias, and Wytheville, Wythe, and Bland.
STAY CONNECTED:
Terry Durkin
Legislative Liaison
VA West
540.682.2111
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