Below are highlights of some of the bills that have been introduced for this year’s General Assembly Session. (Source: Virginia Legislative Information System – LIS)
HB 22 (Del. Walker) Fundamental right to be free from medical mandates. Declares that, except as otherwise provided by law, each adult has a fundamental right to be free from medical mandates of the Commonwealth or any locality, private employer, health care entity or provider, or provider of public accommodations.
HB 24 (Del. Walker) Voter identification; identification containing a photograph required. Requires presentation of a form of identification containing a photograph in order to vote. The bill repeals the provisions of law permitting a voter who does not have one of the required forms of identification to vote after signing a statement.
HB 26 (Del. Anderson) Control of firearms by localities. Removes the authority for a locality by ordinance to prohibit the possession or carrying of firearms, ammunition, or components or any combination thereof in (i) any building, or part thereof, owned or used by such locality for governmental purposes; (ii) any public park owned or operated by the locality; (iii) any recreation or community center facility; or (iv) any public street, road, alley, or sidewalk or public right-of-way or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public and is being used by or is adjacent to a permitted event or an event that would otherwise require a permit.
HB 103 (Del. Greenhalgh) Income tax deduction; eligible educators. Provides for taxable years 2022 and thereafter an income tax deduction of the lesser of $500 or the actual amount paid or incurred by an eligible educator, defined in the bill as (i) an individual who for at least 900 hours during the taxable year served as a Virginia licensed teacher, instructor, student counselor, principal, or student aide for public or private primary and secondary school students in Virginia or (ii) a parent providing home instruction to his child in Virginia, for qualifying expenses, defined in the bill as expenses incurred from participation in professional development courses and the purchase of books, supplies, computer equipment (including related software and services), other educational equipment, and supplementary materials used directly in service to Virginia students as an eligible educator.
HB 106 (Del. McNamara) Income tax; rolling conformity; report. Provides that, beginning with taxable year 2022, Virginia shall generally conform to federal tax laws on a rolling basis, meaning that Virginia tax laws incorporate changes to the Internal Revenue Code as soon as Congress enacts them.
HB 107 (Del. McGuire) Larceny and certain property crimes; penalties. Decreases from $1,000 to $500 the threshold amount of money taken or value of goods or chattel taken at which the crime rises from petit larceny to grand larceny. The bill decreases the threshold by the same amount for the classification of certain property crimes. The bill also provides that a person convicted of petit larceny, which is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor, shall be subject to a mandatory minimum term of confinement of 10 days in jail if the larceny was of a package delivered to a residence.
SB 104 (Sen. Morrissey) Elimination of mandatory minimum sentences; modification of sentence to mandatory minimum term of confinement for felony offenses; report. Eliminates all mandatory minimum sentences of confinement from the Code of Virginia. The bill directs the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to establish a work group to evaluate the feasibility of resentencing persons previously convicted of a felony offense that was punishable by a mandatory minimum term of confinement and to report its findings by November 1, 2022.