For Immediate Release: January 27, 2022. 
 

Legislative Contacts:

Leo Priddy

Assistant Vice President

marketing@montgomerycc.org

Margaret Appleby

Legislative Intern

legislative@montgomerycc.org

Getting down to Business: Week Three of the 2022 Virginia Legislative Session

The 2022 Virginia Legislative Session is now under way. The deadline for introducing new legislation passed on January 21st. Members of the General Assembly are now focused on working their way through those bills. To help you follow along through this oftentimes confusing process, your chamber wanted to provide you with a brief overview of what happens when bills see action on the Floor. For a more in-depth explanation, see this link.

House of Delegates

After legislation is reported out, or passed by, a particular committee, with or without amendments, it is placed on the daily House of Delegates calendar. As required by the Virginia Constitution, bills must be read three times before it can be voted on. The first reading is more of a procedural courtesy, the bulk of the action happens on the second and third readings.

During the second reading of the bill, that legislation's patron will introduce and explain the bill to the rest of the Delegates on the floor. Amendments to the legislation can also be introduced during this step. If the bill passes its second reading, it is reprinted with amendments and placed on the following day's calendar for a recorded vote. It is at this step where there are a number of procedural delays that can be implemented if a Delegate does not want this legislation to pass the House.

Assuming there are no delays, the whole House will vote on whether or not to send the bill to the Senate. Should the bill pass, it is sent to the Senate for the process to begin again.

Senate

Like the House of Delegates, all legislation to be considered by the Senate is published in a daily calendar. A key difference here is that the Senate divides the bills they are considering into two main categories: uncontested and the "regular" calendar. Uncontested bills are those that were reported out of committee with no negative votes. We can consider bills on this calendar to be noncontroversial. The regular calendar is reserved for bills that may have received negative votes in committee.

Like the House of Delegates, bills in the Senate must receive three readings. The second reading in the Senate is another place where amendments can be introduced. Senators must vote on the amended bills before they can move to the third reading.

Here is a key procedural difference between the House and Senate. Bills that are initially placed on the uncontested calendar may be voted on "en bloc" or all at once meaning that they can be voted on as a group, barring any objections from a Senator. Bills on the regular calendar are taken up one-by-one, debated and voted upon.

Should the bill pass, it is communicated with the House of Delegates and prepared for the final step in the process -- heading to the Governor's desk, our topic for next week.

Here are three bills that were introduced this week that your Chamber will be tracking this legislative session. This list of bills will continue to be grow until January 21, 2022 -- the last day for legislators to introduce new legislation for this session. Click here to find our comprehensive list of bills.​

• HB 1253, a bill related to Professional and Occupational Regulation, Department of; licensure by apprenticeship. This bill, introduced by Del. Fowler, requires regulatory boards within the purview of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to license an applicant for licensure by apprenticeship if the applicant meets certain basic criteria as outlined in the bill.
• HB 858, a bill related to Economic Development; incentives to attract knowledge workers. This bill, introduced by Del. Reid, provides incentives in the form of income tax deductions and tax credits for electric vehicle chargers, to STEM-focused knowledge workers.
• SB 549, a bill related to Group health benefit plans; bona fide associations, benefits consortium. This bill, introduced by Sen. Dunnavant, provides that certain trusts constitute a benefits consortium and are authorized to sell health benefits plans to members of a sponsoring association that is a nonstock corporation, has five or more members participating in one or more benefits plans, has been formed for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits, and operates as a nonprofit entity under § 501(c)(6) of the federal Internal Revenue Code.