Collective bargaining by public employees; individual home care providers; Virginia Home Care Council established; Public Employee Relations Board established; exclusive bargaining representatives. Repeals the existing prohibition on collective bargaining by public employees. The bill creates the Public Employee Relations Board, which shall determine appropriate bargaining units and provide for certification and decertification elections for exclusive bargaining representatives of state employees and local government employees. The bill requires public employers and employee organizations that are exclusive bargaining representatives to meet at reasonable times to negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. The bill establishes the Virginia Home Care Council within the Department of Medical Assistance Services to promote the stability of the individual provider workforce in the Commonwealth and tasks the Council with serving as the public employer of individual providers, as defined in the bill, for purposes of collective bargaining pursuant to the bill's provisions. The bill repeals a provision that declares that in any procedure providing for the designation, selection, or authorization of a labor organization to represent employees the right of an individual employee to vote by secret ballot is a fundamental right that shall be guaranteed from infringement. The bill directs the Department of Labor and Industry to promulgate any regulations necessary to effectuate the bill's provisions by July 1, 2028, and provides that upon the establishment of the Public Employee Relations Board, such regulations shall be transferred to the Board. The bill provides that until such regulations are adopted, no petitions or elections shall take place pursuant to the bill's provisions except pursuant to an ordinance or resolution adopted under current law. This bill is identical to SB 378.
Sponsored bills
Nonemergency medical transportation providers; fee disclosure. Requires a nonemergency medical transportation provider or the medical care facility prearranging transport through such a provider, prior to providing such transportation services to a patient, to provide the patient or the patient's representative with a standardized disclosure form of all associated fees or other charges for which the patient will be responsible for such transportation services. The bill also requires that nonemergency medical transportation providers provide the medical care facility with the required form. Such provisions have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. Finally, effective July 1, 2026, the bill directs the Department of Health to develop and publish a standardized disclosure form on its website by October 1, 2026.
Land development; solar canopies in parking areas. Provides that any locality may include in its land development ordinances a provision that requires that an applicant must install a solar canopy over designated surface parking areas. Such provisions shall apply only to nonresidential parking areas with 100 or more new off-street contiguous parking spaces and may require coverage of up to 50 percent of the surface parking area. The bill provides that an ordinance adopted pursuant to this bill shall be subject to various additional requirements and shall allow for deviations, in whole or in part, from the requirements of the ordinance when its strict application would prevent the development of uses and densities otherwise allowed by the locality's zoning or development ordinance or when a property owner shows that the solar canopy, if installed as otherwise required under the ordinance, will generate less than 75 percent of the electricity that would be expected, given the nameplate capacity of the solar modules installed on such canopy, if the canopy were to be installed at another location in the locality without surrounding impediments to insolation such as buildings or shading vegetation. Finally, the bill provides that the applicant or owner may use the electric energy generated from such solar canopy to offset the consumption of the parking lot or adjoining building served under the same account. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. This bill incorporates HB 457 and is identical to SB 26.
Elections; Voting Rights Act of Virginia. Revises provisions of the Voting Rights Act of Virginia (the Act) by (i) clarifying the legal standards for evaluating claims of alleged voter suppression and vote dilution, (ii) providing guidance to the courts to follow when determining whether a violation of the prohibition against voter suppression or vote dilution has occurred, and (iii) outlining the factors that the courts are permitted to consider and those factors that the courts are prohibited from considering. The bill expands the class of persons who may initiate a cause of action for an alleged violation of the Act to include organizations whose membership includes members of a protected class, organizations whose mission would be frustrated by a violation of the Act, and organizations that would expend resources in order to fulfill their mission as a result of a violation of the Act. The population thresholds for a locality to be designated as a covered locality for purposes of minority language accessibility pursuant to the Act are also amended. Current law designates a locality as a covered locality if, in the locality, (a) more than five percent of the voting age population or (b) more than 10,000 of the voting age population are members of a single language minority and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process; the bill reduces those thresholds from five to three percent and from 10,000 to 5,000. The bill contains technical amendments for organizational purposes.
Secretary of Public Safety; firearm violence. Directs the Secretary of Public Safety to convene a work group to develop policy and legislative recommendations to establish the Virginia Gun Violence Prevention Center. The bill allows the work group to (i) meet both in-person and virtually, (ii) have small group breakouts for the purpose of advancing work in a timely and efficient manner, and (iii) collaborate with experts and other representatives as needed. The bill requires the work group to report its findings and any legislative and policy recommendations to the General Assembly by December 15, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 364.
Presidential electors; National Popular Vote Compact. Enters Virginia into an interstate compact known as the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote. Article II of the Constitution of the United States gives the states exclusive and plenary authority to decide the manner of awarding their electoral votes. Under the compact, Virginia agrees to award its electoral votes to the presidential ticket that receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The compact goes into effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have joined the compact. A state may withdraw from the compact; however, a withdrawal occurring within six months of the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President has qualified to serve the next term. The bill also provides for the manner of appointing electors when such agreement does and does not govern the appointment of electors. This bill is identical to HB 965.
Bureau of Insurance; evaluation of All-Payer Claims Database; report. Directs the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance (the Bureau) to conduct an evaluation of the All-Payer Claims Database and the data submitted thereto in facilitating data-driven, evidence-based improvements in access, quality, and cost of health care in the Commonwealth. The bill requires the Bureau to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly no later than December 1, 2026.
Securities Act; investment advisor advertising. Permits an investment advisor to solicit, disseminate, or otherwise use advertisements, including client testimonials and endorsements, provided such advertisements comply with the requirements for an advertisement solicited, disseminated, or used by a federally registered investment advisor under federal law.
Private companies providing public transportation services; employee protections; report. Requires the governing body of any county or city that contracts with a private company to provide transportation services to (i) require such company to provide any employee of such company providing such services compensation and benefits that are, at a minimum, equivalent to the compensation and benefits provided to a public employee, as defined in the bill, with a position requiring equivalent qualifications and years of service; (ii) provide transportation services through such company's own employees; and (iii) if such county or city subsequently elects to provide its own system of public transportation, adopt an ordinance or resolution providing for collective bargaining and ensure all employees of such private company are offered employment with such subsequent public transportation system without loss of compensation or benefits. The bill clarifies that the bill only applies to actions occurring on or after the effective date and excludes any action taken, contract signed, liability incurred, or right accrued prior to July 1, 2026, from the requirements. Finally, the bill directs the Director of the Department of Rail and Public Transportation to convene a work group to develop recommendations on how to implement the provisions of the bill and requires the work group to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committee on Labor and Commerce and Senate Committee on Local Government by November 1, 2026. This bill is identical to SB 731.
Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act; dissemination of personal information to federal government; civil penalties. Provides that any agency or political subdivision of the Commonwealth shall only disseminate personal information (i) to the extent necessary to comply with state or federal law, including the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; (ii) to the extent necessary to carry out the administration of a state or federal program pursuant to state or federal law; (iii) to comply with a subpoena, court order, or administrative proceeding; (iv) to the extent necessary to ensure fulfillment of the obligations of a purchase or contract made in accordance with the Virginia Public Procurement Act or a memorandum of understanding or management agreement made in accordance with the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act; (v) when the data subject has given consent; or (vi) to the extent necessary to accomplish a proper purpose of the agency. The bill also prohibits an agency or political subdivision from selling personal information. The bill authorizes a court, in the case of a willful and knowing violation, to subject a specific public officer, appointee, or employee of any agency to civil penalties.