Del. Michael Feggans

Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act; tenant remedies; early termination of rental agreement by military personnel. Removes the requirement that military personnel terminating a rental agreement due to identified permissible circumstances shall provide the landlord with a termination date that is no more than 60 days prior to the date of departure necessary to comply with the official orders or any supplemental instructions for interim training or duty prior to the transfer.

Flashing red and white warning lights; emergency vehicle exemptions; Department of Military Affairs emergency vehicles. Authorizes Department of Military Affairs emergency vehicles to (i) be equipped with flashing, blinking, or alternating red or red and white combination warning lights and (ii) disregard certain regulations regarding the operation of vehicles without being subject to criminal prosecution while responding to an emergency. This bill is identical to SB 573.

Appointment of youth representative to local governing body. Allows a local governing body to appoint a youth representative to serve as a nonvoting member of the governing body.

Board for Contractors; examinations; alternative languages. Provides that any exam offered by the Board for Contractors that averaged over 50 administrations per year over the preceding four-year period shall be made available in any language that meets the threshold for having election materials printed in that language pursuant to state election law.

Local and regional suicide fatality review teams; penalty. Permits localities or combinations of localities to establish a local or regional suicide fatality review team. The bill provides exemptions from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act for information and records obtained or created regarding a review of a fatality by such team.

Housing for local employees; grants for homeownership and workforce housing alternatives. Eliminates the maximum amount a locality may provide (i) to employees of the locality, employees of the school board, and employees of constitutional officers for homeownership grants to purchase primary residences in the locality and (ii) to school division personnel for residential housing assistance grants to provide affordable workforce housing alternatives. The bill also eliminates the requirement that such grants adhere to the Virginia Housing and Development Authority regional sales price and household income limitation guidelines. Current law imposes a maximum grant amount of $25,000 for individual grants per employee, as well as a maximum lifetime cumulative amount of $25,000 per employee. This bill is identical to SB 328.

Open captioning at motion picture theaters. Establishes requirements for open captioning for motion picture theaters. The bill requires all motion picture theater companies, excluding outdoor theaters such as drive-in theaters, that own, operate, control, or lease five or more locations in the Commonwealth and are open to the general public to provide open captioning on any film that has at least seven showings per operating week for a period greater than one operating week, provided that open captioning is available to the theater for such film as part of the digital cinema package. The bill specifies that (i) within the first two operating weeks following a film's release, a theater shall provide at least four open captioning viewings; (ii) at least one of such open captioning viewings shall start between (a) 5:59 p.m. and 11:01 p.m. on a Friday, (b) 10:59 a.m. and 11:01 p.m. on a Saturday or Sunday, or (c) 5:59 p.m. and 10:01 p.m. on a Monday through Thursday; and (iii) beginning in the third operating week following a film's release, a theater shall provide at least one open captioning viewing within 72 hours after receiving a request for such a viewing provided that no theater shall be obligated to provide open captioning viewing for any particular screening for which advance tickets have been sold prior to its receipt of such request. Under the bill, motion picture theater companies are required to provide contact information on their websites for receiving and fulfilling requests for open captioning screenings and advertise the date and time of open captioning screenings in the same manner used to advertise all other motion picture screenings and indicate which screenings shall include open captioning by utilizing the character symbol "OC" or such other language or symbols as may reasonably identify which screenings will include open captioning. The bill directs the Office of Civil Rights of the Attorney General of Virginia to establish a process for receiving consumer reports of suspected violations of the bill. As introduced, the bill was a recommendation of the Disability Commission. This bill is identical to SB 722.

Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund; projects; low-income geographic areas and nature-based solutions. Provides that the Department of Conservation and Recreation shall give additional weight to projects located in low-income geographic areas and projects that incorporate nature-based solutions when distributing loans or grants from the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund to particular local governments. The bill allows the Virginia Resources Authority to contract with any person to serve as a program administrator to be approved by the Department to assist in the distribution of loans and grants to local governments. As introduced, this bill was a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee on Recurrent Flooding.

Maddy summaryHJ 52 is a ceremonial resolution honoring William J. Martin. It does not create new laws or affect any policies, programs, or individuals. The resolution passed both the House and Senate via voice vote in January 2026 but has no substantive effect beyond commemoration. It serves as a formal tribute to William J. Martin's life.

The Honorable Yvonne Bond Miller; portrait. Authorizes the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission to contract for, have painted, and have appropriately framed and placed in the Capitol a portrait of the Honorable Yvonne Bond Miller. This resolution is a recommendation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.