The Virginia General Assembly has gone into overtime this year to finish the state budget. We want to outline the next steps for legislation and budget action as this process can be challenging to follow. We hope these updates will be insightful about what comes next.
Updates on Timeline & Process
April 4, Special Session: On this day, the Virginia General Assembly was called back for a Special Session to finish work on the state budget and to consider legislation tied to the budget that was not acted upon during the regular session. The General Assembly met while party leaders continued negotiations. The legislators left without a final vote on the budget, which will come in the next few weeks.
April 11, governor’s deadline for action: Governor Youngkin responded to the legislation passed during the regular General Assembly Session by vetoing 26 bills, amending over 100 bills, and approving 700 other measures to become law.
April 27, Reconvened Session: The reconvened session is scheduled every year to address the governor’s recommendations on legislation. If budget negotiators reach an agreement before this date, the General Assembly could act on the budget at this time. The governor’s proposed changes must pass both the House and Senate with a majority of votes to amend the bill. If the amendment fails, the underlying bill without the amendment would go into effect by July 1, 2022. Any vetoed legislation must receive approval from two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate to override the veto.
After the reconvened session, Governor Youngkin will have another opportunity to amend or veto any of the 30 potential pieces of legislation or make any line-item vetoes to the budget.
Update on May 11, 2022:
Veto sustained: Study of Transitioning Department of Juvenile Justice to Health and Human Resources
Amendment Adopted: An amendment to improve legislation promoting better language accessibility for Medicaid coverage was adopted.
Amendment Partially Adopted: An amendment to help maintain exemptions for school discipline incidents to be reported to law enforcement was adopted.
Amendment Failed: An amendment to delay the implementation of a bill helping unaccompanied youth seek emergency shelter failed allowing the process to move forward this year.
Highlighted Legislation Impacting Children and Families: Approved, Pending, Amended and Vetoed
Early Childhood
HB389 Del. David Bulova: Approved and Effective 7/1/22
Establishes regional entities for early education (Ready Regions) and a fund to reserve child care overpayments.
HB994 Del. Emily Brewer & SB529 Sen. Bryce Reeves: Approved and effective 7/1/22
Asks the Board of Education to determine the feasibility of amending its regulations to permit all active-duty members of the Armed Forces of the United States to apply for the Child Care Subsidy Program.
SB69 Sen. Barbara Favola: Approved and effective 7/1/22
Allows a rental agreement to contain provisions allowing tenants to operate licensed and regulated home-based child care programs.
Foster Care and Foster Youth
HB716 Del. Wendy Gooditis & SB307 Sen. Monty Mason: Approved and effective 7/1/22
Requires local boards of social services to provide the relatives with an application to become a kinship foster parent within 15 days and gives kinship caregivers the right to appeal if they are denied.
HB717 Del. Eileen Filler Corn
Allows unaccompanied youth to be deemed an adult so they may seek emergency shelter.
- Governor’s proposed change: Governor Youngkin proposed a reenactment clause so this action would not take effect this year and would need to be passed by the General Assembly again to take effect.
SB 689 Sen. Monty Mason: Approved and effective 7/1/22
Establishes a workgroup to study the current Virginia foster parent barrier crime list beyond the Federal requirements.
HB348 Del. Anne Ferrell Tata: In Conference, pending funding allocation
Provides short-term housing support for former foster care youth who are not enrolled in Fostering Futures.
HB653 Del. William Wampler: In Conference, pending funding allocation.
Directs the Department of Social Services to establish and implement a collaborative local board placement program to increase kinship placements and the number of locally approved foster homes.
Education and Mental Health
HB4/SB36 Del. Scott Wyatt & Sen. Tommy Norment
To reduce the school-to-prison pipeline, this bill establishes a protocol for when school systems can refer an incident on school grounds to law enforcement .
- Governor’s proposed change: Governor Youngkin proposed implementation changes to include any reports of threats (both written and verbal) and make reporting incident optional if the student has any disability instead of an individualized education program (IEP).
HB829 Del. Tony Wilt: Approved and effective 7/1/22
Allows flexibility for other licensed counselors to serve in the role of school counselor for a three-year provisional license as a school counselor.
SB490 Sen. Jennifer McClellan: In Conference, pending funding allocation
The Senate version proposes increasing the number of funded specialized student support positions (nurses, social workers, psychologists, behavior analysts and other licensed health and mental health professional) to four per 1,000 students. The House version proposes increasing the number of full and part-time principal required at the elementary school level. These items must be negotiated in the budget compromise.
Language Access
HB987 Del. Kathy Tran
Directs Medicaid Assistance to provide language access and auxiliary access for all information regarding health insurance.
- Governor’s proposed change: The governor proposes technical changes expanding the target audience from all eligible members to all applicants and requiring local government websites to include information on Medicaid access.
Leadership and Oversight of Children and Youth Issues
HB1188 Del. Glenn Davis
Creates a student advisory board of eight student representatives to the state Board of Education.
- Governor’s proposed change: The governor proposes a technical change referring to requirements for in-person and virtual meetings.
HB1197 Del. Patrick Hope
Establishes a workgroup to study the transfer of the Department of Juvenile Justice from the Secretary of Public Safety to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- Governor’s action: veto