Week 5

2022 Legislative Session | February 14th-18th

Advocating on behalf of our members.

We bring business leaders, top institutions, other business organizations, and a diverse group of elected leaders together to work toward a better Northern Virginia.

We maintain a full-time presence in Richmond during the 2022

Virginia General Assembly

We work with business leaders, top institutions, other business organizations, and a diverse group of elected leaders to stress the importance of regionally-focused collaboration throughout Northern Virginia.

Read Our Week 5 Summary

Your Chamber Advocacy Contact

For more information, please contact Clayton Medford, VP Government Relations: cmedford@novachamber.org

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The Chamber's NOVABIZPAC

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Our Policy Committee

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2022 Legislative Agenda

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Week 5 Summary

This week in Richmond was very consequential as we reached “crossover,” where the House and Senate can only take up bills passed by the other. About half of the bills introduced this session made it through their chamber of origination, and already the Senate at least is busy working on reducing that number of active bills on their side of the capitol.

The budget committees in each chamber will release their respective budgets on Sunday (Feb. 20). Here are the priorities for the Northern Virginia Chamber.

program	FY23-24 amount
Increase Funding for GO Virginia and Establish a Talent Pathways Program	$83,900,000
ARPA: Hospitality and Tourism Business COVID-19 Grant Relief Program	$200,000,000
ARPA: Transit Worker Pay	$20,000,000
Virginia Business Ready Sites Funding	$150,000,000 FY23 $14,437,500 ($20M/yr)
Polystyrene Food Service Containers & Recycling Infrastructure Improvement Program	$80,000 & Language Only
Repeal Standard for Infectious Disease Prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus that Causes COVID-19	Language Only
Capital Improvements at Norfolk State University	$110,542,250
Capital Improvements at Virginia State University	$59,483,635
Tech Talent Investment Fund	$31,800,000

Another budget concern we have is in regards to potential replacement of transportation revenue lost to the grocery tax cut. The more modest Senate proposal still results in the loss of $135 million annually, less than the proposed gas tax cut but still very significant. The gas tax cut legislation was not approved by the Senate.

There was limited action on our bills this week. Here are some of the bills we are still watching, post-crossover, in addition to the budget:

HB 78 Automatic renewal or continuous service offer to consumer; cancellation and online opt-out., Del. Glenn Davis

HB558 and SB565

Natural gas, biogas, and other gas sources of energy; definitions, energy conservation.

HB 1144 Gasoline and diesel fuel; lowers the rate of tax on July 1, 2022.

HB1156 and SB15

Private family leave insurance; definition, establishes as a class of insurance

HB 1257 Natural gas utilities; retail supply choice.

HB 1287 Virginia Public Procurement Act; preference for plastic recycled materials.

SB 631 Fair Labor Standards Act; employer liability, overtime required for certain employees, report.