Bills signed by the Governor on May 2 of interest to the business community include: 

• HB 1730 (Delaney) and SB 894 (Perry/Obenshain) create a new legal standard that could employers liable for injury or death of a “vulnerable victim” that resulted from the criminal conduct of an employee. As defined in the bill, a “vulnerable victim” is any person who is at a substantial disadvantage relative to an employee due to circumstances, including, as a matter of law, a patient of a health care provider, a person under a disability, assisted living facility resident, passenger of a common carrier excluding those transit services and transit facilities under the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact of 1966, passenger of a nonemergency medical transportation carrier, and (vi) business invitee of an esthetics spa or business offering massage therapy. 

• HB 2515 (McClure) and SB 1212 (Pekarsky) prohibit a supplier, in connection with a consumer transaction, from advertising or displaying a price for goods and services without clearly and conspicuously displaying the total price inclusive of all mandatory fees or surcharges, as defined in the legislation.  The legislation will become effective on July 1, 2025. 

• HB 2454 (Rasoul) and SB 784 (Suetterlein) direct the Board of Education to revise its Three “E” Readiness Framework to include, as part of the school accountability system, the completion of work-based learning experiences with a minimum of 90 hours as an indicator of postsecondary readiness and to incentivize the completion of work-based learning experiences for students.    

• HB 2663 (Fowler) and SB 1336 (Marsden) increase the special regulatory tax rate of the electricity consumption tax for consumers of more than 2,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Consumers of more than 2,500 kWh, but less than 50,000 kWh, will pay an additional $0.000065 per kWh, or about 16.25 cents more per month for a 2,500 kWh bill. Consumers of more than 50,000 kWh will pay an additional $0.000104 per kWh, or about $4.29 per month for a 60,000 kWh bill. The legislation is anticipated to produce about $3.5 million in revenue annually to support the regulatory activities of the State Corporation Commission. The legislation will become effective on July 1, 2025. 

• SB 854 (VanValkenburg) requires controllers or processors operating a social media platform to use commercially reasonable methods to determine whether a user is a minor and to limit any such minor’s use of the platform to one hour per day, per service or application. The bill also requires controllers or processors to allow a parent to give consent to increase or decrease the daily time limit. The legislation has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2026. 

• SB 1316 (McPike) amends the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) to clarify that geothermal electric generating resources in Virginia or elsewhere in the PJM Interconnection region are eligible for compliance with renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) requirements. The bill will become effective on July 1, 2025. 

Bills vetoed by the Governor on May 2 of interest to the business community include: 

• HB 1601 (Thomas) and SB 1449 (Ebbin) would have provided that prior to any approval for the siting of a high energy use facility (HEUF), defined as a facility requiring 100 megawatts or more electrical power, a locality must require an applicant perform and submit a site assessment for the facility, including factors such as sound profile. The legislation also requires localities to receive information from the electric utility providing service to the facility regarding the substations and anticipated transmission voltage required to serve the facility.  

• HB 2537 (Sullivan) and SB 1394 (Bagby) would have amended the VCEA to increase the targets for energy storage capacity that Virginia’s incumbent electric utilities are required to petition for approval to construct. The legislation would also require the development of model ordinances for use by localities in their regulation of such projects.  

Budget actions of interest to the business community include the following: 

• The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) will receive $6 million to advance employer-focused initiatives under the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership. This includes up to $500,000 that may be transferred to Virginia Works to enhance the Virginia Has Jobs platform, improving its ability to connect students with higher education-related internships. Additionally, up to $2 million may be allocated to VEDP for employer outreach and engagement in internship programs. To further support these efforts, up to $3.5 million in FY 2026 is designated for administering a matching grant program, coordinating regional employer collaboratives, and assessing program impact. The budget also mandates that VEDP collaborate with businesses, higher education institutions, and workforce development organizations, including the Virginia Chamber, to ensure strategic alignment and maximize the effectiveness of these initiatives.   

• The Governor vetoed Item 125.10.J, which would have provided $25 million in funding the Employee Childcare Assistance Pilot Program. The program would have provided matching funds to encourage employers to contribute toward the child care costs of their employees. Administered by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, the program would have followed policies developed in collaboration with the Early Childhood Care and Education Commission. Eligibility aligned with the Child Care Subsidy Program’s criteria and restricted to families earning below 85% of the state median income. Family co-payments are capped at 5% of household income for those at or below 300% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and between 5-10% for those above 300% FPL but below 85% of the state median income. The state’s contribution is limited to 40% of the remaining cost per child after applying family co-payments. 

• The Governor also vetoed Item 113.U which would have provided $1.5 million to VEDP to promote Virginia to national and international site consultants, corporate executives, and others tasked with making business location recommendations and decisions. 

• Finally, Governor Youngkin vetoed Item C-29.30 which would have provided $20 million in general funds to address deferred maintenance of Virginia’s state parks.