The 2025 Virginia General Assembly adjourned on February 22nd, sending over 800 bills, including the budget bill, to the Governor. Governor Youngkin has until March 24th to amend, sign or veto these bills, with the General Assembly reconvening on April 2nd to consider any changes. Bills signed into law will take effect on July 1, 2025.
Four of the Legal Aid Justice Center’s priority bills are being considered by the Governor:
- HB 1625 (Del. McClure) Includes farmworkers and temporary workers in our minimum wage laws.
- SB 1191 (Sen. Deeds) Makes pre-trial data more accessible by sharing it with the Virginia Longitudinal Data System (a priority of the Virginia Pre-Trial Coalition).
- HB 1665 (Del. Jones/Cherry) Requires courts to provide an itemized bill listing the breakdown of the fines and fees.
- SB 778 (Sen. Locke) Creates a minimum age where children can be charged in the juvenile justice system (led by RISE for Youth).
LAJC also supported community partner bills, some of which are being considered by the Governor. Some of those bills include the following:
- HB 2222 (Cousins) / SB 1255 (Bagby) Limits the practice of shackling young people in courts (led by Justice Forward)
- LAJC’s Youth Justice Team works with youth at the Blue Ridge Detention Center. Those youth wrote testimony supporting the bill. Maisie Osteen, an attorney with the Civil Rights and Racial Justice Team, read their testimony, which you can watch here
- HB 1719 (Price) / SB 812 (Rouse) changes the timeframe from 5 to 14 days from when a tenant receives a written notice to pay rent before a landlord can file for eviction (Led by Virginia Poverty Law Center)
- HB 2415 (Cousins) / SB 1221 (Aird) creates new tenant protections for public housing residents, including waiving the appeal bond requirement for wrongful evictions and increasing transparency around tenants’ rights an rent calculations. (Led by Virginia Poverty Law Center)
- Watch here to see Omari Al-Qadaffi, Housing Organizer at LAJC testify in support of the bill
- HB1766 (Martinez) / SB 1057 (Ebbin) Increasing the weekly unemployment benefit amount by $100 (coordinated effort lead by Virginia Poverty Law Center and National Employment Law Project)
Defensive Advocacy
LAJC worked for three consecutive years to limit mass surveillance. Currently, local law enforcement across Virginia is using Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) with no statewide regulations on usage of the devices and the data they collect. HB 2724 creates statewide regulations for Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs). However, the introduced bill also expanded surveillance by allowing ALPRs on state rights-of-way with a 30-day retention period for data not used in investigations. LAJC successfully worked alongside partner organizations to strengthen the regulations, stop the expansion to state rights-of-way and shorten the retention period. The bill is now being considered by the Governor.
The Virginia General Assembly considered SB 1141, which required local sheriffs and prison officers to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). LAJC opposed the bill, and it was rejected.
- However, after the session concluded, Governor Youngkin issued Executive Order 47, directing state police and corrections officers to cooperate with ICE and enter into a Section 287(g) agreement, deputizing them as federal immigration agents. The Order also asks local sheriffs and jail officials to do the same.
- This Order puts heavy pressure on independent local government to take on an unfunded additional role as federal agents. The Order will discourage immigrant communities from reporting crimes or accessing services, causing harm across Virginia’s immigrant population. LAJC is continuing to analyze and monitor this Order and will be working with partners and the community to offer support and outreach including Know Your Rights events.
Photo from the Fund Our Schools Lobby Day
The Budget
The General Assembly also finalized and sent a budget to the Governor. Our partners at The Commonwealth Institute have an amazing tool summarizing the budget, which you can access here.
During rising uncertainty on the federal level, Virginians continue to be impacted by workforce shifts, funding freezes and changes to public benefits. This will likely impact the Virginia budget process as negotiations continue to unfold between the General Assembly and the Governor. The Governor has until March 24th to act on the budget. The General Assembly will review and take action on any changes the Governor makes to the budget at the April 2nd Reconvened Session.
The budget the Governor is reviewing includes some big wins for Virginia public schools.
For the first time in 15 years, the cap for support positions (including instructional aides, nurses, custodians, and others) will be lifted with an additional $223 million dollars for these essential staff.
Additionally, $53 million was allocated in flexible funding for special education; $2.5 million for family and community engagement, and $5.9 million for safer schools and community grants.
To read Fund Our Schools’ statement on the budget, click here
LAJC’s Civil Rights and Racial Justice team and supporters
At LAJC, we have a tradition to collectively reflect on our experiences in the General Assembly Session each year. This year, staff shared some beautiful stories about supporting community members who came to the legislature for the first time, supporting each other in navigating a complicated environment, and dedicating hours of work in the ongoing fight for justice. You can hear some of those stories in our Facebook Live Session Recap. Click here to watch.
