(The Center Square) — Virginia’s 2024 legislative session continues vigorously, with 15 more bills headed to the Senate floor after an industrious Finance and Appropriations Committee meeting.
The committee passed motions on 26 bills, tripling the number it has reported out so far this year and killing two.
A Constitutional amendment — one of just a handful this session — and two related bills passed the committee. All three were patroned by Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, and would work to expand property tax exemptions available to military spouses from surviving spouses of service members killed in action to those of service members killed in the line of duty.
The committee also passed another bill from Sen. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, that would benefit military families. SB 325 directs the state registrar to expedite the issuance of a birth certificate to adoptive families that have at least one military parent.
Though 12 of the 15 reported bills were Democrat-patroned, most passed unanimously, and only three caused split votes: SB 245, 477 and 517, introduced by Sens. McPike, Lashrecse Aird and Angelia Williams-Graves, respectively.
All five Republicans voted against McPike’s bill requiring the Department of Energy to assist localities in implementing energy and resilience mandates in new buildings or buildings undergoing renovation. Republicans also voted against Aird’s bill, which would allow financially stressed localities to raise taxes on blighted and derelict properties.
Williams-Graves’ bill would eliminate tax exemptions for the Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Three Republicans abstained from voting, while Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, and Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, voted to report the bill.
The committee killed two Republican bills — one introduced by Sen. Tara Durant, R-Stafford, and another by Sen. Dave Suetterlein, R-Roanoke. Durant’s bill would expand the tax exemption for energy storage systems if the taxing locality has implemented a revenue share; Suetterlein’s bill, which failed despite more Republican resistance, would have exempted food and personal hygiene products from local sales and use tax.
