The General Assembly has now reached “crossover,” when all legislation must have passed out of the original chamber, or it is dead for the year. A total of 1364 bills were introduced in the House and 598 bills were approved. A total of 775 bills were introduced in the Senate and 486 bills were approved. Those remaining 1084 bills will now cross over to the opposite chamber for consideration in the next twenty five days before the scheduled adjournment on March 12th. So far the governor has signed just two pieces of legislation, including one related to parental authority to opt-out of mask requirements in public schools.
Representatives for rvatech have successfully advocated in support of several pieces of legislation. Alongside other regional technology councils, we have successfully advocated for two pieces of STEM legislation including HB221 to include STEM+Computing in the standards of learning and HB217 to update the work of the STEM Education Advisory Board. We also joined other technology councils to support HB791 and SB513 aimed at preserving the Commonwealth’s status as an attractive place to locate data centers. Finally, we have worked with VITA on two pieces of legislation. The first is HB1304/SB703 to strengthen and reinvigorate the Information Technology Advisory Council. This council will provide an opportunity for rvatech members to participate in advising the state’s CIO and Secretary of Administration on matters relating to IT procurement and other issues. The second item from VITA will require localities to report to the Commonwealth all cybersecurity incidents risking the security of government databases and communications.
The one remaining piece of legislation yet to cross over to the opposite chamber is the budget bill, which the House Appropriations and Senate Finance & Appropriations committees will take up this coming Sunday, February 20th. The committees will report budget bills on Sunday and the full House and Senate will adopt their versions of the bill the following Thursday.
A full list of actions taken on legislation we are following this session can be found here, but a summary of key pieces of legislation that were approved with our support is included below. Please let us know if you have any questions.
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Bill |
Sponsors |
Title |
Last Action |
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Adds science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computing (STEM+C), which includes real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational instruction and preparation of students in STEM+C, to the list of topics that shall be included in the Standards of Learning for the Commonwealth. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to develop and submit to the Board of Education (i) a rubric that shall be used by the Board of Education in setting out what factors permit a school to be defined as a STEM school and (ii) recommendations for the Board to create a measurement for quality of STEM programming in general education instruction. The bill also directs the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board to draft and report to the Department of Education proposed common language and terminology that better defines the basic literacies employed in STEM+C as methodological approaches to solving universal human challenges and, as essential, generalizable and transferable literacy toward the application of skills and content needed to solve those challenges. The bill also directs the Department of Education, based on such proposed language and terminology and no later than December 1, 2022, to recommend finalized language and terminology to the Board of Education. |
Senate • Feb 16, 2022: Referred to Committee on Education and Health |
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Requires the Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board (the Board) to (i) review the occupational categories in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' standard occupational classification system to determine the occupational categories that are not properly captured in the Commonwealth's existing STEM+C workforce profile and the gaps in the Commonwealth's tracking of careers in these occupational categories for the purpose of better aligning K%9616 education priorities and the Board's tracking and coordination of STEM+C and (ii) share its findings with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority's Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment (the Office) to include in the Office's efforts to specifically align STEM+C workforce and education. The bill requires the Board, in conducting such review, to focus on occupational categories such as advanced manufacturing, agriculture, financial systems, health care, military, and K%9616 education careers that are not currently tracked or categorized by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as STEM+C career fields. The bill also requires the Board to submit its findings and any recommendations to the General Assembly no later than October 1, 2022. |
Senate • Feb 16, 2022: Referred to Committee on Education and Health |
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Redefines the purpose and powers and duties of the Information Technology Advisory Council (the ITAC). The bill increases the membership of the ITAC from 16 to 19 members and allows for legislative members to be appointed to the ITAC. The bill also directs the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth to report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly regarding the work of the ITAC and any subcommittees. Finally, the bill provides that the ITAC may appoint advisory subcommittees consisting of individuals with expertise in particular subject areas and information technology to advise the ITAC on the utilization of nationally recognized technical and data standards in such subject, and repeals the provision that allows for the ITAC to create and appoint persons to a Health Information Technology Standards Advisory Committee. |
Senate • Feb 16, 2022: Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendments (13-Y 0-N) |
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Provides that if data center fixtures are taxed as part of the real property where they are located, they shall be valued based on depreciated reproduction or replacement cost, rather than based on the amount of income they generate. |
Senate • Feb 11, 2022: Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N) |
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Redefines the purpose and powers and duties of the Information Technology Advisory Council (the ITAC). The bill increases the membership of the ITAC from 16 to 19 members and allows for legislative members to be appointed to the ITAC. The bill also directs the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth to report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly regarding the work of the ITAC and any subcommittees. Finally, the bill provides that the ITAC may appoint advisory subcommittees consisting of individuals with expertise in particular subject areas and information technology to advise the ITAC on the utilization of nationally recognized technical and data standards in such subject, and repeals the provision that allows for the ITAC to create and appoint persons to a Health Information Technology Standards Advisory Committee. |
Senate • Feb 11, 2022: Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) |
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Requires every public body to report to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) all known incidents that threaten the security of the Commonwealth's data or communications or result in exposure of data protected by federal or state laws and all other incidents compromising the security of the public body's information technology systems with the potential to cause major disruption to normal activities of the public body or other public bodies. The bill requires such reports to be made to the CIO within 24 hours from when the incident was discovered. |
Senate • Feb 08, 2022: Referred to Committee on Rules |
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Provides that if data center fixtures are taxed as part of the real property where they are located, they shall be valued based on depreciated reproduction or replacement cost, rather than based on the amount of income they generate. |
Senate • Feb 02, 2022: Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations |