February 2024

The Virginia General Assembly has made progress on taking up the roughly 2400 bills and joint resolutions that were introduced by the January 19th deadline. There are more than 70 pieces of legislation that rvatech is following. Here are a few updates from the session thus far:

 

Recent Updates

HB242 (Bulova) is legislation advanced by rvatech to improve the procurement process by prohibiting agencies from scoring exceptions to proposed terms and conditions. The bill passed the House of Delegates unanimously on 1/24. The Senate version of this bill is SB242 (McPike) which passed the General Laws committee unanimously, and was re-referred to Senate Finance.

 

SB5 (Stanley) to create the STEM+C Competition Team Grant Program is set to pass the full Senate 1/29.

 

SB439 (Salim) to create the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Commission was approved by the Senate Committee on Rules on 1/26 and will be considered by the full Senate this week.

 

SB360 (VanValkenburg) originally prohibited non-compete clauses in employment contracts for healthcare workers, but was amended on the Senate floor to include all professions. The bill has been returned to committee to consider the impact to other professions, including the technology industry.

 

Latest Hearings

HB311 (Hope) would require local governments to utilize eVa for procuring goods and services. This legislation will be considered by a General Laws subcommittee on 1/30.

 

HB248 (Glass) authorizes regulatory boards to promulgate regulations related to licensure of autonomous agents that utilize AI to perform tasks that replace a human who would otherwise be required to obtain a license. This legislation will be considered in a subcommittee of General Laws on 2/1.

 

HB1178 (Sickles) modifies the makeup of the Innovation Partnership Authority board of directors. The legislation will be considered by a General Laws subcommittee on 2/1.