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Virginia Beach staff briefs council on 2025 General Assembly priorities; requests authorization on select bills
Summary
Brent McKenzie briefed City Council on key dates and legislation in the 2025 General Assembly session, reporting that seven of eight city legislative agenda items were introduced and asking council to authorize positions on several bills.
Brent McKenzie, the city’s legislative liaison, told the Virginia Beach City Council on Jan. 14 that the 2025 General Assembly “is 46 days” and moving quickly, and asked the council to authorize staff positions on a handful of bills.
The briefing outlined procedural deadlines and several measures tied to the city’s priorities. McKenzie said the city succeeded in getting seven of eight agenda items introduced and highlighted upcoming committee hearings on measures including the Good Friday First Responders Fund and an eminent domain bill.
Why it matters: the General Assembly’s short session compresses the window for local governments to register support or opposition on bills that can affect local authority, taxes and infrastructure funding. Staff asked for direction so city advocates can act before crossover and sine die.
McKenzie ticked off key dates and items: filing deadline later that week, crossover on Feb. 5, and the scheduled adjournment (sine die) on Feb. 22. He summarized introduced measures that align with the city’s agenda — including extensions and expansions of the Housing Opportunity Tax Credit, bills authorizing local nicotine vaping taxes, and proposals to fund coastal storm-resilience projects — and highlighted bills staff plans to oppose, notably draft energy-siting language and a proposed statewide housing target that McKenzie said would “require every locality to freeze their housing stock by 1 and a half percent each year for 5 years.”
Council members asked for more detail on several priority bills. Councilman Michael requested specifics about education funding in the governor’s budget; McKenzie said budget amendments were still being filed and that staff would analyze them once available. Council members sought the substance of a revised “Faith and Housing” bill; McKenzie described the current draft as permissive and allowing localities to opt in and promised to provide the bill language and a summary after the meeting. Council members also asked about legislation on collective bargaining; McKenzie said human-resources staff were preparing a technical analysis and that there are multiple bills with different scopes (some limited to public safety employees, others broader).
On positions, McKenzie asked council for authorization to support certain bills (for example, measures to study state support of local coastal resilience match funding and the Virginia Military Community Infrastructure Grant Program amendments) and to oppose bills that would reduce local land-use authority. Council members broadly indicated support for letting staff seek those positions and directed staff to circulate a summary of items for formal confirmation.
Staff will circulate detailed bill texts and proposed positions and bring updates as the session proceeds, including recommended letters and any requests for formal council action.
Quotes used in this article are drawn from McKenzie’s briefing to council and council discussion recorded during the Jan. 14 meeting.
