Virginia House adopts, rejects dozens of Senate amendments; names conferees for multiple bills

RICHMOND — On Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, the Virginia House of Delegates met in supplemental session at the State Capitol to take up more than three dozen pieces of legislation returned from the Senate. Members accepted some Senate substitutes, rejected others and appointed House conferees so bills could move to conference committees ahead of the chamber’s deadline.

The supplemental calendar matters because the decisions determine which bills go to conference for final negotiations and which will be returned to their patrons for further work or effectively stalled. The House recorded roll-call tallies on many items and announced conferee appointments for both House and Senate companion measures.

House leaders said the chamber was working to finish conference appointments before tonight’s procedural deadline. Clerk announcements and a series of motions governed the flow of the long supplemental calendar; many of the measures were handled in quick succession with brief floor statements from the bills’ patrons and floor managers.

Several bills with policy significance were adopted with Senate amendments. For example, House Bill 20 50, establishing a PFAS reduction program for the Occoquan Reservoir region, was adopted with Senate technical amendments reflecting Department of Environmental Quality recommendations. Delegate Elliot Sullivan, speaking for the bill, said the amendments were technical and urged acceptance. The House approved the measure, recorded as "substitute adopted," by a vote of 95-0.

The House also accepted a Senate substitute with amendments for House Bill 20 87, on electric utilities and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Delegate Tran described changes that expand utility assistance for gas stations entering the electric refueling market, require utilities to propose fair rate designs and add a sunset of July 1, 2030; the House adopted that substitute 60-36.

Privacy and public-safety measures also advanced. A bill regulating law-enforcement use of automatic license plate readers — reducing data-retention periods, restricting routine sharing with other states or the federal government absent a warrant, and requiring searchable audits and logging — was taken up and its Senate substitute was adopted 71-24. Delegate Herring, who moved acceptance on the floor, said the bill imposes limits and monitoring where none existed.

Other measures…