Virginia Senate approves package of bills on third reading, including appraiser and medical training requirements, school safe-storage notice and lottery winner

RICHMOND, Va. — The Senate of Virginia on Monday approved a block of House bills on third reading and separately passed several measures addressing housing screening policy, professional training, school safety notices and privacy protections for lottery winners.

The measures won final passage after floor explanations and recorded roll-call votes. The senator from Alexandria spoke for several of the bills, describing the criminal-record-screening and appraiser-training bills; the senator from Richmond spoke for bills on medical training and school notification; and the senator from Eastern Fairfax County explained changes to court-cost treatment in deferred dispositions.

The most detailed measures considered included:

- A bill to require the director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to develop a model criminal-record screening policy for housing with stakeholder input and to conform with federal law; the bill was given a delayed effective date of Jan. 1, 2026. The senator from Alexandria described the measure as “requiring a criminal record screening model policy that the director of the Department of Housing and Community Development will get input from stakeholders and conform to federal law to develop such a policy.” The bill passed…