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Votes at a glance: Key actions from the Virginia Senate on Jan. 28, 2025
Summary
The Virginia Senate considered dozens of bills Jan. 28. This roundup lists major bills that received final or block votes, recorded tallies and short descriptions of each item.
The Virginia Senate recorded a large number of final and block votes on Jan. 28, 2025. Below are key bills and their recorded outcomes on the floor. Where discussion was minimal, bills were placed in an uncontested block and voted together.
Block passage (uncontested calendar): Senate bills 745–1419 (selected numbers within the block). Motion to place bills on final passage as a block was agreed; the roll call for the block returned 39 yeas and 0 nays and the bills in the block passed.
Notable bills and recorded final votes (selection):
- SB 1370 — Update model MOU between school divisions and mental‑health providers to permit telehealth counseling by school counselors. Final passage after reconsideration: 39–0.
- SB 1132 — Prohibits an employer from seeking an applicant’s prior wage or salary history and requires posting wage ranges. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 1356 — Prohibits fees for electronic fund transfers (consumer protection). Passed final passage: 22–17.
- SB 1122 — Paid family and medical leave insurance program. Passed final passage: 21–18 (extensive floor debate and actuarial questions recorded).
- SB 880 — Prohibits carrying certain assault firearms in public areas (penalties). Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 1134 — Requires secure storage of firearms in residences where minors or prohibited persons are present; class 4 misdemeanor penalty. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 883 — Purchase/possession/transportation of firearms; assault and battery of a family or household member penalties and amendments relating to intimate partner violence. Initial passage recorded 21–17; motion to reconsider passed 39–0 and final passage recorded 23–16.
- SB 886 — Defines trigger activator for devices that convert firearms into automatic‑style firing; penalty provisions. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 1182 — Carrying a firearm or explosive material within Capital Square or Commonwealth‑owned buildings; exemptions for public institutions of higher education. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 1409 — Restrictions and reporting on prolonged solitary confinement in corrections; changes to out‑of‑cell time and tracking by the Department of Corrections. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 738 — Requires school boards to develop and implement policies to restrict cell phone/smart device possession and use in classrooms. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 740 — Board of Medicine to require unconscious bias and cultural competency training as part of continuing competency for certain licensees. Passed final passage: 23–14.
- SB 743 — Protects reproductive‑health providers and patients from extradition for certain reproductive‑health services. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 815 — Strengthens tenant protections related to evictions and dismissed involuntary non‑suit records; prohibits landlords from rejecting applicants on dismissed eviction cases. Passed final passage: 23–16.
- SB 907 — State‑operated animal testing facilities: release of nonhuman primates to certified sanctuaries upon retirement from research. Passed final passage: 39–0.
- SB 956 — Removes certain duplicative reporting requirements from the Department of State Police related to criminal records exchange reporting. Passed final passage: 39–0.
- SB 1017 — School meal debt practices: moves responsibility for unpaid school‑meal debt from the individual school to the school division level. Passed final passage: 35–4.
- SB 1032 — Teachers’ terms of employment: clarifies notice requirements for reemployment for teachers who have not achieved continuing contract status. Passed final passage: 38–1.
- SB 1048 — School board policies: parental notification and required safe‑storage messaging for prescription drugs and firearms in households. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 1052 — Expands coverage of Virginia Human Rights Act definitions for employers and clarifies thresholds. Passed final passage: 21–18.
- SB 1104 — Athletic heat safety: requires public secondary schools to monitor heat using wet‑bulb globe temperature and modify activities; passed 21–18.
- SB 1105 — Virginia Right to Contraception Act: initial tie vote failed; motion to reconsider passed 39–0; final passage 21–18 after reconsideration.
- SB 1107 — FOIA exemptions for the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement (protecting personally identifying data for legacy systems): passed 37–1.
- SB 1222 — Safeguarding American Veterans Empowerment Act: sets consumer protections for private companies assisting veterans to obtain benefits; passed 36–3.
- SB 1407 — Directs Department of Environmental Quality to promulgate regulations relating to emergency generators for mission‑critical facilities; passed 38–1.
- SB 1413 — Indoor air quality standards and preventive maintenance reporting for public school buildings; passed 21–18.
Notes and context: - Several bills passed by narrow, party‑line margins (commonly 21–18 or 21–17), reflecting divided floor votes on policy matters such as firearms, reproductive health and workplace rules.
- Multiple bills tied to committee substitutes or floor amendments were agreed to before final passage.
- Where the transcript records block votes, the clerk recorded total tallies rather than individual roll‑call names; individual senator votes are available in the official Senate Journal and roll‑call archives.
For reporters: see the individual items above for which bills drew extended floor debate and may merit separate coverage (notably SB 1122 on paid leave, SB 1370 on telehealth, SB 1105 on contraception).
