General Laws Committee advances housing, licensing and cannabis measures; several bills sent to appropriations

The House of Delegates’ General Laws Committee advanced a slate of bills touching housing, consumer protections, occupational licensing and cannabis regulation during a lengthy session, voting to report many measures to full committees and sending several to the Appropriations Committee for funding review.

The most contested measure was House Bill 1879, a rental-assistance pilot proposed by Delegate Sewell that would establish a Department of Housing and Community Development pilot to provide monthly rental assistance to qualifying households and require annual reporting to the General Assembly. The bill includes a sunset date of July 1, 2028, and was reported with amendments and re-referred to Appropriations by a vote of 13 to 9.

Why it matters: HB 1879 would create a short-term rental assistance program at the state level and obliges the department to track and report outcomes, which would inform future policy and appropriations decisions.

The committee also considered several landlord-tenant bills. A substitute to House Bill 1867 (Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act changes) that would adjust notice requirements and other rental terms reported out after roll call (substitute reported 16 to 5). House Bill 21 22, a bill by Delegate Dahlia Tran that would require landlords to accept commonly available forms of payment and to make at least one no-fee payment option available (with an exemption for landlords with four or fewer rental units or up to a 10% interest in four or fewer units), was reported with substitute by a vote of 12 to 10. On the substitute, Delegate Dahlia Tran said that the change “add[s] an exemption for landlords with 4 or fewer rental dwelling units or up to a 10% interest in 4 or fewer rental dwelling units exempting them from requiring the requirement to accept credit card payments…