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Leesburg staff summarizes 2024–2025 General Assembly activity; bills on local land use and revenue flagged
Summary
Town legislative staff updated the council on multiple bills in the 2025 Virginia General Assembly session—bills affecting plastic-bag revenue distribution, tree-root protection mapping, full virtual meetings for advisory bodies, speed-camera revenue allocation and shortened review timelines for land-use reviews were among those discussed.
Town legislative staff provided the council with an update on General Assembly activity during the short session and reviewed measures affecting local land-use authority, revenue distribution and administrative procedures.
Items highlighted - Bag tax revenue distribution (House Bill 1764): a repeat of last year’s bill that would require counties with a plastic bag tax to distribute some revenue back to towns using the sales-tax distribution formula. Staff said it advanced out of a Senate subcommittee and moved toward finance and appropriations.
- Tree root protection: a bill introduced on the town’s behalf to require more detailed mapping of critical root zones for trees designated for preservation, aimed at reducing post-construction tree losses. That bill passed the House and was under consideration in a Senate committee.
- Fully virtual meetings for advisory boards: a measure to allow unlimited fully virtual meetings for nonadjudicatory advisory bodies was withdrawn this year but the presenter said the sponsor intends to reintroduce it next year.
- Speed-camera revenue (House Bill 2041): staff described a pending bill that would require net revenue from safety-camera programs to be remitted to the state beyond operating costs; town staff and VML advocated for an amendment to allow localities to retain revenue for local safety and pedestrian projects. The bill had passed the House and was under Senate consideration at the time of the briefing.
- Shortened review timelines for land-use applications (House Bill 2660 and related measures): staff said some bills would reduce statutory review windows (for example, the draft standard moved from 10 to 5 days and was later amended to 7 days) and that the town may need additional staffing or process adjustments if the shorter timelines are enacted; staff warned that missed deadlines can have legal consequences including potential deemed approvals.
Other notes Staff described other narrower bills the town supported, such as measures to improve net metering for local solar and a modest real-estate disclosure change. Staff also noted that some bills the council had supported did not advance and that the town’s delegation and VML were actively lobbying to shape outcomes.
Ending: Staff said the session would conclude in late February and advised the council that they would keep the town informed about bill outcomes and any steps the town should take to adapt to new statutory timelines or revenue shifts.
