Senate approves wide slate of House bills, accedes to multiple conference requests
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Summary
On Feb. 23 the Virginia Senate approved a large number of House bills — from education and public-safety measures to FOIA and privacy changes — and acceded to house substitutes and committees of conference for multiple Senate bills, with many votes unanimous or by clear majorities.
RICHMOND — The Virginia Senate’s floor session on Feb. 23 moved a large package of House bills and agreed to multiple procedural requests from the House of Delegates, including acceding to requests for committees of conference on several Senate bills.
Procedural business dominated the morning hour: the Senate voted to waive readings and advance an uncontested block of House bills, agreed to committee amendments and substitutes on bills reported from the committees on Courts of Justice and Education and Health, and acceded to numerous requests for committees of conference on Senate bills as announced by the clerk.
Notable substantive measures passed on recorded votes: House Bill 43 — Abolishes the common-law crime of suicide; includes a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027 and directs the Bureau of Insurance to study effects; Passed, Ayes 22, Noes 16. House Bill 125 — Requires teachers who will not continue their contract to provide written notice by June 15; Passed, Ayes 27, Noes 11. House Bill 165 — Requires contractor board exams offered frequently to be provided in additional languages per a referenced voting-rights provision; Passed, Ayes 31, Noes 7. House Bill 182 — Allows certain substitutions of African American history for world history/geography credit with assessment requirements; Passed, Ayes 22, Noes 16. House Bill 201 — Requires school boards to annually notify parents about safe storage of prescription drugs and firearms, with multilingual website notices; Passed, Ayes 20, Noes 18. House Bill 221 — Removes the exception preventing waiver of appeals bonds in unlawful detainer (eviction) appeals for indigent appellants while noting rent obligations continue during appeal; Passed after reconsideration, Ayes 21, Noes 17. House Bill 346 (3 46) — Adds public utility account numbers to an existing FOIA exemption for financial-account information; Passed, Ayes 37, Noes 1. House Bill 347 (3 47) — Extends the required review frequency for local emergency operations plans from every four years to every five years; Passed unanimously, Ayes 38, Noes 0. House Bill 357 (3 57) — Revises bond conditions and bail-consideration factors for judicial officers; Passed, Ayes 20, Noes 18. House Bill 396 (3 96) — Aligns charitable gaming rules for Texas Hold'em tournaments with a cognate Senate bill; Passed, Ayes 23, Noes 15. House Bill 459 — Expands nondisclosure protections for certain crime victims to include victims of hate crimes, with limited disclosure exceptions; Passed unanimously, Ayes 38, Noes 0. House Bill 567 — Permits Commonwealth attorneys to request aggregated case data from courts under defined conditions; Passed, Ayes 38, Noes 0. House Bill 601 — Protects a $1,000 minimum balance from garnishment and formalizes automatic protections; Passed, Ayes 20, Noes 18.
The Senate also named conferees for several committee-of-conference requests and set calendar and caucus meetings. The floor record includes repeated unanimous or near-unanimous votes on many technical or administrative bills and closer recorded votes on measures affecting criminal justice, education and reproductive-rights policy.
The session adjourned with the Senate agreeing to stand adjourned until 12 noon the following day.
Sources: Floor remarks and roll-call reports from the Senate of Virginia floor session, Feb. 23, 2026.
