Spanberger signs bills aimed at affordability

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed legislation passed by the General Assembly to make healthcare, housing, and energy more affordable and to keep children safe.

“No Virginian should ever have to choose between seeing their doctor, paying their rent or mortgage, or keeping their lights on,” Spanberger said. “I am signing this legislation to respond to the real, pressing concerns I have heard from Virginia families across the Commonwealth about high costs – particularly at the pharmacy counter, in the housing market, and on their utility bills.”

Many of the following bills signed into law by Spanberger are in line with her Affordable Virginia Plan:

Healthcare

Drug prices – SB669 (Sen. Aaron Rouse – Virginia Beach) – Prevents predatory pharmacy benefits managers from hiking up the cost of prescription drugs. 

Healthcare workforce – SB405 (Sen. L. Louise Lucas – Portsmouth) – Increases access to high-quality, affordable care by expanding Virginia’s healthcare workforce through nursing scholarships and loan programs. 

Tobacco surcharge – HB220 (Del. Patrick Hope – Arlington) – Bans health insurance companies from charging higher rates to tobacco users.

Preventive healthcare – HB60 (Del. Jeion Ward – Hampton) – Prohibits life insurance and health insurance companies from charging more or discriminating against individuals who had received pre-exposure prophylaxis for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus.

Housing

Housing bonds – HB1227 (Del. Josh Thomas – Gainesville) and SB729 (Sen. Michael Jones – Richmond) – Leverages the  Commonwealth’s bonding authority to support the development of new affordable housing. 

Evictions – SB628 (Sen. Mamie Locke – Hampton) – Establishes an eviction reduction pilot program to promote housing stability and provide interventions to prevent people from being evicted.

Manufactured housing – HB655 (Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado – Manassas) and SB346 (Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg – Richmond) – Boosts the housing supply by making it easier to build manufactured homes. 

Energy

Electric substations – HB1191 (Del. Irene Shin – Herndon) and SB377 (Sen. Scott Surovell – Mount Vernon) – Permits high energy use customers to invest in new energy infrastructure while protecting ratepayers from increased costs. 

Renewable energy – HB369 (Del. David Reid – Ashburn) – Encourages investments in cutting-edge energy technology, such as fusion and nuclear. 

Energy costs – SB505 (Sen. Creigh Deeds – Charlottesville) – Directs the State Corporation Commission to examine the efficacy and sufficiency of fuel and purchased power cost risk mitigation practices by Dominion Energy.

Virtual power plant – HB562 (Del. David Reid – Ashburn) – Encourages electric cooperatives to provide more reliable power for customers and help ease demand on the grid by establishing a virtual power plant program.

Electric transmission lines – HB889 (Del. Irene Shin – Herndon) and SB497 (Sen. Russet Perry – Leesburg) – Streamlines the permitting process for new high-voltage transmission infrastructure in existing utility and highway corridors. 

Electric vehicles – HB1225 (Del. Irene Shin – Herndon) and SB407 (Sen. Jennifer Boysko – Herndon) – Supports the development of electric vehicle fast-charging stations to expand access and reliability. 

Schools and children’s safety

Red flag laws – HB1071 (Del. Amy Laufer – Crozet) – Requires threat assessment teams for K-12 schools and public colleges to receive training on the use of emergency substantial risk orders.

Mental health – HB38 (Del. Rozia Henson Jr. – Woodbridge) – Requires teachers to receive training on identifying students experiencing mental health challenges. 

Internet safety – HB171 (Del. Alex Askew – Virginia Beach) – Updates schools’ internet safety instruction to include online scams, misinformation, and AI-generated content.

Panic alarms – HB592 (Del. Shelly Simonds – Newport News) – Permits school boards to provide teachers with wearable panic alarm systems in the classroom to quickly alert law enforcement during emergencies. 

Mental health – HB195 (Del. Delores McQuinn – Richmond) and SB33 (Sen. Barbara Favola – Arlington) – Expands the use of funding under at-risk program initiatives to support the physical and mental health of students in public schools.

Public pools – HB222 (Del. Patrick Hope – Arlington) – Directs the Board of Health to adopt safety regulations for swimming pools and other water recreational facilities.

School meal debt – HB210 (Del. Cia Price – Newport News) – Requires school boards to submit annual reports to the Department of Education on school meal debt.

Elections

Spanberger signed an executive order on March 24 to protect election integrity and improve Virginia’s election security processes.

Executive Order 13 directs the Department of Elections to annually certify that security procedures are in place with regard to ballots and vote-counting machines.

Spanberger also began the process for Virginia to rejoin the Electronic Registration Information Center. ERIC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with 26 member states that share voter registration and identification data to help them keep accurate voter rolls.

Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin pulled Virginia out of ERIC, making it more difficult for election administrators to identify voters who have moved out of state, updated their contact information, have duplicate registrations, or passed away. 

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