By Phil Boykin, VBWA President & CEO
The General Assembly is in full swing as they prepare for the last full week before the critical “crossover” deadline when all bills have to be out of the chamber of origination. The budget is also starting to come more into focus as the House and Senate prepare their respective versions to be released in the coming weeks.
On the ABC front, most issues have been resolved and are working their way through the process, with business matters taking up the bulk of the VBWA Team’s lobbying efforts.
As always during the Session, we are meeting weekly with the VBWA Board of Directors to review bills/amendments and receive advice on strategy to determine VBWA’s adopted positions.
This week is also our 2024 Legislative Conference and annual Day on the Hill in Richmond. We will have a full report and photos to share soon after.
Below is an overview of the bills we are tracking; updates are offered if applicable. For bill details, click the bill number link.
Warehouse Employees Minimum Wage and Overtime
- The latest: The bill will be heard on Monday, February 5.
SB685 (Carroll Foy): This bill provides a new cause of action for employees to sue warehouse employers when they fail to properly pay or document a long list of new performance standards related to overtime, minimum wage, or duty standards related to their job. It also has specific new requirements related to bathroom facilities and bathroom breaks. Violations of this bill could include up to a fine of $5,000 per violation in addition to any remedies that may occur under Federal Law. The VBWA Strongly opposes the bill and is working with similarly situated business interests to develop a coalition of groups in the coming weeks.
Advertising
- The latest: The Senate version has passed unanimously and the House version is on its way to the full House for consideration with little opposition.
HB522 (Krizek) & SB182 (Rouse): This legislation is being pushed by Anheser- Busch, with the support of MolsonCoors. Both bills allow ABC to modernize online advertising regulations. We worked closely with the stakeholders over the off season to make sure that language in both bills reflects existing law and does not create new law. If passed, there will still be a full ABC regulatory review process before any new regulations are put in place. We are neutral on the bills.
New ABC Licensing Privileges
HB101 (Tata), HB559 (Ballard), HB1117 (Carr), HB1118 (Carr), HB1298 (Williams), SB 180 (DeSteph) & SB 400 (Deeds): This year a number of new additions to the “Christmas tree” of performing art facility licenses exceptions. We continue to monitor each of them individually, and anticipate at least a few more before the session is over. It seems with each passing year more and more localities want to have their facility added to the list of those granted exceptions to the mixed beverage rules. A few of these bills have moved forward so far, and we continue to monitor all of them.
Repetitive Motion
HB520 (Williams Graves) & HB531 (Krizek): Adds repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel and those that come from physical exertion from warehouse work to the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act. Virginia is the only state in the Country that does not cover repetitive motion injuries under workers comp. These bills are being backed by the Teamsters Union and have no time limit on when an injury has to have occurred. Both bills have been sent to House Appropriations and have a Fiscal Impact Statement of over $70 million to the Commonwealth. It remains to be seen whether these bills will be a budget priority for House and Senate Democrats. We oppose these bills and are continuing to monitor them.
Marijuana
There are multiple bills introduced to-date impacting how the Commonwealth will move forward with cannabis sales. The VBWA is monitoring all the bills and will have more to report as things develop.
