By Phil Boykin, VBWA President & CEO

Last week was the critical “crossover” deadline, when all bills must move out of the chamber of origination, and the House and Senate can only act on the other side’s bills. Of the 2,815 bills introduced this session, 1,340 remain. It was a busy week, with long days on the floor and longer nights in committees.

On the ABC front, most issues have been resolved and are working their way through the process. That doesn’t mean our work is done; all eyes now shift to the budget. Over the weekend, the House and Senate released their competing versions of the budget.

The state budget is the master policy document, so we’ll be pouring through it in the days ahead to see if there are any issues of concern. We are told to expect cuts to the Governor’s introduced budget as the Commonwealth prepares for less certain economic times.

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.

Earlier this month, we held our 2024 Legislative Conference and annual Day on the Hill in Richmond. See photos and a full report here.

Below is an overview of the bills we are tracking; updates are offered if applicable. For bill details, click the bill number link.

Building Service Employees

  • The latest: The patrons agreed to exclude the beer and wine wholesalers, so we provided them with language and we are working to get the amendments into the bills. 

SB247 (McPike) HB951 (Lopez): These bills provide that a county, city, or town may pass an ordinance to prohibit subcontracts for building maintenance employees to be fired when the subcontract ends. The bills as originally drafted were not of concern to wholesalers. Once broadened in Committee, we have concerns because they could apply to wholesalers, and we are now opposed. The Senate patron accepted our amendments to exempt beer and wine distributors and the House patron has agreed to do the same. That said, the Senate Finance committee carried over the Senate bill because of an “undetermined fiscal impact” to the Commonwealth, and we expect to see the same for the House version. Stay tuned.

Advertising

  • The latest: The Senate version passed unanimously and the House version easily passed the chamber with only 5 negative votes.

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. The Senate version passed unanimously and the House version easily passed with only five negative votes. Both are making their way through the opposite chambers and should be on their way to the Governor by the end of the week.

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.

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.

Repetitive Motion 

  • The latest: While a priority for the Democratic majorities, both were “carried over” into next year to determine the fiscal impact to the State. 

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.

Warehouse Employees Minimum Wage and Overtime

  • The latest: The bill was “carried over,” or killed for the year. There will be a letter sent to the Administration asking them to study the issue over the summer.

SB685 (Carroll Foy): This bill provided 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 opposed the bill and worked with similarly situated business interests to oppose it.

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