Hundreds of new laws take effect Saturday, ranging from naming the Chincoteague Pony as the state’s official pony to one saying drivers must move over a lane for disabled vehicles.
After more than two decades of trying, one of the 2023 General Assembly session’s biggest new initiatives, setting minimum staffing ratios for nursing homes, has a delayed effective date: July 1, 2025.
NOTICE OF RENT INCREASES
Landlords who rent more than four units must give tenants at least 60 days notice of plans to raise rents when leases have an option to renew or have an automatic renewal provision.
CRIME
People who make prank emergency calls — “swatting” — that result in the dispatch of police or other emergency personnel, are now subject to a punishment of one to five years in prison if such a call results in serious bodily injury, and a penalty of one to 10 years if someone is killed as a result. The term “swatting” is derived from the SWAT teams that often respond as a result of such calls.
It will now be a felony to team up with another person or people to steal from more than one store, even if each theft is small enough to be a misdemeanor ($1,000 or less). Organized retail theft is now subject to a prison term of five to 20 years.
It also will now be a felony to threaten in writing or by electronic message to disseminate, sell or publish nude images of another person, or of another person engaged in a sex act. This is now subject to a prison term of one to 10 years. If the other person is less than 18, the prison term can be up to 20 years.
And it is now against the law to sell or buy a catalytic converter detached from a motor vehicle, except by or from a scrap metal dealers. Judges and juries can now assume that a person with such a detached catalytic converted got it illegally.
DRIVING
Motorists must now move over and slow down when passing a stopped car or truck that has flashing hazard lights, or that has set up flares or that has set a warning sign.
Modification of headlights so they look blue is banned.
Republican General Assembly candidates don’t always stress their abortion stands when wooing swing voters, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s political action committee is spending big money to do just that. The governor is backing legislation to bar most abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.
A Virginia think tank with a progressive bent is proposing major changes in the state’s tax code long sought by Democrats, proposals that could be an early feeler to see what kind of battle lines – or compromises – will come in the 2024 General Assembly session.
More than six months overdue, Virginia legislators finally passed a budget — with $1.1 billion in tax relief, including one-time rebates; and bolstering education funding and money for mental health resources.
With changes to the $177 billion state budget on the line, the impasse is a huge concern for local governments, school divisions and other stakeholders who won't know what additional state funding to expect, if any, in the fiscal year that will begin on Saturday morning.
Hundreds of new Virginia laws take effect Saturday. Here's a look at some that will affect Virginians' lives, ranging from cars to cannabis products, electric bills to insulin.
Two-party government isn't necessarily pretty but it keeps Virginia from going off the rails.
