General Assembly Report March 2021 For questions or comments, reach out to Joh Gehlbach, Government Affairs Manager, at [email protected]. Executive Summary The 2021 General Assembly Session convened on January 13 and adjourned Sine Die (Latin for “adjourning with no appointed day for resumption”) on March 1. Despite some partisan squabbles about the length of session and whether the bodies would meet virtually or in person, legislators introduced 1,555 bills in 2021. Because REALTOR® Associations are federated, the Richmond Association of REALTORS® follows the lead of and works with the Virginia REALTORS® during the General Assembly Session. While legislation dealing with marijuana legalization and criminal justice reform dominated headlines, the Virginia REALTORS® Public Policy Committee identified and evaluated nearly 100 bills that would have some impact on Realtor members, their business, or their clients. This document will provide an overview of bills that passed through the General Assembly and as of this writing, are poised to become law pending approval from Governor Northam or have already been approved. Organized by subject, each item includes a brief synopsis about the bill, bill numbers, patrons, links to the Legislative Information Services website where readers can read the bill text for themselves, and the current status of the bill as of the publication date of this document. Please keep in mind that this is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every bill identified as having a potential impact on the real estate industry. By the Numbers SUPPORTED OPPOSED During the 2021 session, 36 BILLS 4 BILLS ^ 1,555 BILLS ^ were introduced and we monitored 86 Bills. } 30 PASSED ALL AMENDED 01 General Assembly Report Affordable Housing VIRGINIA HOUSING OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT Senate Bill 1197 – Senator Mamie Locke Status: Approved by the Governor Spearheaded by the Home Builders of Virginia, this legislation creates the Virginia Housing Opportunity Tax Credit, a program that mirrors and complements the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. The program will be administered by Virginia Housing and will provide developers with tax credits they can use to finance residential housing development. To be eligible for the credits, the program requires a certain percentage of units created be affordable to individuals or families making less than 80% of the area median income. This program will help Virginia address its affordable housing crisis by assisting developers to build new and affordable housing units. VIRGINIA HOUSING TRUST FUND Budget Bill Status: Governor’s proposed amendments will not affect the allocation to the VHTF; however, the final budget with the administration’s amendments must be adopted by the General Assembly during the Reconvene Session. $70.7 million has been allocated to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund in 2021 and $55 million in 2022. This is a historic level of funding that is intended to help meet the historic challenges presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the housing realm. In the past, the Fund has received anywhere from $5 to $11 million. The HTF creates and preserves affordable housing and reduces homelessness. Eighty percent of the fund is used for medium- and long- term loans to reduce the cost of homeownership and rental housing. The other 20% is used for targeted grants to reduce homelessness. 02 Broadband Access BROADBAND EXPANSION IN UNDERSERVED AREAS House Bill 2304 & Senate Bill 1413 – Delegate Roslyn Tyler & Senator Jennifer Boysko Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 Every year, Realtors identify broadband access as an issue for both home sales and for their businesses. The COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted the digital divide in new ways as parents attempt to work from home and children attend virtual school. To help address this, Delegate Tyler and Senator Boysko introduced legislation that makes a pilot program aimed at providing broadband to underserved areas permanent. The program allows Phase 1 and Phase 2 electric utility entities to install broadband capacity and recover costs and revenue generated by electric grid transformation projects in those areas that create broadband capacity. It also expands the program to allow for the participation of municipalities and government-owned broadband authorities. Common Interest Communities USE OF VIRTUAL MEETINGS & VOTING House Bill 1816 & Senate Bill 1183 – Delegate David Bulova & Senator Siobhan Dunnavant Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 As nearly all aspects of life moved to the virtual format due to COVID-19, the Virginia Attorney General issued an opinion stating that Common Interest Community boards could meet virtually. The Virginia REALTORS® ask for this legislation to codify and make permanent this allowance. The legislation permits meetings of property owners’ associations, boards of directors, unit owners’ associations, executive boards, and committees to be held virtually once the governing body has adopted guidelines for the use electronic meetings. Votes may also be held by electronic means once guidelines have been adopted and if the vote is cast by secret ballot, the identity of the voter must be protected. If this cannot be guaranteed, another means of voting shall be used. SMOKING IN CONDOMINIUMS House Bill 1842 – Delegate Mark Keam Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 After over a year of intense vetting and compromise, the Virginia Housing Commission asked that this bill be introduced. This legislation allows common interest community boards to adopt reasonable rules prohibiting smoking in common areas and for developments with attached units, within private dwelling units. 03 General Assembly Report Enabling Legislation REMOVAL OF CLUTTER FROM A PROPERTY House Bill 1778 – Delegate Jeion Ward Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 This legislation allows a local government to pass an ordinance requiring the removal of clutter from a property or if necessary, remove clutter at the expense of the owner. There is an exemption for active farms. Clutter is defined as “mechanical equipment, household furniture, containers, or similar items detrimental to the well-being of a community when they are left in public view for an extended period or are allowed to accumulate.” LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OF BLIGHTED & DERELICT PROPERTIES House Bill 1969 – Delegate Betsy Carr Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 This legislation bill changes the definition of “qualifying locality” to include jurisdictions with a score of 100 or higher on the Department of Housing & Community Development’s Fiscal Stress Index. The threshold had been 107 or higher. Qualifying localities can classify blighted and derelict properties as a separate class of taxable property and assess those properties at higher rates. Additionally, those localities can sell delinquent parcels six months after incurring abatement costs for buildings that have been condemned, constitute a nuisance, are derelict, or declared blighted. Fair Housing MILITARY STATUS House Bill 2161 & Senate Bill 1410 – Delegate Kathy Tran & Senator John Bell Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 This is a comprehensive piece of legislation that protects individuals from discrimination based on their military status in public accommodations, employment, and housing. It also prohibits rental agreements from waiving a tenant’s rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR DISABILITY RELATED REQUESTS FOR PARKING House Bill 1971 – Delegate Betsy Carr Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 This legislation requires a property manager receiving a disability related request for parking to treat it as a reasonable accommodation as outlined in the Virginia Fair Housing Act. PROHIBITION ON DISCRIMINATION IN LAND USE & PERMITTING House Bill 2046 – Delegate Jeff Bourne Status: Approved by the Governor; Effective July 1, 2021 This legislation prohibits local governments from using local land use ordinances or permitting processes to discriminate against any of the protected classes or if the expected housing development contains or is expected to contain affordable housing units affordable at or below 80% of the area median income. Finally, it forbids local governments from imposing conditions upon the rental or sale of dwelling units, exempting a locality’s authority to adopt a short term rental ordinance. 04 Health Insurance ASSOCIATION HEALTH PLANS House Bill 2033 & Senate Bill 1341 Delegate Chris Hurst & Senator George Barker Status: Died and referred to the Virginia Joint Commission on Health Care for study This bill would have allowed the Virginia REALTORS® to obtain an affordable, high quality health insurance plan for its members. Unfortunately, the House version died early on during Session. The Senate version passed out of the Senate, but ultimately died in a House Labor & Commerce Subcommittee. The bill was referred to the Virginia Joint Commission on Health Care for further study and with an opportunity to return next year. Obviously, this was not the desired outcome, but it does put the bill in a good posture for the 2022 Session. Governor Northam had never signaled a change in his opposition to the bill and it would have faced a difficult path forward in overriding his likely veto. Instead, the referral keeps the bill in play and facilitates its return under a new administration. COMMONWEALTH HEALTH