RICHMOND — The Virginia House of Delegates on Feb. 18 approved a large block of Senate bills on third reading, moving dozens of measures to enrollment after committee substitutes and brief floor remarks from sponsors. The bills advanced covered utilities and energy policy, health‑care and behavioral‑health proposals, consumer protections, and several procedural or technical changes to state programs.

Why it matters: The votes advance legislation that affects utility planning and renewable energy rules, professional licensing and health‑care program design, and state consumer protections. Several measures were companion bills to House measures and were aligned through committee substitutes or floor amendments before passage.

Most of the bills were considered in an uncontested third‑reading block. Sponsors offered short summaries or moved committee substitutes; the House disposed of many measures by voice vote or roll call. The House also agreed to several floor amendments that harmonized House and Senate language, and in a small number of cases rejected Senate substitutes and sent bills to conference.

Votes at a glance (selected Senate bills and outcomes)
- SB 741 — Transportation; amends previous acts relating to public aircraft definition and extends a sunset. Motion: passage moved by Delegate Delaney. Outcome: Passed (recorded roll not separately listed for this motion in transcript block).
- SB 774 — Insurance; expands stakeholder list for essential health‑benefits benchmark review work group. Motion: passage moved by Delegate Minding King. Outcome: Passed (roll call not separately listed in transcript block).
- SB 821 — Nursing‑facility electronic monitoring; permit residents to install electronic monitoring devices in rooms subject to consent and privacy rules. Motion: passage moved by Delegate Sickles (committee substitute adopted). Outcome: Passed (voice vote then recorded as passed in the block).
- SB 1100 — Virtual power plant pilot; directs certain utilities to petition the State Corporation Commission for pilot approval (committee substitute adopted; cognate to House bill). Motion: passage moved by Delegate Hernandez. Outcome: Passed (Ayes 70, Noes 26 reported).
- SB 1008 — Contractors; require licensing exam questions on Chesapeake Bay Act/shoreline provisions (committee substitute adopted). Motion: passage moved by Delegate Creasy. Outcome: Passed (Ayes 52, Noes 45 reported).
- SB 1293 (listed in calendar as SB 129? in block) — Energy storage/long‑duration storage; directs storage targets, work group for local model ordinances (committee substitute adopted; cognate to HB 2537). Motion: passage moved by Delegate Sullivan. Outcome: Passed (Ayes 55, Noes 42 reported).
- SB 1124 (example: SB 10 40 in transcript) — Renewable portfolio; distributed solar carve‑outs and site preferences (committee amendment adopted). Motion: passage moved by Delegate Carlson. Outcome: Passed (Ayes 97, Noes 0 reported).
- SB 884 — Residential landlord/tenant; lease termination rights for victims of family abuse, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking (committee substitute adopted). Motion: passage moved by Delegate Simon. Outcome: Passed (Ayes 63, Noes 33 reported).
- SB 868 — Mixed beverage licensees; limited exception to allow serving ready‑to‑drink canned cocktails in restaurants (limits on size/ABV). Motion: passage moved by Delegate Sickles. Outcome: Passed (Ayes 87, Noes 8 reported).
- SB 545/other consumer and administrative measures — dozens of additional bills in the uncontested blocks passed; examples include consumer‑facing items (lottery/charitable gaming signage with problem‑gambling helpline), several public‑health work groups and reports (maternal health, telehealth best practices), and technical corrections to multiple codes.

How the House handled contested items: A handful of measures were taken out of the uncontested block (sent to the regular calendar), were debated briefly, or saw floor amendments. Several votes were reconsidered during the session when members sought to change their vote or to remove items from the block for further negotiation.

Process notes: Many bills were disposed of via committee substitutes or floor amendments; sponsors repeatedly moved the committee substitute before moving passage. Where recorded roll calls were given in the transcript, the clerk reported tallies immediately after the passage motion (for example, several measures passed with tallies of Ayes 97–0 or other counts reported in the transcript). In other cases the committee substitute was agreed to by voice and the bill disposed in the block.

Ending: The House recessed and later reconvened to continue consideration of additional measures and conference appointments. Members were reminded of committee and caucus meetings and of the Thursday deadline in the conference process.