RICHMOND — The Virginia House of Delegates on Jan. 28, 2025, approved a broad set of bills affecting education, health care billing, energy policy and motor-vehicle procedures, after floor debate and committee-substitute votes during the session in Richmond.

The most contested debates centered on a medical-debt reform bill, teacher contract clarifications and energy measures that adjust the state’s support for distributed solar. Lawmakers also approved a floor amendment delaying the effective date of a DMV decal overhaul.

The votes matter because they change how hospitals and insurers interact with patients over unpaid balances, clarify timelines for public-school continuing-contract notices, shift incentives and limits for rooftop and previously developed-site solar, and modernize DMV and county treasurer processes for motor-vehicle restorations. Several measures also update public-health and licensing requirements and expand specialty license-plate and charitable-gaming rules.

Medical debt and patient protections

The House advanced House Bill 17-25, described by its sponsor as adding patient protections around billing and collections for medical debt, including limits on interest and some collection practices and protections while insurance appeals proceed. Delegate Elizabeth Delaney (Delegate Delaney, Fairfax), who moved the committee substitute, told the chamber the bill aims to prevent “predatory” practices and to preserve collection tools for providers while protecting patients from bankruptcy during medical crises. "Patients are not asking for a free ride or to escape paying for their bills, but they need fair, affordable options that don't put them at risk for bankruptcy," Delaney said on the floor. The bill was engrossed and advanced for third reading and passage by the House; the transcript records its passage but does not list a roll-call tally for the final floor passage (vote: not specified).

Teacher contracts and timing of nonrenewal notices

Lawmakers debated House Bill 19-15, a measure the sponsor said clarifies statutory language about "continuing contract" notices for public-school teachers after litigation and differing interpretations. Supporters described the change as restoring the intent of the continuing-contract statute; opponents warned it could reduce notice protections for teachers if not carefully applied. The bill was engrossed and passed to third reading on the House floor; the transcript does not supply a roll-call tally for the final passage (vote: not specified).

Energy policy and distributed solar

House Bill 18-83 raised the carve-out for distributed solar within the renewable portfolio standard and increased the carve-out for projects on previously developed or disturbed sites. Sponsors said the bill raises the distributed-solar carve-out from 1% to 5% by 2028, triples the carve-out for previously developed sites (raising capacity from about 200 MW to about 600 MW) and increases the maximum project size for distributed resources to 3 MW to align with net-metering rules. The bill also delays certain compliance requirements in the Virginia Clean Economy Act to 2027, the sponsor said, and was engrossed and passed to third reading and final passage (vote: not specified).

Related energy measures on transmission and storage also moved forward. House Bill 18-22 directs the State Corporation Commission to consider advanced-conductor materials when approving transmission lines; proponents framed it as leveraging existing right-of-way to deliver more electricity to growing demand centers. House Bill 18-21 expanded an accelerated renewable buyers program to allow energy storage resources, enabling batteries to be paired with wind and solar projects to smooth supply; both bills were advanced and passed on the floor (votes: not specified).

DMV restoration decals and delayed enactment

House Bill 20-80, which removes the legal requirement for physical vehicle restoration decals and modernizes verification by giving law enforcement electronic access to restoration data, passed after the House agreed to a floor amendment that delays the bill's effective date to July 1, 2026. Supporters said the decal system costs the DMV hundreds of thousands of dollars and that theft and long customer lines make the current sticker requirement inefficient. The bill was engrossed and passed with the delayed enactment amendment (vote: not specified).

Other notable measures

- HB 16-49 and HB 16-75 (two bills requiring unconscious-bias and cultural-competency training for health professionals and as continuing-education criteria) were advanced; sponsors cited maternal and infant mortality disparities and treatment delays for conditions such as sickle-cell disease as motivating the measures. The House engrossed and passed those measures (vote: not specified).
- HB 16-37 expanded the authorization for opioid antagonists beyond Naloxone by adding language to permit dispensing or possession of “other opioid antagonists” by organizations and personnel acting on their behalf; it was engrossed and passed (vote: not specified).

Votes at a glance

The transcript records the following floor outcomes and, where the roll-call tally was announced in the record, the tally is shown; otherwise the vote is recorded as “not specified.” All bills listed below were recorded in the House calendar and moved on the floor during the Jan. 28 session.

- HB 18-83 (renewable portfolio / distributed solar changes): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 19-15 (public-school continuing-contract notice): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 17-25 (Medical Debt Protection Act, committee substitute): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 16-49 (Board of Medicine: unconscious-bias training requirement for licensees): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 16-75 (similar training requirement tied to Joint Commission on Health Care recommendations): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 20-80 (vehicle restoration decals; delayed enactment to July 1, 2026): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 18-22 (advanced conductors / transmission consideration): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 18-21 (accelerated renewable purchases; include battery storage): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 16-37 (opioid-antagonist language expanded): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 20-22 (aircraft registration fees modernization): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 20-58 (removes sunset on third-party alcohol delivery, clarifies mixed beverage delivery limits): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 20-84 (SCC review of customer classifications): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 20-90 (multifamily shared solar program fixes): approved; vote: not specified.
- HB 21-16 (driver's licenses: voluntary indication of nonapparent disabilities): approved; vote: not specified.

The House also passed numerous other bills on third reading (many in uncontested blocks) during the Jan. 28 calendar; where a roll-call tally was announced in the record it was recorded (examples earlier in the day included several bills with recorded tallies such as "Ayes 57, Noes 40" for a bill on the third-reading regular calendar), but many measures advanced on voice or unanimous-consent procedures and are listed above as "not specified" when a roll-call number does not appear in the transcript.

What lawmakers said

On energy policy, Delegate Garrett (Delegate Garrett, Buckingham) raised a floor critique of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, saying "climate change is real," while arguing the VCEA "does absolutely nothing to address climate change" and warning about costs being borne by Virginia ratepayers. Garrett said, according to the transcript, that the current cost to each ratepayer is about "$215 a year" and that it could rise to roughly "$314 per ratepayer per year" in a future year; those figures were presented as the delegate's floor assertions.

On medical debt, Delegate Delaney (Delegate Delaney, Fairfax) characterized the bill as balancing patient protections with a continuing ability for providers to pursue unpaid balances; "we are continuing to listen to both patient advocates and some of the health care providers who would really like to get to a comfortable place," she said on the floor as the bill moved forward.

Meeting context and next steps

The House completed the Jan. 28 calendar and adjourned to reconvene at noon on Jan. 29. Several committee and subcommittee meetings were scheduled for the afternoon and the following morning, including Labor and Commerce subcommittees, General Laws meetings and education subcommittee sessions listed on the House calendar.

With many measures now passed by the House, bills will proceed to the Senate for further consideration; sponsors and staff flagged continuing work on some measures as they move through the bicameral process (for example, advocates and providers told sponsors they expect additional negotiations on medical-debt language in the Senate). The transcript shows several measures adopted by committee substitutes on the floor; further technical and substantive amendments are possible as bills proceed.

Ending

The Jan. 28 session combined a large uncontested calendar with targeted floor debates on health, education and energy policy. Lawmakers and advocates signaled continued engagement in committees and in the Senate as the session approaches crossover and the next legislative deadlines.