Session Wrap Up

submitted by susan seward vvma legislative consultant

It was a "short" 45-day Session but you wouldn't know it by the bill count! Over 800 bills - 819 to be exact - passed the House of Delegates and Senate and are awaiting action by the Governor. A total of 1,906 pieces of legislation were introduced in the House and Senate in this past Session; a tremendous amount for the six weeks the General Assembly was in Richmond. The VVMA saw a large number of animal or animal welfare-related bills introduced - not an uncommon occurrence! However, as usual by crossover, the number of bills still active had been reduced and most bills that needed changing were amended and agreed to by the patrons and impacted constituencies. Following are a few of the legislative highlights from the 2023 Session:

There were three measures introduced this Session amending the rabies statutes in the Commonwealth. HB 1406, patroned by Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach), would have eliminated the requirement to pay a license tax for owning a dog or cat and would have eliminated the misdemeanor penalty for failing to pay such license tax. The VVMA, along with the Virginia Association of Counties, the Treasurers Association of Virginia, the Virginia Alliance of Animal Shelters, the Virginia Animal Control Association, and a number of other animal welfare groups and individual shelters both public and private, opposed this legislation It would have been an unfunded mandate on the locality, it would have resulted in a loss of revenue to the locality that could be directed towards shelter services, and would have been the first step in doing away with licensing in Virginia The bill had an aggregate fiscal impact in the millions for localities in Virginia - the city of Richmond alone reported a potential licensing revenue loss of $250,000 Legislators in subcommittee showed no support for this bill and it was killed on a unanimous vote

HB 1468 by Delegate Lee Ware (R-Powhatan) would have prevented a veterinarian from charging more than $20 for a rabies shot or requiring additional services alongside a rabies vaccination VVMA reached out to Delegate Ware early in the Session registering our concerns and opposition to the bill Ultimately, he struck the bill The bill originated from a constituent concern who complained about the cost of taking multiples dogs into a vet for rabies shots We reminded the Delegate that the need for low-cost rabies vaccinations available to the public was the reason the Code mandates localities hold rabies vaccination clinics at least every two years

Finally, VVMA supported and assisted Delegate Otto Wachsman (R-Sussex) with HB 1577 This bill requires any person who confines a dog or cat for active signs of rabies or suspected rabies to allow the Virginia Department of Health access to the animal during its confinement The Health Department and Dr Julia Murphy also assisted the Delegate by providing technical amendments to the bill This bill passed the House and Senate on a unanimous vote

There were four bills introduced to address the reporting of animal research data, to penalize federal animal welfare violations by Virginia institutions of higher education at the state level, and to create and incentivize whistleblowers reporting suspected violations at research facilities within state universities Ultimately, two bills survived and were conformed to each other in dramatically pared-down form Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax) patroned SB 1271 and Delegate Michael Webert (R-Fauquier) sponsored HB 2348; as introduced, these bills would have allowed the state to issue monetary fines to colleges/universities for federal animal welfare violations in conducting research The final compromise language requires an animal testing facility to make certain inspection reports publicly available by displaying a link to access the reports on the home page of the animal testing facility's website or, if the facility does not maintain a website, making the report available by means of a press release or other similar publication continued on page 12