Bills filed by Arlington’s state lawmakers range from banning noisy mufflers to increasing gun control

America’s oldest continuous law-making body, the Virginia General Assembly, is now in session, and local lawmakers have introduced a slew of new legislation.

With split control of the General Assembly, Republicans of the House of Delegates and Democrats of the Senate, it’s unclear how many bills introduced by Arlington’s all-Democratic representation will pass.

Still, some priorities appear to have a measure of bipartisan support, including SB 1096 (from Sen. Adam Ebbin) permitting marriage between two people regardless of sex while protecting the right of religious clergy to decline presiding over same-sex marriages.

Here are some of the bills that were pre-filed ahead of this session.

Arlingtonians could get relief from noisy cars and predatory towing.

• SB 1085 (Ebbin): Prohibits the sale and use of aftermarket mufflers. This follows up on a change in law last year reversing a 2021 law that prevented officers from pulling over drivers just for having an excessively loud exhaust system. The original law was intended to reduce pretextual traffic stops and racial disparities but might have contributed to an uptick in noise complaints those living along highways and busy roads.
• HB 2062 (Del. Alfonso Lopez) and SB 790 (Sen. Barbara Favola): Reprises a failed 2022 bill that would make violations of existing towing law subject to the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Under this act, predatory towing could receive heftier civil penalties than the $150 fine currently codified. Tackling predatory towing was a 2023 Arlington County Board legislative priority.

In addition to Ebbin’s same-sex marriage bill, a few others pertain to family life, health and privacy.

• SB 1324 (Ebbin): Gives parents who make less than $100,000 a $500 child tax credit for 2023-2027.
• SB 852 (Favola): Protects menstrual data stored on computers, computer networks or other devices — like phone period tracking applications — from being subject to search warrants. This likely responds to a Republican bill to outlaw abortion after 15 weeks except in the case of rape or incest or if the pregnancy endangers the life or “major bodily functions” of the mother.
• HB 1879 (Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker): Requires each managed care health insurance plan licensee to provide a sufficient number and mix of services, specialists and practice sites to meet mental health care needs 24/7.

A number of gun control bills would curtail who can own a gun and who can assume possession of those owned by people who have committed a crime, while tackling the proliferation of “ghost guns.”

• HB 1729 (Bennett-Parker) and SB 909 (Favola): Requires people to be at least 21 years old and to live under a different roof in order to accept guns from someone legally required to surrender them for being convicted of assaulting a family member or being under a protective order.
• HB 1579 (Del. Rip Sullivan): Prevents people from buying or transporting firearms if they have two convictions in five years for operating a car or boat while drunk.
• SB 1181 (Ebbin): Makes it a misdemeanor for anyone who is not a federal firearms importer, manufacturer or dealer to knowingly sell, offer to sell, transfer or purchase unfinished firearms that do not have serial numbers. These can be purchased online and used to build untraceable firearms, known as “ghost guns.”
• SB 1192 (Ebbin): Prohibits certain semi-automatic guns — loaded or not — in any public right-of-way or publicly accessible natural area.

On immigration, bills from Ebbin and Del. Alfonso Lopez would increase public supports to undocumented immigrants.

• SB 1327 (Ebbin): Makes children who do not have health insurance, and cannot get it because of their immigration status, eligible for state-funded health insurance.
• HB 2056 (Lopez): Allows undocumented immigrants to obtain the licenses and certificates needed to start a business without showing proof of citizenship.
• HB 2057 (Lopez): Repeals provisions prohibiting non-citizens from receiving certain public benefits.

On criminal justice reform, bills from Del. Patrick Hope and Sullivan would curtail price-gouging in prison-run stores and compensate the wrongfully convicted.

• HB 1914 (Hope): Among other things, prevent prisons from overcharging by more than 10% for goods sold in prison stores and pocketing the difference.
• HB 1586 (Sullivan): Compensates people $25,000 per year they were in jail, on parole or on the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry if they were wrongfully convicted.
• HB 1584 (Sullivan): Require DNA evidence in felony cases to be properly stored for the entirety of a defendant’s sentence or until the statute of limitations expires, if the case is unsolved. Courts could call for a new trial, dismiss charges and reduce or vacate a sentence if DNA was not stored properly.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons