Henrico Times

2023 General Assembly Halftime Report

REALTOR® champions and Government Affairs fans, it is officially halftime. Well, crossover that is!

Crossover is the time during the General Assembly Session where all House Bills make their way to the Senate and all Senate Bills make their way to the House for further vetting. Our Government Relations team is here to give you the play-by-play on everything you need to know about the first half of the 2023 Session.

The Players

Our Coaches

From Virginia REALTORS®: Martin Johnson – Chief External Affairs Officer, Mary Lawson – Chief Lobbyist, Erin Kormann – In-House Counsel, and Chip Dicks – Counsel.

Our MVPs

REALTOR® members who have visited the Capitol with their Local Associations to advocate for REALTOR® issues in real time

Our Quarterbacks

The elected officials who introduced and are carrying our priority bills: Delegates Jeff Campbell, Carrie Coyner, Will Wampler, and Danny Marshall and Senators John Bell, Jeremy McPike, Monty Mason, and Lynwood Lewis

The Stats

• Security Deposits: 100% Support in both the House and Senate
• Ombudsman: 100% Support in both the House and Senate
• Resale Disclosure Act: 100% Support in both the House and Senate

Locker Room Chatter

The Virginia REALTORS® Short-Term Rental legislation was the talk of the town as lawmakers worked to improve the language and remove any unintended consequences. In a gametime decision, Virginia REALTORS® decided that quality legislation could be better crafted and communicated during a time when the waters were not being muddied by opposition from those misinterpreting or misrepresenting the language in the bill.

It was determined that the best way to ensure this was to have the bill sent to the Virginia Housing Commission, where we can work with all stakeholders to study the proposals and return to the 2024 General Assembly with recommendations. Virginia REALTORS® has a long history of working with the Virginia Housing Commission to find resolutions to difficult issues. We look forward to working with members of the Commission to find a balance between the interests of law-abiding property owners represented by our members (professional property managers), and the overreach of local jurisdictions that have used questionable authority to over-regulate our members and their clients while failing to enforce ordinances already on the books that could curtail bad-actors in the short-term rental space. A win for REALTORS® and a win for Virginia!

All-in-all 2023 is shaping up to be a stellar legislative year for REALTORS® across the commonwealth. A special thanks to those members who answered the Call for Action and have liked and shared our updates on social media. Now it’s time to suit up and take on the second half of Session!

Original source can be found here