New VA Laws That Take Effect July 1: School Materials, Exhaust Systems

RICHMOND, VA — Several new laws will take effect in Virginia on Friday, July 1, including a requirement that public schools alert parents if books or other materials their children are assigned have sexually explicit content and a return to school principals reporting certain misdemeanors to police departments in their jurisdictions.

Democrats had a slight majority in the Virginia Senate in 2022, and Republicans had control of the House of Delegates. On some bills, conservative Senate Democrats sided with Republicans to push forward policies key to the agenda of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The 2022 legislative session in Richmond reversed some laws passed by the state Senate and House of Delegates in the previous two years, when the Democratic majorities sought to reform the criminal justice system.

Here’s a rundown of 10 notable new Virginia laws coming on Friday.

Classroom materials: Virginia schools must alert parents if books or other materials their children are assigned have sexually explicit content and must provide an alternative option if they want one by 2023. The measure required the Virginia Board of Education to develop policies by July 31 that will ensure “parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content.” Each local school board must adopt these policies by Jan. 1, 2023.

Misdemeanor reporting in schools: Virginia school principals will once again have to report certain misdemeanors to police departments. The bill, passed with the help of conservative Democrats in the state Senate, rolled back a law giving principals and superintendents discretion on reporting some misdemeanors that occur on school grounds. Under the current law, administrators must report felonies but have discretion when referring students to law enforcement for misdemeanor-level offenses in Virginia. The new law restores the misdemeanor reporting requirement.

Medical marijuana: Virginians who want a medical marijuana license will not need to register with the state starting in July, but there will still be steps they have to take. The law lifts Virginia’s requirement for patients to register with the state’s Board of Pharmacy for a license. People will still need approval from one of the nearly 750 medical cannabis practitioners registered in the state, the first step in the current process. The change will allow medical cannabis patients to buy marijuana products from dispensaries after receiving a certificate from a registered practitioner.

Police ticket quotas: A new laws bans police and sheriff’s departments from requiring a specific number of tickets and arrests from their officers. The new law also ensures that arrest numbers or summonses issued by an officer will not be used as the sole criteria for reviewing job performance.

Loud exhaust systems: A new state law will reverse legislation that prevented police officers from pulling over drivers for having excessively loud exhaust systems. The law repealed a 2020 bill that prevented law enforcement from stopping motorists solely for exhaust noise violations. Virginia prohibits mufflers that use an “excessive or unusual level of noise” and mandates that mufflers must be identical to their factory setting, comparable to factory equipment, approved by the superintendent, or meets or exceeds standards of SAE International, ANSI or the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Youngkin upends earned sentence credits: Many incarcerated people had been participating in a state earned credit system that allowed them to reduce their sentences up to 15 days for every 30 days served. But a budget amendment from Youngkin in June blocked hundreds of incarcerated people from being eligible to take advantage of Virginia’s new earned sentence credit program on Friday. Some have been earning credits for years. “This really impacts lots and lots of families. Lots of people had made plans, the Department of Corrections had already told people that they’re going home,” Shawn Weneta with ACLU of Virginia said.

Voting law: A new law requires the removal of dead people from voter rolls every week instead of once a month. "Requires the State Registrar of Vital Records to transmit to the Department of Elections a weekly list of decedents from the previous week. Currently, this list is transmitted monthly. The bill requires the general registrars to use this information to conduct list maintenance and to promptly cancel the registration of a person on the list," the bill said.

Bringing alcohol from out of state: The new law increases the number of alcoholic drinks a person can bring into Virginia from one gallon to three gallons.

Employment discrimination based on religion: A new law clarifies that the freedom of expression for "religion" includes any outward display of religious faith. The law amended the Code of Virginia relating to public accommodations, employment and housing and prohibited discrimination on the basis of religion. Religion as now defined by the state includes any outward expression of religious faith, including adherence to religious dressing and grooming practices and the carrying or display of religious items or symbols. The law protects the use of symbols, like crosses or the Star of David, and grooming practices, including beards.

COVID-19 workers compensation: Virginia passed legislation to extend COVID-19 workers compensation presumptions in 2022. The law extends the COVID-19 presumption that a death or disability due to COVID-19 is an occupational disease or disability.

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