For the 2025 General Assembly session, the VBA has a robust agenda of 10 items proposed by its sections and 18 proposals overall in its legislative package. These advance the VBA goals of promoting access to justice and elevating the practice of law in Virginia.

The VBA's legislative counsel also will advocate for five Boyd-Graves Conference proposals and three bills recommended by the Virginia Family Law Coalition.

The legislative package of The Virginia Bar Association follows with the group that suggested the proposals and the titles and summaries of those bills.

Construction and Public Contracts Law Section (one proposal)

• Expanding eligible individuals serving as “designated employee” for contractors
  • This bill would allow a larger pool of individuals to serve as the “designated employee” for purposes of licensing by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation.

Real Estate Section (two proposals)

• Standardizing recording fees for commercial filings
  • This bill would provide uniformity across jurisdictions in the way certain commercial documents are recorded and associated fees are calculated. The bill is a carryover from the 2024 session.
• Streamlining of easements by common owner
  • This bill would create more durable easements and reduce unnecessary complications created when the owner of a dominant estate purchases a subservient estate where an access easement had previously existed.

Taxation Section (three proposals)

• Reinstating the statute of limitations for delinquent taxpayers on an installment plan
  • This bill would equalize the treatment of delinquent taxpayers who are on a payment plan and all others with tax debt by restoring the seven-year statute of limitations on individuals enrolled in a payment plan with the Department of Taxation.
• Protecting low-income individuals from total garnishment
  • This bill would close a loophole that allows for the total garnishment of wages for certain low-income individuals with tax obligations.
• Creating a "currently-not-collectible" status for tax debt
  • This bill would align the commonwealth’s tax collection practices with the IRS and many other states by offering a “currently-not-collectible” hardship status for taxpayers suffering temporary or permanent financial hardship. This would provide some relief for low-income Virginians or those in financial distress.

Wills, Trusts & Estates Section (four proposals)

• Adjustment of thresholds for trusts considered "uneconomic"
  • This legislation would update various dollar amounts in the administration of trusts and estates to reflect current economic conditions. Of note, it would increase the level of compensation allowed to heirs for things such as funeral and medical expenses, the “low-dollar threshold” for certain assets, and would raise to $250,000 the value of a trust that can be declared uneconomic and terminated by a trustee.
• Electronic signatures on trust instruments
  • This straightforward legislation would allow for electronic signatures on trust instruments.
• Authorizing trustees to guarantee loans
  • This bill would empower trustees to guarantee certain loans.
• Authorizing additional qualified entities to serve as trustees
  • This legislation would allow additional qualified entities to serve as trustees, such as law firms and charitable organizations.

Boyd-Graves Conference (five proposals)

• Automatic substitution of public officials as parties
  • This bill would simplify and streamline state court litigation by providing for the automatic substitution of public officials when an office or position holder changes, as is standard in federal court.
• Reforming procedures for selling tax-delinquent real estate
  • This bill would revise procedures governing the sale of real estate to satisfy unpaid real estate taxes, providing additional protections for parties who may have an interest in the real estate while still allowing local governments to sell property to satisfy unpaid real estate taxes.
• Toll statute of limitations for wrongful death suits during criminal proceedings
  • This bill would promote justice for victims by tolling the statute of limitations for wrongful death suits while related criminal charges are adjudicated.
• Increasing general district court threshold to $50,000
  • This bill would allow for the more expedient and cost-effective resolution of low-dollar claims by allowing any civil matter worth $50,000 or less to be heard in general district court.
• Limitations for third-party legal malpractice claims
  • This bill is declarative of existing law but nevertheless would clarify code language enacted in 2017 to limit legal malpractice claims by third-party beneficiaries rather than direct clients.

Virginia Family Law Coalition (three proposals)

• Timely divorce proceedings
  • This bill would make divorce proceedings more timely, more efficient and less acrimonious by allowing for certain arrangements to be made while the one-year separation period runs and by clarifying that alleged adultery must occur before separation to be used as fault for purposes of divorce.
• Timely disposition of property under a judicial sale order
  • This legislation would provide certainty and finality by waiving the usual one-year waiting period for property sold by judicial order as part of a divorce proceeding.
• Notice of changes to child protective orders
  • This bill would protect children and their guardians by ensuring they receive notice of attempts to terminate or change a protective order that could alter custody of a child.

Updated Dec. 19, 2024, with titles and summaries of Virginia Family Law Coalition bills.