House committee advances bill to standardize criminal-history screening for state-funded rental housing with enactment delay

Delegate Doug Hayes presented House Bill 1638 to the House General Laws Committee, asking the panel to advance a statutory model for criminal-history screening for applicants to state-supported rental housing.

"This is to establish a model criminal history screening policy, to pretty much create a fair chance and access, for those that are state financially supported rental housing," Delegate Doug Hayes said. He said the bill would align with federal policy and was intended to ensure that an applicant's criminal history is part of the consideration but not an automatic bar to affordable housing.

Committee members considered amendments. Delegate Marcus Simon proposed a staggered enactment: delaying the portion of the bill that imposes substantive requirements until Jan. 1, 2026, so a work group could develop application standards first. The committee also adopted an amendment to add the Home Builders Association of Virginia to the work group that will develop standards; the amendment inserts the group after the Legal Aid Justice Center in the work-group listing. A DLS attorney confirmed the committee was reporting the introduced bill with those amendments rather than the substitute reported earlier.

After debate and the adopted floor amendments, the clerk closed the roll and the bill was reported to the House with amendments by a recorded vote of 11 to 10.

Ending: The bill advances to the next stage with adopted amendments that delay the substantive effective date and expand the work group's membership; the committee directed that amendments be reflected in the version sent forward.