RICHMOND, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — Two of the lawmakers from Central Virginia got some of their bills signed into law.

Out of the 738 bipartisan bills passed by the 2023 General Assembly that Governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law on Tuesday, many highlighted ones were from Delegate Rob Bell and state Senator Creigh Deeds.

Bell’s bills include simplifying things for students with disabilities when they reach 18 and requiring school divisions to have a designated safety official.

Deeds’ bills include forbidding the state from posting personal information about judges online, which he says responds to events following the 2017 Unite the Right rally; reducing the size of land needed to apply for a site development grant, which he did at the request of Albemarle County; and making it a misdemeanor to knowingly report false information to emergency services.

Deeds and Bell also both worked on legislation allowing a medical professional to divert someone having a mental health crisis from heading to jail, provided there are the proper arrangements in place.

Deeds says with a split General Assembly, there has to be bipartisan work to get anything done.

“The issue is how do we get things done for the people we represent. People expect their government to respond to their issues to respond to crises, and I’m proud of the work we accomplished,” he said.

But the budget didn’t get done, and he said not much can happen locally if there’s no budget with which to work.

So, he said the $1 billion difference leaves a lot of bipartisan work ahead.

CBS 19 News