HB339 • 2026

Employee protections; wage and hour, health and safety, and mining safety provisions.

<p class=ldtitle>A BILL to amend and reenact § 40.1-22 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding sections numbered 40.1-22.2 and 45.2-502.1, relating to employee protections; wage and hour, occupational health and safety, and mining safety provisions.</p>

Energy Labor

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Lopez
Last action: 2026-03-09
Official status: Continued
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary specifies that the changes must be due to repeal, revocation, amendment, or reinterpretation, which narrows the scope of when Virginia's agencies need to act.

Employee Protections for Wages, Health and Safety

This bill requires Virginia to maintain or restore previous federal protections if changes in federal laws make those protections weaker.

What This Bill Does

If a federal wage law is repealed, revoked, amended, or reinterpreted to weaken worker rights, the Commissioner of Labor must create new rules that keep the old protections.
For health and safety at work, if federal occupational health and safety laws are repealed, revoked, amended, or reinterpreted in a way that weakens them, Virginia's Safety and Health Codes Board has to make similar strong rules.
In mining, if federal mine safety laws are repealed, revoked, amended, or reinterpreted to become less protective, Virginia’s Department of Energy needs to set up rules like they were before.

Who It Names or Affects

Workers in Virginia who rely on wage, health, and safety protections.
Employers who must follow these new or restored regulations.
Government agencies responsible for labor laws, health and safety, and mining oversight.

Terms To Know

Commissioner of Labor: The person in charge of enforcing Virginia’s labor laws.
Safety and Health Codes Board: A group that makes rules to protect workers' health and safety.

Limits and Unknowns

It is unclear how quickly the state agencies will act after federal changes.
The bill does not specify what happens if Virginia's regulations are already stricter than the old federal ones.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HB339ASC1

2026-03-09 • Committee

Commerce and Labor Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies the language in an existing bill to clarify how certain labor standards are amended or revoked.

Removes the phrase 'Labor' and replaces it with new text.
Replaces 'revokes' with 'amends,' indicating a change from revoking to amending standards.
Strikes out part of an existing sentence that mentions amending previously promulgated federal standards.

The exact impact and context of these changes are not fully explained in the provided amendment text, making it difficult to understand their full implications without additional information from the original bill.

HB339AS1

2026-03-10 • Committee

Commerce and Labor Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies language in an existing bill to clarify how certain labor standards are amended or updated.

Removes the phrase '(i)' after 'Labor' and replaces it with new text.
Replaces 'revokes' with 'amends,' indicating a change from revoking to amending standards.
Strikes out part of the sentence that mentions amending previously promulgated federal standards.

The exact impact and context of these changes are not fully explained in the provided amendment text, making it hard to understand their full implications without additional information.

Bill History

2026-03-09 Commerce and Labor
Reported from Commerce and Labor with amendments and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 6-N)
2026-03-09 Finance and Appropriations
Continued to 2027 in Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 1-N)
2026-03-09 Senate
Senate committee offered
2026-02-11 Labor and Commerce
Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB339)
2026-02-03 Senate
Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
2026-02-03 Commerce and Labor
Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
2026-02-02 House
Read third time and passed House (64-Y 35-N 0-A)
2026-01-30 House
Read second time
2026-01-30 House
committee substitute agreed to
2026-01-30 House
Engrossed by House - committee substitute
2026-01-29 House
Read first time
2026-01-27 Labor and Commerce
Reported from Labor and Commerce with substitute (15-Y 7-N)
2026-01-27 Labor and Commerce
Committee substitute printed 26105908D-H1
2026-01-22 Subcommittee #2
Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (5-Y 2-N)
2026-01-22 Subcommittee #2
House subcommittee offered
2026-01-19 Subcommittee #2
Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #2
2026-01-12 House
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102185D
2026-01-12 Labor and Commerce
Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce

Official Summary Text

Employee protections; wage and hour, health and safety, and mining safety provisions; federal rules.
Requires that, if a federal wage or hour law, federal occupational health and safety law, or federal mine safety law is repealed, revoked, amended, or reinterpreted in any manner that results in the federal protections becoming less stringent or effective, the Commissioner, the Safety and Health Codes Board, or the Department of Energy, respectively, shall promulgate regulations that incorporate the federal law as it existed prior to being repealed, revoked, amended, or newly interpreted.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

(HB339)
AMENDMENT(S) PROPOSED BY THE SENATE
COMMERCE AND LABOR
1. Line 50, engrossed, after
Labor
strike
(i)

COMMERCE AND LABOR
2. Line 50, engrossed, after
revokes
insert
, amends,

COMMERCE AND LABOR
3. Line 51, engrossed, after
Act
[first instance]
strike
or (ii) amends a previously promulgated standard under the Federal Act