On behalf of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the national trade association representing the leading manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, dietary supplements, and consumer medical devices, I’d like to express strong support for HB1686. This legislation expands access to essential menstrual and incontinence products for Virginia residents by exempting these products from local sales tax or permitting a locality to do so. CHPA recognizes menstrual health and hygiene and urinary incontinence are pressing public health issues. The sales tax exemption proposed in HB1686 would be an important step to increasing access and affordability to critical menstrual and incontinence products for Virginia residents. Delegate Greenhalgh for filing this bill and we urge this committee for passage. Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions on our position.

On behalf of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the national trade association representing the leading manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, dietary supplements, and consumer medical devices, I’d like to express strong support for HB1484, HB1686, and HB 2196 . This legislation expands access to essential menstrual and incontinence products for Virginia residents by exempting these products from local sales tax or permitting a locality to do so. CHPA recognizes menstrual health and hygiene and urinary incontinence are pressing public health issues. The sales tax exemptions proposed in these bills would be an important step to increasing access and affordability to critical menstrual and incontinence products for Virginia residents. We applaud the sponsors for filing these bills and we urge House Finance Subcommittee #2 to support their passage. Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions on our position.

Please oppose HB 1645 which would reduce the penalty for failure to pay the litter tax from $100 to $10. • Virginia’s litter tax is, per capita, the lowest litter tax in the nation. • Businesses are only required to pay $20 or $30 per location depending on the type of business. If they pay their tax on time, they avoid a penalty. • Businesses are creating and selling products that will become litter. They should shoulder some of the cost of cleaning it up. • Virginia currently spends millions of dollars a year cleaning up litter pollution on the taxpayers dollar. Not to mention volunteers who donate their time and effort to clean it up. • The money generated from the Litter Control and Recycling Fund helps to clean up litter. I live on Thalia Creek in Virginia Beach and I enjoy kayaking. Every time I go out, I bring two large trash bags with me, and every time I fill them with litter I find in the creek. I collected over 100 pounds in 5 months. I stopped keeping track after that. In addition, I volunteer for waterway clean-up days with Lynnhaven River Now, and we have collected thousands of pounds of trash over the years. I am tired! Reducing the penalty for failing to pay the litter tax sends the message that Virginia doesn’t care about keeping the state clean. I don’t think that’s a message we want to send. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the Hampton Roads Chamber supports this bill with the exception of the changes in lines 101 to 104. We feel this specific language could have a negative impact on the business community. Other than this we support the addition of the word arena to this section of the code as it will enhance the regional economic development of the entertainment and sports industry in Hampton Roads and provide the same opportunity to other localities in Virginia.

The City of Portsmouth strongly supports this bill. Please pass this out of sub and full committee. Thank you

I am an occupational therapist that does car seat safety evaluations in a neonatal intensive care unit and well baby nursery. It is mandatory for families to provide a safe seat that meets current specifications by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) in order for them to take their baby home from the hospital. If a seat is past 6 years old, it’s often hard to convince families to get a new seat because their old seat “looks” ok. But the old plastic won’t hold up and could crack into a dozen pieces in an impact. A tax exemptions on car seats could increase the use of safe seats!

Hello my name is Shaheen Khurana and I live in Oakton, VA. I am here as a working parent to strongly advocate for HB 2416 proposed by my Delegate Holly Seibold. We know that children seated in a booster seat in the back seat of the car are far less likely to be injured. They save lives so eliminating the taxes and making them more affordable and accessible is a big win for working families that are already struggling with high costs due to surging inflation. It is also common sense from a public safety perspective and will help lower barriers for parents and other caregivers to have these. In addition to saving parents money, the passage of this law can help increase awareness of the need to use car seats and upgrade them as a child grows. Passing laws is an important way to send public messages and to increase awareness. I urge you to vote yes on this bill. You will be saving us money and saving kids’ lives!

As a working parent, I want to strongly advocate for HB 2416 proposed by my Delegate Holly Seibold. Child restraint devices SAVE LIVES. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 13. The use of child restraints has been shown to reduce the risk for serious injury by 45% for children, and decrease the risk of death by 54%. Eliminating the taxes and making them more affordable and accessible is a big win for working middle class families that are already struggling with high costs due to surging inflation. It is also common sense from a public safety perspective. In addition to saving parents money, the passage of this law can help increase awareness of the need to use car seats and upgrade them as a child grows. I urge you to vote yes on this bill. You will be saving us money and saving kids’ lives! Thank you!!