House Joint Resolution 527 (HJ527) of the 2021 Acts of Assembly directed the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), jointly with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to study the sale and use of invasive plant species and that the study focus on sales in the retail, landscape, and nursery industries and consider measures to reduce or eliminate the sale and use of invasive plants species in the Commonwealth and promote the sale and use of native plants.

The report includes suggestions from the workgroup related to development of signage for display at retail nurseries which provide information to consumers regarding invasive plants, allocation of retail taxes on nursery stock for various mitigation efforts against invasive plant species, establishment of a workgroup to define “commercially viable" which would enable the listing of certain plants on DCR’s Invasive Plant Species List and other species for which DCR or VDACS risk assessment has been conducted, provide an exemption for the permit requirement to move certain noxious weeds, increase education and outreach focusing on consumers, localities, government agencies and the green industry, and support for funding for various programs to increase the use of native species.