Democrats in the House of Delegates released a handful of their first prefiled bills Monday, ahead of the 2026 General Assembly session, with a focus on the cost of living.
The bill topics range from a minimum wage increase to upgrades for electric utilities to weatherization to paid sick leave. Constitutional amendments regarding abortion access, same-sex marriage, restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people and a new congressional redistricting effort were also included in the slate of legislation.
The constitutional amendments were passed during the 2025 regular session and during a special session in early November. They will need to be passed again during the 2026 session before they go to the voters in a referendum.
“Virginians elected the largest House Democratic Majority in nearly four decades because they trust us to fight for them and deliver real results,” said House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, in a statement on Monday. “These first bills honor that trust. Our agenda is focused on lowering costs, lifting wages, expanding opportunity, protecting Virginians rights, and ensuring fair representation as Donald Trump pushes Republican legislatures across the country to manipulate congressional maps for partisan gain.”
Republicans have suggested that the prefiled bills may not lower the cost of living, however.
“For a group that ran on lowering costs, this sure looks like it’s going to make things more expensive,” said House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, in a statement on Monday.
Democrats’ prefiled bills
House Democrats said that the bills they prefiled were among those passed by the General Assembly in 2025 but were vetoed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Democrats in the General Assembly had a slim one-seat majority in each chamber.
This year, the liberal party will have a trifecta of power: Democrats control the House of Delegates with a wide 64-seat majority, the state Senate with a slim 21-seat majority and the lieutenant governor to cast a tie-breaking vote if needed, as well as the governor’s mansion.
The bills, if passed, will be placed on Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger for her approval or veto.
Those bills include:
- HB 1, patroned by Del. Jeion Ward, Hampton: To increase the minimum wage in Virginia to $15 per hour by 2028;
- HB 2, patroned by Del. Mark Sickles, Fairfax County: To require Dominion Energy Virginia and Appalachian Power to make an effort to provide efficiency measures and improvements by the end of 2031. The bill also requires the energy companies to file a report on those efforts by 2028;
- HB 3, patroned by Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling, Henrico County: To establish a task force that would identify barriers to entering current energy efficiency programs for income-qualified customers and to address improvements to coordination among state and federal government agencies for utility services and resources;
- HB 4, patroned by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, Alexandria: To create a framework for localities to preserve affordable housing;
- HB 5, patroned by Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, Virginia Beach: To expand provisions of the Virginia code that require one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked for home health workers to cover all employees of private employers and state and local governments; and
- HB 6, patroned by Del. Cia Price, Newport News: To protect access to contraception.
A Republican senator’s prefiled bills
At least one Republican state senator has released his first batch of prefiled bills ahead of the 2026 General Assembly session.
Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, released a list on Tuesday of six filed bills out of 17 that he plans to introduce in the upcoming session. Those bills are:
- SB 7: To make permanent the standard tax deduction of $8,750 for single individuals and $17,500 for married individuals filing jointly;
- SB 9: To eliminate the remaining 1% local sales and use tax on food and essential personal hygiene products;
- SB 10: To allow children aged 16 years or older to take part in work apprenticeships;
- SB 15: To create a motorcycle driver improvement program to be included in existing driver improvement programs;
- SB 16: To extend alternative through-year growth assessments to the 2027-2028 school year;
- SB 17: To increase the maximum value to $17,000 of property that may be sold at public auction to satisfy a lien on a motor vehicle without petitioning for a court order.
Suetterlein acknowledged that getting his bills passed by a Democratic-controlled legislative body and signed by a Democratic governor may be difficult, but he remains hopeful.
“During the 2020-2021 trifecta, I was able to get 17 bipartisan bills through a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House, and then signed into law by Governor Northam,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We worked with a Democratic Senate majority to pass the Enhanced Standard Deduction and Refundable Earned Income Tax Credit and making them permanent should be a shared priority across partisan viewpoints,” he added. “The effort to eliminate the grocery tax started with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Henry Howell in 1977, the state portion was eliminated with Governor Youngkin’s leadership in 2022. Finishing that job, along with preparing our students for life beyond academic tests, are common-sense goals that deserve bipartisan support.”