We’re at the midway point of the 2026 General Assembly session. Unlike the Super Bowl, there’s no fancy halftime show. We do, though, have a list of where key bills stand. And we have this column, which seeks to look at some of the key themes from the first-half action.
1. Republicans started with a rhetorical advantage
Republicans may be in a reduced minority in the legislature but their diminished numbers didn’t lead to diminished enthusiasm. Republicans scored early rhetorical points by talking up all the tax bills that Democratic legislators had introduced, questioning how those fit with the party’s “affordability” agenda. They also flooded the internet with memes blaming Gov. Abigail Spanberger for many of these bills, even though she wasn’t behind them.
Political necessity also allowed Democrats to hand Republicans another talking point when Democrats had to act fast on legislation to allow an April 21 special election on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow a mid-decade redrawing of congressional lines. When Democrats couldn’t meet their own deadline to produce a new congressional map, that gave Republicans another opportunity to talk about how Democrats ran on affordability but were now focused on other things.
2. Some of the most controversial bills were killed or watered down
For all the early Republican outrage, some of the most controversial bills Democrats introduced were predictably killed in committee, sometimes simply through polite inattention. The bill to repeal Virginia’s “right-to-work” law, which forbids compulsory payment of union dues, never even came up for a vote in committee. The bill that would have studied whether Virginia Military Institute should continue to be state-funded (HB 1377, by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax County) was watered down to simply a study of VMI’s more general progress on certain metrics. The bill that would have dissolved VMI’s board of visitors and put the school under the control of Virginia State University (HB 1374, by Del. Michael Feggans, D-Virginia Beach) also saw that provision stripped out. Both bills were rendered so tame that VMI eventually endorsed both.
On taxes, a bill to impose a net investment income tax was killed in committee. Two bills that would have created new (and higher) tax brackets for upper-income Virginians were merged together (HB 979, by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax County) and then kicked to next year’s session. Two bills that would have extended the sales tax to services were also punted to next year (HB 900 by Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax County, and SB 730, by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax County). Ditto the proposed 11% tax on sales of firearms and ammunition (the Senate version passed, but it now heads to the House which put off its own version, so likely will do the same with the Senate bill). They’re not dead, so could well come back, but that’s often a polite way to dispose of a bill. Also note that next year will be an election year, which might diminish any enthusiasm for tax bills. The point is that many of the things Republicans started off complaining about simply aren’t happening, at least not this year. On the other hand, some are.
3. Many of the bills advancing are quite predictable
No one should be surprised at some of the bills that are advancing — gun restrictions, collective bargaining for public employees, a higher minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, legalized cannabis sales. These are all things Democrats said they were going to do and now they’re doing them. Don’t forget that Democrats passed many of these measures in years past but had them vetoed by a Republican governor. They’re getting more attention now because, with a Democratic governor, they’re likely to be signed into law.
4. Big things are complicated to do
As predicted, we’ve seen a lot of bills dealing with energy and data centers and the overlap thereof. Many of the more stringent bills aimed at regulating data centers have been pushed aside, much to the frustration of environmental groups who wanted immediate action. Yes, there are lobbying pressures aplenty, but not all of those pressures come from industry lobbyists. There are localities that are collecting lots of tax revenues from data centers, and others that would like to, so this was never going to be as simple as “let’s pass a moratorium on new ones.”
We’ve seen other issues, too, hit roadblocks when campaign slogans met the reality of governance. The car tax may, indeed, be “the most hated tax” in Virginia, as it’s often called, but coming up with the votes to eliminate it has proven difficult. That’s due in large part to the fact that the car tax isn’t a state tax, it’s a local tax. Any local government could do away with it right now, but then they’d have a hole in their budget. Figuring out a way to abolish the tax, and use state revenues to keep localities whole, is the hard part.
Republicans said there’s money in the state’s surplus now and pushed for an immediate repeal. Democrats voted that down, worried that the surplus won’t always be there. Del. Lily Franklin, D-Montgomery County, pushed for a study and that passed the House. However, the Senate version, by Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax County, was put off for a year, so Franklin’s version likely will be, too, when it arrives in the same committee.
Anyone following legislation in Richmond needs to remember the construction time of Rome.
5. The impact on affordability remains TBD
“Affordability” has become the buzzword by which everything is now measured. Republicans say the quickest way to make things more affordable is to cut taxes but that is not the Democratic way. Unfortunately for Democrats, many of the actions they say will make Virginia more affordable will take time. Of the 16 measures (not counting duplicates) that Spanberger referenced in a press release about her affordability agenda passing, six deal with energy and another six deal with housing. However, nothing in the energy field happens quickly. Likewise, even if the Democratic bills to encourage more housing construction lower housing prices, it will take time to build enough new housing to impact the market.
6. Richmond wants to tell localities what they can and cannot do
On energy policy and housing policy (and sometimes other issues), the conflicts are between Richmond and local governments, with the legislature advancing bills to tell local governments what they can and cannot do.
On energy, those local governments are primarily in rural Virginia, many of which aren’t keen on accepting the solar projects that the Democratic majority in Richmond wants to see more of. One of the bills that has passed the Senate would “ban the bans” on solar projects and require local governments to consider each one individually. That’s not as onerous as a mandate to accept solar projects, but some consider it a step on the way there.
We see similar dynamics on housing, where the goal is to prompt more homebuilding. The Senate passed a bill (SB 454, by Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico County) to require localities to allow residential construction on most land zoned business or commercial.
The House passed a bill (HB 1212, by Del. Briana Sewell, D-Prince William County) that would require localities of 20,000 or more to have zoning that allows housing construction on small lots — a way to increase housing density.
7. Gaming issues are big and don’t break along party lines
Many issues are purely partisan or ideological. Then there’s gaming, which has supporters and opponents on both sides of the aisle. Two of the gaming issues before the legislature are ones we’ve seen in previous sessions. Both chambers have passed bills to legalize and regulate the so-called electronic skill games often found in convenience stores, whether legal or otherwise (HB 1272 by Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Portsmouth, SB 661, by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach). The Senate also passed a measure to allow a casino in Fairfax County, subject to a local referendum (SB 756, by Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax County). The big new issue this year is whether to allow internet gaming, also known as i-gaming. HB 161 by Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax County, and SB 118, by Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, has now passed both houses. The vote tallies on all these were an unusual mix of legislators not often found on the same side.
On the House side, Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax County, has been pushing for creation of a Virginia Gaming Commission to take over regulation of the growing gaming industry (HB 271) — although there are skill game advocates who don’t think such a commission should oversee their games, that they should be regulated instead by Alcohol Beverage Control since most convenience stores have ABC licenses. That bill passed; a Senate version was incorporated into a different bill related to gaming and it also passed.
One gaming bill never surfaced: No one ever introduced a bill for a casino in Roanoke that Mayor Joe Cobb wants to see at the Berglund Center.
8. Small things are sometimes big things
That’s always been the case but this year we have some new examples. The VMI bill that once dissolved the board of visitors was changed to allow VMI to keep its board — but limit the influence of the alumni by capping how many alumni can serve on the board. The retail cannabis bill tried to make up for the “over-policing” of Black neighborhoods for marijuana crimes in the past by giving an advantage in licensing to people from economically stressed areas. However, the language also brings in a lot of overwhelmingly white communities in Southwest Virginia. A routine “cleanup bill” intended to make the Board of Medicine match other health-related boards would remove the provision that the board have someone from each congressional district, which could result in the board losing all rural representation. The devil is in the details, the saying goes; that’s often true in the General Assembly, as well.
9. Never forget that the speaker is powerful
The speaker of the House has always been a powerful figure, but some speakers have wielded that power with more vigor than others. The current speaker, Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, is not reluctant to exercise his authority. We saw that early in the session when he declined to reappoint Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, to his customary spot on the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee and instead assigned him to a different committee. There was never an official explanation, but the move was widely believed tied to Rasoul’s outspokenness on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza — and against Israel’s prosecution of the war there.
Later, the speaker stripped Del. Tim Griffin, R-Bedford County, of every committee assignment after he clashed with a committee chair in a way that Democrats found disrespectful.
10. Richmond is becoming more like Washington
Each year the legislature becomes a little more partisan. The headline item this year is the Democratic push to redraw congressional lines to knock out four Republican House members this fall: Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County in the 1st District, Jen Kiggans of Virginia Beach in the 2nd District, John McGuire of Goochland County in the 5th and Ben Cline of Botetourt County in the 6th. That has overshadowed Democrats kicking 40 appointees of former Gov. Glenn Youngkin off boards, an unusually high number. Typically Richmond has operated on a “live and let live” philosophy toward a previous governor’s appointees, even if they’re of the opposite party. No more.
Coming up next: The budget
One of the most consequential matters before the legislature hasn’t happened yet: the state budget. Youngkin presented his proposed spending plan before he left office (Virginia has an awkward budget cycle in that regard). Now the legislature will have its say. On Sunday, the money committees in the House and Senate will release their competing versions of what the budget should look like. Look for our coverage of that.
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