Week 8: Coming to the end!

Week 8: Coming to the end!

As we reach the end of session, lots of bills that crossed over from one chamber to the other are still getting last minute language changes to ensure passage on both sides. Also, lots of bills that sailed through one side have now met an untimely death on the other side. Let’s look at these!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Delegate Price clapping back after GOP pop-up Delegate Williams makes floor speech reciting old anti-gerrymandering quotes from Democrats during 2020-21 redistricting discussion: “As we’ve seen from our friend, he loves to live in history, and that is where all of his quotes came from. The one quote he did forget to say was ‘find me five seats’ and that’s the quote that our president has given SINCE all of the other quotes that [Williams] listed. So I will offer another quote here today, first day of early voting: ‘VOTE YES, FIGHT BACK!'”

Bills in conference

  • The House (Price) and Senate (Carroll Foy) versions of the bill ensuring the right to contraception differ somewhat, with the House version (currently substituted on SB596 by the House) referencing federal government (FDA) laws and definitions.
  • The House (Krizek) and Senate (Ebbin) Fantasy Contests gaming bills started out the same, but Senate Finance and Appropriations replaced the content of the House bill with just an enactment directing the Lottery an VDACS (the agency responsible for much gaming regulation) to assess the regulation and taxation of Fantasy Contests.
  • House (Krizek) and Senate (Aird) versions of the adult recreational marijuana marketplace bills still have a few differences to iron out, including who qualifies for impact licenses; how the revenues are divided between early childhood care, the Equity Reinvestment Fund, substance use treatment programs, and public awareness; the tax rate (6% state plus 1-3.5% local in the House version, 12.875% state plus <3% local in the Senate ); criminal charges for illegal sales (House version creates felony for more than twice); and the Senate version has the Cannabis Control Authority becoming a division of ABC, while the House version it remains independent.
  • House (Hayes) and Senate (Rouse) versions of “skill games” regulation are in conference as well, but the language of the two versions is extremely far apart. They don’t even have the same definition of “truck stop” as one another, so there’s a ways to go. One has an optional opt-out locality referendum, the other a required opt-in referendum; they have different fee structures for manufacturers, distributors, and per machine; different host location requirements; the House version allows a maximum of 15,000 machines, the Senate allows 35,000; the House allows a maximum wager of $1 per play, the Senate $5 per play, etc.

House bills that failed in the Senate

  • HB35 (Cole, JG) to ban solitary confinement passed the House with a tiny bit of bipartisan support, but was unanimously continued to 2027 in Senate Rehab.
  • HB936 (Lopez) would have allowed a county to initiate a parking ticket by mail pilot program. It squeaked by the House, and failed to report from Senate Transportation.
  • HB365 (McLaughlin) would have expanded the situations in which a law enforcement vehicle may ignore speed and parking laws. It passed the House on a nearly unanimous vote, and was killed in the Senate Transportation committee on an 8-7 vote.
  • HB133 (Simon) passed the House unanimously, but failed to report from Senate Courts of Justice. It would have allowed electronic signing and notarizing of wills and trust documents, with guardrails. This bill met a similar fate last year. 
  • HB495 (Guzman) would have allowed school districts to require bus drivers to complete mental health awareness training. It passed the House on a party-line vote, and was continued to 2027 by a voice vote in Senate Education.
  • HB1415 (Schmidt) would have required any publicly-funded multi-family housing unit to allow residents to have one small pet. It passed the House on a party-line vote, but was killed in Senate General Laws by a 14-1 vote. 
  • HB295 (Cornett) adds correctional officers to the definition of aggravated murder (class 1 felony). This passed the House with wide bipartisan support, and failed to report from Senate Courts of Justice, on a party-line vote.

Senate bills that failed in the House

  • SB586 (Salim) would have required insurance carriers to report to the Bureau of Insurance when AI is used to make determinations on coverage, and to tell patients when AI is used to deny a claim. It passed the Senate with a slightly bipartisan vote of 23-16, but was continued to 2027 by voice vote in House Communications and Technology committee.
  • SB269 (Favola) specified when AI may legally be used in mental health counseling, and what recordkeeping is required. The bill passed the Senate unanimously, but was continued to 2027 by voice vote in the House Communications and Technology committee.
  • SB42 (Roem) only required a study of the impact of paying off students’ unpaid meal debt at the end of the school year—not actually paying it off, just studying what the impact would be. Unanimous in the Senate, 16-6 in House Education, and then continued by voice vote in House Rules.
  • SB486 (Stuart) would have required makers of dietary supplements to include a gluten disclaimer. It passed the Senate unanimously but was continued by voice vote in House Health and Human Services committee.
  • SB300 (Jordan) designating the peanut as the “state snack” passed the Senate unanimously but was continued to 2027 in House Rules.
  • SB541 (Stuart) would have allowed Virginia to make Eastern Standard Time permanent year-round if DC and Maryland agree to do so also. It passed the Senate on a nonpartisan 24-16 vote, but was continued to 2027 in House Rules by a voice vote.
  • SB670 (Salim) regarding the regulation and licensing of fully-autonomous commercial vehicles passed the Senate 35-4 and was continued to 2027 in House Transportation. 
  • SB538 (Suetterlein) would have required input by the local Commonwealth’s Attorney before the Parole Board releases someone. This is a bill Democrats have blocked in past years, and although the Senate votes 30-10 to pass it, House Public Safety continues it to 2027 on voice vote.
  • SB603 (Reeves) passed the Senate unanimously but was tabled in House Education on a party-line vote. It would have allowed school boards to adopt a policy for volunteer student life counseling. The Virginia Education Association had not testified on the Senate side, but spoke strongly against in the House.

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Week 7: Budget week

Week 7: Budget week

The week after crossover is usually budget week—when the House and Senate present to the floor the full set of amendments to the governor’s introduced budget that they’ve approved in Appropriations committees. From here, the House budget bill usually advances into a budget conference, where budget conferees reconcile the differences in the two budget proposals.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, on how the Senate budget has had to respond to shortfalls caused by Congress: “You know what Congress did? They said ‘We’re not going to fund food assistance anymore.’ And what happens when you don’t fund food assistance? Well, hunger doesn’t just go away. All this does is moves the cost to someone else’s balance sheet. Or it moves this problem to the child’s empty stomach. This budget takes that seriously.” 

House budget details

Senate budget details

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Week 6: Crossover week

Week 6: Crossover week

Crossover week is a weird one—Monday and Tuesday are endlessly long floor sessions, engrossing and passing bills to send across the hall. The rest of the week is super quiet, since most of the bills haven’t been docketed in the other body yet, so subcommittee meetings are often cancelled, or just take up identical cognates to bills already heard.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Senator Lashrecse Aird, speaking on amendments to Senator Salim’s SB783 putting guardrails in place for any agreements between local law enforcement and ICE: “ICE is unchecked, with unlimited power, generally speaking, and in the use of this surveillance technology. This is about making sure that when ICE comes into contact with Virginians that we have guardrails; this is not about messaging, this is not about politicizing ICE, but it is about protecting Virginians and making sure that we’re putting Virginians first in their interactions with this unchecked federal agency.”

Last minute hiccups

A handful of bills headed to the floor didn’t quite make it through, either failing on the floor vote or being pulled at the last minute, referred back to committee and continued to next year.

  • HB919 (Lopez) would have imposed an 11% additional sales tax on firearms and ammunitiion purchases, with proceeds intended for gun violence prevention.
  • HB1462 (Maldonado) would have required insurance companies to cover services provided by a non-licensed (who is studying to become licensed, i.e.) provider under the supervision of a licensed provider.
  • HB447 (Simon) would clarify and limit (consistent with a related VA Supreme court ruling) when someone has standing to sue for harm against a neighboring property development.
  • HB1432 (Mehta) would reduce the penalties for underage possession or consumption of marijuana and alcohol and clarify that underage persons are not capable of giving consent to search and limits such searches.
  • SB770 (Reeves) would have changed from a class 3 (fine only) to a class 1 (jail time) misdemeanor the penalty for trespassing on another’s property to hunt.
  • SB209 (DeSteph) would have expanded the crimes that would disqualify a person for geriatric parole.
  • SB408 (Stuart) would have created a cause of action for suing if an organization a person donates to does not follow through on the intended charitable purpose.

First tie-break for Lieutenant Governor Hashmi

Please be seated…

It takes a special sort of legislator to sit in the (very small) minority and either a) not manage to find a single policy idea for their community that they can get bipartisan support for, or b) piss off the majority party so dramatically that all their even non-partisan bills die. Congratulations to THREE Delegates on that dubious achievement, and enjoy doing absolutely nothing useful the rest of this session.

  • Del Griffin: highlights include a bill to make it child abuse to assist a child with obtaining gender-affirming care, a bill to bring back voter photo ID and by-excuse only absentee voting, a bill to require the display of the Ten Commandments in K-12 schools, a bill to ban “geoengineering,” and a bill to study repealing personal income taxes. 
  • Del Hamilton: highlights include the “born-alive abortion” bill, a ban on water fluoridation, a bill to return to presumption against bail, “Sage’s Law” requiring schools tell parents if a child asks to be called by a different name, a bill to mandate pre-abortion informed consent re: Safe Haven Baby Box locations and use.
  • Del Garrett: highlights include a bill to remove the Hep-B vaccine from the vaccine schedule, an anti-DEI bill, a bill to repeal driver privilege card (used by Virginia residents who are not US-citizens) issuance, a bill to study the 45 day early voting policy.

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Week Five: Almost to crossover!

Week Five: Almost to crossover!

Next Tuesday is the last day for the House and Senate to take any action on bills (other than the budget) that originate in their own body. After that, the bills “cross over” to the other side and must be heard in committee and approved there.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Delegate Jackie Glass, speaking on Delegate Kathy Tran’s HB1266 to require an assessment before issuing permits of the cumulative impact on environmental justice communities: “It has been historically easy to say yes to wrecking shop in particular neighborhoods. It has been really hard to get states and the United States to say yes to the consequences of wrecking shop…It’s just easy to say yes to ruin folks lives and then punish them for the cost that it takes for their health, punish them for the damage it does to their homes.”

Passed the House

  • HB923 (Lopez) prohibiting “stay or pay” employment contracts, ie. where the employee must pay back training costs or other fees when quitting, passed the House on a party-line vote.
  • The Prescription Drug Affordability Board (HB483, Delaney) passed the House on a party-line vote.
  • HB1441 (Lopez) limits local law enforcement participation in immigration enforcement to when there’s a judicial warrant, and as required by federal law. It passed the House on a party-line vote.
  • HB112 (Laufer) prohibiting premature separation of weaning baby animals from their mothers passed the House with some bipartisan support.
  • HB1161 (Tran) passed the House. It would limit state agencies from sharing any personal information unless required by law, to comply with program rules, or by consent.
  • Strong bipartisan support in the House for HB601 (Hernandez) that would protect a minimum $1000 from wage garnishment, to ensure those with liens against them can still afford basic necessities.
  • HB650 (Callsen) protects those appearing at court to comply with order or serve as witness from being subject to civil arrest (without a judicial warrant). It passed the House on a party-line vote.

Passed the Senate

  • The Senate passed on party-line votes a host of gun-related bills this week: firearm manufacturing industry liability (SB27, Carroll Foy); closing the boyfriend loophole for firearms transfers (SB160, Perry); ghost gun ban (SB323, Ebbin); safe storage of firearms in house where minor is present (SB348, Boysko); assault weapon ban (SB749, Salim).
  • SB229 (Surovell) creating a process in Virginia for class-action lawsuits passed the Senate.
  • SB352 (Salim) prohibiting local and state law enforcement from wearing face coverings while performing official duties passed the Senate on a party-line vote.
  • The Senate passed SB322 (Ebbin) to join the National Popular Vote Compact.
  • There was a little bit of bipartisan support on the Senate floor for SB596 (Carroll Foy) affirming a right to obtain contraception.
  • A bill restricting data centers to be sited on land zoned for industrial use (SB94, Roem) passed the Senate.
  • The bill to allow Fairfax County to host a casino should they wish to and should voters agree to it by referendum, SB756 (Surovell) passed the Senate, after the Finance and Appropriations committee removed the specific Tyson’s Corner location from the bill.

Left in committee

  • While the Senate typically hears every bill in committee, this year there was at least one exception (barring unusual actions next week):
    • Repeal of “right to work” (SB32 Carroll Foy) was left unheard in Commerce and Labor.
  • With the ability in even-numbered years to “continue” by voice vote bills to the next session, the House typically leaves fewer bills in committee, but here are a few (mostly bad) bills left behind:
    • HB158 (Griffin) that would make “attempts to transition a the child to a sex or gender inconsistent with the child’s biological sex”  considered child abuse was left in House Courts of Justice.
    • The ONE campaign finance reform bill, HB1447 (Glass), which would define the powers of corporations under the Virginia Stock Corporation Act as not allowing contributions to elections, politicians, referenda, was left in House Labor and Commerce.
    • A bill (HB615 McNamara) that would eliminate the penalties Dominion and Appalachian Power owe for not meeting clean energy standards was left unheard in House Labor and Commerce.
    • HB1277 (Hamilton) creating a rebuttal presumption against bail, i.e. guilty until proven innocent was left in House Criminal subcommittee after the patron failed to show up to present her bill.
    • HB1453 (Williams) making it a crime to approach a law enforcement officer was left in the House Public Safety committee, after the patron chickened out on coming to defend his bill at the meeting it was docketed to.

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Week 4: Vices in Virginia

Week 4: Vices in Virginia

As we approach crossover, it seems like a good time to check in on where we are on a large number of alcohol-related, marijuana, and gambling bills!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Senator Aird, during a somewhat contentious discussion of amendments Sen Surovell wanted to make to her cannabis marketplace bill: “Ultimately, legalization should end criminalization, not rebrand it. I know there is an interest in strictly aligning the approach that we take in this legislation to ABC’s enforcement structure, but doing that too closely we do risk building a legal system that still relies on arrests, mandatory fines, mandatory minimums, jail time and felonies for low-level conduct, and that approach has failed for alcohol and it will fail again for cannabis.”

Pass me the bottle!

  • HB385 (Bennett-Parker) allows ABC to sell distilled spirit accessory items (like shakers, margarita salt) and allows employees to hold tasting events in their stores. It passed the House 91-5.
  • Bills to increase the ounces of spirits that can be sold by distilleries for on-site consumption and requires food be available on-site when spirits are served. HB934 (Simon) passed the House with a 4 1/2 oz. limit, while SB424 (Perry) that reported to the Senate floor has a 6 oz. limit.
  • HB975 (Bennett-Parker) sets up a tiered system for mixed-beverage establishments that eases the food-to-beverage ratio so that high revenue restaurants would not have to meet a ratio, mid-range ones would have a 30% ratio, and small ones would continue at the current 45% ratio.

Pass me the joint!

  • House (HB642 Krizek) and Senate (SB542 Aird) bills to create a legal marijuana marketplace have reported out of committee and are now in Appropriations.
    • The intention stated in the bill is to “establish a competitive, sustainable, and decentralized market structure built for long-term success, prioritizing the creation of durable, independent businesses over the maximization of short-term tax revenue.”
    • There would be a preference in the licensing process (assistance in obtaining loans, and some fee waivers) for those who have been directly impacted by previous marijuana laws, live in an over-policed or historically economically disadvantaged community, and/or are a Veteran, etc.
    • Limit of 350 retail establishments before 2028. Limited to 2,500 square feet retail size, and restrict market concentration.
    • Bills specify local ordinances cannot prohibit marijuana, but can place limits on parks, sidewalks, and distance to schools and churches.
    • Ages 21+, limit of 2 1/2 oz. per transaction, 8% additional state sales tax plus 1-3 1/2% local sales tax.
    • Legal for any adult to possess up to 2 1/2 oz and may home-grow up to 4 plants.
    • Differences in House and Senate bills regarding: punishment for illegal cultivating, illegal sales, and possessing with intent to sell. (Senate has steeper penalties, including mandatory minimums that mimic those for alcohol.)

Pass me the dice!

  • Competing House (HB396 Krizek) and Senate (SB765 Jones) bills to regulate Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments have passed their respective floors. Both limit participation to 21 years and above, and both restrict some of the more addiction-inducing behaviors, like rebuys and add-ons. The Senate version requires 20% of revenues go towards charitable organizations, requires a security officer be present, and has other limitations.
  • Identical House (HB145 Krizek) and Senate (SB129 Ebbin) versions of Fantasy Contests regulation and taxation bills have passed out of committee with bipartisan support, and are now in Appropriations committees. They describe what safeguards info operators must supply with their application for permit; application fee is $50,000, with another $50,000 upon issuance; revenue is taxed at 10%, with 5% going to Problem Gambling Treatment fund, and 95% to the general fund.
  • Similar but not identical House (HB161 Simon) and Senate (SB118 Locke) bills to regulate and legalize Internet gaming for adults 21+, with no credit cards accepted, with a number of problem gaming provisions that educate bettors and set cooling off periods, deposit limits, and other self-limiting tools. Gaming revenue is taxed at 15%, with 5% allocated to the Problem Gambling Treatment fund, 6% (until 2030) reserved to offset any losses to the licensed brick and mortar casinos due to i-gaming, and the remainder to the general fund. 
  • The Senate bill (SB661 Rouse) to legalize and regulate so-called skill games reported out of committee and to Approps. The House cognate (HB1272 Hayes) has so far stalled in General Laws committee. Legal machines must be certified by ABC and must meet certain requirements–players cannot directly insert money but must visit store clerk to be given access; credit cards cannot be used to play; age 21+; wagers no greater than $5. There is an $800/month gaming tax on distributors per machine, with some revenue going towards Problem Gambling fund and enforcement authorities.
  • The Fairfax casino bill (SB756 Surovell), a bill adding Fairfax to the localities authorized to have a casino, and specifying places in the Tyson’s area where such a casino might be allowed upon a referendum vote by Fairfax voters, reported out of Senate General Laws a week ago, but has been sitting in Appropriations, where it is undoubtedly tangled up with other bills, possibly as a bargaining chip–no pun intended.

Week 3: Mother Nature Can’t Stop the Legislating

Week 3: Mother Nature Can’t Stop the Legislating

Despite Mother Nature trying to hold up the legislative session by dumping a massive snowstorm and bitter cold temperatures late last Sunday, the legislators still made it to Richmond to keep working on bills!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, in a point of personal privilege on the floor Monday by Delegate Josh Thomas about the killings in Minnesota: “Here’s the truth–if the government can seize a lawfully-owned firearm without due process, if they can shoot a citizen and then investigate the VICTIM instead of the shooter, if they can operate masked, unidentified, beyond accountability, then there is no right that is secure. There is no First [Amendment], there is no Second, there is no Fourth, not any…Now is a time for each of us to speak up and make our voices heard.”

Passed the Senate

These bills have already passed the Senate and will go on to be heard in the House next.

  • SB337 (Perry) prohibits other states’ militias from operating in Virginia unless requested by the Governor or required by law; restricts communication between the federal government and the Virginia National Guard.
  • SB109 (Pekarsky) requiring school boards notify parents at the beginning of the school year about their responsibility to keep firearms and prescription drugs safely locked up.
  • SB347 (VanValkenburg) makes the default that solar farms are permitted in a locality, with zoning safeguards.
  • SB318 (Ebbin) allows localities to give preference in procurement to local goods, services producers as long as the bid is within 10% of lowest.
  • SB591 (McPike) directs the Dept of Taxation to develop free individual state income tax e-filing software
  • SB137 (Pekarsky) prohibiting anyone from harassing or obstructing access to a health facility

Passed the House

  • HB60 (Ward) prohibits health or life insurance discrimination against people taking preventative HIV medications.
  • HB6 (Price) affirms the right to obtain and use contraception
  • HB816 (Helmer) requires 75% of a locality’s business or commercial use land allow by-right mixed-use (combined residential and commercial) development
  • HB80 (Price) gives the Governor the right to withhold funding for a local or regional correctional facility that fails to report on civilian deaths in custody
  • HB334 (Rasoul) gives all localities the ability to hold a referendum on whether to temporarily increase their local sales tax to fund school construction
  • HB153 requires proposed data centers submit site assessment detailing effects on water, noise, local parks and historic sites, etc.

Bills that need to go down in flames

  • HB158 (Griffin) considers gender-affirming care as child abuse or neglect
  • HB531 (Hamilton) “born alive” abortion bill
  • SB545 (Cifers) authorizes over-the-counter Ivermectin
  • HB1456 (Williams) is a massive, sprawling Virginia DOGE bill, requiring efficiency assessments and creating entire new government agencies and a mound of bureaucratic paperwork and reporting
  • HB1453 (Williams) makes it a crime to approach law enforcement after a warning not to
  • HB719 (Zehr) adds 3-minute high-definition ultrasound imaging to Health and Family Life Education
  • HB532 (Hamilton) “Sage’s Law” requiring schools notify parents if a child asks for “social affirmation” of a stated gender that differs from the biological one
  • HB1453 (Zehr) So-called “ICE-Free Communities Act” that actually just codifies 287g agreements for all localities state-wide

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Week Two: Long hours and putting in the work!

Week Two: Long hours and putting in the work!

The first full week of the 2026 legislative session included swearing in new legislators from special election wins, subcommittees and full committees having organizational meetings, and starting to take up bills, focused largely still on those vetoed by Youngkin last year.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK,  After the standard “sky is falling” complaints by the GOP delegates about completing the last step of raising the minimum wage to $15, Delegate Sullivan called out a little hypocrisy: I remember when you first brought this bill…and we were told this was going to tank our economy, this was going to cause economic chaos in Virginia, and drive businesses from Virginia. And then for the last four years, every year, the Governor came to us and talked about how Virginia was doing great. Jobs were up, wages were up, businesses were coming to Virginia. And this great cataclysm that had been predicted because we were raising the minimum wage just a little bit for people at the lower end of the income scale never came to pass. 

Reuse, recycle…bills that is

A handful of bills previously passed through the legislature many vetoed by Youngkin over the past couple years are now moving forward, out of committee, with the hopes of a friendlier gubernatorial pen.

  • $15 minimum wage (HB1, Ward)
  • class action lawsuits (SB229, Surovell)
  • minimum age of adjudication delinquent (SB18, Locke)
  • free school breakfast (HB96, Bennett-Parker; SB4, Roem)
  • restricting the use of solitary confinement (HB35, Cole)
  • Income qualified energy efficiency and weatherization task force (HB3, LeVere Bolling)
  • allow every locality to hold referendum on raising sales tax to fund school construction (HB334, Rasoul)
  • data center site assessment requirements for rezoning (HB153, Thomas)
  • rejoining (ERIC) Electronic Registration Information Center, (SB57, VanValkenburg)
  • electric vehicle rural infrastructure program and fund (HB324, Sullivan)
  • all localities must meet housing targets of 7.5% increase in stock (HB804, Helmer)

Ballot language for constitutional amendments

With the second reference passage of the four constitutional amendment resolutions last week, this week the “enabling” legislation dropped, which details how and when voters will have the opportunity to vote on these proposed constitutional changes.

Mid-decade redistricting: Assuming HB1384 (Torian) and SB769 (Lucas) pass, on a special election on April 21 voters will answer the question “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?”

Reproductive freedom: Assuming HB781 (Herring) and SB449 (Boysko) pass, on the November 2026 ballot voters will answer the question “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) protect the freedom to make personal decisions about prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion, miscarriage management, and fertility care; (ii) protect doctors, nurses, and patients from being punished for these decisions; and (iii) allow for restrictions on access to abortion during the third trimester of pregnancy except when the patient’s health is at risk or the pregnancy cannot survive?”

Right to vote: Assuming HB963 (Price) and SB6 (Locke) pass, on the November ballot voters will answer the question “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to provide for the fundamental right to vote in the Commonwealth, (ii) to revise the qualifications of voters so that a person convicted of a felony is not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration but is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release from incarceration, and (iii) to update the existing prohibition on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to instead apply to persons who have been found to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting?”

Marriage equality: Assuming HB612 (Cohen) and SB311 (Ebbin) pass, on the November ballot voters will answer the question “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”

[For the wonky] Democrats play chess

The enabling legislation for the mid-decade redistricting is a creative one. First, because a special election to hold the referendum would come with costs, the legislation is an appropriations bill, which means, unlike ordinary legislation that would take effect July 1, too late for the referendum, this takes place immediately upon enaction.

The bill also contains several enactment clauses that address some of the court challenges that are already underway or expected:

  • Repealing § 30-13 of Virginia Code–the part that required clerks of the court to post the language of proposed constitutional amendments on the courthouse doors three months before the vote, which they haven’t done for years anyway.
  • Making that repeal retroactive to 1971, when Virginia wrote a new constitution to remove many Jim Crow laws and to modernize it’s constitution, including specifying how amendments would be done.
  • It adds an enactment clause specifying that in any suit or action related to a constitutional amendment the only appropriate venue is the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond–including any already underway. (A case is underway at a court in Tazewell challenging the timing because of the above code section.)

Week One: Time to get to work!

The 2026 legislative session began Wednesday; a huge new class of legislators (mostly Democratic!) was sworn in, with a few more to trickle in from special elections. And they got right to work, quickly passing the four constitutional amendment resolutions to send them to the voters.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK,  Senator Mamie Locke says, during debate on final passage of HJ2, enshrining in the Virginia constitution the right to vote, “The question we should be asking ourselves is why are we talking about giving something back that should never have been taken away in the first place.”

Four Constitutional amendment resolutions passed!

The House and Senate this week quickly passed the four constitutional amendment resolutions–for the second time–to advance them to voter referenda this spring or November. At last, it’s our chance to weigh in on these important topics!

  • HJ1 (Herring) and SJ1 (Boysko) putting the provisions of Roe v. Wade in the Virginia constitution and affirming the right to reproductive healthcare.
  • HJ2 (Bennett-Parker) and SJ2 (Locke) affirming that voting is a right and ensuring people who’ve been incarcerated on felony convictions have that right automatically returned upon completion of their sentence.
  • HJ3 (Sickles) and SJ3 (Ebbin) repealing the Marshall-Newman amendment and enshrining the right of any two consenting adults to marry who they choose.
  • HJ4 (Willett) would allow the legislature to redraw Congressional districts before the next decennial redistricting by the Commission, if other states redraw theirs. Since Texas has already done so at the direct command of Trump–diluting the value of our votes–if Virginians approve this, we could have new districts for this November’s elections.

Other bills trickling in slowly

Much much more to come, but so far around 1750 bills and resolutions have been filed between the House and Senate. 

  • Gun violence prevention: closing the “boyfriend loophole” (HB19, McClure); safe storage of handguns in cars (HB110, Laufer); assault weapon ban (HB217, Helmer); ghost gun ban (HB40, Simon).
  • Housing/renter protections: extend eviction grace period for rent nonpayment (HB15, Price; SB48, Rouse); ban on minimum parking requirement for new developments (HB262, Simonds); locality cause of action against slumlords (HB14, Price).
  • Worker protections: minimum wage increase to $15/hr (HB1, Ward; SB1, Lucas); paid family medical leave (HB1207, Sewell; SB2, Boysko); repeal “right to work” (SB32, Carroll Foy); paid sick leave (HB5, Convirs-Fowler).
  • Data centers: restricted to industrial zones (SB94, Roem; HB511, McAuliff); explore opportunities to use waste heat from data centers (HB323, Sullivan); prevents utility monopolies from passing on costs of data centers to consumers (HB503, McAuliff); require data centers engage in clean energy activities to qualify for tax break (HB897, Sullivan).

It’s here: the 2025 VAPLAN scorecard!

Every year VAPLAN’s legislative tracking culminates in a scorecard, ranking legislators from most “progressive” to least, across policy areas. We score votes on dozens of bills, both in committees and on the floor, to determine the ranking. It’s messy and imperfect as any measure would be, but the methodology has been fairly consistent for the eight years we’ve been delivering it. Without further ado, here it is! (Full spreadsheet here.)

2025’s most progressive legislators

House

Senate

2025’s most centrist legislators

House

Senate

2025’s least progressive legislators

House

Senate

Methodology notes and caveats

  • We have used approximately the same methodology for the 8 years we’ve done the scorecard: legislators score a +1 on a bill if their final vote (either in committee if the bill died there, or on the floor just before it passed or died for the last time) matches what we consider a progressive vote. They receive -1 if their vote disagrees, and 0 if they never cast a vote on it.
    • We include both committee and floor votes because lots of the most important bills don’t get to the floor, with the important work happening in committee. 
  • Legislators also can earn (or lose) a point for being the patron or co-patron of a good (or bad) bill.
  • We divide by the number of bills the legislator could have cast a vote on. This reduces–but does not eliminate unfortunately–the bias of who sits on which committee.
  • Beginning a couple years ago, we also added or removed a point for a bill that a committee chair did not docket (+1 for not docketing a bad bill, -1 for not docketing a good bill).
    • This year in particular, there was some unexplained weirdness going on between House Democrats and Senate Democrats that resulted in good bills being killed for no obvious reason. I admit we have a low tolerance for that, so we definitely included many of those bills.
  • Bills were selected to cover as wide a range of policy issues as possible, as many committees and subcommittees as possible, and with emphasis on bills that separate out legislators within their party. 
  • Finally, if you’re interested in perusing the voting data, or doing analysis of your own, LIS has recently added features that make it much easier to track a legislator’s votes (follow the links above). Additionally, we at VAPLAN would be lost without the great work of our good friends at recordedvote.org who have a great database for tracking legislation, and for identifying dissenting votes, close votes, votes by committee etc.

Week Six: End of Session (and Back to a Special)!

Today was the final day of the 2025 legislative session; but before they adjourned THIS session, the House met as part of the (ongoing) 2024 Special Session I, to vote on a resolution to expand its scope to stay in special session to deal with the crisis in Virginia from federal workers being terminated and programs being slashed. More to come!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: GOP Senator Tammy Mulchi takes an opportunity to scold federal workers for not planning ahead for a random decimation of the entire federal workforce and possibly needing to rely on unemployment benefits: “These people are living off these big, fat contracts. When you sign that contract, it says this is based on a budget that could go away…and it’s not guaranteed. So…have a backup plan. If you don’t, you’re not very smart…that’s piss-poor planning. I’m gonna vote for this, cause if I don’t, it’s gonna be political suicide for me, but it’s not because I agree with taking care of people that didn’t plan.”

Most Democratic Priorities Passed:

  • The biggest priority for this session was to pass all three Constitutional amendment resolutions. They don’t require the Governor’s signature, but DO need to pass again next year after we re-elect a Democratic majority in the legislature.
  • Additionally, Democrats will send an agenda of commonsense gun safety bills to the Governor’s desk.
  • Democrats’ priorities for workers will go to the Governor for him to show whether he cares about Virginia workers.

Hijack Hijinks

Help for those affected by federal workforce reductions and grant cuts

  • Since the 2024 Special Session I never adjourned sine die, it has been running concurrently throughout this 2025 General Assembly session.
  • They met today briefly before the regular session to vote on a resolution that allows them to expand the scope of that Special Session to take up bills related to impacts on the Commonwealth of federal workforce and program cuts.
  • Additionally, the House Emergency Committee on Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions had its first meeting this morning, to discuss its priorities and hear from experts on the impacts.