Over the course of 60 days, legislators in Richmond introduced nearly 2,400 bills that touched on topics ranging from the minimum wage to collective bargaining. In total, 1,208 bills were passed, 692 failed and 519 were either deferred to the next session or consolidated into other bills. This year’s legislative session featured a notable political lean, with both the House of Delegates and Senate along with the governor’s office controlled by Democrats.
“I’m tremendously grateful to legislators for their work this session to address the challenges facing Virginia families, Virginia businesses and Virginia schools,” governor Abigail Spanberger said. “The General Assembly has passed a slate of legislation squarely focused on making life less expensive for Virginians.”
After the conclusion of the legislative session, Spanberger must still sign the bills into law for them to take effect. The deadline for doing so is April 13, and Spanberger has already signed several important pieces of legislation into law, including provisions for referendums in November that would enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution.
“We have witnessed so much in this nation when it comes to restrictions on abortion,” delegate Charniele Herring said. “That’s why this constitutional amendment was introduced. This is serious, and it is going to the voters.”
In line with the Democratic-controlled nature of the General Assembly, many bills heading to Spanberger’s desk are ones that would have been previously vetoed by former governor Glenn Youngkin. One of the most prominent pieces of legislation under this category is HB1 / SB1, a bill to raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2028; currently, it sits at $12.77. Per the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis’s estimates, the bill is expected to raise wages for approximately 421,000 workers.
“Every Virginian who works full time deserves the financial stability to support their families, plan for the future, and continue building a life here in the Commonwealth,” Spanberger said. “I look forward to signing this legislation into law to give Virginia workers a pay raise.”
Another major piece of legislation for workers in the public sector is HB1263 / SB378, which would repeal Virginia’s decades-old ban on collective bargaining for public sector employees. Under this new legal framework, nearly all state and local workers would have the ability to form unions and negotiate contracts for wages and benefits.
“This bill covers our teachers, our firefighters, our home-care workers and many others,” delegate Kathy Tran said. “Collective bargaining is an opportunity for workers to come together and to have a seat and voice in the workplace. At a time when President Trump is denigrating our public sector workers, we have an opportunity to stand with them.”
For FCPS in particular, all 41,928 of its employees will now be covered, representing a major increase from the around 28,850 previously covered by collective bargaining agreements. The gap used to consist of FCPS staff who worked in temporary positions or confidential employees such as those that work in HR or the legal department.
In the category of workers’ rights, lawmakers have also passed HB5 / SB199—which requires all public and private employers to provide one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours of work—and HB1207/ SB2, a bill that creates a new state-run unemployment insurance program.
Despite these major legislative victories for Democrats, the General Assembly still has not finalized a budget for 2026-2028 and will return on April 23 to negotiate a spending plan. A major point of contention is the existence of long-standing tax exemptions for data centers, allowing them to skirt retail sales and use tax on computer equipment. In total, the gap between the budget proposed by the House and Senate is around $1 billion dollars.
“I remain in close contact with leaders in the General Assembly,” Spanberger said. “I look forward to calling lawmakers back to Richmond on April 23 to pass a budget that delivers on the responsible, pragmatic leadership Virginians voted for.”
