Meet Creigh
Creigh is a progressive champion with a track record of delivering results on the issues that matter to us most—like fighting for gun violence reform, protecting abortion access, and fixing our broken mental healthcare system. Passing more bills than any other member of the General Assembly, Creigh is the most effective legislator in the Commonwealth.
Latest News from the 2026 Virginia General Assembly
Summer Days
This year has been one of the busiest I can remember as a legislator. Budget discussions extended almost to the July 1 drop dead deadline as we tried to reach a resolution on data centers. Dominion Power, the electric utility for millions of Virginians, is subject to purchase by NextEra. Interim subcommittees have continued to meet throughout the year. The consequential midterm election for the United States Senate and the House of Representatives is just two months away. The months have just flown by, and it seems the 2027 General Assembly Session is just around the corner.
Elections
The general election for critical races, including the U.S. Senate seat held by Senator Mark Warner and the 5th Congressional contest between former Congressman Tom Perriello, the Democratic nominee, and John McGuire, the Republican incumbent, is November 3. But early voting in Virginia begins in just two weeks on Friday, September 18. The President of the United States has made it a goal to try and interfere in elections across the country. The Supreme Court seems to be going along with some of his antics. He has pledged to stop voting by mail, even though he votes by mail.
Elections are not run by the federal government, and our laws offer significant protection for voters and to ensure the process is secure. Nonetheless, I am urging all my friends to take advantage of the 45 days of in-person early voting in Virginia. Do not wait for the Supreme Court to make a decision about mail-in voting, if you can help it. Check your registration, polling place, and other information here.
Consolidation
Earlier this year, I mentioned that the General Assembly was studying the consolidation of elections. In most states, local and state elections are held in even years alongside federal elections. Holding elections every year can result in voter fatigue, a dropoff in voters in the odd-year state cycle, and increased costs. Voting is the most fundamental part of our democratic republic, and we need as many people to participate as possible. In my view, we have an obligation to make participation as easy as possible, so I favor consolidating the vote. The members of the House of Delegates who were on the study committee, both democrats and republicans, opposed consolidation. The resolutions establishing the study required the affirmative vote of the majority of the appointed members from each body for it to move forward, so the study was for naught.
Energy & Data Centers
Shortly after the legislative session ended, Dominion and NextEra Energy proposed what they termed as a merger. In fact, NextEra, in a stock sale, is seeking to purchase Dominion Power. The desire to marry the two companies is easy to understand. There is incredible energy demand in Dominion territory, and in fact throughout Virginia, driven almost entirely by data centers. NextEra has the largest inventory of renewable energy in the country, and they have some of the biggest assets of electricity. They have the power, and Virginia has the demand.
The announcement sent shockwaves through Virginia, and I have heard from so many constituents who are concerned about this proposed acquisition. NextEra has tried to make purchases in the past that have not gone through in Hawaii and Texas. NextEra has also had some questionable political tactics in other states. People are concerned about those tactics coming to Virginia. This would also make NextEra, the largest utility in the country, the largest in the world. People question what the kind of consolidation of power would mean for consumers and for the future.
Under a little noticed section of the law, § 56-90, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) has the responsibility for determining whether this utility purchase can go forward. In fact, regulators in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as federal regulators, have a role to play as well. The standard contained in Virginia law is only that the transaction cannot unfairly affect the ability of the utility to charge just and reasonable rates and does not include consideration of whether the transaction is in the public interest. The statute was written in 1940 and last amended in 1942. Nobody that I can recall has ever thought about an energy company or utility being purchased until now in Virginia.
The SCC has six months to rule in the case. Some have called for a special session to extend the six-month period for the SCC to make that decision. I am not sure that a special session at this point can effectively lengthen the time period for consideration because the proposal has already been submitted to the SCC. To date, the Governor has not called for a special session because there is no consensus in the legislature on this issue. I had advocated for including budget language to do this but was unsuccessful.
However, it is important to remember that the SCC could reject the transaction without prejudice and effectively require Dominion and NextEra to refile a proposal, which would start another six-month window. Or the SCC could include stipulations such that NextEra and Dominion decide not to go forward.
I have been trying to obtain as much objective information as I can about this transaction. I am as skeptical as anyone about the deal and have already submitted a letter to the SCC calling for in-person regional hearings. The Governor has intervened and said her objectives are that rates do not increase, Dominion employees be protected, and our energy future be unimpaired. And I agree these are important considerations.
Data center demand has driven up the cost of electricity throughout Virginia, and I am grateful that the SCC earlier this year determined that data centers have to pay for the infrastructure that supplies their electricity demands. The question is how that is defined. There is no question that much of the new energy talk and transmission line talk that is occurring in Virginia is occurring because of data center demand. This is an issue that will dominate the remainder of the year and likely the next legislative session.
Make Your Voice Heard
Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi will join with the local delegation in Charlottesville for an Energy Costs Listening Tour on Monday, September 14. For more details and to RSVP click here: Charlottesville Energy Costs Listening Tour
Case No. PUR-2026-00050: Application of Virginia Electric and Power Company for approval and certification of electric transmission facilities: Charlottesville-Gordonsville 230 KV Rebuild Project
- The SCC has scheduled a public hearing on October 22 in Charlottesville City Council Chambers at City Hall, 605 East Main Street, in Charlottesville. The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. Persons intending to testify as public witnesses should arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the hearing to register.
- Written comments can be submitted here through November 23.
Case No. PUR-2026-00112: Joint Petition of Dominion Energy Inc., Virginia Electric and Power Company, OSW Project LLC, CS HoldCo, LLC, and NextEra Energy Inc. — for a disposition and acquisition of control of public utility
- The SCC is accepting written comments related to the NextEra acquisition until November 9. Link to Submit Public Comment
2027 Session
The next legislative session, which is a “short” forty-six day session, begins on January 13, 2027. The Senate and House of Delegates both have strict bill limits, so there is a limited amount of legislation that will be considered. One of the primary areas of focus will be on the budget. The hang up in the first part of the year to adopting the budget was the insistence on the part of the Senate conferees, of which I am one, to repeal the data center sales and use tax exemption. The exemption has grown from $1.45 million in 2008 to $54 million in 2016 to $1.9 billion a year in 2025. The House of Delegates and the Governor rejected that position, and we fell back on a plan to impose an energy consumption tax. The tax essentially reduces the exemption by about 40 percent, or $1.2 billion over two years. It is only a two-year deal, so we must work right away on finding a long-term solution to ensure our budget is structurally sound and that the data centers pay their fair share. In other words, while a budget compromise was reached in June, the questions surrounding data centers will continue to dominate budget discussions through 2027. You can track legislation as it is filed here.
The Senate Page Program is accepting applications through October 1, 2026. For more information or to apply, click here.
Looking Forward
All 140 seats of the General Assembly will be on the ballot next year, so we are getting ready for a long haul.
It continues to be my pleasure to represent you in Richmond. If I can be of service or answer any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at 434-296-5491 or senatordeeds@senate.virginia.gov.
Sincerely,
Budget Deal: 2026 Special Session 1
On June 22, 2026, the General Assembly met in special session to approve a budget. Technically the budget was due at the end of the regular session, March 14. We were hung up over revenue, and it took some time to develop consensus and complete our work.
During the regular session, the Senate promoted a budget that relied on revenue from data centers. The data centers have enjoyed a sales and use tax exemption since 2008. When the tax exemption was first passed, it was limited and estimated to cost the Commonwealth about $1.45 million in exempted sales tax revenue. Later in 2016, the exemption was expanded statewide and the expiration date extended to 2035. At that time the estimated revenue impact was $54 million. The revenue impact of the exemption has grown to $1.9 billion annually.
The Biennial Budget
In Virginia we craft a budget every biennium, or every two years. One of the many improvements we saw during U.S. Senator Mark Warner’s time as Governor was the establishment of a requirement to provide a longer-term, six-year projected spending plan. When we craft a biennial budget, we essentially lay a blueprint for the next three biennia. This is critical because the markets want stability. We are the only state to maintain a AAA bond rating since 1938, the year the agencies began issuing ratings to the states. The rating has saved Virginians hundreds of millions of dollars when we have gone to the bond market to borrow money, primarily for capital projects.
In December 2025, the Youngkin Administration put forward a structurally imbalanced budget, which showed us about half a billion dollars short in the out years. In order to balance the budget, we had to address this. In the early conversations about how we could fill this hole, we identified the ever-expanding data center tax exemption. The Senate budget, which was released in mid-February, we proposed eliminating the sales tax exemption to balance the budget, both in the new biennium and the six-year look out period. Both Governor Spanberger and the House of Delegates disagreed with this approach.
Data Centers
Four months of discussion and debate passed between the release of the budget proposals in February and the adoption of a compromise yesterday. Honestly, the House and Senate conferees only met a few times during those months, as it was impossible to negotiate the other differences in funding between the two proposals without reaching a compromise on revenues. The Senate conferees had offered several compromises, including most recently establishing $1.7 billion as a threshold for some type of tax on data centers. This agreement set the table for the chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, Senator Louise Lucas, to sit down with the chair of House Appropriations, Delegate Luke Torian, to develop a compromise proposal. The mechanism for achieving that revenue was a consumption tax on energy. The Governor has announced that she first proposed that in February. While she suggested that option at that time, the idea was first advanced by a lobbyist for data centers. It is something we considered during the regular session, but it was not our first option. Revenue from a consumption tax ought to be available for relief from higher rates. We can see already that data center consumption has increased the cost of participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative because it raises the cost of energy auctions that have driven up the cost of the RGGI program. (more…)
2026 Session — Sine Die
The General Assembly adjourned sine die on March 14, bringing this year’s regular session to a close; it was an exciting and consequential few weeks. Although we did not finish all of our work, and we will need to return for a special session. Before I walk through some of the key actions we took, I want to start with the elephant in the room, the one thing we did not finish, the state budget.
The Biennial Budget
Under Virginia’s budget process, governors introduce budgets in December. In odd-numbered years after a gubernatorial election, this creates an unusual start for a new administration. Governor Spanberger began her term working from a budget proposed by her predecessor from a different party with different priorities. While some governors quickly rewrite the document and others wait for the General Assembly to act before shaping it, Gov. Spanberger opted for the latter.
The outgoing governor introduced a structurally imbalanced budget, relying heavily on one-time funding and setting up future shortfalls that could become unconstitutional. We navigated dramatic federal subsidy cuts shifting over $100 million in SNAP administrative costs to the state. We managed the $3.2 billion Medicaid re-forecast, though significant cuts associated with President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill are still on the horizon in 2027. The House and Senate addressed these challenges through their own budget proposals that must now be merged into a final budget. In the Senate, we worked on identifying new revenue, primarily from advancing the expiration of tax credits for data centers, to fill the gaps.
Virginia first offered a sales tax exemption in 2008 to attract data centers, at an estimated cost of about $1.5 million a year. The figure has grown to roughly $1.9 billion, raising important questions about fairness and long-term budget stability. Some argue the exemption is contractual, but each agreement allows for changes. As budget negotiations continue, we are working with data center companies to close the gap between the House and Senate proposals. The budget is the most consequential part of the General Assembly session, so stay tuned.
2026 – Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus
Major Initiatives from 2026
- The Prescription Drug Affordability Board has been a long time in the making, as it passed in previous years only to be vetoed by former Gov. Youngkin. This session I worked with stakeholders and Delegate Kerry Delaney to develop a new approach. Under the revised bill, the board will serve in an advisory role to ensure a comprehensive review of all factors affecting drug costs, and we establish maximum fair prices that align with Medicare negotiated prices, helping lower prescription drug costs beginning January 1, 2027.
- We made meaningful progress on worker protections this year, including passing legislation from Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas and Delegate Jeion Ward to raise the minimum wage to $13.75 starting January 1, 2027 and to $15 on January 1, 2028. The bill then ties the minimum wage to inflation to ensure it keeps pace with rising costs.
- Collective bargaining for public employees moved forward and applies to local government employees and most state workers. The final bill, sponsored by Senator Scott Surovell and Delegate Kathy Tran, excludes higher earners at academic institutions and removed medical centers at the University of Virginia (UVA) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). According to Secretary of Labor Jessica Looman, implementation will take two to three years, creating an opportunity to refine the process.
- We also advanced reforms to strengthen higher education governance and reduce partisan influence on our colleges and universities. This was one of my priorities because our institutions of higher learning are critical infrastructure where the workforce of tomorrow is trained and ideas that will drive the economy are developed. What happened at the Virginia Military Institute, George Mason University, and UVA this past year was unacceptable. The legislation will limit board appointments to one six-year term, codify requirements for nonvoting faculty, staff, and students, and establish a work group to study the use of independent counsel. Del. Lily Franklin carried the House version of the bill. Other legislators who introduced bills that were incorporated into these bills are Senator Scott Surovell, and Delegates Katrina Callsen and Amy Laufer.
- Gun safety was a major focus this session, with legislation led by Delegate Dan Helmer and Senator Saddam Salim to ban the sale of assault style weapons beginning July 1, 2026, focusing on sales rather than possession. Delegate Rip Sullivan and I worked on legislation to update the red flag law. The changes we made spoke directly to the tragedy that occurred last year in Crozet. Under the legislation that passed, family members and mental health professionals will be able to petition for the temporary removal of access to firearms. Other changes involved making the law easier to implement and adding more training requirements. I carried legislation along with Del. Callsen to make firearm possession on college campuses a misdemeanor. This bill was in response to the horrific shooting at UVA.
- Establishing a regulated retail marijuana market gained legislative traction this year from Senator Lashrecse Aird and Delegate Paul Krizek. Bills passed in both chambers to allow for the legal sale of marijuana on January 1, 2027. If this becomes law, we can generate new revenue, support local entrepreneurs, and give Virginians a safer, more reliable marketplace.
- Finally, while I have covered them at length before, I wanted to highlight one more time that we came together in both chambers to pass three constitutional amendments for voter consideration in November, covering reproductive rights, marriage equality, and voting rights restoration. I feel this reflects an important movement where the Commonwealth’s constitution is evolving with its legal standards and public values.
The number of vital bills we passed are far too many to list from shoring up our energy grid and preserving access to contraceptives to protecting our immigrant communities and to enhancing tenant protections, so this just presents a snapshot. Bills that passed are now headed to the Governor for her consideration. One can never really write the story of a particular session until the budget is done, and maybe not for years after to see what effect the laws that were passed are going to have, but it was a consequential session.
I will continue to provide updates on the upcoming special session this April. In the meantime, I encourage folks to make their voices heard by voting in the congressional redistricting referendum. Election day is April 21st, but early voting is ongoing until April 18th. More information can be found here, and voting information is available here.
As always, it is a privilege to serve you in the Senate of Virginia. I am back practicing law and, on the road, mostly, but I am always here to support our community. If I can be of service or if you have questions or comments, please contact us at (804) 698-7511 or senatordeeds@senate.virginia.gov.
Sincerely,
House and Senate Budgets!
We are officially in the closing chapter of this year’s legislative session. The crossover deadline is behind us, and both chambers have passed their versions of the state budget. Our last two weeks will be spent trying to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the budget and finalizing the bills that will shape the year ahead.
Seniority has bestowed on me three primary responsibilities in this area. As the second-most senior member of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, I work closely with the chair to determine what priorities can move forward and what may have to wait. Secondly, serving on the Resource Subcommittee, I am tasked with balancing strong ideas alongside responsible budgeting to determine what’s feasible in the current cycle. Finally, as chair of the Health and Human Resources Subcommittee, I oversee the largest part of the state budget, which includes significant federal pass-through funding. That last responsibility is particularly significant right now because this portion of the budget is heavily impacted by federal actions affecting programs like Medicaid and SNAP. We are also dealing with the thorny issue of data centers.
Working toward a Unified Budget
Over the last 20 years, data centers have contributed significantly to economic growth in Virginia, and Virginia has more data centers than anywhere else in the world. In part, that is because much of the infrastructure to support the internet is here, but it’s also because in 2008, we passed a tax incentive to exempt the purchase of equipment for data centers from sales tax.
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