The first full week of the 2026 Session of the General Assembly is complete. The pomp and circumstance last week during the inaugural festivities quickly shifted to doing the work of the people. On Monday, we saw Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi gavel in the Senate of Virginia for the first time. Later that day, Governor Abigail Spanberger delivered her first State of the Commonwealth Address to the General Assembly. Much like her inaugural speech just days before, she spoke of bipartisanship and working together on behalf of the people we represent.
Constitutional Amendments
The committees began to meet in full this week. As I discussed in the last newsletter, the passage of the constitutional amendments dominated our discussions in the opening days of the session. Whenever we pass a resolution to amend the Constitution, a companion bill must also be adopted specifying the language of the amendment and the date of the election. Legislation has advanced this week relating to the reproductive freedom and restoration of rights amendments that will be on the ballot in November. The bill setting out the marriage equality amendment is still awaiting action in committee. As of right now, the redistricting amendment will be on the ballot for the voters on April 21, 2026.
Affordability
One primary focus of the legislative session is affordability, and there are bills galore relating to that topic. Primary among my responsibilities is legislation relating to electric utilities. The goal of most of those bills is to ensure we have a reliable, affordable supply of electric power. People expect to pay a reasonable price for their electricity and expect their lights to come on when they hit the switch. As has been noted in the past, we have set certain goals to reduce carbon emissions in the development of electric power. Those goals are intact.
One bill that I will have this session aims to ensure we stick to our goals and treats nuclear power in a different way. Nuclear power is not renewable energy, but it does not produce carbon emissions while operating. Some people, including me, have been a little hesitant about nuclear power in the past, but the plain truth is that we cannot hit our carbon free goals without an expansion of nuclear power. A handful of bills have been introduced on this topic, and I hope to have the language finalized in the coming week.
There are a lot of other bills related to energy, most designed to help bring costs down or to increase the energy supply. I will focus on data centers – the largest driver of energy demand – in a future newsletter.
This past week, I was involved in a news conference with Delegates Sam Rasoul and Joe McNamara and Sen. David Suetterlein of the Roanoke Valley to announce legislation aimed at reducing energy bills. The bills in Appalachian Power service territory have come into focus, in large part, because their prices have increased at far higher rates than other power companies. The bill seeks to empower the State Corporation Commission with more tools to help control rising costs. We will see how that bill fares.
The Budget
The legislative budget process has begun. In Virginia, we budget on a two-year basis. This is the first budget year. The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee is divided up into subcommittees, which have begun meeting to hear updates from state agency heads and newly appointed secretaries. See the full schedule and links to presentations here.
We have huge challenges, many of them tied to our long-standing needs. Our Medicaid re-forecast calls for an additional $3.2 billion over the next thirty months. Re-benchmarking of K-12 education calls for an additional $900 million over the biennium. This is above and beyond the billion dollars, over the next two years, identified by JLARC for the state’s share of fully funding public education. Additional pressures come from federal budget cuts and new requirements in HR 1 that have increased costs for the state. We will have an additional $100 million this year just to administer the SNAP program. These are costs that were paid last year by the federal government. We must cover an additional $272 million in costs this year to be able to continue the SNAP program.
The Capital Outlay and Transportation Subcommittee began to examine our capital projects. Virginia has plenty of debt capacity, but that does mean we have to use it. We are embarking on a major project near the Capitol – a new Supreme Court Building. A project that I have been involved in to a large degree is the new Central State Hospital, which is set to open early next year.
Weather
One thing that has thrown the General Assembly into a bit of uncertainty is the weather forecast. Of course, there is nothing in Richmond we can do to change the weather, but this weekend, we have been looking at a major storm that is going to hit significant chunks of Virginia. Attorney General Jay Jones has announced price-gouging consumer protections are now in place because of the declared State of Emergency. Virginia 211 has information about warming shelters and other resources.
Many people have wondered whether the daily floor sessions or committee meetings would be cancelled in light of the storm. There is nothing in the Constitution of Virginia that says sixty days, the time period we are scheduled to meet, is paused by the weather or by holidays. I only recall one or two times when weather has actually canceled sessions or committee meetings. Of course, we remember last year when the lack of water in Richmond cost us a couple of days of the legislative session, but I expect that we will go forward with the session next week in spite of the weather.
I hope that everyone will stay safe in this storm.
It continues to be my high honor to serve you in the Senate of Virginia. If you have any questions, comments or ideas, please contact us at (804) 698-7511 or senatordeeds@senate.virginia.gov.
Sincerely,
