the legislature still has not approved a budget for the next two years

Lawmakers returned to Richmond late last month to consider vetoes and amendments proposed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. After the General Assembly concluded its regular session in the middle of March, Youngkin vetoed 26 bills — 25 of which passed along bipartisan lines — and issued over 100 amendments to bills passed by the legislature. None of Youngkin’s vetoes were successfully overridden, and most of his amendments were approved. And in the wake of record-breaking gas prices, Youngkin’s proposal to temporarily suspend Virginia’s gas tax was ultimately defeated in the state Senate during the veto session. 


But even after what ended up being a busy special session, there is still unfinished business before the General Assembly. 


Notably, the legislature still has not approved a budget for the next two years. While the Republican majority in the House of Delegates, the Democratic majority in the Senate, and Youngkin all agree spending needs to be increased for public education, public health, and police departments around the state, there are disagreements over exactly how much more to spend in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Fueling these disagreements is a $3 billion gap in how much each party is expecting to raise in revenue; while Republicans are pushing for tax cuts, Democrats are seeking to conduct a study over the course of the next year on how tax cuts will impact revenue. The General Assembly needs to agree on a budget by June 30, when the current budget expires. 


The delays in approving a state budget are reminiscent of the 2014 General Assembly, which did not finalize a budget until late June. The governor at the time, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, was engaged in a lengthy standoff with General Assembly Republicans over whether to expand Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians through the Affordable Care Act. In approving a budget, albeit one without the Medicaid expansion, the General Assembly staved off what would have been an unprecedented state government shutdown.


The General Assembly also needs to confirm two new justices to the state Supreme Court. Within the last year, Chief Justice Donald Lemons and Justice William Mims both announced their retirements. The vacancies have been a subject of discussion amongst legislators since the regular session convened in January, but there has been little progress on account of the politically split House and Senate. There are seven seats on the state Supreme Court, where justices serve 12-year terms. 


The General Assembly’s inability to complete its work during the regular session has prompted calls from some to reform how often the body meets. Virginia’s legislature was initially designed to meet during the winter months in order to accommodate farmers; but today, Virginia is much more complex than the agrarian society it was during the 19th century. A longer session may allow for more time to adequately consider complex legislation, but would limit members’ ability to live and work in their districts for most of the year under the laws they’ve passed. But with so much essential work for the General Assembly to complete within the next few weeks, it’s unlikely there will be any serious talk of reform amongst legislators any time soon.

[Virginia Public Media] Data: Virginia’s Early Childhood Education Providers Are Succeeding

By VOW Ops • January 21, 2026
The second year of results from Virginia’s recently established Quality Establishment and Improvement System (VQB5) for early childhood education found that 99% of childcare providers receiving state funding meet or exceed quality expectations. As of early December 2025, over 154,000 views have been recorded on the system’s website since its October 2024 debut, revealing the many parents and families who appreciate the information that VQB5 offers them. None of these wonderful results would even be available to admire without the support and success we had in passing HB 1012 and SB 578 back in 2020! The data focuses on classroom interactions between children and caregivers and notes how said interactions encourage kids to express themselves at a young age. The state has also enacted categories of excellence for providers who score in the top 10%, exceed quality expectations, or even show significant improvement from an evaluation the year before. On top of that, a new data system called VAConnects helps integrate information on students over the years to track their learning progress. The Department of Education wishes to sustain the program and has requested $735,000 to do so. Overall, Virginia is serving as a model for other states to use in establishing best practices for their early childhood programs. Read more here .

[Richmond Times Dispatch] Virginians want General Assembly Action on Housing, Survey Finds

By VOW Ops • January 21, 2026
An August survey reveals that large majorities of Virginians want state lawmakers to address the rising cost of housing. The survey was conducted by Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia and Freedom Virginia. More than 8 in 10 Virginians said the General Assembly needs to act. More than 3 in 4 Virginians want lawmakers to prevent landlords from raising rents each year by more than 7%. Many Virginians also supported the idea of the state incentivizing localities to build more housing and providing developers with an ability to appeal rejected housing projects. Many proposals that were made to address all these public concerns were struck down during the 2025 legislative session. One of the main reasons why all the mentioned proposals failed to pass the General Assembly is because of the large influence the local government lobbies have in Richmond in protecting what little authority they are granted by the state. However, 6 in 10 Virginians indicated that they are more concerned with providing more housing than protecting local government authority. Read more here.

[Richmond Times Dispatch] Spanberger Details Affordability Measures in Health Care, Energy, Housing

By VOW Ops • December 19, 2025
Governor-elect Spanberger has released details on how her administration will work with the General Assembly to address affordability issues for Virginians regarding health care, energy, and housing. Democrats in the General Assembly argue the proposals are needed to mitigate the effects of President Trump’s tariff policies and reduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Some of the solutions being proposed are legislation from the previous session that were vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. In health care, Spanberger and Virginia Democrats will tackle pharmacy benefit managers’ ability to compel patients toward using affiliated-only pharmacies. The incoming administration also wants to limit the number of times insurance companies can request approvals from patients receiving certain cancer cares and medicines for chronic conditions. Democrats are also reviving legislation that would prohibit insurance companies from charging tobacco smokers higher premiums. Further, Spanberger supports implementing a pilot program to help Virginians who will face unaffordable insurance premiums resulting from the expiration of the ACA enhanced tax credits. In energy, Spanberger called to make it easier for Virginians to utilize small-scale solar panels which don’t require hard labor to install. She also wants the previously vetoed legislation that would set energy storage standards for utility companies brought back to her desk (Governor Youngkin vetoed it because of his belief that the Virginia Clean Economy Act associated with it was ineffective). In housing, Spanberger and Democrats are reviving legislation from 2025 that would extend the grace period tenants have before being evicted for missing rent payments. They are also proposing changes that would give local governments priority in acquiring affordable multi-family units supported by tax credits when the owner wants to sell or convert them. Further, Democrats are reintroducing a bill which would allow all localities to change their zoning ordinances to create dense and affordable housing (currently, only the counties of Albemarle and Loudoun and the cities of Alexandria, Charlottesville, and Fairfax are granted such provisions). Read more here.
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