This session, I am pleased to be assigned to the following committees: Education & Health, General Laws & Technology, Local Government, Rehabilitation & Social Services, and Rules. I am also grateful for the opportunity to serve as Chair of Rehabilitation and Social Services and to continue as Chair of the Public Education Sub-Committee.
I am carrying MANY bills in 2026! I’ll be focusing on legislation that will expand access to affordable housing and increase our energy capacity, especially clean energy. However, I also have some education bills, some bills to enact consumer protections, and some bills to help working people and those in recovery. And, I look forward to working with my colleagues this session to support legislation meant to improve the lives of all Virginians and to make life in the Commonwealth more affordable.
Below is the loooong list of all the bills I'm carrying, what they're about, and their status (please note that some bills are not yet up on the LIS site).
Housing Bills:
- SB 77 (Zero Lot Lines): Makes it easier for individuals who own older homes to make repairs to the exterior of their house when it hits their neighbors' property lines. Status: Reported from the Senate Committee on Courts of Justice--it's headed to the Senate floor.
- SB 346 (Manufactured Housing): Prohibits localities from discriminating against manufactured homes, allowing them to be built in areas that allow site-built housing like regular single family homes. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Local Government.
- SB 349 (Pre-lease Rent Fees): Regulates and restricts the fees landlords can charge to tenants prior to and during lease signing, and upon lease renewal. It adds additional transparency measures so applicants know what fees they have to pay before applying. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on General Laws & Technology
- SB 454 (Housing Near Jobs): Requires localities to allow for the by-right development of multifamily housing on at least 75% of all commercial or business zones in their district. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Local Government
- SB 490 (Construction Loan Fund): Allows the Department of Housing & Community Development to dedicate up to 5% of the Virginia Housing Trust Fund to providing lower-interest loans for the construction of mixed-income housing developments. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on General Laws & Technology
Energy Bills:
- SB 175 (Distributed Solar Generation): Amends certain renewable energy portfolio standard program requirements for Dominion Energy Virginia, including the annual percentage of program requirements to be met with behind-the-meter solar, wind, or anaerobic digestion resources of three megawatts or less located in the Commonwealth. The bill also removes the requirement for a solar-powered or wind-powered generation facility to have a capacity of no less than 50 kilowatts to qualify for a third-party power purchase agreement under a pilot program. It also provides that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to encourage development on previously developed project sites to reduce the land use impacts of solar development. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 223 (Virginia Distributed Energy Resources Task Force): Establishes the Distributed Energy Resources Task Force as an advisory commission within the Executive Branch to develop a comprehensive strategy to advance the Commonwealth's transition toward integrated distributed energy resource markets and to support the Commonwealth's compliance with certain regulations. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Rules
- SB 267 (Virginia Energy Infrastructure Inventory Study): Directs the Department of Energy, in consultation with the State Corporation Commission, to analyze existing electric utility infrastructure to identify cost-saving opportunities that improve electric system reliability. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 327 (Virginia Energy Savers Act): Directs the State Corporation Commission to establish rules for the program and directs Virginia’s IOUs to spend over $1B over the program’s first three years for clean energy projects (residential solar, storage, and energy efficiency upgrades). Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 347 (Solar Siting): Establishes clear, reasonable criteria for local solar ordinances while still leaving the ultimate decision-making authority on individual projects to local governments. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Local Government
- SB 508 (FAST ACT - Facilitating Access to Surplus Transition Act): Allows clean energy and battery storage where existing power plants are not meeting their maximum capacity. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 509 (Retail Energy Choice): Permits mid-level energy users such as retail and fast food chains to aggregate their total power demand at their various locations across the state, remove the SCC petition requirement, and go directly to the market to purchase energy. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 510 (University Consortium Energy): Supports a consortium of Virginia public universities to help implement the Virginia Energy Plan, and help delegate tasks such as electric utilities, program and project development, interconnection, infrastructure, and any other technical assistance for state agencies, planning district commissions, localities or other public bodies. Status: Assigned to the Senate Committee on Rules
Voting & Elections Bills:
- SB 57 (ERIC): Virginia would re-join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) to improve the accuracy of voter rolls, expand access to voter registration for all eligible Virginians, reduce election costs, and streamline the election process. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Privileges & Elections
- SB 65 (ELECT Deputy Roles): Makes the two deputies of the State Commissioner of Elections regular civil service positions, and not political appointees. Status:
Assigned to Senate Committee on General Laws & Technology
- SB 76 (Presidential Year Primaries): Would require all primaries in a presidential election year be on the same day, on Super Tuesday in March. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Privileges & Elections
- SB 176 (Ranked Choice Voting): Expands the option to use ranked choice voting from only county board of supervisors and city council elections to any local governing body. The State Board of Elections will be required to provide standards and to approve vote tabulating software for use with existing voting systems in elections conducted by ranked choice voting. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Privileges & Elections
Education Bills:
- SB 167 (Higher Ed Fin Aid Reform): Consolidates Virginia's two higher education financial aid programs, the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program (VGAP) and Fund with the Virginia Commonwealth Award to establish the Virginia Commonwealth Award in the Code of Virginia. The VGAP would be phased out and the fund would maintain the eligibility criteria of the Commonwealth Award. Status:
Recommended for advancement from the Senate Higher Education Subcommittee to Senate Committee on Education & Health
- SB 200 (K12 Assessment Updates): Modifies some of the provisions set forth in HB 1957 from 2025 to overhaul K12 end-of-course assessment practices. Status:
Assigned to Senate Committee on Education & Health
Other Bills:
- SB 85 (Digital Choice Act): Require the social media platforms and model operators to allow users to delete, download and/or share social graph data and contextual data associated with artificial intelligence models, as the user designates. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on General Laws & Technology
- SB 128 (Ban Healthcare Non-competes): Adds healthcare professionals as a category of employee with or upon whom no employer shall enter into, enforce, or threaten to enforce a covenant not to compete. The bill defines "health care professional" as any person licensed, registered, or certified by the Board of Medicine, Nursing, Counseling, Optometry, Psychology, or Social Work. Status:
Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 270 (Recovery Residences: Certification & Oversight): Directs the Department of Behavioral Health & Developmental Services to establish minimum certification standards for recovery residences, and will create greater transparency and accountability in the recovery homes space. Status: Assigned to Rehabilitation & Social Services
- SB 301 (Bank Account Garnishment Exemptions): Requires certain financial institutions to automatically exempt from garnishment (i) a minimum protected account balance, defined in the bill as the combined total of not more than $1,000 in a judgment debtor's account or across multiple accounts in the same financial institution, and (ii) a protected amount of certain benefit payments that have been deposited into the account via direct deposit or electronic deposit within the two months immediately preceding the day before a financial institution commences an account review. Status: Assigned to Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor
- SB 718 (Deployment of the National Guard: Oversight & Transparency): The Governor, within 48 hours of ordering the deployment of the Virginia National Guard, shall inform, in writing, the General Assembly of such deployment. The Governor shall summon the General Assembly if they wish for such a deployment to continue for longer than two weeks, and the General Assembly may pass a joint resolution by simple majority authorizing the continuation of such deployment. The bill requires the Adjutant General to submit an annual report to the General Assembly detailing federal and state deployments of the Virginia National Guard and other matters relating to retention, readiness, funding, and resources. The bill clarifies that the Virginia National Guard's role in counter-drug operations is limited to that of support, as opposed to direct law enforcement and prohibits the Governor from calling forth the Virginia National Guard for the purpose of intimidating, threatening, or coercing, or attempting to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, a person in giving his vote or ballot or to deter or prevent such person from voting. Status: Not yet assigned to a committee
- SB __ (Recreational Facilities Grant Authority): This bill will allow public recreation facilities to both accept and make grants to enhance efforts to promote sports tourism activities in the Commonwealth. Status: Not yet assigned to a committee
