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2026 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Priorities

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Collage of General Assembly imagery: a meeting w/Delegate McGuire, the GA building, and a display check for $1.6B in tax exemptions that data centers got in VA in 2025.

2026 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Priorities

(Updated as of 4/8/26 @ 11:47am
See updates post-General Assembly here: https://natureforward.org/2026-va-ga-wrap-up/

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This year’s Virginia General Assembly (a time when legislators get together to make a new set of laws) has seen a lot of change since last year. Virginia has a new governor – the first female governor in Virginia’s 250-year history – and a legislature which is possibly more friendly to conservation. There are many priorities and challenges facing Virginia this year, including significant budget shortfalls due to federal cuts and a significant push for affordability, particularly in housing costs. Virginia may also see a vote this spring to redistrict – an initiative that could be distracting to the work of passing more bills.

This year’s General Assembly takes place from January 14 through March 14 with the Governor taking action on bills by April 13. Nature Forward, with help from several partners (such as VCN’s bill tracker and PEC’s data center bill tracker), is tracking several key environmental bills this session. We’ve listed our top bills below, and update this page as we learn more about each bill throughout the session.

SPECIAL THANKS to Nature Forward volunteers Chris Powell and Anne DeNovo who worked with me since December 2023 to strategize on, select, and then track these bills each week during session! And we welcome two new volunteers helping this year too, Heather Safford and Sabine Miller!

GLOSSARY: If you need help getting up to speed on all of the terms used during legislative sessions, check out this helpful page from Virginia’s Legislative Information System (LIS).

How to advocate for the bills below

  1. Read the quick summary below / reference the “talking points”
  2. See if your delegate or senator is going to be voting (e.g. if they’re on a committee, or if it’s going to the full chamber for a vote).
  3. Scroll to the bottom of this page to the “Write to your legislators!” section – input your address (if needed), our form will find your legislator. Then write your email asking for support for the bills of interest to your delegate (for HB bills) or your senator (for SB bills).
DATA CENTER REFORM

Three years in a row, no significant data center reform legislation has been passed, despite the December 2024 JLARC Data Center Report findings of significant concerns on many fronts, such as insatiable energy needs that may not be able to be met, water usage impacts, and inappropriate citing near residences, schools, and parks.

We support Piedmont Environmental Council’s (PEC) “Four Pillars” and, out of the sixty (60!) data center related bills that PEC has identified, we have picked these eight high priority bills this year:

  1. NEW AS OF 2/22/26 – THANKS/SUPPORT NEEDED: The Senate budget proposal includes the elimination of the sales tax exemption for data centers as a way to help close the funding gap left from lack of federal funds for Virginia. Please email your senator thanking them for this addition. The House budget introduced their version of data center reform, essentially integrating HB897 which would provide tax exemptions to data center based on energy efficiency standards, but only for new data centers. The Senate’s version of the budget would provide the most revenue for the state for this 2-year budget.
  2. HB153 / SB94 (SB130 was rolled into SB94) – Prior to an application approval, a jurisdiction will require a site assessment looking at water, forest, & agricultural resources, parks, and historic sites. (HB153 talking points and SB94 talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: From the start, this legislation had the most support for moving forward, and in fact, it did move forward. This is one of the few bright spots in data center legislation that we expect to get signed into law. 
  3. HB155 / SB619 – Requires state-level oversight prior to approving high-energy load customers (e.g. data centers) to now also consider grid capacity, reliability, and rate effects on other customers. (View talking points)

    DID NOT PASS: HB155 disappointingly failed in committee and SB619 was left in committee (ignored). This legislation would’ve been the single single most important step Virginia could’ve taken this year to ensure grid-level oversight to protect our energy future. 

  4. HB284 / SB371 – Supports the sustainability of our electrical grid through flexible energy-load shifting or long duration battery storage. (View talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: This is the strongest legislation in terms of sustainability standards, including good, robust commitments to renewable energy.

  5. HB589 / SB553 – Require existing data centers to report the total volume of water used on a monthly basis. (View talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: HB589 failed in committee and SB553 had substitutions that weakened this legislation. Still, this legislation will requiring reporting on water usage by data centers to Virginia’s Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which is a good step forward.
  6. HB496 – Require locality to examine and disclose expected water usage for new data center proposals and prevents NDAs. (View original talking points)
    DID NOT PASS: This bill had a rocky ride. The legislators did not understand the difference between this (expected water usage) and HB589/SB553 above (existing water usage) and they ended up making this the same as SB553. So the original intent of this bill failed (we will not get reporting of expected water usage from new data centers), but the language was evolved to match SB553. 
  7. HB507 – Limiting data center carbon dioxide-emitting backup generators. (View talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: This legislation will require all new data centers to use generators with emission standards that meet or exceed Tier 4 generators (the best-in-class as of today).

  8. HB641 / SB393 – Taxes data centers at $3/sq ft to support land preservation (View talking points)
    DID NOT PASS: Both HB641 and SB393 have disappointingly been continued to 2027. The data center industry didn’t want this tax, and so far the data center industry has prevailed.
     

MANAGING INVASIVE PLANTS

  1. HB388 / SB89 – Allows localities to raise money via a service district to control invasive plants (View talking points)
    EFFECTIVE 7/1/26: Signed by the Governor on 4/6/26! We are excited that this enabling legislation passed! If signed, local advocacy will be needed to ask each County/City to enact this at the local level.

  2. HB109 – Allows invasive plants to be considered noxious weeds even if nurseries still sell them (thus allowing sale of that invasive to be banned)  (View talking points)
    EFFECTIVE 7/1/26: Signed by the Governor on 4/6/26! While bill was weakened a bit with longer wait times to phase out the sale of noxious weeds (it differs per species), this is a great step to close the loophole that had previously existed. 

  3. HB88 – Requires control of invasive plants in the “right of way” on state highway (View talking points)
    EFFECTIVE 7/1/26: Signed by the Governor on 4/6/26! This bill had a study added to it, but it still a good bill and we are excited to see it get signed into law!

SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY / CONSERVATION

  1. HB397 / SB802 – Reiterates that Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is statutorily required (View talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: We fully expect the governor to get Virginia back into RGGI!

  2. HB549 (state-wide) & SB589 (just NOVA) – Improves conservation and replacement of trees during construction process (View talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: After lots of iterations, this legislation is heading to the governor’s desk, but it ended up nothing like it started out. The biggest win here is that the Town of Vienna (in Fairfax County) is able to adopt a 10-year tree canopy (like Fairfax County can). All other changes went by the wayside, which is incredibly disappointing. The rest of the state will have to wait yet again to get this option.

  3. Celebrating native nature:
    The House Rules Studies Subcommittee was problematic here and passed by both of these bills.
    (a) DID NOT PASS:     SB155 – Designates the native brown-belted bumblebee as VA’s official state pollinator (View talking points) – This has passed the Senate but was killed in the House after crossover. 

    (b) DID NOT PASS: HB152 – Designates the native little bluestem as the official state grass

RENEWABLE ENERGY

  1. HB1234 (incorporated HB457) / SB26 – Allow localities to require solar canopies for surface parking areas with 100+ spaces (View talking points)
    HB1234
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: These bills were weakened to a “may require” instead of “require” but this is still a win for renewable energy.

  2. HB395 / SB250 – Support for “balcony solar” (e.g. small plug-in solar devices), making solar energy more accessible and affordable (View talking points)
    AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE: Balcony solar was a big topic this General Assembly and we’re excited to see this move forward!
    Of interesting note: There were 3 additional balcony solar bills introduced too: 2 were combined with HB395 (HB289 & HB928) and HB779 failed in committee.

Want to browse other relevant bills and see their status? Check out VCN’s bill tracker:

Write to your legislators!

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