By Sara Matthews
VCU Capital News Service
Democrats and Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly were divided along party lines this session, but came together over some key issues.
Out of nearly 2,400 bills introduced, 376 bills passed unanimously, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Most bills that passed unanimously or saw high levels of bipartisan cooperation were on less controversial and more widespread issues, according to Richard Meagher, professor of political science at Randolph-Macon College.
“On the big-ticket issues, it was a prescription drug board that seemed to be the biggest source of bipartisan cooperation this year,” Meagher said.
Health care policies
House Bill 483, introduced by Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, established a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, an initiative that legislators have attempted for five years, according to the Virginia Mercury.
Two additional bills, Senate Bill 669, introduced by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, and SB 161, introduced by Sen. Russet Perry, D-Leesburg, also addressed pharmaceutical costs. Rouse’s bill increases oversight on pharmacy benefit managers. The bill passed both the Senate and House unanimously, and was signed by the governor. Perry’s bill limits cost-sharing for prescription drugs under certain insurance plans.
Child and maternal health policies also had strong bipartisan support. Del. Margaret Franklin, D-Prince William, introduced numerous maternal care bills that saw unanimous support. House Bills 1398, 1400, and 1403 focus on maternal and child mortality rates. Despite high levels of support, HB 1398 was continued to the 2027 session.
Del. Adele McClure, D-Arlington, introduced HB 18, which establishes the Employee Child Care Assistance Program to encourage businesses to contribute to employee child care expenses. It had mostly unanimous support in both chambers, with the exception of seven House members.
Energy costs, generation and data centers
Energy was a divisive topic this session, but some bills had bipartisan cooperation. Among these was SB 175, introduced by Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico. The bill amends renewable energy standards for Dominion Energy and extends the deadline for Dominion to use 75% of their renewable energy certificates.
Sen. Kannan Srinivasan, D-Loudoun, sponsored SB 553, which places restrictions on data center water consumption, an issue that was highly debated this session. It passed with relatively high bipartisan cooperation.
Republicans were concerned that data center restrictions could affect economic growth, according to Meagher.
“Some Democrats feel that we should end this tax exemption for data centers, which is a big business in Virginia,” Meagher said. “Republicans were suggesting that what this does is make Virginia a bad place to do business for a variety of reasons.”
Solar reform was less controversial. SB 250, introduced by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax County, and SB 26, introduced by Sen. Jennifer Caroll Foy, D-Woodbridge, aim to expand the use of solar generators to tenant decks and parking lots, respectively.
Business regulation and real estate
SB 613, introduced by Sen. Todd Pillon, R-Abingdon, and HB 474, introduced by Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, passed unanimously.
Pillon’s bill requires the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to conduct a comprehensive overview of the real estate licensure process in Virginia and send it to the Senate and House chairs of General Laws and Technology.
Rasoul’s bill increases the maximum value of land that can be appointed by a special commissioner from $75,000 to $125,000. It aims to make it easier for localities to conduct real estate transactions with delinquent taxes or liens to the locality. It was signed by the governor on April 6.
Democrats passed a bill increasing the minimum wage and a bill implementing paid family leave. These efforts were years in the making and saw considerable pushback during former Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Republicans were also concerned about the effects these policies might have on businesses, according to Meagher.
“A minimum wage is essentially a requirement that businesses pay a certain amount of money for wages,” Meagher said. “I think the Republicans were worried that this was going to be a constraint on economic growth.”
More contested issues
Partisan issues reflected debate at the national level, according to political commentator and analyst Jeff Schapiro, with the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
“If one considers the debate at the national level, there is more than an echo of what is going on in Virginia,” Schapiro said. “I think it’s safe to say that things have become a bit more contentious.”
Data centers, affordability, cannabis, clean energy and immigration reform were issues that took center stage this session among Virginia Democrats, according to Schapiro. Republicans were concerned about affordability issues and cost of living, while showing strong opposition to firearm restrictions and Democrat-backed energy reform policies.
The Senate passed four constitutional amendments this session, addressing abortion rights, same-sex marriage protection, congressional redistricting and felon voting rights. All were introduced by Democrats and passed on mostly party-line votes.
“One of the things about these enlarged majorities is that they can be very efficient in assuring the immediate defeat of anything considered hostile to the largely Democratic agenda,” Schapiro said.
Almost two-thirds of bills passed with over 40% opposition, according to VPAP. This is an increase from 2023, when only 9% of bills passed with that level of opposition.
Because Democrats hold the majority, they are less incentivized to vote unanimously, according to Schapiro. This has been supplemented by Virginia’s return to Democratic leadership under Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
Party unity among House Democrats dropped 11.4 percentage points since 2025, while party unity among House Republicans went up 29 percentage points according to VPAP. Party unity in the Senate remained relatively unchanged.
Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Richard T. Robertson School of Communication. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.
