Legislative Updates

January 27, 2026

The 2026 Virginia General Assembly is underway and I am quickly reminded of Gideon J. Tucker’s historic observation that, “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

The Commonwealth was already running a $1.2 Billionsurplus, or 8.6% ahead of original projections just six months into the current fiscal year when Governor Glenn Youngkin exited the Executive Mansion. Despite the Commonwealth’s robust revenues, Democratic legislators are introducing bills that would give Virginia the nation’s highest state income tax, extend the sales tax to services for the first time, create a new tax on streaming services, and raise the existing sales tax on goods. These unnecessary taxes would be economically damaging to working Virginians if enacted, but just the proposals damage efforts to recruit new businesses and high-paying jobs to Virginia.

Helping Virginians Keep More of Their Paycheck

My focus this year is helping you keep more of your paycheck, fighting electric bill overcharges, and expanding career and technical education opportunities.

I introduced Senate Bill 7 to extend the enhanced standard deduction so Virginians are not hit with a $661 tax increase next year. I also introduced Senate Bill 9 to full eliminate the grocery tax like forty other states. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats provided initial defeats to both tax relief proposals on party-line votes. Despite this setback, Delegate Joe McNamara and I are continuing the fight for these important efforts to let working Virginians keep more of their paychecks.

Fighting Electric Bill Overcharges

This week I was joined by bipartisan coalition of Senator Creigh Deeds and Delegates Sam Rasoul, Joe McNamara, and Mitchell Cornett to end electric bill overcharges by Appalachian Power. Most businesses become more profitable when they maintain quality while becoming more cost efficient. Current law makes it so electric monopolies are the rare businesses that become more profitable by increasing their own costs. This flawed incentive is among the reasons Appalachian Power customers are being overcharged for electricity and why I introduced Senate Bill 691 to fix it.

Expanding Career and Technical Education

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, it is critical that we expand career and technical education opportunities to help Virginia students learn how to acquire skills in a professional setting. My Senate Bill 10 would allow more work place learning opportunities for high school upperclassmen and my Senate Bill 203 would make it easier for career and technical education dual enrollment teachers to achieve licensure.

Track Legislation

My  Senate Bill 538, to ensure prosecutors are notified when the Parole Board is considering granting early release to an inmate, advanced from the Senate Rehabilitation Committee on a bipartisan 10-3 vote last week. You read every bill and keep up with votes through the Legislative Information System located at https://lis.virginia.gov .

Share Your Views

With two thousand votes a year, I do not expect us to always agree, but I always want to hear from everyone. You can share your views with me by taking the legislative survey at: https://tinyurl.com/2026VASurvey or by emailing David@Suetterlein.com or calling 540-302-8486.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve our Commonwealth.