Virginia Today — June 22, 2026
Photo: virginiathisweek.com
The standoff is over — sort of. Budget negotiators from the House and Senate struck a deal on a two-year, $207 billion spending plan, and both chambers are scheduled to vote Monday, June...
The standoff is over — sort of. Budget negotiators from the House and Senate struck a deal on a two-year, $207 billion spending plan, and both chambers are scheduled to vote Monday, June 22. Data centers keep their prized sales-and-use tax exemption on computer equipment, but will now pay an estimated $1.2 billion in energy taxes into the General Fund over the biennium — more than Senate Finance Chair L. Louise Lucas's original $977 million ask. The money fuels $1.5 billion for teacher and state-worker pay raises, $159 million in school construction grants, and additional child care subsidy slots, per VPM. Watch the floor today: the budget still needs Gov. Abigail Spanberger's signature, and if June 30 arrives without one, state government shuts down.
Lucas spent two years trying to claw back the exemption that cost Virginia $1.6 billion in forgone revenue in fiscal 2025 — a carve-out that, when created in 2008, was projected to cost...
Lucas spent two years trying to claw back the exemption that cost Virginia $1.6 billion in forgone revenue in fiscal 2025 — a carve-out that, when created in 2008, was projected to cost just $1.54 million a year, per Introl. The compromise spares the exemption and instead taxes data centers' enormous electricity consumption, an outcome closer to deferral than the full repeal the Senate chased. There's a catch: the energy tax runs only for the two-year cycle, meaning Spanberger will need to find a replacement for that $1.2 billion in the next budget, per VPM. The signal to watch is 2028 — a "temporary" tax on the state's fastest-growing industry rarely stays temporary or stays put.
Tucked into the budget's "Part 5" are permanent changes to state law, including a regulated adult-use retail cannabis market launching July 1, 2027, capped at 350 stores statewide, with a...
Tucked into the budget's "Part 5" are permanent changes to state law, including a regulated adult-use retail cannabis market launching July 1, 2027, capped at 350 stores statewide, with a 6% excise tax rising to 8% in 2029 and an optional 3.5% local tax, per WRIC. The budget also lets localities hold referendums on a 1% sales tax for school construction — a question that could hit ballots as soon as this November. Because Virginia builds policy into the budget, today's vote isn't just about dollars; it's about whether legal weed and local school-tax votes survive. If the budget passes clean, the 2027 cannabis timeline holds; if it stalls past June 30, both ride on the brink.
Dominion Energy agreed to an all-stock sale to NextEra Energy valued at $67 billion, a deal that would create what could be the world's biggest regulated electric utility, per Technical.ly...
Dominion Energy agreed to an all-stock sale to NextEra Energy valued at $67 billion, a deal that would create what could be the world's biggest regulated electric utility, per Technical.ly. The companies say "large-load" customers like data centers would pay a fair share through tariffs, and NextEra is dangling $2.25 billion in bill credits for Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina customers over two years — with Dominion keeping its Richmond headquarters and roughly 15,000 employees. The deal still needs federal and shareholder approval, so the tariff promise is aspiration, not law. Separately, Virginia's return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative could raise Dominion ratepayers' bills 6% to 7.5% next year, with the SCC weighing a $1.18 billion surcharge starting July 1, per VPAP — watch for SCC action this week.
A wave of new laws takes effect July 1. Virginia will ban the manufacture and sale of certain semi-automatic firearms and large-capacity magazines — applying only to new sales, with...
A wave of new laws takes effect July 1. Virginia will ban the manufacture and sale of certain semi-automatic firearms and large-capacity magazines — applying only to new sales, with violations as Class 1 misdemeanors, per Northern Virginia Magazine. The Clean Slate Act will automatically seal eligible misdemeanors and some low-level felonies, with supporters estimating more than 100,000 records will clear for people who haven't reoffended in seven years, per WSLS. Employers, meanwhile, must disclose salary ranges in job postings and can no longer ask candidates for past pay history. The signal to watch is enforcement: how Virginia's commonwealth's attorneys handle the new gun limits will test these laws before any judge does.
Gov. Spanberger signed HB167 into law, removing tax-exempt status from Confederate-related monuments and markers, according to the posted report. The change pushes a long-running symbolic...
Gov. Spanberger signed HB167 into law, removing tax-exempt status from Confederate-related monuments and markers, according to the posted report. The change pushes a long-running symbolic fight into the concrete world of local tax rolls, where county assessors and historical sites may now have to review how these properties are treated. What's worth watching is the local follow-through — which localities reassess, and whether any challenge the new treatment. The story moves from statehouse to county courthouse from here.