Motor vehicles; insurance; highway use fee; tangible personal property tax relief for certain vehicles. Removes the highway use fee for fuel-efficient vehicles, and maintains the same highway use fee for electric vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles. The bill removes the prohibition on motor vehicle insurers establishing a repair facility network. Under current law, insurers are prohibited from requiring an insured or claimant to utilize designated replacement or repair facilities or services as a prerequisite to settling or paying any claim arising under a policy or policies of insurance. The bill also directs each county, city, or town that receives annual reimbursements from the Commonwealth for providing tangible personal property tax relief on qualifying vehicles to, beginning in tax year 2027, ensure that after first reimbursing certain tax attributable to qualifying vehicles leased by active duty members of the United States military, as is currently required by law, (i) no qualifying vehicle owned by an individual with an annual household income in excess of $200,000 receives any reimbursement for such vehicle and (ii) the remainder of the reimbursement provided to such locality is distributed based on a sliding scale for household incomes of residents of such locality, adopted by an ordinance of the governing body of such locality, as described in the bill.
Sponsored bills
Certain school divisions; cost-savings agreements; requirements. Removes the limitation on any school board that enters into certain cost-savings agreements with a school board that governs a contiguous school division for the consolidation or sharing of educational, administrative, or support services and thus qualifies for adjustment of state share of basic aid computed annually on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay of such contiguous school division that caps such adjusted basic aid payment at an amount equal to the basic aid payment appropriated to such locality by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly. The bill also permits, notwithstanding the requirement set forth in relevant law that a school division have 65 percent or more of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes in order for the school board that governs such school division to be eligible to enter into such cost-savings agreements with a contiguous school division, the Bath County School Board to enter into such cost-savings agreements with the Augusta County School Board, provided that all other conditions and limitations set forth in relevant law apply to any such agreement.
Department of Wildlife Resources; free or partially discounted fees to hunt, fish, and trap; reimbursement. Requires the Department of Wildlife Resources to maintain an annual accounting of revenue that would have been received by the Department from license exemptions or free or partially discounted fees to hunt, fish, or trap that are established by the General Assembly on or after July 1, 2026, and to submit such accounting to the Department of Accounts by August 1 of each year. The bill requires the Department of Accounts to pay the actual amount of such revenue within 30 days into the Game Protection Fund and also allows the accounting required by the bill and any other records relating to such accounting to be subject to audit by the State Comptroller.
Income tax; standard deduction. Removes the sunset from and makes permanent the enhanced standard deduction amounts of $8,750 for single individuals and $17,500 for married individuals filing jointly. Under current law, the standard deduction is scheduled to revert to $3,000 for single individuals and $6,000 for married individuals filing jointly after taxable year 2026.
Maddy summarySJ 83 is a ceremonial resolution commending the Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work for its contributions to mental health services in the region. It has no policy provisions or direct impact on laws, regulations, or constituents - its purpose is solely to express legislative recognition. The bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and House via voice vote in February 2026 and was sent to the Governor. As a non-binding resolution, it does not alter any existing laws or create new obligations. This type of bill is common for honoring organizations but has no practical effect beyond symbolic acknowledgment.
State correctional facilities; required education or vocational training; earned sentence credits classification levels. Requires a prisoner in a state correctional facility, as a part of his reentry plan developed and implemented by the Department of Corrections, to complete a high school equivalency test or vocational, technical, or other certification prior to such prisoner's release. The bill also provides that the annual review of a prisoner's classification level for earned sentence credits shall include such prisoner's quantifiable or measurable progress, as available, in any programs, job assignments, and educational curricula in which he is participating, such as test scores achieved or completion of a high school equivalency test or other trade or vocational certification.
Property Owners' Association Act; operation and management of association; condemnation of common area; procedure. Requires consideration of the physical characteristics of a property owners' association's common area land when determining such land's highest and best use for purposes of valuing the property for award or payment for such land in a condemnation proceeding after the common area land is taken or damaged under the power of eminent domain.
Special license plates; QUAIL FOREVER. Authorizes the issuance of revenue-sharing special license plates for supporters of Quail Forever bearing the legend QUAIL FOREVER. The bill exempts such special license plates from requirements related to the minimum number of prepaid applications and the minimum number of active license plates after five years of issuance for special license plates.
Sales and use tax; food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Eliminates the remaining one percent local sales and use tax that is imposed on food purchased for human consumption and essential personal hygiene products. Under current law, no other sales and use tax is applied to such products. The bill requires an equivalent amount of revenue to be distributed to cities and counties on a monthly basis in compensation for the lost tax revenue. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027.
Virginia's Great Outdoors Act established; data center land conservation tax; land preservation distributions and appropriations. Creates a data center land preservation tax on and after January 1, 2027, in an amount equal to $3 per square foot of each data center facility footprint, as defined in the bill, and directs no less than $250 million of revenues from the tax to be distributed for various land protection and preservation purposes, including into the Virginia Tribal Commitment Fund, as created in the bill. The bill also repeals provisions requiring the Governor to include in the budget bill or in his amendments to the general appropriation act a recommended appropriation from the general fund, up to $20 million, for land preservation as follows: (i) 80 percent of the unissued credits to the Virginia Land Conservation Fund, of which at least 50 percent must be used for acquisitions with public access; (ii) 10 percent to the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund; and (iii) 10 percent to the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund.