RICHMOND, VA- Americans for Prosperity Virginia (AFP-VA) is weighing in on the 2026 General Assembly midsession after crossover, with fair praise on bipartisan victories while expressing grave concern on the progressives pushes from factions in Richmond.
AFP-VA Director Tim Parrish issued the following statement:
“A core pillar of Americans for Prosperity’s vision is a Virginia where limited government, free markets, and individual liberty create opportunity and prosperity for every family, employee, and entrepreneur. We tip our hat to lawmakers advancing 22 AFP aligned pieces of legislation this session. By reducing regulatory barriers, empowering local innovation, and trusting Virginians to make decisions that best serve their communities, lawmakers have delivered common-sense reforms that will lower costs, expand choices, and strengthen our economy. AFP Virginia thanks the legislators who championed these reforms.
“While we celebrate what we were able to get done for Virginia, we must not lose focus on fighting the extremism that is brewing in Richmond. AFP-VA was able to defend Virginians this session from several bills that were all designed to tread upon your freedom. These bills included threats to your rights as an employee in the Commonwealth, blatant attempts at government overreach, and crushing tax hikes on hardworking Viriginia families. We will not stand idly by and allow lawmakers doing this to be disconnected from the negative impact their votes will have on the people who will pay the price for their ‘pie in the sky’ policy failures.”
Below is a detailed breakdown of the bills that have been supported and defeated by AFP-VA this crossover:
Support
Housing Supply and Zoning Modernization (SB531, HB655, SB346, HB1279, SB388, HB816, SB454, HB888): These cornerstone reforms modernize outdated local zoning restrictions to boost housing supply and affordability. SB531 requires localities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential zoning districts. HB655 and SB346 require manufactured housing to be subject to the same development standards as site-built homes and expand permissions in additional zoning districts. HB1279 and SB388 allow administrative (by-right) approval of affordable housing developments on property owned by religious organizations and certain other tax-exempt nonprofits, requiring at least 60% of units to be affordable for 30 years or more. HB816 and SB454 require localities to permit by-right multifamily residential development on at least 75% of commercially zoned land. HB888 limits excessive minimum off-street parking requirements in transit-oriented and revitalization areas (including caps such as 0.5 spaces per multifamily unit) and requires administrative reduction options in larger localities. Together, these measures address Virginia’s housing shortage through market-driven solutions rather than top-down mandates.
Education Reform and Greater School Choice (HB686, HB290, HB383): These bills expand parental options and reduce bureaucratic hurdles in education. HB686 directs the Board of Education to issue guidance on best practices for open enrollment policies. HB290 ensures that parents attempting to enroll their child in another public school are not criminalized. HB383 exempts certain courses and programs from certification requirements by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia—empowering families and institutions to innovate without excessive state oversight.
Healthcare Access and Workforce Freedom (SB239, HB1337, SB128, HB425, HB1026): SB239 and HB1337 expedite the certificate-of-need process for healthcare projects in “medical deserts,” while SB128 prohibits covenants not to compete for healthcare professionals. HB425 and HB1026 further expand access through telehealth enhancements (including remote monitoring reimbursement for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid patients) and streamlined licensure by endorsement for qualified foreign-trained providers—delivering better care with fewer government-imposed bottlenecks.
Energy Policy Modernization (HB1255): Adjustments to net energy metering rules support efficient, customer-driven energy solutions without distorting markets. We are hopeful some more meaningful reforms could come later in session.
Economic Innovation and Business Freedom (HB293): This bill establishes the Limited Liability Decentralized Autonomous Organization (LLD) Act, providing a clear legal framework for DAOs and related structures and positioning Virginia as a forward-thinking hub for emerging technologies and entrepreneurship.
Public Safety (HB149, SB136, HB318, SB60): These bills modernize key aspects of the criminal justice system to support successful reentry, focus resources on higher-risk cases, and promote smarter, more effective public safety outcomes while respecting individual rights. HB149 and SB136 modernize supervised probation by establishing clear criteria under which a court may reduce or terminate a defendant’s probation period, including completing educational activities, maintaining employment, completing treatment, or obtaining stable housing. They require the Department of Corrections to request termination of supervision after 12 months in qualifying cases where the individual demonstrates rehabilitation and poses no risk to public safety—allowing probation officers to focus resources on higher-risk cases while supporting successful reentry. HB318 and SB60 modernize parole procedures and juvenile justice processes.
Defeated
Campaign Finance / Elections: HB480 would have imposed burdensome new reporting and disclosure requirements on federal political action committees that make contributions to Virginia candidates or causes, forcing out-of-state entities to comply with state-level rules that go beyond legitimate jurisdiction and create a compliance nightmare. This kind of mandate risks chilling political speech, enabling selective enforcement, and deterring legitimate participation in the democratic process. HB1447, meanwhile, aimed to restrict corporate involvement in elections or ballot-issue advocacy by limiting contributions or spending, a clear violation of First Amendment protections that would have silenced businesses from engaging on policies directly affecting jobs, investment, economic growth, and the overall business climate in Virginia.
Taxation / Revenue Expansion: HB978 represented one of the most aggressive tax-expansion proposals of the session, dramatically broadening the retail sales and use tax base to include dozens of everyday personal services—such as fitness training, laundry and dry cleaning, home repairs, counseling, tutoring, and a host of digital products and services—while also complicating exemptions and compliance requirements for providers. This sweeping tax hike would have significantly increased costs for working families already facing inflation pressures, raised the price of basic household and personal necessities, placed new administrative burdens on small service-based businesses, and penalized Virginians for routine activities that should remain affordable without government claiming a larger share.
Technology / App Regulation: SB237 would have required app developers and platforms to enforce strict age verification for account holders, mandate notifications to app stores about changes, and accept new layers of accountability and liability. These heavy-handed regulations would have piled costly compliance obligations onto tech innovators, created serious privacy risks through required data collection and verification processes, threatened to drive up prices for consumers, reduce the availability of apps and digital services, and potentially push some platforms to limit access or exit the Virginia market altogether—ultimately harming everyday Virginians who depend on these tools for work, education, communication, and commerce.
Education / School Choice & Funding: HB359 posed a particularly destructive threat to educational freedom by imposing full public-school-style mandates—including mandatory Standards of Learning (SOL) testing for every student, state-issued accountability ratings from the Board of Education, and expansive non-discrimination requirements covering admissions, enrollment, discipline, retention, and program access—on any private school that accepted even one student whose tuition was covered by broadly defined “public funds” (including federal tax credits, scholarship assistance, or similar mechanisms). Far from expanding genuine school choice or directing additional resources to families, this bill was structured to strongly discourage private schools from participating in any tuition-assistance arrangements, effectively undermining their independence, diversity, and long-term viability. The result would have been crushing compliance costs, bureaucratic oversight that clashes with specialized curricula and missions (especially for faith-based, classical, Montessori, or other non-public models), potential First Amendment violations forcing religious schools to compromise core teachings or practices, and a powerful incentive for many private institutions to close, secularize, or refuse any assisted students—ultimately shrinking real educational options and funneling more families toward a single government-run system.
Other / Miscellaneous Regulatory or Governance: Several bills in this catch-all category raised serious concerns about creeping overreach, inefficiency, and erosion of local control. SB201 introduced new mandates or structural changes in local governance and regulatory frameworks that added unnecessary administrative layers and reduced flexibility for communities to address their own needs. SB232 expanded regulations or restrictions in business and local policy domains, generating higher compliance costs and creating economic drag without clear, demonstrated public benefits. HB868 layered additional bureaucratic oversight onto state and local finance or operational processes, increasing red tape and shifting costs without sufficient justification. HB635 applied sector-specific restrictions or requirements that limited private freedoms and imposed undue hardships on affected individuals or entities. SB368 established or expanded taxpayer-funded public campaign financing systems at the local level through matching funds or grants, effectively forcing Virginians to subsidize political candidates—often favoring incumbents—and wasting public dollars on partisan activity many taxpayers would oppose. HB299 shifted policies in ways that eroded local autonomy and introduced inefficient, top-down mandates that undermined community decision-making. SB32 would force countless Virginians into financing unions, proposed broad, sweeping changes across rights, finance, or governance areas that carried significant fiscal irresponsibility and risked infringing on established practices with potentially harmful long-term consequences for taxpayers, economic opportunity, and individual liberty.
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