Democrats in the Virginia legislature introduced a slew of bills this week aimed at steering the commonwealth in a more liberal direction on issues such as gun control, elections, abortion, criminal justice, LGBT policy, race, and taxation — much to the chagrin of the state’s conservatives.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran last year as a centrist, and critics say the immediate leftward lurch of her party is a reversal of November’s election rhetoric.
“What’s happening in Virginia right now is a classic example of the Democrat playbook: they lie to voters during election season by pretending to be moderates, then get into office and push a liberal agenda completely out of step with the public,” Republican State Leadership Committee spokesman Mason Di Palma told the Washington Examiner. “From higher taxes to weaker public safety laws and divisive DEI policies, this is exactly what one-party Democratic control looks like.”
The RSLC is the official GOP campaign committee tasked with helping Republicans win seats in state legislatures and gubernatorial races.
While Spanberger may have used centrist rhetoric on the campaign trail, members of her party used their first day in office to introduce proposals that are on the wishlist of more progressive Democrats.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion returns
As national Republicans have waged war against DEI initiatives, Democrats in the commonwealth’s legislature are now poised to push back.
One Democrat-sponsored bill currently under consideration would eliminate the requirement that school resource officers complete “active shooter emergency” training and replace it with broader “critical incident preparedness” and “behavioral threat assessment” training.
This new training, according to the legislation, would require law enforcement officers to learn “sensitivity to and awareness of systemic and individual racism, cultural diversity, and the potential for racially biased policing and bias-based profiling.”
Similar bills introduced by Democrats would also require nurses and real estate agents to complete racial bias training as a condition of receiving their professional licenses.
Beyond licensure, Virginia Democrats are seeking to impose diversity requirements on the commonwealth’s procurement system. A law introduced by Delegate Jeion Ward (D) would require executive branch agencies and covered institutions to increase their contracting with women- and minority-owned small businesses by 3% every year until 42% of contracts are awarded to such firms. Additionally, “purchases up to $100,000” are to be “set aside” for businesses owned by women and minorities.
On the education front, where previous DEI battles were fought in Virginia, one proposed law would require that all social studies curricula in the commonwealth “include the contributions, perspectives, and experiences” of “historically marginalized communities” such as “individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer” as well as “immigrants and refugees.” A separate bill guarantees the right of illegal immigrants and their children to access public education in Virginia, while a third Democrat-backed bill would replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Virginia’s confederate heritage, a frequent point of contention within the commonwealth, is also in the crosshairs of Democrats, with bills threatening to strip confederate history nonprofit organizations of their state tax exemptions and eliminate vanity license plates featuring Robert E. Lee and other confederate imagery.
Breaks for feds, tax hikes for everyone else
Federal workers, a valuable constituency for Virginia Democrats, could stand to win generous tax breaks from their legislature. Other Virginians, however, could stand to see their tax bills go up considerably.
One of the biggest pieces of pork offered to feds is a proposed 20% tax subtraction applied to the pension income of retired federal employees. The legislature is also aiming to empower local jurisdictions to give generous extensions to property tax payments owed by federal employees on furlough.
For feds who ultimately lose their jobs, another piece of legislation “establishes a hiring preference in state government for any person who has been terminated from a position of employment with the federal government on or after April 1, 2025, due to a reduction in the federal budget, initiatives put in place by the federal Department of Government Efficiency, or any other effort deemed unrelated to a violation in the workplace.”
While federal employees could enjoy tax breaks and easy job placement, other Virginians, on the whole, face increased sales and income taxes.
One law being considered by Democrats, for instance, expands sales taxes to an array of new goods and services, among them gym memberships, landscaping, vehicle repair, travel, food delivery services, and home repair. To bring in additional revenue for the state, another bill has been introduced that would create a statewide referendum to increase sales taxes in order to provide additional funding to schools.
Democrats in the legislature are also attempting to create new tax brackets, imposing greater taxes on those earning over $600,000 a year.
Guns in the crosshairs
Debates over gun control have sparked some of the most dramatic political clashes in recent Virginia history. When the commonwealth was considering an assault weapons ban in 2020, for instance, 22,000 pro-gun activists — many of them carrying firearms — demonstrated outside the Virginia State Capitol. The committee tasked with handling the bill ultimately blocked it from going to the floor.
Now, Democrats are trying their hand at a ban again, proposing a bill that would make it a Class One misdemeanor for anyone who “imports, sells, manufactures, purchases, or transfers an assault firearm.”
Another bill, mirroring similar legislation that has previously elicited strong opposition from the gun lobby, would make individuals involved in the firearm industry liable for crimes committed with their guns and empower the state attorney general — who himself has fantasized about shooting Republicans and their children — to sue them.
Other proposed tweaks to Virginia’s gun laws include new mandatory waiting periods, a ban on leaving guns unattended in cars, an 11% tax on firearms and ammunition, and the introduction of a “firearms purchaser’s license” issued by the state police.
Enshrining abortion
While Virginia Democrats have introduced comparatively few bills concerning abortion, they are likely to garner controversy nonetheless.
The bill in question would schedule a referendum vote to include a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the Virginia constitution. If passed, the state would become unable to restrict abortions prior to the third trimester.
Similar ballot initiatives, such as the ones in Ohio and Florida, triggered massive amounts of spending on messaging campaigns and canvassing efforts. As a more liberal state, however, Virginia may not attract the same national attention as prior referendums have.
Bucking Trump
A handful of bills introduced by Virginia Democrats appear directly aimed at frustrating efforts undertaken by the Trump administration.
One such bill prohibits “federal law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings” while operating in Virginia. Though not mentioned in the text of the bill, the measure appears to be part of a national effort by Democrats to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from carrying out enforcement operations while masked.
ICE officer advocates point to the controversial nature of their work and the rising number of threats against ICE when arguing that masks are necessary to protect federal officers. Critics, meanwhile, claim that masked law enforcement is characteristic of authoritarian regimes.
The president’s National Guard deployments are also being challenged by Democrats in Virginia’s legislature, with one bill ordering the commonwealth’s attorney general to assess the legality of federal deployments and sue the federal government if they think the law is being broken.
Additionally, if the governor, attorney general, or general assembly believes that a federal deployment is illegal, the National Guard would lose all state funding and be prohibited from using state facilities. The governor is further empowered to enter into compacts with other states to further deprive the National Guard of resources during federal deployments.
Crime and punishment
As Democrats across the country face criticism for being too soft on crime, their co-partisans in Virginia are trudging ahead with a progressive slate of criminal justice reform legislation.
The proposed House Bill 863, for instance, would remove mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for offenses such as rape, some forms of involuntary manslaughter, gang activity, attacking law enforcement, assault, use of a firearm during another crime, drug dealing, and drunk driving.
House Bill 244, meanwhile, would expand parole eligibility for some convicted robbers, reduce the categories of robbery considered “acts of violence” under Virginia law, and offer convicted thieves credits that can be used to lessen their sentences.
CORPORATE DONORS STAND BY VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE JAY JONES
For individuals awaiting trial, another Democratic bill introduced to the Virginia House of Delegates would no longer require individuals who have previously been arrested after a felony, or those on bond for a separate arrest, to post secured bond to be released from jail.
Secured bonds require accused criminals to provide cash or assets as collateral that can be seized if they don’t appear in court, whereas unsecured bonds are backed by the word of the accused.
A liberal wish list
Other items Democrats are pushing in Virginia include a gradual increase to a $15 minimum wage, membership in the National Popular Vote Compact, and allowing bans on gas-powered leaf blowers.
