Virginia Under Siege: Democrats Wage War on Law-Abiding Virginians
by Victoria Manning
Criminals are the winners in Richmond this year as Democrats gut gun rights and attempt to rewrite history.
The 2026 Virginia General Assembly session concluded on March 14th, and Virginia Democrats have passed sweeping far-left legislation restricting citizen rights. Democrats have made life easier for criminals and less safe for Virginians. They’ve ignored the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and gutted Virginia’s right-to-work laws.
On the campaign trail, Spanberger tried to play the role of moderate but if she signs these bills, the voters will know she was lying.
More than 60 of these new laws are headed to Gov. Spanberger’s desk—and she is likely to sign them. All these bills passed with full Democrat support almost exclusively along party-lines. With Democrats in full control of all branches of government, Republicans had no power to stop them.
2026 Virginia Legislation that Passed the General Assembly
Second Amendment
HB 21: “Allows one of the most highly regulated industries, the firearms industry, to be sued civilly for a variety of already illegal actions. It also holds the manufacturers and sellers of even the most benign of firearm accessories, like a butt stock or a gun case, liable to a civil lawsuit if it doesn’t “properly” protect that item from theft or misuse by a criminal.” Summary by the Virginia Citizen's Defense League (VCDL).
HB 40/SB 27: ends the centuries-old practice of individuals building lawful firearms for personal use without government interference by prohibiting the manufacture of firearms without serial numbers. The legislation also penalizes those who lawfully purchased unfinished frames and receivers before the bill’s effective date.
HB 93/SB 38: Expands existing restrictions on individuals prohibited from owning firearms to affect individuals who live in the same household as a prohibited person.
HB 110: Makes it a crime to leave a handgun in an unattended vehicle unless in a locked container bolted or welded to the car, even if the car itself is locked.
HB 626/SB 272: Prohibits firearms at public institutions of higher education unless they are part of an authorized program inside a building.
HB 702: Requires all counties and cities to establish a gun give-back or buy-back program by Jan. 1, 2028. The law requires guns returned in the program to be destroyed unless the gun is determined to be lost or stolen or unless it is determined to be a historic firearm that would be donated to a museum. Each agency must submit an annual report that includes the number of firearms received.
HB 871: Requires firearms to be stored in a locked container or cabinet if minors are present in the home. Gun dealers must post notification on their premises about the law. A violation carries a class 4 misdemeanor charge.
HB 901: Red flag law expansion—broadens the definition of who can petition the court to allege that someone constitutes a substantial risk to themselves or others. Current law requires it to be an attorney for the Commonwealth or a law enforcement officer. Now anyone from a long list of people qualifies, including a school administrator, therapist, social worker, member of the community services board, and more. Once flagged, the individual would have their firearms taken away and unable to purchase other firearms with no due process.
HB 909: Prohibits anyone from carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a voter registrar’s office, any building used as a voting precinct or an absentee precinct, or any building used for electoral board meetings.
SB 27: Requires members of the firearms industry to establish and implement vague and subjective “reasonable controls” over the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, and marketing of firearm-related products. Further, it establishes a broad civil cause of action, allowing the Attorney General, local government attorneys, or private individuals to sue firearm businesses for injunctions, damages, and costs.
SB 643: Changes the age to purchase a handgun or “assault firearm” from age 18 to 21. Also prohibits anyone under age 18 from using a handgun or “assault firearm” to lawfully hunt without an adult present.
SB 727: Bans the carry of 1) a semi-automatic centerfire rifle or pistol that has a fixed magazine that holds more than 10 rounds; 2) a semi-automatic centerfire rifle or pistol that accepts a detachable magazine of any size and has any of a variety of cosmetic features; 3) a semi-automatic shotgun with a fixed magazine that holds more than 7 rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered or has a detachable magazine of any size, with any of a variety of cosmetic features, on or about a person on a public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, in a park, or in any place open to the public. There is an exception for carrying to/from a place of purchase or repair or a shooting range. (Summary by VCDL)
SB 749: Prohibits so-called “assault firearms” from being purchased, sold, or transferred. The definition is: “any semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol which expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine which will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock.”
Education
HB 38: Requires teachers and other school personnel as decided by the school board to complete mental health awareness training that include best practices developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) for youth that identify as LGBTQ+.
The APA’s official policy statement advocates for “gender affirming” care for children including medical interventions such as hormones and mastectomies. Therefore, teachers will be required to participate in training that could violate their moral and religious beliefs.
HB 139: Requires school boards to approve up to four years of unpaid educational leave for employees who are officers in the teachers’ union. Those teachers would still be eligible to purchase retirement credits.
HB 201/SB 109: Requires school boards to notify all parents annually about secure storage of prescription drugs and the parent’s legal responsibility to safely store any firearm present in the household.
HB 333: Dictates what instruction teachers can provide instruction regarding the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. Teachers cannot instruct that there were peaceful protestors, or that there is credible evidence that there was election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
HB 913: Requires the return of all DEI initiatives in the VA Dept of Education including the EdEquityVA website.
HB 1037: Requires the Virginia Board of Education to adopt model policies to provide to school boards regarding climate change. The legislation doesn’t appear to require local boards to adopt the policies, but they may do so.
HB 1113: Requires the Virginia Board of Education to adopt model policies to provide to school boards regarding “culturally responsive and language-appropriate mental health support and services for students.” The legislation doesn’t appear to require local boards to adopt the policies, but they may do so.
HB 1165: Eliminates a qualification option for the hiring of Superintendents that allowed individuals with extensive leadership experience, such as a senior military officer, from eligibility for the position.
HB 1437/SB 785: Requires school boards to report annually to the Department of Education the race of individuals who exit their positions.
Voting/Elections
HB 82: Extends the deadline for receipt of an absentee ballot to 5:00 p.m. on the third day after the election. Bill effective date is Jan. 1, 2027.
HB 773: Extends the deadline for curing errors or omissions in absentee ballot application from the third day after the election to the Monday after the election.
HB 774: Requires the voter registrar to notify a voter if they had a material error or omission on a provisional ballot and give them an opportunity to make corrections up until the Monday following an election. Current law does not have any such requirement to allow changes.
HB 835/SB 632: Prohibits voter registrars from publicly disclosing the address of candidates for public office on filing paperwork. Voters will have no way to verify if the candidate lives in the district which they seek to represent.
HB 963/SB 6: Constitutional referendum on the ballot in November 2026. Allows anyone currently adjudicated by a court as mentally incompetent to vote unless a court also specifically addresses whether they lack the understanding to vote. This measure is mixed into the same referendum that would allow felons to vote.
HB 968: Prohibits the hand counting of machine-readable ballots for any reason. If there is a defective ballot, it must be reproduced by making a duplicate ballot and labeling it as such.
HB 1244: Further expands absentee voting by allowing someone who has requested an absentee ballot by the deadline but hasn’t received it within 10 days of the election date. Allows them to receive an additional “emergency” absentee ballot. Virginia already has 45 days of early in-person voting along with permanent absentee ballot registration.
SB 57: Requires VA Dept of Elections to participate in ERIC—Electronic Registration Information Center. ERIC was the brainchild of radical far-left dark money groups, who claimed it would help clean up voter rolls. It did the opposite.
SB 162: Removes language that prohibits felons from voting and further permits felons who’ve been released and still on probation, parole or supervised release to be allowed to vote. This is separate from the constitutional amendment referendum in other legislation.
SB 169: Requires any legal challenges to a candidate’s ballot qualifications be filed at least 90 days before a general election, 65 days before primary election.
SB 176: Allows ranked choice voting for local elections.
SB 438: Further expands in-person absentee voting to add the 2nd and third Sunday immediately preceding an election between 11am and 5pm.
SB 582: Any voter submitting a provisional ballot who is determined to have a material error or omission on their ballot shall be notified by the registrar and given until the Monday after the election and the vote shall be counted.
Criminal Leniency
HB 357: Removes the requirement that a person post bond who has been arrested for a felony and has been previously convicted of a felony or who is on probation or parole.
HB 933/SB 283: A court must provide leniency for accused parties who fail to appear for their court hearings. Excuses the courts must consider include illness, unforeseen transportation problems, inability to obtain dependent care, and more.
SB 23: Prohibits plea agreements that include any provisions to prohibit the expungement of a defendant’s record.
SB 62: Anyone convicted of certain felony offenses involving the possession, manufacture, selling, giving, distribution, transportation, or delivery of marijuana committed prior to July 1, 2021, who remains incarcerated or on community supervision on July 1, 2026, may receive an automatic hearing to consider modification of such person's sentence.
SB 351: Prohibits federal law enforcement from arresting criminal illegal aliens at a courthouse, school, hospital, or commonwealth attorney’s office without a judicial warrant. Permits the attorney general to bring civil actions against anyone who violates these provisions.
SB 352: Prohibits any law-enforcement officer from wearing a facial covering while engaged in the performance of their official duties. The penalty for violating this law is a class 1 misdemeanor.
SB 783: Prohibits local law enforcement from entering into any agreement with federal immigration enforcement except under very limited and restrictive circumstances identified in the law.
Economy
HB 164—Allows taxpayer-funded housing subsidies for local government employees.
HB 167: Eliminates non-profit tax exemptions for historic organizations that have affiliation with the confederacy such as Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Stonewall Jackson Memorial.
HB 373/SB 248: Requires restaurants to provide on all menus or on a sign posted conspicuously in the restaurant a notice in 7 different languages that states: “If you have a food allergy, please notify us.” The restaurant must also post the notice in a conspicuous manner for employees and on the businesses website if they have one.
HB 550: Authorizes localities to impose a tax on admissions for attendance at any event of up to 10 percent of the amount charged for the event.
HB 557: Allows localities to tax electric powered landscaping equipment used for business at a lesser rate than equipment powered by a different source.
HB 602: Requires movie theaters that own or control five or more locations in the commonwealth to offer movie showings with subtitles.
SB 1: Increases the minimum wage to $15/hour by Jan. 1, 2028.
SB 74: Encourages localities to increase housing density and to convert single family zoned properties into multi-unit dwellings.
SB 215: Requires an employer to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or range for the position. Also prohibits employers from requesting current salary information. Any employer who violates this provision “shall be liable to the prospective employee” for statutory damages of between $1,000 and $10,000 or actual damages and attorney fees.
SB 378: Establishes the right of government unions to collective bargaining. This requirement exempts employees of the general assembly from the right to collective bargaining.
Energy
HB2: Utilities will be responsible for identifying low-income households that are qualified to receive “energy efficiency measures that will reduce the cost of household heating, cooking, or water heating for the purpose of reducing overall annual energy related costs for the household.
HB 397: The Department of Environmental Quality and State Air Pollution control board required to put the nuts and bolts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) into place by establishing a “cap and trade system” to reduce CO2 emissions.
HB 1002: Requires utility companies to provide all notices of disconnection in a variety of languages as defined in the bill. No utility can disconnect a residential customer until after 60 days and after the utility has made efforts to offer bill payment assistance, arrange a payment plan, or provide information to the customer for other bill payment assistance or energy savings programs.
Other
HB 6: Establishes right to obtain contraception and sterilization, no age limit or parental consent required. A “health care provider” could sterilize a 13-year-old without parental consent or knowledge with no legal recourse. The legislation might also include the abortion pill.
HB 60: Prohibits insurance companies from charging a higher rate to someone who has taken a “pre-exposure prophylaxis” for the prevention of HIV.
HB 86: A 4-page bill to tax sleep—places recycling requirements and a likely average fee of approximately $20 on each mattress sold.
HB 612/SB 311: A constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot that requires equal treatment under the law between two adults regardless of sex or gender. No exceptions to protect religious leaders who oppose performing same-sex or transgender marriages.
HB 911: Allows an illegal alien to obtain a driver’s license if a federal court has authorized the applicant to be in the U.S. Expands the expiration date of driver privilege cards (which can be given to any illegal alien) from 2 years to a minimum of 5 years.
HB 925: Allows a complaint for a violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act to be filed with a local human rights commission (which is only an advisory organization appointed by city councils).
HB 1147: Requires anyone licensed by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Nursing to complete training on “how unconscious and conscious racial bias affects care during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and the postpartum period.” The “training shall address how the inappropriate substitution of race-based assumptions for individualized clinical assessment, combined with implicit bias, leads to delayed diagnosis, inadequate treatment, and disparate health outcomes."
HB 1377: Establishes a task force to explore and recommend changes that should be made by Virginia Military Institute (VMI) to "distance itself from the Lost Cause narrative, foster an inclusive environment, and address any other concerns raised by the task force.” It also requires a review of whether VMI has admitted “a more diverse body of students.”
HB 1395: Prohibits localities from imposing age limits on trick-or-treaters beyond age-restrictions established for curfews in the locality. In many localities this will permit trick-or-treaters up to the age of 17.
SB 258: Adds menopause or perimenopause as another protected class under the Virginia Human Rights Act.
HB 781: Legislation to allow a constitutional referendum in November 2026 that would permit abortions until birth with no consequences to a physician, abortion provider, or mother.
Now Gov. Spanberger will have to decide if she will sign these bills. Will she prove to the voters that she lied on the campaign trail about being a moderate or will she go against her power hungry Democrat legislature and do what’s best for Virginians? She only has a few weeks to decide, the deadline to sign legislation is April 13th.
Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse to her reporting.
