The major 2025 Virginia bills headed to Youngkin
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The 2025 General Assembly session ended over the weekend.
Why it matters: That means hundreds of bills, if Gov. Youngkin signs them, could become law and affect you.
Friction point: At least a handful of the bills passed likely face a veto from Youngkin:
- 🍃 A legal retail weed market with sales starting in May 2026.
- ↗️ Raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027.
- 👶 The right to birth control.
- 🔚 Ending tax breaks for organizations honoring the Confederacy.
- 😷 Requiring all Virginia employers (private, state and local governments) to provide paid sick leave.
- 🤝 Lifting the ban on collective bargaining for public employees and allowing them to negotiate, as a group, for better pay or working conditions starting July 2027.
Zoom in: Here are other proposals the legislature pushed through.
💰 Campaign finance
The GA unanimously voted to ban the personal use of campaign funds after over 10 years of attempts to rein in Virginia's loose campaign finance laws, reports the Washington Post.
🎰 Casino
Budget language says the proposed Rosie's gaming site in Henrico won't be allowed to open unless residents pass a referendum greenlighting the casino-style venue, reports the Henrico Citizen.
🚗 Driving or pedestrian-related
You could be required to wear a seat belt in the back seat of a car.
State and local police could set up monitoring systems in school zones and at high-risk intersections to record whether drivers ignore stop signs.
Instead of having your license suspended for driving over 100 mph, a court could require you to install a system that forces a car to slow down if it's going over the speed limit.
This legislation makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor if a driver kills or seriously injures a pedestrian or cyclist legally crossing the road.
🤩 Lottery
Currently, the Virginia Lottery is banned from sharing personal information about people who win over $10 million. This bill would lower the threshold to $1 million.
📱 Social media
Lawmakers want to limit social media use to one hour per day for anyone under 16 unless a parent consents to more or less time.
Substance use
This bill would charge a person with felony murder if they knowingly and intentionally give a minor fentanyl and the minor dies.
👀 Water crisis
Water plant owners could be required to report critical equipment failure or malfunction to the state's Office of Drinking Water within six hours and submit monthly reports sharing any equipment issues that could impact water service.
👨⚖️ Weed
Lawmakers want to create a process that gives people incarcerated for marijuana-related felony charges before weed was legalized an automatic hearing to consider changing their sentences.