Virginia Legislative News

By Beck Stanley, Legislative Consultant, Rural Results Public Affairs

Virginia Turfgrass Council staff have been busy throughout the summer meeting with legislators and monitoring the state’s Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and House of Delegates elections. Virginia being the first major statewide political contest following the 2024 presidential election, all eyes are on the Commonwealth. The VTC is hard at work on your behalf ensuring our industry is well represented in Richmond ahead of next year’s gubernatorial transition and new faces in the House chamber.

As we have seen in the past, we anticipate in 2026 a variety of legislative attempts to undermine our industry’s use of essential pesticide tools. This includes pollinator protection, specific product targeting, and patchwork regulatory (“local decision”) bills. Thankfully, we have earned the trust of several legislators on both sides of the aisle and will continue to work closely with our representatives to defeat these bills as they come in during pre-filing periods in December and early January. Once again, we will join our friends at the Virginia Agribusiness Council for their legislative banquet in January during the first week of session, and if you’ve never been, you’re missing out.

Just last session, a Republican legislator from rural Virginia attempted to create a mandatory notification period for certain applications under the guise of “pollinator protection.” This bill was swiftly defeated in committee on a 12–1 vote, with the patron being the lone “yes” vote. Nonetheless, he has vowed to bring it back again. We worked alongside several important partner groups including the Virginia Agribusiness Council to defeat this harmful legislation.

On the election front, we are watching all three statewide races and the House of Delegates map. In the governor’s race, current Lt. Governor Winsome Sears is facing off against former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger; in the Lt. Governor’s race, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi is up against conservative radio host John Reid; and in the Attorney General matchup, we will see former Delegate Jay Jones challenge incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Miyares is outpacing the rest of the GOP ticket on fundraising, and polls are showing summer leads for all three Democratic nominees. In the House of Delegates, Speaker Don Scott is looking to increase his majority, with 10–12 races competitive on the new map drawn following census delays due to COVID-19. The full State Senate will not be up for election until 2027.

As always, our door is always open should you run into issues at the local level, too. Our contract lobbyist, Beck Stanley, can be reached via cell at 540871-9001.