The 2026 General Assembly Regular Session has hit it’s critical midpoint – the Crossover deadline. With the exception of the two-year budget that will be unveiled next Sunday, each chamber may now only consider legislation already passed by the other chamber until the scheduled Sine Die adjournment on Saturday, March 14.
Bipartisan Career & Technical Education Bills Advance
Among the bills “crossing over” are thirteen of my own Senate bills including two that expand career and technical education access. Senate Bill 10 expands apprenticeships and other work-based learning opportunities for 16+ year old students in information technology and culinary fields. This legislation is strongly backed by our local Chamber of Commerce and local public schools. I’m optimistic that the success of these programs will allow us to further expand opportunities in other fields in the near future.
SB203 cuts through red tape to make it easier for more community college career and technical instructors to be able to also teach high school students with less significantly less hoops. Both SB10 and SB203 won strong bipartisan support and are now under consideration in the House of Delegates.
Democrats pass 16.3% Tax on Hunting
Virginia Senate Democrats, on a narrow party line vote, passed a constitutionally-dubious new 11% tax on all firearms and ammunition – in addition to the existing 5.3% general sales tax.
The same Senate Democrats blocking GOP efforts to eliminate the remaining grocery tax while advancing increased taxes on prepared foods are now also making it significantly more expensive to hunt.
Gerrymandering Referendum Set 3/6 – 4/21
The Virginia Supreme Court declined to take up the legally dubious portions of the proposed gerrymander until after the April gerrymandering referendum set by Governor Abigail Spanberger. The Court’s action was accompanied by news of a $5 million pro-gerrymander ad campaign sponsored by unknown out-of-state contributors who want “fair elections” that will dilute the Roanoke and New River Valley’s influence in congressional election. Virginia voters will now have between Friday, March 6 and Tuesday, April 21 to cast their ballot to determine if Virginia’s anti-gerrymandering constitutional provisions will be suspended.
The Washington Post Editorial Board correctly points out, “The self-styled democracy party isn’t behaving democratically. Democrats in Richmond are trying to effectively disenfranchise millions of Virginians by redrawing congressional maps to give themselves 10 of the commonwealth’s 11 House seats – giving Democrats control of 91 percent of House seats in a state where Republicans lost the last presidential election by just six points.”
Former Fairfax Democratic State Senator Chap and former Roanoke Valley Republican Delegate William Fralin have teamed up to lead a bipartisan effort to uphold the anti-gerrymandering constitutional provision adopted by voters by a two-to-one margin in 2020, on the same day President Biden was elected. Virginians can visit nogerrymanderingva.org to learn more about stopping the gerrymander that will reduce the Roanoke Valley’s influence.
Share Your Views & Track Legislation
You can share your views with me by taking the legislative survey at https://tinyurl.com/2026VASurvey, by emailing David@Suetterlein.com, or by calling 540-302-8486. You can read every bill and track votes through the Legislative Information System at https://lis.virginia.gov.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve our Commonwealth.
Senator David Suetterlein represents the Roanoke and New River Valleys in the Virginia Senate. He and his wife, Ashley, live in Roanoke County, where their children attend public schools. David works as a Realtor at MKB, Realtors.
