The 2026 session halfway mark: Retail marijuana and minimum wage increase survive, ‘right-to-work’ repeal fails – Cardinal News
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Cardinal News
Serving Southwest and Southside Virginia
In marathon floor sessions, bills to legalize retail marijuana sales, increase the minimum wage and establish paid family medical leave were among those passed by their chamber of origin during crossover week at the Virginia General Assembly.
The legislature has reached its midpoint in the 2026 session — the culling point for hundreds of pieces of legislation as hundreds of others take a trip down the hall to the opposite chamber in the next step toward passage.
Efforts to repeal the state’s so-called “right-to-work” law have failed; that law prohibits employers from requiring employees to join or pay dues to a union. Two bills that would have created new, higher tax brackets for upper-income Virginians were merged and then pushed off to the 2027 session.
Bills regarding Virginia Military Institute’s governance and funding were amended down and passed by the House of Delegates. And a bill to establish a study to explore a repeal of the car tax passed the House, but its future in the Senate is uncertain after its companion bill failed.
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The last day for lawmakers to take action on bills in their chamber of origin was Tuesday; any bill left in committee by the end of the day Tuesday was effectively dead.
Coming Thursday: a roundup of key bills and where they stand after crossover.
Bills that made it through the first gauntlet will be sent to committee in the second chamber. Bills will be considered “passed” by the General Assembly if they make it out of their second chamber committee assignments and survive a floor vote. Then, it’s on to the desk of Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who can sign, veto or opt not to act on legislation. If she doesn’t act on a bill, it will become law after 30 days.
A bill to increase the minimum wage in Virginia to $15 per hour by January 2028 passed the House on a party-line 64-34 vote, while its companion passed in the state Senate 20-19 on Monday.
The bills will now head to the opposite chamber for a vote.
If they are passed, the commonwealth’s minimum wage will increase to $12.77 per hour in January 2026, to $13.75 per hour in January 2027, and to $15 per hour in January 2028. The bills call for the minimum wage to be adjusted annually to reflect increases in the consumer price index after January 2029.
Spanberger on Monday pledged to sign the legislation, should it reach her desk.
“Every Virginian who works full time deserves the financial stability to support their families, plan for the future, and continue building a life here in the Commonwealth. But Virginians’ wages have not kept up with rising costs,” Spanberger said in a statement. “I look forward to signing this legislation into law to give Virginia workers a pay raise, and I’m grateful to the members of the General Assembly who have made stronger wages for working Virginians a priority.”
A similar bill passed the General Assembly in 2025 but was vetoed by then-Gov. Glenn Younkin, a Republican.
A bill to create a paid family medical leave program passed on party lines in the Senate in a 21-19 vote and the House in a 62-34 vote Tuesday. Both bills will head to the opposite chamber to be voted on.
A related paid family medical leave bill had passed the General Assembly in 2025, but Youngkin vetoed the legislation.
Republicans took issue with the cost of the program, which they said will come in the form of a tax to employers and employees. The cost of the program is estimated to be roughly $1.4 billion annually, with a startup cost of roughly $116.5 million across fiscal years 2027 and 2028.
“I believe that employees should have that money in their pocket,” Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle of Hanover County said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
Democrats have said the bill is necessary to support employees who must take time off work to care for a loved one. The bill would allow Virginians 12 weeks of paid time off for employees to take care of a newborn or an ill family member.
“There is a cost to an employee if the employee needs to stay home to care for a newborn, a sick child, or a sick parent,” Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington County, said. “It is a much smaller cost than if somebody has to pay for child care or home health care because they can’t be there themselves.”
A pair of bills to establish a retail framework for recreational sales of cannabis products passed their respective chambers on Tuesday with a number of differences.
A bill by Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, passed the state Senate on a 21-19 party-line vote. Her bill would allow licensed cannabis retail stores to begin selling recreational marijuana in January 2027.
A bill by Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax County, passed the House in a 65-32 vote. His bill would allow licensed cannabis retail stores to begin selling recreational marijuana in November 2026.
Krizek’s bill taxes retail sales of recreational marijuana at 15% and requires a one-time conversion fee of $5 million for retailers to transition from medical to recreational sales. Aird’s bill offers a higher tax at 17% and a $15 million conversion fee, among other differences. The two bills will be sent to conference committee to hammer out their differences if each chamber insists on their version.
Both bills cap the number of retail cannabis stores across the state at 350 locations and limit the amount of cannabis sold in a single transaction to one person to 2.5 ounces.
A similar bill, to establish a retail framework for cannabis, passed the General Assembly in 2025 but was vetoed by Youngkin.
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Elizabeth Beyer is our Richmond-based state politics and government reporter. More by Elizabeth Beyer 
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