So many bills, so little time: Work shifts to Spanberger (copy) (copy)
More than 750 bills and resolutions adopted by the General Assembly this year have landed on Gov. Abigail Spanberger's desk, with about 400 yet to arrive for the governor's review and action in just over two weeks.
Some of the most consequential legislation adopted in the 60-day assembly session has yet to be formally delivered to the governor's office for Spanberger's signature, recommended amendments or vetoes, as the laborious work of governance has shifted from the legislative to the executive branch with a looming deadline for action by midnight on April 13.
In the final days of the session, before the assembly adjourned on March 14, the legislature adopted compromises on major policy proposals, including the establishment of a legal marketplace for recreational cannabis, paid family medical leave, controls on federal immigration enforcement, regulation of skill games, a potential casino in Fairfax County, electric utility regulation and the cost of serving energy-hungry data centers.
"I feel like we're trying to push a lot of water through a straw," said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, in an interview Friday.
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The increasing complexity and volume of legislation handled by the assembly — with more than 3,600 bills and resolutions introduced — prompted legislative leaders to contract with the National Conference of State Legislatures last year to study the General Assembly's rules, processes and deadlines to recommend ways to improve them.
A five-person study team monitored the legislative session this year and sent questionnaires to legislators and staff. Team members also met with staff at the Division of Legislative Services, which drafts legislation; the Division of Automated Legislative Systems, which operates the critical information technology to run assembly operations; and the House Appropriations and Senate Finance & Appropriations committees, which produce the budget.
"The money committees are slammed," said Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaar, who has worked in the Senate for more than 50 years, including more than 30 as clerk.
Schaar said the assembly underwent a similar review about 20 years ago and implemented some changes to improve operations. She hopes to receive recommendations from the new study by July.
"The process is broken," she said. "The volume of work and the time to do it."
The process is also new for Spanberger, who has served just 10 weeks of her four-year term. Her legislative experience is federal after three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, which operates at a much different pace with less legislation and more time to consider it.
The House Clerk's Office has enrolled and delivered 757 bills to the governor's office to review, but it's still waiting on 396 bills that House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, and Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, must sign before they can be communicated officially to the governor. Some of the bills that haven't gone to the governor yet are part of her "affordability agenda" for reducing the cost of living in housing, health care, energy and other priorities.
"Governor Spanberger has been reviewing more than 1,100 bills that the General Assembly passed this year — going through them one by one, and line by line," Press Secretary Jack Bledsoe said in a statement Friday.
"She expects to sign the entire Affordable Virginia Agenda into law, addressing the high cost of housing, healthcare, and energy," Bledsoe said. "She will also continue to focus on growing Virginia’s economy, strengthening Virginia’s schools, and keeping Virginia’s communities safe as she carefully considers all legislation on her desk.”
Surovell said the governor shouldn't need the physical legislation, as enrolled by the House clerk's office, to begin reviewing them because the adopted texts are available online.
"I don't know why the governor needs to wait for the official communication," he said.
Spanberger won't have to review every line of the proposed two-year state budget because the assembly hasn't adopted one yet. The House and Senate budgets are more than $1 billion apart because of a fight over the Senate's proposal to repeal the sales and use tax exemption on computer equipment for data centers, which the governor and House both oppose.
The General Assembly will return to Richmond on April 22 to consider her proposed amendments and vetoes. It will remain in town for a special session April 23 to consider a proposed budget compromise, if there is one.
Regardless, the current two-year budget will expire June 30. That's a deadline the state can't miss.
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Michael Martz (804) 649-6964
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Gov. Spanberger addresses a joint session of the General Assembly on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026.
