Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger now faces a tough choice: whether or not to veto marquee Democratic legislation after the General Assembly did not accept her changes.

The House of Delegates and state Senate did accept most of Spanberger’s recommendations on Wednesday, but declined to vote on suggestions to major pieces of legislation.

The rejected amendments confirm open disagreement in the new Democratic trifecta after nearly two weeks of signals that there was tension between the General Assembly and governor’s office.

The day after Spanberger’s vetoes and amendments were due, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D–Fairfax) said major changes are usually communicated during the legislative session — not at the end or after.

“I would just say it’s not what we’re accustomed to,” said Surovell. “The normal give and take of the legislative process can occur, as opposed to trying to do everything in a veto session, when it’s take it or leave it.”

Spanberger said the administration’s legislative and policy teams worked with legislators “every day.”

“I can certainly understand, as a former legislator, why you don’t want anybody touching a bill that you’ve passed, but at the end of the day, it’s my name that’s on it,” Spanberger told VPM News at a campaign event on Saturday. “I’m ultimately responsible, and it’s my administration that will be charged with implementing it.”

The legislature also took the extraordinary step of preemptively overriding a potential veto of a bill, after rejecting amendments that Spanberger proposed on conservation easements.

Prescription Drug Affordability Board

Spanberger sought to delay the implementation of a prescription drug affordability board, which would have set upper limits on drug prices, by requiring the legislature to vote on the bill again. She also removed language that would set a “maximum fair price.”

The original bill passed out of the legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support, 36-4 in the State Senate, and 95-4 in the House of Delegates.

As Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) made the motion to table those recommendations, Sen. Mark Peake (R-Lynchburg) remarked on the significance of essentially rejecting the governor’s recommendations,

“That’s a big one,” said from his desk in the Senate.

Containing costs of prescription drugs was a key campaign promise of Spanberger’s. Late last month she signed a bill that regulates pharmaceutical middlemen.

Del. Karrie Delaney (D-Fairfax), who introduced the House version of the bill, said the amendments would have forced the legislation back into negotiations next year anyway.

“If we’re in a position where we’re back with this next year, I’d like to get started right away, and make sure that everyone that has an interest in this comes to the table and is part of that conversation and part of those negotiations,” said Delaney.

Statewide assault weapons ban

Both chambers also declined to accept Spanberger’s suggested changes to the controversial assault weapons ban.

One would have removed the word “fixed,” and another would have changed how the bill would have affected certain hunting rifles.

Sen. Saddam Salim (D–Fairfax), told The Virginian-Pilot that he would accept Spanberger’s amendments, but the Senate passed the amendments by, which meant Spanberger would have to consider the bill lawmakers passed.

Del. Dan Helmer (D–Fairfax), who introduced the House’s version, told VPM News that the change in the lawmakers’ stance on the amendments is because legislating is an ongoing process.

He added that what is important is that there is now a governor willing to sign an assault weapons ban, and that he’s confident the bill will become law.

Retail weed

Virginia lawmakers also brushed aside Spanberger’s rewritten retail cannabis market bill — giving her an ultimatum on the future of recreational weed sales in the commonwealth.

The Democrat-controlled General Assembly’s play forces Spanberger to make a choice: She can sign the bill legislators initially sent to her, veto the long-desired retail market or quietly allow it to become law without her signature after 30 days.

On a nearly party-line vote in March, the Legislature approved a final compromise that starts legal recreational cannabis sales for people 21 and over on Jan. 1, 2027. It calls for allowing up to 350 cannabis shops in Virginia and increasing the possession limit from 1 ounce to 2.5 ounces.

Spanberger’s substitute bill, filed the last day she could take action, proposed limiting the number of retail locations to 200 until at least 2029 and lowered the possession limit to 2 ounces.

However, the governor also recommended sweeping changes to include harsher criminal penalties. The regulatory restructure crossed a red line for Democrats who have worked on the effort for years.

Since July 2021, people 21 and over have been allowed to possess and use cannabis for recreational use without a legal way to buy it. Democrats have tried to set up a marketplace since then, but their efforts were quashed by Republicans.

After vetoes from former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, legislators behind the cannabis market proposal have been waiting for a fellow Democrat to take the governor’s office. They said legalized sales could bring up to $400 million in tax revenue in its first five years.

Spanberger’s press team did not immediately respond when asked if the governor would veto the measure. If she does, Virginia will have to wait at least until 2027’s legislative session for a cannabis market to be greenlit.

State Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D–Petersburg), who carried the Senate’s cannabis market bill, said a veto would be “deeply disappointing.”

“I’ve seen other public comments that speak to the governor’s willingness to continue to work with us, but it lacks clarity as to whether that is right now or if that is later,” Aird told VPM News on Wednesday.

Energy rates and data centers

Legislators accepted some of the governor’s changes to a bill known as the Fair and Affordable Electric Rates and Reliability Act.

That covers utility weatherization programs, Dominion Energy Virginia’s strategic undergrounding program, data center cost allocation and more.

Spanberger moved to generalize language on data center costs.

Rather than outlining two specific methods to shift costs from Dominion customers writ large to data centers and other high-energy demand customers, Spanberger opted for language ordering State Corporation Commission regulators to “take all reasonable measures” in ensuring that data center costs are not passed on to other ratepayers.

Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling (D–Henrico) described it on Wednesday as “a permanent policy that the SCC is to ensure that data center customers have no adverse effects on rates of any other customers.”

That change was accepted, along with two others — Spanberger removed language ordering Dominion to revise its rate structure for large facilities like data centers that build their own power plants. She also added a technical change on possible future fuel ratemaking related to volatile natural gas prices.

All of the governor’s other recommendations on the bill were rejected. Most of them relate to Dominion’s strategic undergrounding program: Spanberger wanted to give state regulators more power to deny projects, citing high costs. The legislature will return its original language on the bill, which allows Dominion to spend slightly more on projects on a per-mile basis, but slightly reduces the allowable impact to electric bills overall.

Spanberger’s amendment ordering state regulators to reduce Dominion’s profit margin from its current level was removed.

Lawmakers accepted the governor’s veto of a bill that would set up a recycling program for mattresses, in an effort to make space in landfills and reutilize materials. That measure also included an additional charge on mattress sales in the state — Spanberger cited that new cost as the reason for her veto.

And slight edits to a slew of bills were accepted, including a measure paving the way for Virginians to use small, “balcony” solar panels.

Public sector collective bargaining (unions)

Lawmakers on Wednesday also rejected Spanberger’s substitute collective bargaining legislation. Now, the governor will have to veto the entire measure or accept the original language.

Spanberger suggested removed port authority workers and didn’t add in any additional workers — despite calls toadd in university faculty and graduate students.

Speaker of the House Don Scott and Sen. Louise Lucas (D–Portsmouth), the chair of Senate finance, both signalled Wednesday morning that they would reject the amendments.

“We with them. They know it,” said Scott of union members. “They know where we stand.”The governor also delayed implementation of collective bargaining rights for many public sector workers until 2030, and removed language spelling out what workers could negotiate: things like wages and working conditions.

Under Spanberger’s version, the scope of bargaining would have been left up to a regulatory board with members appointed by the governor.

In a call with reporters last Friday, Katie Baker, a spokesperson for the Virginia Public Sector Labor coalition, said the revisions would have weakened ” the ability of workers to negotiate meaningful contracts.”

Copyright 2026 VPM