Virginia Daily — Mar 10, 2026

The General Assembly reconvened this morning with four days left to close a $75 billion budget — and the single biggest obstacle is whether Virginia keeps writing a $1.6 billion annual check to the data center industry. Meanwhile, an assault weapons ban just landed on Gov. Spanberger's desk, and ugly redistricting mailers using Jim Crow–era imagery are turning a sleepy April referendum into a cultural flashpoint. Richmond is running hot this week, and almost none of it is routine.

If you own property in Loudoun County, work for a tech company in Prince William, or just pay a Dominion Energy bill — this fight is about your money.

The House and Senate are deadlocked over the sales-and-use tax exemption on data center equipment — the incentive Virginia created in 2009 to lure the industry here, and that worked almost too well. The exemption now costs the state roughly $1.6 billion a year. The Senate wants it dead by January 1, 2027 — nine years ahead of schedule — and wants to redirect the money into $100-per-person tax rebates this October. The House leadership says keep it.

The industry's best card is a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission finding that roughly 90% of investment by companies using the exemption wouldn't have happened here without it. The Northern Virginia Technology Council went public this week urging lawmakers to pull the repeal, warning it would "introduce uncertainty" and damage Virginia's credibility with investors. The Virginia Chamber piled on with a broader business coalition letter.

The progressives' counterpoint is blunt: the exemption has ballooned from a modest incentive into an automatic subsidy paid by Virginia taxpayers to some of the most profitable corporations on Earth. And those utility bills aren't getting cheaper — data centers consume enormous amounts of power, and ratepayers share the cost of new transmission lines.

The part most people are missing is the rural angle. Sen. Tammy Mulchi (R-Mecklenburg) argues her region needs data centers and the revenue they bring. "It's vital," she said. Meanwhile, JLL projects Texas will overtake Virginia as the world's largest data center market by 2030 — a number that should be sitting on every Loudoun supervisor's desk.

Budget conferees led by House Appropriations Chair Luke Torian (D-Prince William) and Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) need a deal by Friday, March 13, 2026. The session is scheduled to adjourn on Saturday, March 14, 2026.

This is the gun bill Virginia Democrats have been trying to pass for years — and this time it made it through.

The legislation bans the sale, manufacture, and import of assault-style firearms and magazines holding more than 15 rounds after July 1, 2026. Existing owners are grandfathered in and can pass weapons to immediate family members. Republicans were unified in opposition — Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) argued lawmakers should "focus on criminals in our community and not on weapons owned by law-abiding citizens." The bill's chief patron invoked the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, which happened when he was in high school.

The General Assembly passed the measure and it was enrolled and sent to Gov. Spanberger on March 9, 2026. The governor's spokesperson said the governor — "as the mother of three daughters in Virginia public schools and a former federal law enforcement officer who carried a gun every day" — will review all legislation that comes to her desk. That's careful language, not a commitment. If she signs, expect immediate legal challenges and targeted political pressure in swing districts. If she vetoes or amends, she risks alienating the base that elected her. This will be the most politically consequential gun decision by a Virginia governor in years.

A PAC led by former GOP lawmaker A.C. Cordoza sent mailers to Black voters that repurpose Civil Rights–era photos — images of historic marches, with text reading "Our ancestors fought to represent us" — to argue against the April 21 redistricting referendum. Attorney General Jay Jones and civil-rights groups condemned the materials as misleading and offensive. WTOP reported bipartisan criticism from lawmakers.

The timing is what makes this dangerous: early voting for the referendum started March 6 and runs through April 18. A judge's ruling has placed the vote itself on uncertain legal footing — meaning Virginians are casting ballots for an election a court may still be reconsidering. If the referendum gets blocked while early votes are already in, Virginia enters genuinely novel procedural territory. The mailers are pouring accelerant on a fight that was already burning.

Two pieces of legislation that won't make cable news could matter more to ordinary Virginians than the headline fights.

Probation reform (HB 149 and SB 136) passed both the full House and the full Senate and, as of March 10, 2026, head to Gov. Spanberger's desk. The bills let judges end probation early when someone hits rehabilitation milestones — steady employment, completed treatment, clean record — instead of running out a rigid clock. That's a workforce story: shorter supervision terms mean a larger pool of people eligible for stable jobs, and fewer people falling back into prison over technical violations like a missed check-in. A veteran who completed probation and now works for the Virginia Department of Veterans Services called the bills "good news" during hearings.

Balcony solar (SB 250 and HB 395) would legalize small plug-in solar panels for renters — the kind that hang off a balcony railing and push up to 1,200 watts back into your apartment. Landlords with more than four units couldn't ban them outright, though they could set reasonable placement rules. Supporters estimate savings of around $100 a year per household. It's a small number — until you multiply it across every apartment in Fairfax, Arlington, and Richmond. As of March 10, 2026, the House version has passed the House and is on a path to the governor.

Anyone who's looked at the sea of aging office park asphalt by Reston Town Center Metro and thought this could be a neighborhood may get their wish.

Bethesda-based Bernstein Management Corporation has filed plans to resurrect the long-stalled Reston Crossing project: 3.1 million square feet of mixed-use development on roughly 24 acres right on the Silver Line. The rezoning application would replace four 1980s- and 1990s-era office buildings with about 1.48 million square feet of new Class A office space, 1.6 million square feet of multifamily housing, and 31,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Towers up to 425 feet would reshape the skyline next to Halley Rise. Sixteen percent of homes would be set aside as workforce or affordable units.

The county planning staff hasn't formally accepted the application yet. The next tell: when it hits the Planning Commission calendar and how loudly neighboring tenants — including Ellucian and Noblis — weigh in on traffic, parking, and phasing. For the broader region, this is another signal that Northern Virginia's office-to-mixed-use conversion wave is accelerating wherever Metro stations provide the anchor.