Case File · Commonwealth of Virginia · 2026 General Assembly
HB 155. HB 503. And several more still simmering.
Virginia's 2026 General Assembly session opened with multiple data-center reform bills in motion. Del. Thomas HB 155 and Del. McAuliff HB 503 are the marquee vehicles, advancing alongside PJM and Dominion-energy-focused bills. JLARC's December 9, 2024 finding that localities have lost authority over data-center regulation is the frame.
Virginia Mercury called 2025 "a case study in stalling legislation." 2026 is where the stall either breaks — or breaks the industry's favorable status quo.
Scope
Commonwealth of Virginia
Statewide legislation
Anchor Report
JLARC Dec 9, 2024
Locality authority finding
Session
Virginia 2026 GA
Active as of Jan 2026
Bills in the cited record
5+ data-center bills
Tax, energy, authority
RealClear Analysis
Virginia's 2026 session is a cumulative risk event.
No single 2026 bill captures the reform agenda. That is the point. Developers tracking only HB 155 miss HB 503. Developers tracking only tax miss the PJM and Dominion-energy bills. Developers tracking only statewide bills miss the parallel county-level ordinances that legislative attention enables. The real underwriting question is: after this session, does Virginia feel like the same data-center market?
The JLARC report is the debate's shared vocabulary
Every serious 2026 reform argument cites JLARC. Operators who comment on bills using JLARC terminology are read as credible; those who don't aren't. Aligning legislative testimony to the JLARC finding is a minimum bar.
Energy bills are the back-channel reform path
Tax and zoning bills draw headlines. PJM / Dominion-energy bills reshape the actual economics of data-center load. Operators who miss the energy-adjacent bills are optimizing the wrong risk.
Legislative attention licenses local tightening
Even when 2026 bills stall, counties interpret the attention as license to pass their own ordinances. Loudoun, Prince William, Shenandoah, Culpeper — each local story is reinforced by what happens in Richmond.
State Legislative Analysis
Virginia 2026 General Assembly
Data-center tax, energy, and locality-authority bills
Material Legislative Exposure
- Del. Thomas HB 155 — data-center reform bill advancing
- Del. McAuliff HB 503 — data-center reform bill advancing
- Multiple PJM / Dominion-energy-focused bills in motion
- JLARC finding: localities losing authority on data-center regulation
- Virginia Mercury framed 2025 session as 'a case study in stalling'
Session
Virginia 2026 GA
ACTIVEMarquee Bill
Del. Thomas HB 155
ADVANCINGCompanion Bill
Del. McAuliff HB 503
ADVANCINGSource
JLARC / VPM / Va. Mercury
TRACKEDCase Timeline · 2024-2026
From JLARC report to active 2026 reform docket.
The reform narrative starts with data. The reform activity compounds each session.
December 9, 2024
Virginia JLARC publishes data-center report
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) publishes its comprehensive report on Virginia's data-center industry — covering tax-benefit cost, energy and water demand tradeoffs, and the finding that localities have lost authority over aspects of data-center regulation. This report becomes the single most-cited document in the 2025-2026 Virginia reform wave.
2025 Session
VA 2025 session: 'case study in stalling legislation'
Virginia Mercury characterized the 2025 Virginia legislative session on data centers as 'a case study in stalling legislation' (Oct. 6, 2025). Multiple reform bills introduced in 2025 failed to advance to enactment, setting up the 2026 session as the moment reformers see their opening.
January 16, 2026
VPM News documents 2026 session bills in motion
Per VPM News (Jan. 16, 2026), the 2026 Virginia General Assembly session has multiple live data-center bills in motion: Del. Thomas HB 155, Del. McAuliff HB 503, plus multiple PJM / Dominion-energy-focused bills that intersect with data-center load growth. The reform docket is broader than any single prior session.
2026 Session
Five-plus reform bills simmering across tax, energy, locality authority
The 2026 reform wave spans multiple policy axes: sales-tax exemption reform, energy-demand attribution and cost-allocation, locality-authority restoration, and environmental review standards. No single bill captures the full reform agenda — which means data-center developers tracking only one bill are underestimating the exposure.
Forward
2026-2027 outcome: higher-friction framework expected
Even if no single reform bill becomes law, the cumulative effect of the 2026 session's activity is a higher-friction framework. Localities read legislative attention as license to tighten local ordinances. Utility rate cases incorporate the debate into filings. Developers face a slower, more contested entitlement environment regardless of which specific bill advances.
Who Is Driving The Docket
Six actors. One reform session.
Del. Thomas
Member, Virginia House of Delegates
Patron of HB 155 (2026)
Documented Record
Sponsored HB 155 in the Virginia 2026 General Assembly session as one of the leading data-center reform vehicles, per VPM News reporting on January 16, 2026.
HB 155 is one of two marquee 2026 reform bills. The specific provisions of the bill evolve through committee substitute — operators tracking the bill should read each substitute, not the introduced version.
Del. McAuliff
Member, Virginia House of Delegates
Patron of HB 503 (2026)
Documented Record
Sponsored HB 503 in the Virginia 2026 General Assembly session. Per VPM News, HB 503 advances alongside Thomas HB 155 as part of the broader reform docket.
HB 503 is the second marquee vehicle — paired with HB 155 as the visible public face of the reform push. The pairing matters because it signals reform isn't carried by a single delegate but by a caucus.
Virginia JLARC
Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission
Virginia General Assembly
Documented Record
Published the December 9, 2024 data-center report finding that Virginia localities have lost authority over aspects of data-center regulation and documenting tax-benefit cost. The report anchors the reform debate through 2026.
JLARC reports are the currency of Virginia legislative debate. The 2024 report isn't a single document — it is a framework every delegate references. Aligning comments to its findings is the highest-leverage drafting input for operators.
Dominion Energy
Virginia's dominant investor-owned utility
Statewide VA
Documented Record
Dominion Energy is the central utility counterparty for data-center load growth in Virginia. Multiple PJM / Dominion-focused bills in the 2026 session would reshape how data-center load costs are allocated.
Dominion's lobbying stance on each 2026 bill is the single best predictor of whether the bill advances. Developers who track Dominion testimony — not just delegate positioning — see the real legislative outcome earlier.
PJM Interconnection
Regional transmission organization
PJM footprint, including Virginia
Documented Record
PJM's interconnection queue, capacity-market outcomes, and load-forecast methodology are referenced in multiple 2026 Virginia bills. PJM is a counterparty to data-center interconnection across the Virginia footprint.
The Virginia 2026 data-center debate cannot be separated from PJM market reform. Bills that target data-center tax or zoning still have to navigate the PJM-level capacity and interconnection framework.
Virginia Mercury (Coverage)
Statewide independent news outlet
Statewide VA
Documented Record
Published the October 6, 2025 piece characterizing the 2025 Virginia data-center legislative session as 'a case study in stalling legislation' — a framing carried into 2026 reform advocacy.
Virginia Mercury's framing has stuck in delegate discourse. Operators watching for the median delegate's view of the data-center debate should read the Mercury coverage the way lobbyists do — as a scorecard.
RealClear
Track every state-level bill that reshapes your market.
For submitted markets, RealClear checks state legislatures, JLARC-style reports, and local ordinance activity from source-backed records — so operators see the cumulative reform picture before it hardens into the new baseline.
Request a site memoIntegrity Note
This file summarizes Virginia 2026 General Assembly data-center bill activity reported by VPM News (January 16, 2026), Virginia Mercury (October 6, 2025), and Virginia JLARC (December 9, 2024). Bill numbers and patron names are drawn from the VPM tracker; specific bill text, committee substitutes, floor amendments, and final disposition should be verified on LIS.virginia.gov before underwriting on any single bill outcome. This page is not legal advice; Research summaries may contain errors; verify independently before making investment decisions.