• Legalization of marijuana (sort of)
• Repeal of the death penalty
• Regulations governing “domestic workers”
• Green energy mandates relating to vehicles

• Individuals over the age of sixteen are prohibited from intentionally releasing or discarding balloons. The penalty for violation is $25 per balloon (coincidentally this is the same financial penalty Virginians will now pay for possessing between one and sixteen ounces of marijuana).
• Bicyclists can ride two abreast on roadways.
• Motor vehicles must change lanes when passing cyclists (provided the lane is not wide enough to allow three feet between the vehicle and the cyclist).
• Middle and high school students are allowed one excused absence per year to “engage in a civic event,” i.e., a protest, campaign activity, etc.
• All individuals (with exceptions for law enforcement and security) are banned from carrying firearms within forty feet of a polling location. The ban extends one hour prior to the opening of the poll and one hour after the poll’s closure.
• Carrying a firearm in the Capitol Building, within Capitol Square and the surrounding area, or any state-owned building or building where state employees regularly work is now a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• All state and local government buildings must add electric vehicle charging materials and tracking technology to monitor energy efficiency and carbon emissions. Local governments are given the authority to enact even stricter requirements. 
• State health insurance plans will now cover abortion.
• School boards can declare non-school zone properties that the school board owns or leases as gun-free zones.
• Keeping a pet box turtle is now illegal due to new regulations promulgated by the Department of Wildlife Resources. Keeping more than one native reptile or amphibian as a pet is also now prohibited. If you currently have a pet box turtle and/or several native amphibians, you’ll soon need to register them with the state. (So the Commonwealth has time to establish a pet turtle registry this summer, but is unable to assist with unemployment claims until October 2025? Interesting priorities in this Democratic administration.)

• The gas tax increased by five cents per gallon today. As a reminder, the gas tax also increased by five cents in 2020. In 2022, the tax increase will be indexed to inflation.
• Cigarette taxes doubled, increasing to sixty cents per pack.
• Worried you aren’t paying enough in taxes? Fear not, the General Assembly has convened a Joint Subcommittee on Tax Policy to evaluate the Commonwealth’s tax brackets, rates, credits, deductions, and exemptions. The subcommittee aspires to “mak[e] Virginia's individual income tax system more fair and equitable.”

• a lack of transparency in our budget process (ranked as below the U.S. average)
• underfunded state employee pensions (also ranked below the U.S. average)
• only 1/3 of Virginia’s eighth graders are proficient in reading