What’s happening: The 2026 General Assembly session kicked off on Wednesday, January 14 in earnest! As of this writing, over 1,700 bills have been introduced.

• The VHCA-VCAL team is reviewing legislation, actively engaging with legislators, developing our positions on bills, drafting amendments, and monitoring committee meetings.
• Legislators have introduced bills on an extensive range of topics affecting members and how you care for residents every day. Topics range from reimbursement and the Medicaid Value Based-Purchasing program, to nursing home staffing, to cannabis use, to oversight and reporting by LTC providers, and much more.

How you can help: Thank you in advance for responding quickly when we reach out to you for input on how a bill might affect long term care. Your input helps us craft positions, and if necessary, amendments. Additionally, you can help VHCA-VCAL’s lobbying and advocacy efforts by:

1. Making sure you’re signed up for the Legislative Conference and have plans to meet with your legislators while you are in Richmond.
2. Liking and sharing our social media posts on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn about the high quality care you provide to residents.

Situational awareness: 2026 is a 60-day legislative session during which legislators will approve a new state budget for fiscal years 2027-2028.

• Democrats control both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate. There will be nearly 20 new legislators across both chambers based on the fall House elections and the resignation of some legislators like Sen. Ghazala Hashmi who will be come lieutenant governor and others who are joining the Spanberger Administration.
• With a new 64-36 majority in the House, Democrats will hold a 15-7 majority on committees.
• Legislators have until January 23 to introduce legislation. We will continue to review bills on a rolling basis.

Trust the process: Advocacy is VHCA-VCAL’s business. Our internal team has a combined 88 years of experience in advocating before the General Assembly plus an additional 75 years by our lobbying counsel.

• An introduced bill may look nothing like what is ultimately passed, if a bill even survives the committee process and makes it to floor vote.
• We are experts and the ins-and-outs of the legislative and state budget process and focused on policy wins for members and the residents you care for.

Stay tuned: We will provide an update on the legislation and session activities during the Legislative Conference on January 28-29 at the Omni Richmond.

• Register by January 21.