Virginia Farm Bureau is back with your Week 5 General Assembly update!
This week:
• HB1375 (Paraquat ban) gets carried over to 2027, effectively stopping the bill for this session.
• PFAS levels in biosolids take center stage as SB386 proposes thresholds that could amount to a land‑application ban.
• Plus, thank you to the 100+ county leaders who made Legislative Day a huge success!
Stay informed. Stay involved. Agriculture’s voice matters at the Capitol. 
🎥 Week 4 General Assembly Update is here!
This week, we’re updating you on Delegate Clark’s HB 1375, which would ban a critical pesticide used by Virginia farmers. We’re also tracking bills that support our new VFBF policy for a producer‑friendly definition of agrivoltaics.
And we’re gearing up for Legislative Day, when more than 100 Farm Bureau members will meet with legislators to advocate for agriculture’s top priorities, including:
🌱 AgBMPs
🍎 Commodity Checkoffs – Apple & Peanuts
🖥️ Data Centers
🌲 Growing the Agriculture & Forestry Industry
🌿 Invasive Species & Noxious Weeds
👷 Labor
🐄 Large Animal Veterinary Shortage
🥩 Misbranded Labeling of Meat
🧪 Pesticides: Ban on Paraquat
☀️ Solar
🧫 Testing PFAS/PFOA in Biosolids Application
🦌 Wildlife Depredation
Stay connected as we continue advocating for Virginia agriculture.
A quick look at this week’s General Assembly highlights:
Reminder: Legislative Day is Feb. 8–9! Stay safe, stay warm and stay tuned for more updates!
A quick look at this week’s General Assembly highlights: progress on truth-in-meat labeling, mixed outcomes on farmworker wage policies, a win for local invasive‑species control, and a weather‑related shift of Legislative Day to Feb. 8–9. Stay safe, stay warm and stay tuned for more updates!
The 2026 General Assembly session is underway! Virginia Farm Bureau’s Government Relations team is tracking the top issues that matter most to our members, and we’ll be bringing you weekly updates right here. 👉 Tune in each week to stay informed on the top priorities we’re working on for Virginia agriculture.
The General Assembly adjourned, sine die, on Saturday, February 22 after debating nearly 2,500 bills and reaching an agreement on amendments to the biennial budget. Legislators have sent just under 1,000 bills over to the Governor who has 30 days to sign, veto or amend legislation. The House and Senate will reconvene for “veto” session on April 2. There were several challenges legislators faced this year from water outages delaying the start of session, multiple snowstorms, to heavy debates on energy within the Commonwealth. And, now, it’s time for our final session update.
It’s the final stretch of the General Assembly 2025 session! As we enter Week Six the final bills from each chamber will move through committees and conferees will be named to work out the final agreements between each body’s bill versions. As the bill numbers have dwindled down, we have some updates below on those that moved over from the Senate to the House and vice versa.
It’s Week Five of the General Assembly! Session’s “halftime” or Crossover occurred on Tuesday, where fewer than half of the introduced bills survived. The House and Senate chambers also approved their respective budgets this week. Next, each chamber will convene a committee of conference to work out any differences between the two bills. We expect budget conferees to be named by the middle of next week. Watch the video for key developments from this pivotal legislative week.
As the General Assembly enters its final days before Crossover, legislators are rushing to pass bills through their originating chambers. “Budget Sunday” will occur on February 2, where the House and Senate money committees will each release their versions of the budget.
This week, much of our focus is on energy. We continue to stress to our legislators is that our lands are a finite resource. As the Commonwealth works up against the clock to meet the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Virginia Farm Bureau continues to advocate for the siting of solar facilities on existing infrastructure instead of farm- and forestland.
We are filming at the General Assembly today as things are really heating up with only one more week until Crossover. Legislators have until February 4 to get their bills passed through their home chamber, so everyone’s working overtime. A special shout-out to Delegate Webert for letting us use his conference room when there wasn’t enough time to get back to the office to film!
Plows and Politics 