2025 General Assembly Session

Everyone should be able to decide whether and when to have a child. Virginians – and people in neighboring states where reproductive rights are limited or even banned – need contraceptives and abortion care to remain legal and accessible in the Commonwealth.  

As the last state in the South without an abortion ban, Virginia is a reproductive safe haven. The legislation below is key to making sure we stay that way. 

Bills to watch:

• HJ1/SJ247 – This amendment to the Virginia Constitution would enshrine a fundamental right of all Virginians to make their own reproductive health care decisions, and it would protect patients and providers from criminalization for seeking or providing care. 
• The Virginia Reproductive & Gender-Affirming Health Care Protection Act: This bill would safeguard access to health care within the Commonwealth by restricting out-of-state subpoenas, demands for extradition, warrants, or criminal investigations related to the lawful provision or receipt of health care in Virginia.

The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy. Yet Virginia is one of only three states that automatically bans anyone convicted of a felony from voting for the rest of their lives. And Virginia is the only state that requires people who lose their voting rights to individually petition the governor to get them back.  

Virginians should pick their leaders – but too often, Virginia’s leaders get to pick their voters. To fix that, we need the legislation below. 

Bills to watch:

• HJ2/SJ248 – This amendment to the Virginia Constitution would end permanent disenfranchisement of every Virginian convicted of a felony whose voting rights the governor hasn’t individually restored. It would also ensure no person loses their voting rights on the basis of mental incapacity unless a court makes a proper individualized finding, as required by the United States Constitution. 
• SB 765 – This bill requires a court to make a finding of mental incompetence by clear and convincing evidence that the person is unable to communicate, with or without accommodations, an interest in participating in the voting process.

Everyone has the right to live their lives free from discrimination and harassment – regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Supreme Court’s 2015 landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges means that Virginia’s 2006 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage can’t stop same-sex couples from marrying today. But if new members of the Court decided to overturn Obergefell, then the Virginia ban would go back into effect. 

We can’t let that happen. That’s why it’s so crucial that we pass a new amendment getting this outdated ban off the books. 

Bills to watch:

• HJ9/SJ249: This amendment to the Virginia Constitution would guarantee that the Commonwealth recognizes any lawful marriage between two adults, irrespective of sex, gender, or race. 

In recent years we’ve worked with grassroots partners like Sistas in Prison Reform, Nolef Turns, and the Humanization Project to advocate for smart sentencing policies that would save taxpayers millions while investing in victim services and re-entry. We’re also advocating to reform the front-end of the criminal legal system, where pre-trial detention has ballooned Virginia’s local jail population. People who haven’t been convicted of a crime have fundamental rights to due process and attorney representation, and we’re fighting alongside partners make sure those rights are fully realized in the Commonwealth. 

We also successfully pushed for a new independent oversight office to watchdog conditions at Virginia’s Department of Corrections facilities, and this year we’ll defend the progress we’ve made. 

People who are immigrants often face dire consequences and are denied their fundamental rights if they come into contact with law enforcement, because many local police departments coordinate with federal agencies. Even without being accused of a crime, people can be held in immigration detention facilities in conditions identical to prisons. And instead of being released to their families and communities after an arrest, they're often transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention and fast-tracked for deportation. 

We have a long way to go, and small changes won’t cut it. We’re ready to defend immigrants in Virginia this legislative session, especially when it comes to abusive and dangerous conditions at immigration detention centers, and the jail-to-deportation pipeline in Virginia. 

That’s why we’re working to protect Virginians against mass surveillance, including by law enforcement using automated license plate readers to collect data on every car that drives by. Dragnet surveillance on our communities is a system rife for abuse, and just like any other mass surveillance, police should have to seek a warrant for data to invade Virginians’ privacy.  
 
But we won't just be vigilant against efforts to infringe on the privacy of people in Virginia: we’re also vigilant about protecting Virginians’ right to free speech. This session, we’ll stand up for the right to protest and dissent, and we’ll oppose any bills that further censor books or ban the teaching of accurate, inclusive history in our schools.