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Prince William officials outline 2026 legislative agenda focusing on housing, transportation and data-center rules
Summary
County staff and Richmond delegates on Dec. 3 reviewed Prince William County’s 2026 legislative agenda, emphasizing bills on housing authority changes, transportation safety and permitting, and measures to limit data-center impacts on utility rates and infrastructure.
County and school leaders joined members of the Northern Virginia delegation on Wednesday for the annual Prince William County legislative breakfast to preview priorities for the 2026 General Assembly.
Glenn, a county legislative staffer, presented the county’s legislative agenda, saying the package will include four transportation bills addressing truck parking on interstate corridors, highway abandonment language, and a measure to streamline regulatory approvals for pedestrian and bicycle facilities. The agenda also seeks statutory authority to provide emergency housing financial assistance and to give the county broader tools for designing affordable-housing policies, staff said.
The county plans to request a statutory review of the redevelopment and housing-authority statute "for the first time in 20 years," staff added, and to pursue funding for affordable-housing trust funds and child-advocacy centers. On public safety, the county requested changes to noise-code provisions and new civil penalties for noise violations, new policies for unmanned aircraft systems and permission to hire retired law-enforcement officers to help staffing needs.
Sen. Roe and other delegation members said several items can be advanced as code changes that do not carry a direct fiscal impact, while other priorities will require appropriations or budget amendments. Roe cautioned senators face a bill cap and will prioritize items that either have patrons or little fiscal impact; she offered to search for patrons for legislative fixes that are purely code changes.
Delegation members and county staff also discussed data centers. Sen. Roe raised both energy and fiscal concerns, proposing removal of the state sales-tax exemption for data centers as a potential revenue source; she cited a FY23 figure of roughly $920 million in state sales-tax exemptions tied to data centers. County staff said they will monitor or support legislation to protect utility ratepayers from infrastructure costs driven by high-usage industries.
Why it matters: the county’s package groups transportation, housing, public safety and environmental items under a single legislative agenda shaped by the county strategic plan. With the General Assembly facing significant budget pressure, county and school officials said they will prioritize items that are feasible to fund or that can be achieved through code changes.
Next steps: delegates said pre-filing materials will be released days before the session convenes Jan. 14; county staff and delegates agreed to continue coordination on patrons, budget numbers and draft language as the session approaches.
