The Arlington County Board is seeking legislation that would give localities the power to limit annual increases in apartment rents.
Board members added language to their 2026 General Assembly priorities package on Saturday, seeking the ability to add “anti-rent-gouging protections.” The decision generated applause from supporters who argued that the decision could promote affordability, and criticism from opponents concerned about hindering free market solutions.
State Sen. Adam Ebbin has promised Arlington leaders that he will push to bring home more transit funding from the 2026 General Assembly session.
“That’ll probably be the most intense of the things I’m working on,” Ebbin (D-39) said during a Nov. 13 work session between County Board members and the community’s legislative delegation.
Arlington officials are asking state legislators to fill financial gaps left by the federal government’s reduction in support for local counterterrorism initiatives.
The D.C. region stands to lose about $20 million in funding — 60% of which is devoted to Northern Virginia — as the Trump administration makes changes to the Urban Areas Security Initiative.
Some Falls Church leaders are expressing concern over a possible General Assembly measure that would take away local power to regulate parking in development projects.
Such a measure could be introduced by Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37), who represents the city in the upper house of the legislature. The topic was among the key points discussed at the Nov. 7 meeting of the City Council’s legislative committee.
While supportive of redrawing congressional boundaries, one of Arlington’s state legislators isn’t convinced that it will guarantee her party more seats in the House of Representatives next year.
“This is sort of a risky business,” Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40) said at a community roundtable yesterday (Thursday). “It could go either way. It is not a magic bullet.”
With election season in the rear-view mirror, Arlington’s civic and political leaders are again turning to potential changes in the county’s form of governance.
But while several local organizations have given the concept their blessing, a key state legislator who supported efforts in the 2025 legislative session has said she wants to hold off in 2026.
Virginia’s Democratic-led General Assembly advanced a proposed constitutional amendment on Friday that could pave the way for redistricting in the state ahead of the 2026 congressional elections. That measure still needs another round of legislative approval early next year before it can go to voters.
The proposed constitutional amendment would let lawmakers temporarily bypass a bipartisan commission and redraw congressional districts to their advantage. The Senate’s approval Friday followed House approval Wednesday.
The 2026 General Assembly session could bring another political tug-of-war between some County Board members and a state legislator representing the local community.
The past two years saw debate over the appropriate sequence of events in tackling any major change to Arlington’s governance structure.
The Arlington School Board is once again seeking state authorization to administer standardized tests in languages other than English.
The School Board’s 2026 General Assembly legislative package, which went to a vote yesterday (Thursday), carries over the Board’s request from the 2025 legislative session.
There’s only one candidate running unopposed in Arlington this fall. But that doesn’t mean Del. Alfonso Lopez is taking election season off.
Lopez (D-3) is raising funds and rallying the troops in hopes Democrats will be “picking up tons of seats” in the House of Delegates.
Both Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Virginia’s Democrat-majority legislature are claiming credit for this year’s round of tax rebates, but they’re casting them in very different lights.
The rebates, worth up to $200 for individuals and $400 for couples who filed jointly in 2024, will go out to most households by Oct. 15. A message on the checks names both the 2025 General Assembly, which approved the budget, and Youngkin, who signed it into law.
Arlington’s Housing Commission is seeking more local leeway in addressing affordable housing and new formulas for determining the number of affordable units in new projects.
Commission Chair Kellen MacBeth included these recommendations in a letter to the County Board following a review of policies by the Affordable Housing Ordinance working group established earlier this year. County leaders are currently developing legislative priorities for the 2026 General Assembly session.
