Shall-issue with training. No AWB (proposed 2024 vetoed), 15-round mag limit pending 2026. Red-flag law (2020), universal background checks, one-handgun-a-month, training for CCW. Stand-your-ground via case law. Suppressors legal. Preemption weakened 2020.

Recreational cannabis legalized 2021 (HB 2312) - personal possession/cultivation legal but no retail sales market. Automatic sealing of certain cannabis convictions (HB 5148). Naloxone access expanded. No psychedelic reform passed.

State minimum wage $12.77/hr. MIT living wage for 1 adult: $17.36/hr. Ratio 0.74 — minimum-wage workers earn 74% of what's needed to live there alone.

Moderate tax burden, above-average NAEP scores, life expectancy at national average (77.5), strong infrastructure (federal investment), low uninsured rate. Solid outcomes for moderate cost.

IJ grades VA B (HB 5050, 2020 - conviction required for state cases). HB 5108 (2020) modified QI - narrowed good faith defense. Body cam funding via HB 1250. No-knock restrictions (HB 5099, 'Breonna's Law'). VCDPA (2021) consumer privacy. Limited ICE cooperation policy.

No-excuse mail voting since 2020. Early voting 45 days (longest in-person window). Same-day registration since 2022. Non-strict ID (HB 1090 repealed photo ID requirement). Felons disenfranchised; restoration via gubernatorial discretion (Youngkin reversed Northam auto-restoration). Bipartisan commission gridlocked, courts drew maps; low bias. Strong access offset by felon disenfranchisement.

Medicaid expansion adopted 2019. Abortion legal up to ~26 weeks; no recent constitutional protection but legislative protection. Gender-affirming care for minors not banned. Uninsured rate moderate. Strong urban providers; rural Southwest gaps remain.

No qualified immunity reform (failed in 2020-21). Statewide BWC funding but no full mandate. Personnel records limited disclosure. DCJS decertification. SB 5030 banned no-knock warrants (2020/2021). HB 5051 raised use-of-force standard. Chokeholds banned (HB 5069). AG civil pattern-or-practice authority (HB 5072) but local DAs prosecute. Per-capita killings near median.

Abortion legal up to ~26 weeks. Statewide LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination (Virginia Values Act, 2020). Conversion therapy banned. Marriage equality codified. No gender-affirming care ban (Youngkin pushed restrictions but legislature blocked). Republican governor pushing anti-trans school policies but Democratic legislature has blocked major theocratic legislation.

Right-to-work state. No paid family leave (insurance product 2023, not benefit). No statewide paid sick leave (home health workers only). State OSHA plan (VOSH). Prevailing wage restored 2020. Wage theft reform 2020 (private right of action, treble damages). Heat ag rules. Above-median fatal injury rate.