Reference
Virginia hospitality bill tracker
82 bills from the 2026 session that reach a restaurant, bar, brewery, distillery, hotel or licensed retailer. Sort it, filter it, and follow any row through to our coverage.
82 tracked43 enacted4 vetoed28 failed7 carried over15 high impact
| What it does | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HB 1Ward | Labor | Minimum wage; increases incrementally to $15.00 per hour by January 1, 2028.The largest cost item on this page. $13.75 in January 2027, $15.00 in January 2028, then indexed. Model against $15.00 now, not in 2027.minimum wagelabor costSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 350January 1, 2027 and January 1, 2028 | High |
| HB 5Convirs-Fowler | Labor | Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.Paid sick leave, with civil penalties. One hour per 30 worked, 40-hour annual cap, accruing from the first day and carried over. On a high-turnover, high-headcount workforce this is the largest cost item on the horizon.paid sick leaveDOLIlabor costSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 1128July 1, 2027 | High |
| HB 20McClure | Labor | Minimum wage; farm laborers or farm employees, temporary foreign workers.Farm labour wages reach vineyards, orchards and farm wineries.farm laboragritourism | EnactedChapter 357 | Medium |
| HB 30Torian | Tax | Budget Bill.The budget bill, and the most consequential row on this page. It carried the 2mg THC cap on retail hemp products, repealed the 25:1 CBD ratio alternative, and extended the additional 1% local sales tax authority to every county and city. Two entirely separate hospitality stories inside one bill titled "Budget Bill."budgethempTHCsales taxVirginia's hemp rules just changed twice: a 2mg THC cap, and a new regulatorFairfax County started charging a meals tax in January. Arlington and Roanoke went up in July. | EnactedChapter 1August 15, 2026 (hemp cap); July 1, 2026 (local sales tax authority) | High |
| HB 238Lopez | Labor | Minimum wage and overtime wages; payment, of wages, misclassification of workers, civil actions.The wage bill that added tips to the statutory definition of wages and kept treble damages for a knowing violation. It also created the 14-day cure window, which is the most actionable thing in this session for a restaurant.wage theftovertimemisclassificationDOLISix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 1040July 1, 2026 | High |
| HB 308Hope | ABC | Va. ABC Authority; permitting of retail tobacco product retailers, etc.Puts every retailer selling a nicotine product, restaurants and bars included, under an ABC permit. The companion to SB 620.retail tobacco permitnicotineVirginia ABCEvery bar and restaurant selling vapes needs an ABC tobacco permit by October 1 | EnactedChapter 1044October 1, 2026 | High |
| HB 360Cole, J.G. | Cannabis & hemp | Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices, kratom products.Kratom sales become a Consumer Protection Act matter. If you stock it behind the counter, this is your bill.kratomconsumer protection | EnactedChapter 595July 1, 2026 | Medium |
| HB 373Martinez | Restaurant | Restaurants; food allergy awareness notice required.A required food allergy awareness notice. A posting obligation with a low cost and an easy citation if missed.food allergysignage | EnactedChapter 124July 1, 2026 | Medium |
| HB 380Bennett-Parker | Restaurant | Celiac disease; training materials for restaurant personnel.Training materials on celiac disease for restaurant personnel.celiactraining | EnactedChapter 126 | Low |
| HB 384Bennett-Parker | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; advertising materials, purchase and display of barrels.Purchase and display of branded barrels. Failed in the House; the Senate version was carried over.advertising | Failed | Low |
| HB 385Bennett-Parker | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; operation of government stores, tastings.Tastings in ABC stores. Relevant to distillers and importers, not to retail operators.tastingsgovernment stores | EnactedChapter 128 | Low |
| HB 442Mehta | Cannabis & hemp | Kratom; Virginia State Crime Commission to conduct an analysis of enforcement & regulation, report.A Crime Commission study of kratom enforcement. Failed in the House.kratomstudy | Failed | Low |
| HB 524McClure | Tourism | Tourism improvement districts; transient occupancy tax in Arlington County.Tourism improvement districts and the transient occupancy tax in Arlington. Lodging operators there will be assessed.transient occupancyArlington | EnactedChapter 162 | Medium |
| HB 550Anderson | Tourism | Admissions tax in counties; retail sales and use tax dedicated to promotion of tourism.Admissions tax in counties, with sales and use tax dedicated to tourism promotion. Watch which localities take it up.admissions taxtourism funding | EnactedChapter 167 | Medium |
| HB 627Herring | Labor | Covenants not to compete; includes health care professionals, civil penalty.Extends the non-compete ban to health care professionals. Not a hospitality bill, but it signals the direction of travel.non-competehealth care | EnactedChapter 1113 | Low |
| HB 636Maldonado | Labor | Prospective employer; prohibited from seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees.Bars an employer from seeking an applicant's wage or salary history. Your application form and your screening questions both have to change.pay transparencyhiringSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 1063July 1, 2026 | Medium |
| HB 642Krizek | Cannabis & hemp | Cannabis control; establishes framework for creation of retail marijuana market, penalties, report.The retail marijuana framework. Passed both chambers and was vetoed. Until something like it becomes law, the adult-use retail market has no statutory structure.retail marijuanaveto | Vetoed | High |
| HB 695Hayes | Restaurant | Restaurants; sodium warning label required, civil penalty.A sodium warning label with a civil penalty. Failed this year; the model is spreading in other states, so expect it back.sodiumlabeling | Failed | Medium |
| HB 699Zehr | Restaurant | Food establishment inspection exemptions; private homes and farms.Would have widened inspection exemptions for private homes and farms. Failed.inspectionscottage food | Failed | Low |
| HB 707Hayes | Other | State government; transaction of public business, prohibited website domains.Continued to the next session in General Laws and Technology on a 15-0 vote. We originally reported it as passed and corrected that. Expect it back.public businessprocedureWhat the 2026 General Assembly session actually did to Virginia hospitality | Continued | Medium |
| HB 728Leftwich | Agritourism | Health, State Board of; permanent pump and haul of sewage, agritourismPermanent pump and haul for agritourism sites. Narrow, but it is the difference between hosting events and not for some farms.sewageagritourism | EnactedChapter 212 | Low |
| HB 735Leftwich | Agritourism | Agritourism purposes; Bd. of HCD to review regulations for temporary tents.Directs a review of the temporary tent rules for agritourism. Tents are where fire code and event capacity meet, and the current 900 square foot threshold catches more operators than they expect.tentseventsagritourism | EnactedChapter 416 | Medium |
| HB 738Williams | Cannabis & hemp | Virginia Consumer Protection Act; prohibited practices, kratom products.A second kratom consumer protection bill. Failed; HB 360 carried.kratom | Failed | Low |
| HB 741Williams | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; retail licenses for public golf courses.Retail licences for public golf courses. Failed.golf | Failed | Low |
| HB 783Anderson | Tourism | Parking enforcement; high tourism localities.Parking enforcement in high tourism localities. Affects guest experience more than compliance.parking | EnactedChapter 665 | Low |
| HB 790Austin | Lodging | Hotel policies; denial of guests residing within certain distance prohibited in certain instances.Bars hotels from refusing guests who live within a set distance, in certain circumstances. A front-desk policy that has to change.hotelguest policy | EnactedChapter 666 | Medium |
| HB 840Simonds | Restaurant | Restaurants; exempts certain facilities or programs.Exempts certain facilities and programmes from the restaurant definition.exemptions | EnactedChapter 231 | Low |
| HB 875Kent | Cannabis & hemp | Kratom; manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing, or possessing, penalties.Would have criminalised kratom distribution outright. Failed.kratompenalties | Failed | Medium |
| HB 925Lopez | Labor | Virginia Human Rights Act; unlawful discriminatory practices, civil actions, statute of limitations.Unlawful discriminatory practices, civil actions and the limitations period. The filing window moved from 300 days to two years.Human Rights ActdiscriminationSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 1119July 1, 2026 | High |
| HB 934Simon | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; distiller's licensees as agents of Board, sale of alcoholic beverages. | Failed | Low |
| HB 944Clark | Labor | Workplace violence; policy required for certain employers, civil penalty, delayed effective date.A written workplace violence policy requirement with a penalty and a delayed effective date. Carried over. Late-night operations especially should watch it return in 2027.workplace violencepolicycivil penalty | Continued | Medium |
| HB 948Maldonado | Labor | Virginia Minimum Wage Act; enforcement, penalties.Would have added enforcement machinery and penalties to the Minimum Wage Act. Failed.minimum wageenforcement | Failed | Medium |
| HB 949Lopez | Labor | Covenants not to compete; exceptions, civil penalty.Non-compete exceptions with a civil penalty. Carried over, so it returns in 2027.non-compete | Continued | Medium |
| HB 962Mehta | Labor | Employer seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees; prohibited, etc.A third salary history bill. Failed; HB 636 and SB 215 carried.pay transparency | Failed | Low |
| HB 975Bennett-Parker | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; food-to-beverage ratio, report.Replaced the flat 45% food requirement with tiers keyed to monthly food sales, and added the table-to-counter seating rule. The single most consequential ABC change in years.MBARmixed beveragelicensingVirginia's food-to-beverage ratio is now tiered. Here's what your restaurant owes.The MBAR, explained: what Virginia asks you to prove every yearSix numbers every Virginia mixed beverage licensee should know cold | EnactedChapter 719July 1, 2026 | High |
| HB 980Garrett | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; voluntary no-buy program, etc.A voluntary no-buy programme. Failed.self-exclusion | Failed | Low |
| HB 988Garrett | Labor | Virginia Human Rights Act; unlawful discrimination.Failed.Human Rights Act | Failed | Low |
| HB 999Cole, J.G. | Labor | Virginia Human Rights Act; equal credit opportunities, Virginia Fair Housing Law, nondiscrimination.Failed.Human Rights Actfair housing | Failed | Low |
| HB 1045Carr | ABC | Va. Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority; annual mixed beverage performing arts facility license.A narrow license class. Relevant if you operate or cater a performing arts venue.mixed beverageperforming arts | EnactedChapter 255 | Low |
| HB 1164Cole, N.T. | Labor | Prospective employer; prohibited from seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees.A fourth. Also failed.pay transparency | Failed | Low |
| HB 1173Tran | Labor | Virginia Human Rights Act; reasonable accommodation for known limitations related to menopause.Reasonable accommodation for limitations related to mental health. Passed both chambers and was vetoed.Human Rights Actaccommodationveto | Vetoed | Medium |
| HB 1181Krizek | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; expands definition of special events, mixed beverage caterer's licenses.Would have widened the definition of special events and the mixed beverage caterer licence. Carried over, so it returns in 2027.special eventscaterer | Continued | Medium |
| HB 1197Scott, P.A. | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; suspension or revocation of certain retail licenses, reinstatement.Would have changed suspension, revocation and reinstatement for retail licences. Failed, so the existing penalty structure stands.suspensionenforcementWhat Virginia ABC actually fines you for, and what it costs | Failed | Medium |
| HB 1343Bulova | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; banquet license, municipality or nonprofit organization.Banquet licenses for municipalities and nonprofits. Matters to caterers working civic events.banquet license | EnactedChapter 805 | Low |
| HB 1429Simon | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; definitions, designer and vintage spirit bottles.Designer and vintage spirit bottles. Carried over.spiritspackaging | Continued | Low |
| HB 1449Pope Adams | Tobacco | Local tax authority; nicotine vapor products, definitions.Would have let localities tax nicotine vapor products. Failed, which is a cost avoided for now.local taxvapor | Failed | Medium |
| HB 1484Wilt | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; designated outdoor refreshment areas.Designated outdoor refreshment areas failed again, in both chambers. Localities wanting open-container districts still have no general authority.DORAoutdoor refreshment | Failed | Medium |
| SB 1Lucas | Labor | Minimum wage; increases incrementally to $15.00 per hour by January 1, 2028.The Senate minimum wage bill. Same schedule as HB 1.minimum wagelabor costSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 351January 1, 2027 and January 1, 2028 | High |
| SB 14DeSteph | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; commercial lifestyle center licenses.Commercial lifestyle center licenses: a shared drinking area across tenants rather than a licence per storefront. Relevant to any mixed-use development.licensingmixed-use | EnactedChapter 327 | Medium |
| SB 67Diggs | Tourism | Parking enforcement; high tourism localities.Senate companion.parking | EnactedChapter 938 | Low |
| SB 121Carroll Foy | Labor | Minimum wage; farm laborers or farm employees, temporary foreign workers.Senate companion on farm labour wages.farm laboragritourism | EnactedChapter 358 | Medium |
| SB 128VanValkenburg | Labor | Covenants not to compete; includes health care professionals, civil penalty.Senate companion.non-competehealth care | EnactedChapter 1114 | Low |
| SB 131Craig | Agritourism | Health, State Board of; permanent pump and haul of sewage, agritourismThe Senate pump and haul bill. Failed; the House version carried.sewageagritourism | Failed | Low |
| SB 132Craig | Agritourism | Agritourism purposes; Bd. of HCD to review regulations for temporary tents.Senate companion on agritourism tents.tentseventsagritourism | EnactedChapter 417 | Medium |
| SB 142McDougle | Cannabis & hemp | Retail tobacco/hemp; sale of products intended for smoking to persons younger than 21 years of age.Would have set a single under-21 rule across smoking products including hemp. Failed, so the categories stay governed separately.age 21hemptobacco | Failed | Medium |
| SB 170McPike | Labor | Protection of employees; covenants not to compete, discharged employees.Makes a non-compete unenforceable against any employee discharged without severance, at any wage level, unless the discharge was for cause. Read alongside the low-wage definition that now reaches anyone eligible for overtime, most restaurant non-competes stopped working this year.non-competeDOLISix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 883July 1, 2026 | High |
| SB 183Williams Graves | Restaurant | Restaurants; identifying markers on delivery/carry out food due to consumer-identified food allergy.Identifying markers on delivery and carry-out orders where a consumer has flagged an allergy. This one reaches your packaging and your POS, not just a wall notice.food allergydeliverytakeout | EnactedChapter 939July 1, 2026 | Medium |
| SB 199Favola | Labor | Employment; paid sick leave, civil penalties.The Senate paid sick leave bill. Same scheme as HB 5.paid sick leaveDOLISix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 1129July 1, 2027 | High |
| SB 215Boysko | Labor | Prospective employer; prohibited from seeking wage or salary history of prospective employees.Senate companion on salary history.pay transparencyhiringSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 996July 1, 2026 | Medium |
| SB 248Srinivasan | Restaurant | Restaurants; food allergy awareness notice required.Senate companion to HB 373.food allergysignage | EnactedChapter 125July 1, 2026 | Medium |
| SB 258Pekarsky | Labor | Virginia Human Rights Act; reasonable accommodation for known limitations related to menopause.The Senate companion. Also vetoed.Human Rights Actaccommodationveto | Vetoed | Medium |
| SB 314Ebbin | Tourism | Tourism improvement districts; transient occupancy tax in Arlington County.Senate companion.transient occupancyArlington | EnactedChapter 163 | Medium |
| SB 372Carroll Foy | Labor | Employment; expands provisions for paid sick leave, civil penalties.Would have gone further on paid sick leave. Failed.paid sick leave | Failed | Medium |
| SB 400Diggs | Tourism | Admissions tax in counties; retail sales and use tax dedicated to promotion of tourism.Senate companion.admissions taxtourism funding | EnactedChapter 168 | Medium |
| SB 424Perry | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; distiller's licensees as agents of Board, sale of alcoholic beverages.Distillers acting as agents of the Board. The House version failed; this one carried.distilleryagent of the Board | EnactedChapter 889 | Medium |
| SB 532Stuart | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; banquet license, municipality or nonprofit organization.Senate companion to HB 1343.banquet license | EnactedChapter 825 | Low |
| SB 542Aird | Cannabis & hemp | Cannabis control; establishes framework for creation of retail marijuana market, penalties, report.The Senate retail marijuana framework. Also vetoed.retail marijuanaveto | Vetoed | High |
| SB 543Aird | Cannabis & hemp | Marijuana and hemp products; enforcement.Moved hemp retail enforcement to the CCA and gave it notices of violation, cease-and-desist authority, civil penalties and a retailer decal. This is the bill behind the August enforcement handover.hempTHCCannabis Control AuthorityenforcementVirginia's hemp rules just changed twice: a 2mg THC cap, and a new regulatorThe federal hemp ban moved to December 11, and it is five times stricter than Virginia's | EnactedChapter 1016August 15, 2026 | High |
| SB 569Sturtevant | Labor | Protection of employees; covenants not to compete, involuntarily separated employees.A parallel non-compete bill covering involuntarily separated employees. Failed.non-compete | Failed | Medium |
| SB 614Pillion | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; advertising materials, purchase and display of barrels.Senate companion on advertising barrels. Carried over to 2027.advertising | Continued | Low |
| SB 620Ebbin | ABC | Va. ABC Authority; permitting of retail tobacco product retailers, etc.The Senate companion to HB 308. Same permit, same October 1 date.retail tobacco permitnicotineVirginia ABCEvery bar and restaurant selling vapes needs an ABC tobacco permit by October 1 | EnactedChapter 1021October 1, 2026 | High |
| SB 637Ebbin | Labor | Virginia Human Rights Act; nondiscrimination, procedures for charge of unlawful discrimination.Rewrites Human Rights Act procedure. Read with HB 925, this is what sweeps small independent restaurants into a statute they were previously outside.Human Rights ActdiscriminationSix Virginia employment laws hit restaurants this year, and one of them makes most of your non-competes unenforceable | EnactedChapter 950July 1, 2026 | High |
| SB 644Surovell | Labor | Minimum wage and overtime wages; payment, misclassification of workers, civil actions.The Senate wage and misclassification bill. Failed; HB 238 carried.wage theftmisclassification | Failed | Medium |
| SB 671Rouse | Cannabis & hemp | Cannabis control; retail market, penalties.A third retail market bill. Failed.retail marijuana | Failed | Medium |
| SB 677Head | Restaurant | Restaurants; exempts certain facilities or programs.Senate companion.exemptions | EnactedChapter 232 | Low |
| SB 698Durant | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; designated outdoor refreshment areas.The Senate DORA bill. Also failed.DORAoutdoor refreshment | Failed | Medium |
| SB 712Stuart | Tobacco | Local tax authority; nicotine vapor products.The Senate version of local vapor taxing authority. Also failed.local taxvapor | Failed | Medium |
| SB 788Perry | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; payment of excise tax on beer, wine coolers, and wine, penalties.Changes how and when excise tax on beer, wine coolers and wine is paid, with penalties attached. A back-office change that becomes a compliance problem if missed.excise taxbeerwine | EnactedChapter 904 | Medium |
| SB 789Reeves | Tobacco | Liquid nicotine and nicotine vapor products; certification.Would have changed liquid nicotine certification. Failed, so the Attorney General directory rules stand as they are.nicotinedirectoryEvery bar and restaurant selling vapes needs an ABC tobacco permit by October 1 | Failed | Medium |
| SB 809Stuart | ABC | Alcoholic beverage control; manufacturer license, small commercial winery, sale at events.Would have let small commercial wineries sell at events. Failed, which leaves a real gap between farm winery and commercial winery privileges.farm wineryevents | Failed | Medium |
| SB 821Cifers | Cannabis & hemp | Kratom; Virginia State Crime Commission to conduct an analysis of enforcement & regulation, report.The Senate kratom study. Carried over, so kratom returns in 2027.kratomstudy | Continued | Low |
| SB 826Lucas | Cannabis & hemp | Marijuana; creates framework for retail sales.A fourth. Failed. Four attempts in one session is the story.retail marijuana | Failed | Medium |
No bills match that filter.