January 29, 2026 - Regular Session

I also come to order. Members, please take your seats. Head page. Thank you. The house is now in session. All persons not entitled to privileges of the floor, please retire to the gallery. The members will rise and be led in prayer by Reverend Ashley Goff, Arlington Presbyterian Church, and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, which will be led by the delegate from Alexandria, Delgadher Herring. Thank you. Let us pray. Holy One, source of wisdom formed long before this commonwealth, present in the work unfolding before us. We gather on the homeland of the Powhatan people, on land impacted by the labor and suffering of those who were enslaved and by the ongoing hopes of those still striving to be fully free. In this place of lawmaking and listening among delegates elected from every corner of Virginia's hills and coastlines, cities, counties and rural roads, we ask for a spirit wide enough to hold disagreement and steady enough to sustain the work that democracy requires. Hold before these servants of the people. That democracy is not abstract. It lives in classrooms and kitchens, courtrooms and clinics, in…