Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, flanked by Democratic leaders from the House and Senate, announced new specifics in her affordability agenda Thursday.
The plan is broken down into three categories. First: Health care
“We will work to lower the cost of drugs, insurance premiums and trips to the doctor's office,” the governor-elect said.
That’ll be achieved via new limits on Pharmacy Benefit Managers, limited prior authorizations by insurance companies, and quote “stabilizing” the healthcare marketplace across Virginia via target premium assistance.
Second: Utility bills
“We will make expanded energy storage a top priority, improve efficiency across the Commonwealth," Spanberger said. "And we will improve power usage forecasts, deploy small solar systems and make common sense reforms to prevent higher costs.”
An energy storage bill is already on the docket, as is an effort to expand programs for low-income energy consumers. Regulatory fixes were also laid out
And third: Housing
“We will give every locality the option to increase the supply of affordable housing in their community, we will protect the long-term availability of affordable housing," she said. "And we will cut the red tape and bureaucracy in order to make it easier for companies to build housing.”
Some bills previously vetoed by outgoing Governor Glenn Youngkin will be considered, as well as new efforts that should hit the docket in early 2026.
Spanberger said she hopes to start positively impacting Virginians’ pocketbooks as soon as possible. The first likely target? spikes in healthcare premiums and Virginia’s eviction laws.
“When you are eliminating additional fees on premiums, once you sign that bill into law you’ll start to see those impacts," she said. "Notably the changes in eviction time frames you’ll see immediate impacts.”
And while she suggested the failure to extend ACA subsidies at the federal level would require an effort to stabilize all markets to avoid spikes across the board.
“This program, with its targeted effort to stabilize, at least here in Virginia, the ACA marketplace, given the chaos we’re seeing out of Washington, is meant to counter those efforts,” she said.
Spanberger also expressed hope that congress could extend the federal program, though impacted premium bills are expected to kick in January 1st.
In a statement sent to Radio IQ, Republican House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said his caucus was still digesting Spanberger's agenda, but he still had doubts.
"The housing proposals largely focus on managing existing stock rather than increasing the supply of new homes," he said. "On energy, we’re concerned about policies that could saddle Virginians with tens of billions of dollars in additional costs for large-scale battery storage, costs that would ultimately be passed on to ratepayers."
“If you don’t build enough houses, housing gets expensive," Kilgore warned. "If you don’t produce enough energy, energy gets expensive. If demand rises faster than supply, prices go up. No legislation can repeal the law of supply and demand.”
But House Speaker Don Scott said voters put their faith in Spanberger and Democrats after record wins in November.
"Virginians didn't elect the largest house majority in decades so we could admire the architecture," he said. "They sent us there to do a job... they want us to lower costs."
Spanberger takes office on January 17th.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
