OCTOBER 2025 | THE ISSUES EDITION
Feature | 2026 Virginia General Assembly: What Will Get the Most Attention & Why It Will Draw Heat
Here & Now | State of the Region 2025: Dragas Report Weighs Promise and Risk in Hampton Roads
Word in the ‘Roads |Digest of significant press releases and investment announcements from over 40 of the region’s economic development authorities, alliances, chambers, incubators, and local governments
Legislative Affairs & Regulatory Compliance | Regulatory Collision: The VCEA, Data Center Load, and Virginia's Grid Reliability Constraint; Trademark Changes: When DIY Costs More—and How an IP Attorney Can Help
Where’s WilSav | Catch up with attorneys on our Economic Development Task Force at the region’s upcoming conferences and conventions
Willcox Savage Business Solutions Series | ICYMI watch the recording from Update from the Tariff Trenches
**NEW** Regional RFPs | Opportunities to buy, build, and service regional municipalities
2026 Virginia General Assembly: What Will Get the Most Attention & Why It Will Draw Heat
If Democrats hold the Assembly and Abigail Spanberger wins the governorship, 2026 will prioritize reviving 2025 vetoed bills and a few close-call measures. Expect fast-tracked action with the real battles shifting to how new mandates are implemented.
Sectors likely to see new mandates:
- Healthcare & Medicaid
- Workforce, Childcare, and Talent Pipeline
- Energy, Utilities & Data Centers
- Labor, Right-to-Work & Public Contracting
- Transportation Safety & Tech
2026 is less about “if” and more about how fast and with what guardrails.
Attention will concentrate where costs hit budgets, localities must execute, and permits/rates shape growth—namely Medicaid access, workforce/childcare, VCEA + data centers, and labor/PLAs.
Healthcare & Medicaid: enrollment “unwinding” + access
Why it draws heat:
Big fiscal notes, local admin capacity, hospital/provider alignment, and fast rulemaking timelines.
Workforce, Childcare, and Talent Pipeline
- Statewide data governance: Reboot of the Education & Workforce Data Governing Board (e.g., HB 2465 concept) to measure outcomes and steer funding.
- Child care affordability: Expanded eligibility and subsidy access (e.g., HB 2451-style) as workforce enabler.
- K-12 → postsecondary alignment: Meta-majors/dual pathways to speed credentials (e.g., HB 2455-style).
Why it draws heat:
Centralized data authority, ongoing funding obligations, and higher ed/K-12 coordination.
Energy, Utilities & Data Centers: VCEA acceleration vs. load growth
- Tightening the VCEA: Earlier timelines, stronger efficiency standards, SCC/DEQ oversight, and potential utility decoupling tweaks.
- Data center guardrails: Siting, noise/water limits, conditional tax incentives, and permit conditions; closer SCC review of grid impacts.
- Fossil retirements & methane constraints: Pressure on new gas buildout; programmatic efficiency and clean-energy grants resurface.
Why it draws heat:
Northern Virginia data center footprint, reliability concerns, rate impacts, and local permitting politics.
Labor, Right-to-Work & Public Contracting
- Public-sector collective bargaining: Broader authorization and standard-setting for state/local employees.
- Classification & wage floors: ABC test-style misclassification rules, stronger enforcement penalties, possible minimum wage ratchets.
- Project Labor Agreements & prevailing wage: PLA requirements on state projects and expanded prevailing wage coverage.
Why it draws heat:
Direct employer cost impacts, local budget exposure, and procurement changes favoring union shops.
Transportation Safety & Tech
- Primary seatbelt enforcement and Intelligent Speed Assistance pilots/programs return with executive backing.
Why it draws heat:
Civil liberties, local enforcement practices, and implementation costs.
Flashpoints to Monitor
- Unfunded mandate risk → expect explicit appropriations or fee mechanisms attached to local requirements.
- SCC/DEQ rulemaking bandwidth → business impact will hinge on timelines, guidance quality, and stakeholder input windows.
- Patron shifts → controversial 2025 ideas refiled under moderates signal smoother passage.
Quick Prep for Stakeholders
- Healthcare: Line up redetermination/outreach partners; model provider rate scenarios; prep for school-based Medicaid billing ramp.
- Workforce: Map data reporting obligations; inventory childcare benefit design; coordinate with school divisions on pathway pilots.
- Energy: Audit facility load/generation assumptions; pre-screen sites for new siting/permit criteria; scenario-plan data center incentives.
- Labor/Contracting: Budget for PLAs/prevailing wage; review contractor classification, scheduling, and recordkeeping controls.
- Transportation: Assess compliance timelines and policy interactions with local law enforcement practices.
Authors: Dylan D. Bishop, Carter T. Whitelow
Here & Now
Hampton Roads -- A premier destination for international businesses
Dragas Report Weighs Promise and Risk in Hampton Roads
On September 7, the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis Policy published its twenty-fifth annual State of the Region report. The Dragas Center is affiliated with Strome College at Old Dominion University. The report contained some good news but also reported economic challenges facing our home region.
The Hampton Roads economy was projected to grow for the fifth consecutive year.
However, our rate of growth was much slower than many comparable jurisdictions. The large increase in defense spending will continue to fuel our economy. But this increase is only expected to be temporary. If defense priorities change, these increases may be diverted elsewhere in the future.
The Port of Virginia continues to outperform other East Coast ports.
This is due in large part to the fact that we are less dependent on trade with China than other East Coast ports. But higher tariffs and general uncertainty about trade policy is affecting maritime commerce generally.
The Report is an informative document that covers a wide range of topics.
Predicting economic future performance is, as the Report states, “an exercise fraught with uncertainty.” Nevertheless, it is important to know where we have been and where (we think) we are going.
Word in the ’Roads
Recent press releases from the regional economic development authorities
KCG Engineering Group Expands in Chesapeake
KCG Engineering Group, a veteran-owned technology firm also known as Klett Consulting Group, is consolidating its Hampton Roads operations into a new facility in Chesapeake. The move represents a $185,000 investment and will add 60 new jobs as the company scales its work for defense and government clients—everything from IT and cybersecurity to systems engineering, integration, and governance for mission-critical programs.
The expansion was secured through a partnership among the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the City of Chesapeake, and the Hampton Roads Alliance. To support hiring and training, the Commonwealth will leverage the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
VersAbility Resources Receives GO Virginia Region 5 Planning Grant for TECH Center
NORFOLK, VA -- A 75,000-square-foot, universally accessible training hub in Norfolk is aimed at high-demand fields like shipbuilding, advanced manufacturing, and logistics. The grant funds concrete planning deliverables (an architectural site plan, employer-vetted curricula in welding, logistics, and marine coatings, and an industry advisory group) tied to the Hampton Roads Workforce Council’s Talent Pathways Initiative. Framed as a way to tap one of the region’s largest untapped talent pools—people with disabilities, only 41% of whom are currently employed—the effort draws support from employers such as Huntington Ingalls Industries, Liebherr, and the Port of Virginia, and builds on VersAbility’s recent results such as welding graduates and weekly forklift training.
Tidewater Community College's Skilled Trades Academy is Closing the Skills Gap
PORTSMOUTH, VA -- Tidewater Community College’s Skilled Trades Academy in Portsmouth anchors a fast, flexible workforce model built around what local employers need right now. The program compresses training into short, intensive bursts, such as a 120-hour welding course that runs day and evening, and meets companies where they are, even scheduling overnight sessions or parking mobile training labs on-site so students can step straight from certification into work.
Largely funded by Virginia's robust workforce training funds, such as the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, FastForward, and G3, out-of-pocket costs are driven-down so most students pay little to nothing. Portsmouth’s mayor champions the “blue-collar city” vision and industry partners help shape curricula, from a Maritime Trade Training certificate created with the Virginia Ship Repair Association to customized programs for Norfolk Naval Shipyard and others.
- graduates see wage gains of 150%–288% within six months
- placement rates approach 100% in some tracks
- 82% of completers stay in Virginia, strengthening the regional talent pipeline
Tidal Flight - 2025 StartUp to Watch Winner at 757 TechNite
HAMPTON, VA -- Tidal Flight makes seaplane travel accessible, unlocks regional mobility for coastal populations, and lays a practical path toward zero-emissions flight. This year’s Startup to Watch, is reimagining coastal mobility with Polaris—a hybrid-electric amphibious aircraft built to launch directly from waterways and cut regional trips in half. The need is clear: 100–500 mile trips are underserved by conventional aviation thanks to long first- and last-mile treks to airports and reliance on runways. For the 40% of people who live along coasts, seaplanes offer direct access to city centers, islands, and remote communities—but legacy aircraft are heavy, draggy, aging, and corrosion-prone. Designed from a clean sheet with a lightweight composite airframe and a plug-in hybrid powertrain, Polaris targets dramatic gains: an 85% reduction in fuel burn, a 40% drop in direct operating costs, and far quieter operations than today’s seaplanes.
Legislative Affairs & Regulatory Compliance
Navigate the political and regulatory landscape with confidence and precision.
Regulatory Collision: The VCEA, Data Center Load, and Virginia's Grid Reliability Constraint
Virginia’s energy policy is currently defined by a profound structural conflict between two statutory commitments: the state’s aggressive decarbonization timeline and its fundamental utility obligation to serve unprecedented commercial load growth. As the global epicenter for data center development, the Commonwealth provides a critical case study in regulatory and logistical feasibility.
The Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), enacted in 2020, imposes binding requirements on the state’s two largest utilities, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, to transition to a 100% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2045 and 2050, respectively. This legislation mandates the forced retirement of all carbon-emitting generation assets, despite rising demand. This process necessitates the deliberate removal of existing, proven, and high-capacity dispatchable generation from the resource mix on a fixed schedule.
The logistical challenge posed by the VCEA is compounded by the explosive expansion of Northern Virginia’s data center sector. Driven by demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI), this load growth has nullified prior long-term utility forecasts. Unconstrained projections indicate that data center power demand could double the state’s total electricity usage by 2040. This immense load requires power that is not only vast in magnitude (a single data center campus can exceed the output of a major nuclear reactor) but also continuously available and synchronized to the grid to meet contractual uptime requirements. This dynamic creates a dangerous chasm in grid reliability.
The state is legally required to shrink its reliable generation portfolio at the very moment its largest industrial sector demands immediate and massive expansion. The core conflict is that the VCEA’s mandate to decommission vital generation capacity is occurring simultaneously with a demand spike that requires every megawatt of available, dispatchable power.
While the VCEA mandates the development of utility-scale battery storage (3, 100MW by 2035) to backstop intermittent renewables, this required volume is proving insufficient to replace both the retiring baseload assets and the doubling data center load. The sheer scale and speed of this capacity replacement is technologically and financially infeasible within the current regulatory timeframe.
The patchwork regulatory landscape also presents additional burden in Virginia, where local governments control land use and permitting. With no statewide data-center regulations, localities set their own rules, and some are also pushing back on hosting solar farms in their jurisdictions. During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers passed HB 1601 (Del. J. Thomas) to require data centers to assess impacts on water, forests, agriculture, parks, and historic sites before zoning/special-use approvals. However, Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the bill, citing infringement on local autonomy.
In sum, Virginia is navigating a collision between statutory decarbonization deadlines and surging, round-the-clock industrial demand without a coherent implementation pathway across agencies or jurisdictions. The practical question, then, is not whether Virginia can meet load and decarbonize, but which sequence of policy adjustments, timeline calibration, firm low-carbon additions, targeted transmission and storage build-outs, demand-side orchestration with data centers, and harmonized (yet locally respectful) siting frameworks will reconcile these mandates without compromising grid reliability or economic momentum.
2025 Trademark Changes: When DIY Costs More—and How an IP Attorney Can Help
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
What changed in 2025 with U.S. trademark filings
- There’s now one base filing fee: $350 per class of goods/services you pick for your application. (“Class” just means the category your product or service fits into—e.g., clothing vs. software.)
- The USPTO wants you to choose your wording from its online ID Manual when you describe what you sell. The Manual includes thousands of options across 45 international classes of goods and services. With so many choices, the possibility of selecting correctly is greatly reduced. This is just one way the changes could be costly.
Why it might cost more now
If you don’t follow the new rules, the USPTO adds surcharges per class:
- Custom wording fee (+$200/class): If you type your own description instead of picking from the ID Manual.
- Too-long description fee (+$200 per extra 1,000 characters/class): If you use any free-typed wording and it runs past 1,000 characters.
- Missing info fee (+$100/class): If your application is submitted out required details, like company type or other basics.
A quick example
You file in 2 classes:
- You use custom wording in both classes → +$200 × 2 = +$400
- Your custom text runs 1,500 characters in one class → that’s +$200 more for that class
- Total: Base $700 ($350 × 2) + $400 (custom) + $200 (length) = $1,300
How an IP attorney can help
- Pick the right classes: Avoid over- or under-filing so you’re protected where it matters—without paying for extras you don’t need.
- Use the right wording: Craft descriptions that qualify for the pre-approved list (to avoid the $200 custom fee) or, if custom wording is necessary, keep it tight to avoid length fees.
- Prevent avoidable surcharges: Make sure all required info is complete on day one (so you don’t get the $100/class “incomplete” fee).
- Save time later: Clean, standardized filings are examined faster and reduce back-and-forth with the USPTO.
Author: Robert "Bob" J. Kenney
Regional RFPs
Opportunities to buy, build, and service regional municipalities
The City of Virginia Beach is seeking proposals from qualified respondents to purchase two (2) properties located at 2500 Tournament Drive, totaling approximately 350 acres.
The City desires a qualified team to acquire the Virginia Beach National Golf Club properties and maintain a publicly accessible, 18-hole golf course. The property is zoned Agricultural District 1. Approximately 308 acres of the property are within 65-75 dB Aircraft Noise Level and within the Interfacility Traffic Area, where residential development is limited.
VIEW RFP | Deadline: 3:00 p.m. on November 21, 2025
The City of Virginia Beach Department of Economic Development (VBDED) is seeking proposals from qualified respondents to purchase the property at 1020-1040 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23451 for Accident Potential Zone (APZ) 2 compatible development.
The 5.49 acre property was purchased in 2005 for $15,000,000 to prevent residential development after Naval Air Station Oceana was considered by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC). The property is zoned A-36 Apartment district; however, it is located in the 70-75db Aircraft Noise Zone and APZ-2 zone, and residential uses will not be considered.
VIEW RFP | Deadline: 3:00 p.m. on November 21, 2025
The City of Virginia Beach (City) is seeking the development and operation of an Action Sports Facility in the Central Beach Area of the City’s Resort Strategic Growth Area.
An Action Sports Facility is desired in the Central Beach Area, as envisioned in the recent Central Beach Small Area Plan, to further augment and complement the burgeoning sports tourism industry of Virginia Beach. Land area is approximately 28.6 acres and 2,513 parking spaces. The proposed sites are zoned Oceanfront Resort District Form-Based Code.
VIEW RFP | Deadline: 3:00 p.m. December 5, 2025
