Enacted: 2024-08
As a Dillon Rule state, Virginia localities cannot ban anything without express General Assembly grant — producing an unbroken six-session losing streak of GLB enabling bills (HB 1337 2022; HB 644/SB 305 2024; SB 1171 2025; HB 881/SB 687 2026), blocked primarily by the Stihl-anchored Virginia Manufacturers Association. The August 2024 Attorney General Miyares advisory opinion unlocked a noise-ordinance pathway, telling Alexandria it could regulate GLBs through its existing noise-ordinance power without waiting for enabling legislation. That opinion produced Alexandria's Ordinance 5588 (May 2025) and Arlington County's 2026 drafting process.