Alexandria Government Asks Residents To Weigh In On Legislative Priorities For 2027

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Alexandria city government is inviting residents to weigh in on the legislative priorities it will communicate to the state government through a short online survey. The survey will be open from Aug. 7-28.

This year, the city’s legislative package focused on seven policy areas: addressing the impact of federal layoffs and budget cuts, promoting housing affordability and economic opportunities, rebuilding school infrastructure, addressing individual and community well-being, advancing opportunities equally, strengthening city infrastructure and promoting civic engagement and election integrity.

The survey asks how residents would prioritize those policy areas for 2027. The survey asks residents to select three priority areas and rank them. It then invites more open-ended feedback.

Every year, the City of Alexandria creates a legislative package representing Alexandria’s priorities and positions for the Virginia General Assembly Session. The state’s next General Assembly session begins on Jan. 13, 2027, and will end in March. During the session, the General Assembly will consider a variety of issues and create a new two-year budget for Virginia.

The reason for the survey and legislative package is that Virginia is a 'Dillon Rule' state. In states where the Dillon Rule applies, cities only have powers specifically given to them through state law or the city charter. Every year, through the legislative package, Alexandria compiles its list of city priorities and requests any powers it doesn’t already have to address those priorities.

This year’s legislative priorities survey can be found here.