New Virginia laws take effect
Several laws enacted by the Virginia General Assembly took effect on Jan. 1, including the following:
Kids and social media – The Consumer Data Protection Act prohibits children under age 16 from using social media for more than one hour a day.
The law requires social media companies to use a neutral age screen mechanism or other means to determine whether a user is younger than 16 and limit minors’ use of the platform to one hour per day.
There are exceptions to the one-hour limit for platforms used mostly for email and direct messaging, news sites, and streaming services.
Parents can give consent to increase or decrease the daily time limit.
Nuisance texts – The Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act permits an individual to stop receiving phone texts from solicitors by replying to the message with the words “unsubscribe” or “stop.” A solicitor must honor such requests for 10 years.
Minimum wage – Virginia’s minimum wage increases by 36 cents to $12.77 per hour. The minimum wage will increase to $13.75 on Jan. 1, 2027, and to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2028.
Breast exams – Insurance companies are prohibited from charging patients co-pays, deductibles, or other fees for breast cancer tests, such as diagnostic mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound.
Toxic baby food – Baby food sold in Virginia must be tested for toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. The sale of products that exceed the limits on toxic heavy metals set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is prohibited.
Baby food manufacturers must list information about toxic heavy metals on their products and on their websites.
Unemployment benefits – Weekly unemployment compensation will increase by $52 a week. The bill directs the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, in consultation with the Virginia Employment Commission, to convene a work group to consider annual adjustments to individual weekly benefit amounts based on the average weekly wage.
Court procedures – Anyone convicted of a crime or traffic violation can request an itemized statement from the clerk of the court of any fines, restitution, forfeiture, penalty, or other court costs.
Related story: Meals tax takes effect on Jan. 1
The new social media law is largely unenforceable and functions more as a political gesture than a serious solution. It shifts responsibility from parents to private companies, relies on age, verification methods that are easy to evade, and assumes platforms can meaningfully police behavior across millions of users. In practice, it will either be ignored, selectively enforced, or tied up in court, while giving lawmakers cover to claim they “did something” about parenting challenges that government cannot realistically manage.
The minimum-wage increase, layered on top of a new 4% meals tax, compounds the burden on the very people it claims to help. Many households rely on fast food not by choice but because long work hours, child-care demands, and multiple jobs leave little time for meal preparation. These costs don’t fall on discretionary dining; they hit families with the least flexibility, turning necessity into a luxury while policymakers congratulate themselves on equity.
Don’t let the minimum wage raise fool you . Sounds good , right ? Employers know their way around the system. All they do is cut the hours when this happens. I do make more than the minimum wage , but already my hours are cut . I have a total of 10 working hours for the next 2 weeks. Sure employers have to give you a least minimum wage , but they don’t have to give you any hours .
The have to give SOMEONE those hours. And that person will be as expensive, or more expensive, than you.
The companies that can’t afford it will have to reduce the hours that they are open. And if they cannot survive on that reduced corporate income, they will close up shop. (Maybe they will re-open in a more business friendly state.)
The risk is less employment, businesses closing or leaving. That’s what has happened in those west-coast states. The people lose the job opportunity, the state loses the tax base, and everyone loses the quality-of-life improvement that the business was providing.
Let me tell you, the minimum wage increase does not sound good. Expecting someone to work for $12.77/hr is laughable.
Keeping all employees right under full-time status is a classic strategy that allows employers to extract the most labor they can without having to provide full-time benefits to employees.