ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria wants the General Assembly to allow it to require affordable homes or housing contributions from new development, tax tobacco, nicotine, and vaping products, or tax land value locally, and have stronger authority over where data centers are built, according to the city's draft 2027 legislative package.

City Council is scheduled to receive the draft Tuesday, Nov. 10, hold a public hearing, and adopt it Saturday, Nov. 14. The package lists the state laws and funding the city will ask lawmakers for during the 2027 session, which begins Jan. 13 and is expected to end Feb. 27.

The cover of the City of Alexandria's draft 2027 General Assembly legislative package, which City Council is scheduled to receive Nov. 10, 2026. (City of Alexandria)

Because Virginia follows the Dillon Rule, localities have only the powers the legislature grants them in state law or their charters, Legislative Director Fatimah Dandashi, who started in the job Oct. 26, wrote in a Nov. 4 memo to council. That means Alexandria "frequently must request legislation to grant them authority to exercise specific powers they do not already have," she wrote, and the package each year reflects those requests.