It’s good to be back home in Falls Church as Virginia’s part time legislature wrapped up a very busy General Assembly Session. The House and Senate both adjourned on March 9th as scheduled, with a completed state budget. This is the first time in three years that we haven’t needed to extend the session or return for a special session to complete work on the budget.

The feat is made even more impressive given that we had brand new leadership in both chambers, with Delegate Don Scott becoming the first black speak of the House in its 405-year history, and Senator Scott Surovell replacing Falls Church’s own Senator, Richard Saslaw, who retired after a nearly 50-year legislative career.

Add to that the number of brand-new members (34 new Delegates in the House out of 100 and 17 new Senators out of 40) and the nearly 3,600 bills and resolutions we reviewed, and it’s truly amazing we were able to accomplish all that we have.

Of the 1,046 bills that passed the General Assembly and were communicated to the Governor, he has signed 94 bills, amended 12, and vetoed 28. He has until April 8 at 11:59 p.m. to act on the remaining 912 bills he received.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as we expect many more vetoes and amendments in the coming weeks.

Governor’s Recommendations

Diving a little deeper into the Governor’s recommendations, you’ll find a series of unnecessary amendments to legislation that either passed unanimously or with bipartisan support. Primarily, his amendments add reenactment clauses, which would require the General Assembly to pass the same bill again during the 2025 Session.

However, he has also offered other amendments that completely change the effect of a bill — most notably on bills related to reproductive healthcare. On Senator Hashmi’s bill (SB 238) to require insurance companies to provide birth control coverage, the Governor added a religious exemption clause. And on Senator Locke’s bill (SB 35) directing the Board of Medicine to require unconscious bias and cultural competency training for license renewals, the Governor has gutted the bill, changing it from a comprehensive training with medical expert oversight to a basic, generalized course on “learning activities.”

The Governor also drastically amended Delegate Cohen’s simple bill (HB 498) requiring local school boards to annually notify parents about safe gun storage regulations. His amendments expand the bill to require the Department of Education to create a specific list of “parental rights,” which is far outside the original scope of this bill.

Governor’s Vetoes

The Governor has already vetoed 28 bills (with more to come!), the topics covered in these bills are far-ranging — gun violence prevention, preventing book bans, labor disputes, invasive plants, voter registration, surrogacy, and class action lawsuits.

It may not be a surprise that Governor Youngkin targeted these bills in his first batch of vetoes as several of them represent larger progressive policies that enabled us to win last November. These are some of the bills the Governor has vetoed:

Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker’s bill prohibits firearm transfers to a prohibited person i.e. someone who is the subject of a protective order, closing a big loophole. (HB 46)

My consumer protection bill to allow class action lawsuits to be established in Virginia with the Supreme Court of Virginia tasked with creating regulations to govern such actions. (HB 418)

Delegate Karrie Delaney’s bill to prohibit the Department of Education from adopting policies permitting the censoring or banning of books in public schools. (HB 571)

Delegate Levere-Bolling’s bill to amend the Virginia Unemployment Compensation Act’s labor dispute disqualification to provide that an employer lockout shall not constitute a labor dispute and that locked-out employees who are otherwise eligible shall continue to receive such benefits. (HB 938)

Delegate Maldonado’s bill to prohibit prospective employers from requiring the disclosure of an individual’s salary history or from using that information as a basis for employment. (HB 990)

Delegate Sickle’s bill to require the Department of Elections to rejoin the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which allows us to better maintain our voter registration database. (HB 1117)

Senator Bagby’s bill to restrict the use of solitary confinement in state prisons. (SB 719)

Reconvene Session

I’ll head back to Richmond for the General Assembly’s Reconvene Session on April 17, where we will address all of the Governor’s vetoes and recommendations as well as any changes he makes to the compromise budget.