RICHMOND — The General Assembly came to a close Saturday after a 60-day legislative session that saw Democrats use their new majority in both chambers to progress more than a thousand pieces of legislation on a range of issues, like gun safety, paid family leave and minimum wage.
But Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin still wields power from the executive mansion. Now that the session has ended, the ball is in his court.
Youngkin has until April 8 to issue any amendments or vetoes. The General Assembly will then return to Richmond on April 17 for a veto session. Lawmakers must have a two-thirds majority to override any of the governor’s decisions.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the bills that did — and didn’t — survive the session.
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Reproductive health
A constitutional amendment carried by five Democrats — including Sens. Mamie Locke of Hampton and Louise Lucas of Portsmouth — that would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution was unexpectedly carried over until next year with little debate.
Abortion is already legal in Virginia, but the amendment would add an extra layer of protection.
A constitutional amendment must pass the statehouse during two legislative sessions with an election in between. It then needs approval from Virginia voters, not the governor, to take effect. Amendments are typically debated in odd years due to the state’s election schedule — but Democrats had promoted this amendment as a priority prior to this session.
Meanwhile, a bill that would guarantee the right to obtain and use birth control is heading to Youngkin.
The bill, introduced by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, defines contraceptives as any drug or device intended for use in the “prevention of pregnancy” and includes barrier methods, like condoms, and hormonal medications.
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Firearms
A slew of gun safety legislation passed the legislature along largely partisan lines.
A bill from Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Chesapeake, is intended to prevent impulsive violence or suicide by enacting a five-day waiting period for gun purchases. Hayes told a subcommittee that he carried the measure on behalf of victims’ families from the 2022 mass shooting at a Chesapeake Walmart.
“An employee ran out, purchased a firearm and under duress ran into the workplace allegedly and killed several of his co-workers,” he said. “The family members thought it prudent that the commonwealth needed a waiting period.”
A bill from Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Suffolk, would require those buying a firearm to simultaneously purchase a locking device if they live in the same household as a child or teenager.
A measure from Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Burke, would prohibit leaving a visible firearm in an unattended motor vehicle. It would create a civil penalty of no more than $500 and allow the unattended motor vehicle to be removed for safekeeping.
Police around Hampton Roads, including in Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, have said criminals are obtaining firearms illegally through car break-ins.
Perhaps the most ambitious bill comes from Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville. It would prohibit the selling, manufacturing or purchasing of assault firearms. Four Democrats from Hampton Roads are co-sponsors, including Locke, Lucas and Sens. Aaron Rouse of Virginia Beach and Angelia Williams Graves of Norfolk.
The measures seem unlikely to receive support from the governor. Youngkin has previously stated he doesn’t believe stricter gun laws will reduce gun violence. Among bills he’s already vetoed this year were a House and Senate bill that would have strengthened requirements around the relinquishing of firearms from individuals convicted of domestic violence who had been ordered to turnover their guns.
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Criminal justice
At the start of the session, Youngkin urged legislators to bring him legislation that would tighten penalties for criminals.
A bill from Sen. Danny Diggs, R-Yorktown, would have increased the mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for repeat offenders who use guns to commit crimes. Another bill from Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle would have allowed drug dealers to be charged with felony homicide if they provided controlled substances to an individual who died as a result.
Both bills were left to die in committee.
During a Saturday news conference, House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert slammed Democrats for not giving either measure more consideration.
“Republicans brought forward legislation that would have treated drug dealers who kill with fentanyl like the killers they are and would have locked them up for a very long time,” he said. “But our colleagues could not be bothered.”
Another bill from Diggs that is heading to Youngkin would create a new alert system for missing children that has less stringent requirements than AMBER alerts. The measure is dubbed the CODI alert after Codi Bigsby, a young child who was reported missing in Hampton in 2022.
A bill from Republican Del. Tim Griffin would have brought back the death penalty, which Virginia abolished in 2021. The bill died in a committee.
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Campaign finance
The governor won’t be getting any bills related to campaign finance reform. Several measures intended to tighten the rules around campaign donations were killed off or left to die.
Among them: A bill that would have capped donation amounts, a bill that would have banned candidates from accepting contributions from public utilities and a third measure that would have prohibited politicians from using campaign donations on personal expenditures.
Virginia has some of the most lax campaign spending laws in the nation. Politicians can legally spend campaign donations on essentially anything, and there’s no limit on who can donate or how much donors can give. Candidates must report their expenses, but the reporting requirements are vague and it’s not always clear what specific items were purchased.
Campaign finance reform is not a partisan issue and has supporters — and opponents — on both sides of the aisle.
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Environment
A provision included in the legislature’s budget proposal would place the state back into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
RGGI is a multistate program that pushes a shift to renewable energy production by requiring energy producers to buy allowances for each metric ton of carbon they produce.
The General Assembly already passed a resolution to join RGGI in 2020. But at the behest of the governor, a state board voted in June to withdraw from the program. A lawsuit is pending over the legality of the board’s decision.
Data indicated the initiative was working — the Environmental Protection Agency found emissions in Virginia declined 16.8% since joining. But opponents of RGGI have argued the program unfairly places a tax on energy consumers.
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Business
A controversial bill that would tax and regulate slot-machine-like skill games is heading to Youngkin.
Proponents of the games say they offer invaluable support to small businesses and should be allowed because the state has welcomed other gambling, such as lottery tickets and casinos.
“This is a small-business bill,” Rouse, who carried the measure in the Senate, told a subcommittee. “It is looking out for the mom-and-pop small businesses in many of our communities.”
Some lobbyists and legislators, however, have shared a range of concerns about oversight and enforcement.
Another bill on its way to the governor would bump minimum wage to $13.50 in 2025 and $15 in 2026. Minimum wage in Virginia is currently $12 an hour.
Advocates say it would help workers keep up with inflation and afford necessities without relying on government assistance. Others have cautioned it could strain small businesses.
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Family and medical leave
A bill from Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, would direct the Virginia Employment Commission to create a paid family and medical leave insurance program with benefits for covered individuals starting in 2027. Benefits would amount to 80% of the employee’s average weekly wage, and would not exceed 80% of the regional weekly wage, according to the bill’s impact statement. The fund would be paid for by employers and employees.
The bill caps the duration of paid leave at eight weeks in any application year. It exempts state employees, local officers, or employees of a local school division from the definition of a “covered individual.”
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Animal welfare
A bill from Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, that would allow localities to create public animal cruelty registries is heading to the governor. The bill is intended to help those selling or giving animals away easily research whether a potential owner has a history of animal abuse.
Another bill from Boysko, D-Fairfax, and Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, was turned into a study.
The original bill was intended to increase transparency at facilities, like universities, that receive public funding to conduct animal testing. It would have made more information public, and prohibited the facilities from charging more than $25 to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act submission related to federal animal welfare violations.
The amended version now directs the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the State Council of Higher Education to convene a task force to study potential transparency deficiencies.
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Housing
A bill from Clark that sought to prevent rent-gouging by landlords was continued to 2025. The bill would allow localities to adopt ordinances establishing a cap on annual rent increases, which would be tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Meanwhile, a study was ordered for a housing bill carried by Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond. The bill would make it easier for religious institutions to develop on-site affordable housing on land they already own.
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Same-sex marriage
A constitutional amendment from Sen. Adam Ebbin that would have removed language in the state constitution defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman was carried to next year.
However, the legislature passed and Youngkin already signed a bill that states “no person authorized to issue a marriage license shall deny the issuance of such license to two parties contemplating a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of the parties.”
Same-sex marriage advocates have become concerned the Supreme Court might overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
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Local government
The legislature approved a bill that would allow local governments to increase annual salaries for mayors and city council members. Salary caps are set by municipal population. For example, in Virginia cities with over 260,000 people (currently only Virginia Beach), the mayor’s salary could be increased from $30,000 up to $56,000 under the bill. Council salaries in the next population group (between 175,000 to 259,999) would max out at $51,000 for mayors and $47,000 for council members. Newport News, Chesapeake and Norfolk all fall within that category.
Under the bill, any city proposal to raise the salary cap would require a public hearing and vote. The bill also provides that the maximum salaries may be adjusted each year based on inflation rates.
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ATVs
Virginia lawmakers approved legislation that allows local governments to pass ordinances giving police authority to seize and dispose of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) or off-road motorcycles illegally operating on a highway or sidewalk within a city. Hampton Roads lawmakers Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, and Graves, of Norfolk, sponsored the legislation.
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Taxes
The General Assembly adopted a two-year state budget plan on Saturday. It omitted the governor’s main priorities, but now heads to his desk for next steps.
Youngkin has called the budget “backwards” and indicated there’s much work to be done.
The governor had pushed to cut income taxes by 12% across all income brackets, while simultaneously raising the state sales tax from 4.3% to 5.2%. Both those provisions were nixed by the Democratic majority in the Senate and House of Delegates. Youngkin further called on the legislature to find ways to eliminate the car tax, but neither party explored that as an option.
One Youngkin-backed tax that was included in the budget, however, was a digital services tax that would apply to items like software packets, digital downloads and cloud storage.
Youngkin also made a well-publicized push for the budget to include a pathway to develop a $2 billion sports and entertainment complex in Northern Virginia. The funding was ultimately not included in the budget.
It’s unclear if Youngkin will respond in turn by rejecting measures from Democrats, though Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell cautioned him against it.
“He needs to be really careful about what he chooses to veto,” Surovell said. “If he’s going to veto anything that comes over to him that happens to be a priority of ours, he’s going to have a long last 18 months (of his term).”
Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
