RICHMOND — Virginia’s House of Delegates voted unanimously Friday to repeal restrictions recently imposed on a college tuition program for military families, but Senate leaders do not intend to take the bill up when that chamber meets Monday, saying they want to limit any repeal to one year.
Virginia
Hollywood lawsuit hits Virginia, exposes weak free speech protections, lawmakers say
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC)-A feud between two previously married film stars, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, is enjoying out in a Virginia courtroom this week. Some say it’s an instance of “libel tourism” that reveals how state legislation is developing brief relating to defending free speech.
Depp is accusing Heard of defaming him in a 2018 op-ed calling for reform through which she particulars her personal expertise with sexual assault and home abuse with out naming particular perpetrators.
The 2 are going through off in Fairfax County, Virginia despite the fact that each actors stay in California.
Depp’s lawyer has stated it’s as a result of the piece appeared in The Washington Submit, which has Virginia ties.
Jennifer Nelson, senior employees lawyer with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, has one other principle.
“There’s a purpose he filed it in Virginia and never in California and that’s as a result of Virginia’s anti-SLAPP legislation is weaker,” Nelson stated. “This has been a case that has dragged on for years and has taken up a major quantity of judicial assets.”
SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuit Towards Public Participation.” Nelson stated anti-SLAPP legal guidelines are designed to discourage highly effective individuals and firms from utilizing costly lawsuits and prolonged trials to suppress opposition.
Senator Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) stated legal professionals are in search of out states with decrease safeguards in place and unfastened connections to a case to justify submitting go well with there. He stated Depp vs. Heard is simply the newest high-profile First Modification struggle to land in Virginia.
Surovell stated, in states with stronger protections, meritless instances are dismissed within the early levels and a plaintiff might be compelled to cowl the defendant’s lawyer’s charges. That’s not the case in Virginia, based on Surovell.
“Not addressing it chills free speech. It makes individuals assume twice about saying issues about individuals or firms which have a number of cash. They are often afraid they are often spent underneath the desk or buried in litigation,” Surovell stated.
The disparity has some calling for federal requirements and reform on the state stage within the meantime.
A invoice launched by Delegate Schuyler VanValkeburg (D-Henrico) in Virginia handed with bipartisan assist in 2020 however did not make it out of closed-door negotiations meant to iron out variations between two variations of the laws. He stated the construction of Virginia’s authorized system difficult the problem and the push misplaced momentum when the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Surovell stated he plans to revive the trouble in both the 2023 or 2024 legislative session, relying on invoice limits. He stated the implications of change could be a lot additional reaching than this superstar feud.
“It is a drawback that may occur to nearly anybody in the event that they select to talk out in public a few matter that’s essential to them of their group,” Surovell stated.
College of Virginia Legislation Professor Fred Schauer identified that the talk surrounding anti-SLAPP legal guidelines isn’t the central challenge relating to Depp vs. Heard, since either side have deep pockets. He couldn’t touch upon whether or not it influenced the choice to convey the case to Virginia within the first place.
“Lawyer’s charges are hardly a difficulty for individuals as rich because the individuals concerned on this case,” Schauer wrote in an electronic mail. “The true challenge is solely that, underneath present First-Modification-inspired requirements, public figures can solely win a libel go well with if they’ll present with ‘convincing readability’ that what was stated about them was false and that the one who stated it knew it was false once they stated it, or not less than had an precise suspicion that it was false. And that is actually very tough to show.”
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Virginia
Trump steps up ground game in Virginia after Biden’s shaky debate
![Trump steps up ground game in Virginia after Biden’s shaky debate](https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Virginia_062924_Photo_Getty.png)
Virginia
Youngkin looks to unify GOP at massive Trump rally: ‘Virginia is in play’ – Washington Examiner
![Youngkin looks to unify GOP at massive Trump rally: ‘Virginia is in play’ – Washington Examiner](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Youngkin-Trump-Rally.webp)
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) joined former President Donald Trump for a massive rally in Virginia as the vice presidential hopeful makes a bid to flip his state red this November.
“It is time to elect strength back into the White House,” the Virginia governor proclaimed to thousands of enthusiastic rally attendees as he introduced the president. “Let’s join together and welcome the next president of the United States, Donald J. Trump!”
Trump, freshly victorious from a debate deemed a disaster for his opponent President Joe Biden, beamed as Youngkin doled out glowing words for his former rival.
“Mr. President, this is the best Trump rally that you’ve ever had, and you’re doing it in Virginia,” Youngkin told the presumptive GOP nominee Friday. “And yes, on behalf of 8.7 million Virginians, Mr. President, we are going to go to work and get you back in the White House!”
Massive crowds roared as the two shook hands, cementing a show of goodwill over a past mired in conflict.
“He’s got the policies that made America great,” Trump said of Youngkin, widely rumored to be on the vice presidential short list. “We’re proud of him. He’s done a great job.”
The joint appearance comes as the GOP convention looms. Trump is expected to announce his running mate before then.
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In 2020, Biden claimed Virginia by a solid 10%. Recent polls showing the president in a dead heat with Trump has shocked the GOP into action to capitalize on Republican gains. While Trump and Youngkin have had a fractured relationship, with Youngkin toying with mounting a presidential challenge to Trump and declining to speak at multiple rallies, their joint appearance is intended to signal to Virginians that a unified GOP could flip the state red this November.
As the Virginia governor told Fox News just hours before the rally, “The president coming to Virginia today … is reflective of the fact that Virginia is in play.”
Virginia
Virginia House votes to repeal restrictions on military tuition program
Created in 1930 to aid the families of World War I veterans, the program has expanded over the years to include out-of-state residents, graduate students and relatives of service members with non-combat-related injuries. The price tag has risen exponentially in recent years, from $12 million in 2019 to more than $65 million last year. Universities have borne the cost or passed it to other students.
Amid warnings that the program was unsustainable, legislators and Youngkin agreed to new restrictions, which require participants to tap federal aid, such as Pell Grants, before accessing the state program, and limit eligibility to Virginia residents pursuing undergraduate degrees.
They also require military families to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which uses a formula to calculate how much families can afford to pay for higher education. The wealthiest participants would pay a portion of the “expected family contribution,” expected to be capped at about $3,750 a year.
Current participants were grandfathered in, as was anyone who applied to college before May 15 under the budget language, which also provides $20 million to colleges and universities to offset waiver costs.
Those changes drew swift and vocal pushback from military families, leading Youngkin and the Democrats who lead the House and Senate to promise fixes. But they have not been on the same page about just what to do.
Youngkin and the House have favored fully repealing the restrictions until the issue can be studied, while Senate leaders have leaned toward more limited tinkering.
The House gathered for about an hour Friday to pass a bill to repeal the changes and provide $20 million a year for the next two fiscal years to cover some of the cost.
“It’s often been said if you find yourself in a hole you don’t want to be in, stop digging. Mr. Speaker, today I’m glad that we stopped digging,” Del. Mike A. Cherry (R-Colonial Heights) said on the floor ahead of the vote, praising Democratic and Republican leaders who’d pledged to “not weaponize” the issue.
But Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said that the measure will not move forward in the Senate, which on Monday will meet for a second time to try to advance its own fix.
“It will not be considered,” he said.
Senate leaders are backing a new bill to postpone the restrictions until July 1, 2025, provide $65 million over the next 12 months to cover the cost, and require the state’s Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission to review the program and make recommendations by Sept. 1.
“We’re willing to repeal the new restrictions for one year … and use the surplus to take the burden off other students who are currently funding the program,” Surovell said.
House Speaker Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) said he was confident the two sides will eventually work out their differences.
“Regardless of what happens on Monday, we’re very, very close in concept,” Scott said. “I think everybody recognizes that the way the program is designed now, it can’t go on like that. But we want to make sure that we get it right.”
Scott said he would support means-testing and other restrictions once the issue has been fully studied.
“I’m a disabled veteran as well. I can afford to pay for my daughter’s tuition,” he said. “So I think we need to do some means-testing. We need to get some residency requirements. I think we need to take a look at it and see what’s doable.”
The Senate initially met June 18, when Democratic leaders hoped to pass a bill to lift the Pell Grant and FAFSA requirements for relatives of veterans killed in the line of duty or disabled in combat, but not those with non-combat disabilities. They met for more than five hours that day but did not advance the legislation.
Youngkin praised the House’s action Friday and leaned on the Senate to fall in line with that plan.
“Our veterans, first responders, and their families have spoken, and we have heard them,” he said in a written statement. “Now it is time for the Senate to pass the bill on Monday, so I can sign it immediately. … If the Senate Democrat Leadership does not support a repeal of the language, they are holding our veterans, first responders, and their families, hostage.”
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