Dear Friend,
The Governor has reviewed and acted on legislation that passed the General Assembly. Now the General Assembly will meet for its scheduled Reconvene Session on April 17, 11am, for the legislative branch of our government to receive and respond to the Governor’s vetoes and amendments. Below is more information on Reconvene Session as well as other state and local news.
The Governor’s Actions
The Governor completed his review of the 1,046 bills that were sent to him from the General Assembly. He signed 777 into law, amended 116 bills and vetoed 153 bills. The budget bill was among the amended bills, it received 242 amendments. The Governor’s review sets a new record for vetoes as well as a record amount of amendments to the budget bill. This unprecedented number of revisions and rejections contrasts the bipartisan and collaborative spirit of the General Assembly; many of the bills he vetoed or amended were bipartisan, including the budget.
You can find a complete list of vetoed legislation at this link. Among the vetoed bills were numerous pieces of important legislation including:
30 bills to increase gun safety including HB2, banning assault fire arms; HB637, establishing training for law enforcement to implement substantial risk orders; HB797, requiring firearm competency for a concealed carry permit; HB1195, establishing a waiting period for firearm sales; and HB1174 prohibiting firearm sales to those under 21 with exceptions for law enforcement, military and other related professions.
Several bills protecting access to safe reproductive healthcare such as HB519, prohibiting the Board of Medicine for punishing health providers who perform abortion care and HB1539, preventing extradition of health care providers for performing abortion on patients from states that have made such procedures illegal.
HB1, increasing the minimum wage.
HB698, establishing a safe, regulated, and taxed retail cannabis market.
HB1177, directing Virginia’s use of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).
HB1244, limiting the use of solitary confinement.
HB776, authorizing lawfully admitted immigrants who have applied for citizenship, the ability to become law enforcement officers.
The Governor offered amendments to 116 bills. Some amendments are technical in nature or minor in scope. Others are substantial departures from what the legislature passed. You can find a complete list of amended bills at this link.
The Governor heavily amended SB212, a bill legalizing and regulating skill games, slot-like electronic games popular in convenience stores and rest stops. The General Assembly deliberated the topic heavily before agreeing to a conference report that was less stringent than the House’s version of the bill. The Governor has amended SB212 to include further guardrails such as local bans, a cap on the number of machines and more. You can read more in this article from The Virginia Mercury.
Other amended bills include SB35 (Board of Medicine to require unconscious bias training), HB285 (removing small bus shelters from the Uniform Statewide Building Code), HB173 (banning the manufacture, import, or sale of plastic firearms and unfinished firearms), and many more.
Many bipartisan bills were signed into law. You can find a complete list of approved bills here. The nearly 800 pieces of approved legislation include:
HB22, banning auto sears (small devices that convert firearms to become fully automatic) and SB44 which creates a felony for parents or guardians who allow a child to access a firearm when it has been made known the child posses a threat of danger or violence.
HB78, prohibiting the issuance of a search warrant for menstrual health data.
HB174, protecting marriage equality regardless of sex, gender, or race.
HB769, curbing multiple forms of elder abuse.
HB252, establishing a statewide registry for sickle cell disease to facilitate more informed policy and treatment coordinations for a chronically underfunded and overlooked disease.
HB586, establishing harm reduction training standards for law enforcement officers.
HB106 & HB108, improving the regulation and access to shared solar programs.
HB149, providing employee protections for those lawfully using cannabis oil for medicinal purposes.
HB617, creates name, image, and likeness regulations for high school student-athletes that are similar to those already in law for college student-athletes.
This is certainly not a comprehensive review of the Governor’s actions on legislation passed by the General Assembly. If you are interested in a certain policy area or specific legislation, do not hesitate to contact my office at 804-698-1078 or at delegate.carr@betsycarr.org.
The Budget
The Governor communicated 244 amendments to the General Assembly’s budget. Notable amendments include:
Removing the General Assembly’s language to direct Virginia’s re-entrance into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
$100 million for flood prevention projects, to offset the loss of revenues from Virginia not rejoining RGGI which has funded $370 million in flood prevention projects since Virginia joined in 2020.
A departure from his original proposed tax changes and a rejection of the legislature’s approved tax policy. His amendments return much of the tax code to its previous form.
Reinstating language that limits earned sentence credits for individuals serving concurrent or consecutive sentences for crimes that are not eligible for earned sentence credits.
Reinstating the delayed effective date of my 2020 legislation to gradually ban polystyrene food service containers.
Removing vital changes necessary to ensure the Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP) remains operable.
Removing state funding for fetal anomaly abortions.
Further reading on Governor Youngkin’s budget amendments can be found in these more general articles from The Virginia Mercury, as well as The Richmond Times-Dispatch and also Virginia Public Media. Additionally, you may find useful this more thorough review of tax policy considerations; The Commonwealth Institute’s side-by-side comparison of the General Assembly’s budget and the Governor’s Amended Version; this closer reading of the removal of state funds for fetal anomaly abortions; this article on the independence of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority; and this article highlighting an amendment ending Virginia’s use of a school attendance recovery program.
You can find all of the Governor’s budget amendments here.
My Legislation
I passed 17 bills from the 2024 General Assembly; 2 were vetoed, 1 was amended, and 14 were signed.
The Governor vetoed my HB1088 and HB1100. HB1088 would have tasked the Department of Education with developing instructional materials on environmental literacy for local school districts to adopt. Ensuring our young citizens and emerging leaders and voters fully understand our place in the environment is imperative for fostering better stewardship, respect, appreciation, and attention to our environment. HB1100 would have made an optional ordinance available for any locality to mandate the conservation of mature, fully grown trees during development. In current law, this ordinance is only available to localities in Planning District 8. My bill would have extended this option to all localities. You can read the Governor’s veto statement for HB1088 here and for HB1100 here.
The Governor amended my HB1071, which follows up my 2021 legislation (that granted localities the authority to lower their speed limits) by removing ambiguity in the code that gave VDOT final authority on local decisions to lower speed limits. The Governor amended HB1071 by adding a re-enactment clause (which requires the bill to pass again next year before becoming effective) as well as directing VDOT to study local control over speed limits. You can read the full text of his amendments at this link.
The Governor signed my remaining 14 bills:
HB1073: prohibits some predatory towing practices.
HB1080: limits license suspensions to 10 years to reflect the time period by which courts purge such cases.
HB1082: authorizes the court to issue a restricted license to a driver who has had their license suspended due to unpaid fines.
HB1084: extends temporary disabled parking placards from 6 months to 12 months.
HB1108: provides transparency and fairness for state procurement projects using construction management as the method of project delivery.
HB1113: increases the maximum thresholds on job order contracting, an alternative form of procurement.
HB1116: increases the limits on when localities can establish small purchase procedures on procurement projects.
HB1125: establishes the Business Ready Expedited Permitting Program, to be administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
HB1126: grants current Virginia members of Congress the authority to perform the rites of marriage.
HB1131: removes Richmond from the list of eligible host cities for a Casino.
HB1133: changes Virginia529’s legal name from Virginia College Savings Plan to Commonwealth Savers Plan.
HB1365: greatly limits when institutions of higher education can withhold student transcripts as a method of debt collection.
HB1455: establishes the Virginia Memory Project as the state’s alzhimers’s and dementia registry.
HB1457: makes necessary statutory changes to reinstate the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, an incentive used by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
The Port of Virginia & The Key Bridge Collapse
As a member of the House Transportation Committee I recently attended a briefing led by the Secretary of Transportation on the Port of Virginia’s assumption of additional volume as a result of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Virginia’s Port system is available to step up to the challenge due to significant investments that were made in the recent past to expand the efficiency and capacity of the port. More information can be found in this article.
Department of Historic Resources
DHR works to investigate, analyze, and protect Virginia’s rich history, including the maritime history along the Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic shoreline, and Virginia’s many navigable rivers. DHR’s underwater archaeology program began during the 1970s, and works on and in 84% of state owned land that is submerged. From the sunken ships at Yorktown to fish weirs in the Clinch River, researchers with DHR regularly respond to preservation needs and partner with local landowners, resource managers, and non-profits to better document and understand our shared maritime past.
I recently had the privilege of joining the Department of Historic Resource’s Roanoke Regional team and Statewide Underwater Archaeology team, led by Brendan Burke (State Underwater Archaeologist), for a tour in Botetourt County of an archaeological complex including an unfinished canal tunnel, aqueducts, and locks known as the Marshall Tunnel complex. Abandoned in 1856, the partially-finished tunnel was designed to allow canal boats to pass through portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains and connect tidewater Virginia with the Ohio River drainage. This site is now a national treasure in marine archaeology because of the potential for documentation of an undisturbed site.
For more information about the work of DHR including directories of sites, research resources, and current programs, visit their website.
Department of Wildlife Resources
I also had the privilege of joining the Department of Wildlife Resources as they tended to the Bosher’s Dam Fish Ladder and as they collected samples of fish near Ancarrow’s Landing, both to track the species of fish present in the James River as well as to pull specimen for stocking initiatives across the state. You can learn more about the work of DWR in our fresh water systems at this link. Additionally, DWR hosts a wide array of volunteer opportunities and is always eager to open up their work to the public. More information here.
In a related note, you may enjoy this recent article from The Richmond Times-Dispatch highlighting the angling allure that the City’s purchase of Mayo Island is sure to bring.
City of Richmond Job Fair
The City will host a job fair, April 16, 10am - 2pm, at the Richmond Convention Center. The job fair will feature everything from dress closets, headshots, and general information sessions to on-the-spot interviews and hiring. Attendees are encouraged to dress professionally and bring multiple copies of their resume. RSVP at this link.
E-Cycling Event
The City is holding an e-cycling event, May 11, 10am - 2pm at 1710 Robin Hood Road. Residents are invited to bring old electronics, documents for shredding, and household hazardous waste for disposal. More information is available here.
Thank You
It is an honor to serve in the House of Delegates. Please never hesitate to contact me at delegate.carr@betsycarr.org or 804-698-1078 if I can be helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Betsy