Governor Glenn Youngkin must decide the fate of gun rights in Virginia after Democrats narrowly passed three bills they claim will reduce gun violence in the commonwealth.
The bills, passed by the Virginia General Assembly between Wednesday and Friday, seek to regulate how gun owners in the commonwealth must store their firearms and where they can be carried.
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U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) revealed details of a letter he sent to President Joe Biden on Wednesday to urge his administration to refrain from sending “offensive weapons” to Israel. Kaine said sending such weapons would hurt the chances of successful negotiations to secure the release of hostages taken during the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas and ease tensions with the U.S.-designated terrorist group.
Kaine’s office said the senator “underscored the importance of pursuing a deal to immediately release all hostages taken by Hamas” during the radical group’s October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, “end the violence in Gaza,” and all for the distribution of humanitarian aid.
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In a statement released Tuesday, Governor Glenn Youngkin committed to see through his plans to bring the Washington Wizards and Capitals to Alexandria, Virginia with a new sports and entertainment district complete with new facilities for the teams to play.
Youngkin made the declaration after a breakdown of negotiations with two major unions resulted in their opposition to the arena, and after Virginia Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) successfully stalled a Senate bill necessary for the arena project to begin and now controls the fate of the House version of the bill after it landed in the Senate Finance Committee she chairs.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly narrowly passed a bill that would protect same-sex marriage in the commonwealth in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, which effectively legalized same-sex unions throughout the country in 2015.
HB 174 seeks to amend Virginia law to declare that “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 sex, gender, or race of such parties” with an exception for religious organizations and clergy members, who “shall have the right to refuse to perform any marriage.”
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares confirmed on Friday that he joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general calling on the Department of Justice’s Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Fund to provide additional resources to commonwealth citizens who are victims of crimes.
The VOCA Fund, originally established by a federal law signed in 1984, is financed by fines and penalties paid by individuals convicted in federal cases and funds to provide various services, including financial assistance, to victims of crimes.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin wrote in defense of the Democratic Speaker of the House of Delegates on Thursday after the Republican Party of Virginia (VAGOP) cited the felony drug conviction of Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) and claimed he wants to lower the penalties for drug crimes to help drug dealers in a post to social media.
In a now-deleted post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the VAGOP reportedly wrote, “Is it any surprise that [Scott] spent 8 years in federal prison for peddling drugs to college kids, and now he’s obsessed with legislation to cut breaks for drug dealers? Anything for your buddies, right?”
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly narrowly passed legislation that will raise the commonwealth’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. Their votes came despite Governor Glenn Youngkin previously suggesting such legislation was unnecessary.
HB 1 previously passed the Virginia House of Delegates on February 2 in a partisan vote with 51 in favor and 49 against. In the Virginia Senate, the bill’s counterpart, SB 1, also passed along partisan lines, with 21 votes in favor and 19 votes against.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade both testified Thursday in the first day of proceedings to determine if she should be removed from the prosecution due to their previously undisclosed romantic relationship.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposal to ban TikTok from offering its services to minors in Virginia was defeated on Tuesday after Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates opted against scheduling it for a vote.
The bill, HB 1468 by Delegate Jay Leftwich (R-Chesapeake), would have allowed Attorney General Jason Miyares to prohibit TikTok from knowingly allowing minors to use the social media platform in the commonwealth. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, would have been fined $7,500 per violation for every minor found to be using the site due to the company’s negligence.
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Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) used her position as Senate Finance Committee chair to block a Democrat effort to prevent public utility companies from donating to political campaigns in the commonwealth.
State Senator Danica Roem (D-Manassas) introduced SB 326, which aimed to ban candidates “from soliciting or accepting contributions from any public utility” and prohibit such companies from making political contributions.
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Key Virginia Democrats pulled their support from the proposal by Governor Glenn Youngkin to build a new sports complex in Alexandria, Virginia for the Washington Wizards and Capitals, and did not place a bill to advance the initiative on the Senate schedule on Monday.
State Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) first indicated she would use her power as the Senate Finance Chair to block the bill in a Saturday post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which she slammed Youngkin for suggesting Democrats do not want “a strong America” in his speech at the 28th Mock Convention at Washington and Lee University.
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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee warned on Monday that District Attorney Fani Willis could face “disqualification” from prosecuting her case against former President Donald Trump as a result of her admitted relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she appointed to oversee the case.
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Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sunday authored an opinion column offering reasons why Monumental Sports and Entertainment should abandon its plans to move to Alexandria, Virginia, where Governor Glenn Youngkin is working with the General Assembly to build a new entertainment complex for the Washington Wizards and Capitals.
Bowser revealed the offer made to keep the sports teams in the district, stressed the city’s ownership position over the Capital One Arena property and outlined a series of concerns about the possible move.
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President Joe Biden was mocked by conservatives on Sunday for a video he released ahead of the Super Bowl which derided “shrinkflation,” when manufacturers lower the size or quantity of items included for a given price without informing the consumer as a result of inflation, with pundits uniformly reminding the embattled president that his inflationary policies preceded the shrinkflation.
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Two Virginia bishops issued a letter through the Virginia Catholic Conference on Monday urging Catholics to oppose legislation in the Virginia General Assembly that would legalize physician assisted suicide within the commonwealth. The legislation passed a second committee vote on Thursday.
Bishop Michael Burbridge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond warned in their letter that bills “to legalize physician assisted suicide” are “moving rapidly” through the General Assembly. The bishops wrote, “We are alarmed and deeply saddened by this development. Human life is sacred and must never be abandoned or discarded.
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Democrats in the Virginia State Senate have beaten the attempt by Governor Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Republicans to cut the commonwealth’s income tax rates and reform Virginia’s sales tax until at least 2025.
SB 632, filed by State Senator Richard Stuart (R-Montross), was continued into 2025 on Tuesday in an overwhelming vote by the Senate Subcommittee on Finance and Appropriations, led by State Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly seek to allow local cities and towns to enact “anti rent gouging” ordinances that would regulate what property owners can charge renters and when rent can be raised, and additionally seek to add $100 million to the budget to fund “long-term direct rental assistance” for 5,000 families via vouchers.
Delegate Nadarius Clark (D-Suffolk) introduced HB 721 in early January to allow “any locality” to adopt an “anti-rent gouging” ordinance that would force landlords to provide two months of written notice in the event of a rent increase, prevent landlords from raising rent more than once within a 12-month period, cap how much rent can be increased and allow communities “to establish an anti-rent gouging board” to create regulations “by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions” from the legislation.
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The Virginia House of Democrats successfully passed HB 1 and HB 2, which would see the minimum wage in the commonwealth raised to $15 per hour by 2026 and make the sale or transfer of “assault firearms and certain ammunition feeding devices” a misdemeanor criminal offense.
Filed by Delegate Jeion Ward (D-Hampton), HB 1 would see Virginia’s current minimum wage of $12 per hour increased to $13.50 per hour in 2025 before increasing to $15 per hour in 2026. It passed through committee with partisan votes, and narrowly passed in the House of Delegates with 51 votes in favor and 49 votes against.
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Two bills put forward by Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates were defeated in the a subcommittee by Democrats on Monday, just months after Governor Glenn Youngkin said promised to file bills targeting social media companies, particularly TikTok, to protect children in the commonwealth.
Defeated by a margin of two votes, HB 1161 would have required social media platforms to obtain a verifiable form of parental consent for minors to use the platform and for parental consent to be obtained a second time before social media companies could collect personal data from minors.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Wednesday the Virginia Permit Transparency (VPT) website, expanding a program Forbes hailed as “a model for other states” to include three Virginia agencies with more to follow.
The governor’s office explained in a press release that the VPT provides the public with “a centralized platform” to track daily status of their permit application.
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First Lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares on Tuesday held an event for their new fentanyl awareness initiative, called It Only Takes One. They were joined by Roanoke City Mayor Sherman Lea and the parents of a child who died after overdosing on fentanyl.
“Fentanyl is killing our young people and hurting families across the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said during her speech at the event. She added, “By bringing attention to the dangers of this illicit drug, while giving a voice to victims, we aspire to save lives. Ultimately, caring for one another is our higher calling.”
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Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) indicated on Friday that Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) could see Democrats, who narrowly control the Virginia General Assembly, end their cooperation if he vetoes her bill to raise the commonwealth’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.
In a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the senator predicted that Youngkin “will quickly find the cooperative tone from Democrats changing” should the governor veto her minimum wage bill.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares confirmed on Thursday a $2.8 million media campaign to support Operation Ceasefire, the campaign he began in 2022 to lower gun violence throughout the commonwealth.
A trailer for the attorney general’s campaign, posted to YouTube last month, reveals an upcoming “public awareness and media campaign” titled Ceasefire Virginia. Miyares intends to reach “young people who may be considering gang or violent criminal activity” by targeting them on social media.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin responded on Wednesday to President Joe Biden referring to former Governor Terry McAuliffe as the “real governor” of Virginia before he later announced “Virginia stands with Texas” in the standoff between Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over Abbott’s efforts to protect the state’s southern border.
Biden launched a Tuesday campaign event by greeting Virginia and “the real governor, Terry McAuliffe,” which White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted was a joke. After Biden’s apparent attempt at comedy, Youngkin told 12 On Your Side on Wednesday that he was not surprised the president “doesn’t know who the Governor of Virginia is.”
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The Biden State Department reportedly failed to pay nearly $700,000 to the Northern Virginia Emergency Response System (NVERS), a nonprofit partnership of Virginia governments, hospitals, and other private sector groups, after it was called to support the Biden administration’s relocation of Afghan citizens in the aftermath of the 2021 withdrawal of the United States military from Afghanistan.
A letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken detailing the unpaid debt was signed by six Democrats representing Virginia in Congress, including Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, as well as Representatives Jennifer Wexton (VA-10), Don Beyer (VA-08), Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), and Gerry Connolly (VA-11).
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The Virginia Senate unanimously passed on Tuesday a bill that would ban colleges and universities in the state from giving preferential treatment or consideration to legacy admissions, which are typically the family members of graduates.
Passed with 39 votes in favor and one senator not voting, the summary for SB 46 reveals the lawmakers voted to prohibit “any public institution of higher education from providing any manner of preferential treatment in the admissions decision to any student application on the basis of such student’s legacy status,” which the bill defines as those students with a familial connection to either an alumnus or a donor.
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Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) formally endorsed former President Donald Trump in his third bid for the White House in his Monday appearance on The John Fredericks Show after previously endorsing Governor Ron DeSantis last May.
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Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Richmond) filed SB 718 on Friday to form the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority and Financing Fund to oversee the funding and eventual construction of the new sports complex to house the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards proposed by Governor Glenn Youngkin in December.
The Authority that would be created by Surovell’s bill would consist of nine members, including six appointed by Virginia’s governor and three appointed by elected leaders in Alexandria, Virginia, where the new complex is being contemplated.
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A bill in the Virginia General Assembly, submitted by Delegate Rae Cousins (D-Richmond), would allow convicted criminals in the commonwealth to petition for their sentence to be terminated after serving 15 years, regardless of the crime they committed.
Cousin’s HB 855, according to the bill’s summary, “Provides a process for a person serving a sentence for any conviction or a combination of any convictions who remains incarcerated in a state or local correctional facility or secure facility” and meets criteria established in the law.
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A campaign manager for former President Donald Trump warned Representative Bob Good (VA-05) “won’t be electable” after the Virginia Republican broke with Trump and endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
Chris LaCivita, who advised the former president’s campaign before his recent promotion to co-campaign manager, told Cardinal News on Wednesday, “Bob Good won’t be electable when we get done with him.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a Monday statement that Virginia revenues met his office’s expectation during the first half of the 2023 fiscal year. The governor’s confirmation comes as he seeks to pass his new budget, which forecasts a “mild recession” in the next two years.
Youngkin’s office confirmed in its press release that “general fund revenues for December 2023 remain in line with updated revisions to the official revenue forecast,” and state revenues grew by 0.2 percent and 7.1 percent over the course of the year.
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A conservative political action committee in Virginia released a new ad targeting Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) on Monday, highlighting a video published in December that appeared to show Good repeatedly criticize former President Donald Trump after stating he would not make similar remarks in public.
The narrator for Virginians for Conservative Leadership PAC’s 30-second commercial declared, “For cameras, Bob Good says Trump’s okay,” but called him “two faced” and a “fake” in private, before cutting to the December video.
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Virginia Democrats reportedly claimed in a Wednesday press conference that the proposal by Governor Glenn Youngkin to end the commonwealth’s unpopular car tax is “dead on arrival” at the Virginia General Assembly.
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) said Democrats would block Youngkin’s budget proposal to end the state’s unpopular car tax, calling it “dead on arrival,” according to 13 News Now.
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Virginia hospitals and health systems provided $3.3 billion in community support for the Commonwealth in 2022, according to a new report by the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) published on Wednesday. The report also revealed Virginia’s healthcare industry generated more than $64 billion in positive economic activity over the same period.
VHHA determined the dollar amount in community support by “reflecting the cost of uncompensated care, community wellness investment, taxes, and donations.”
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Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) predicted in a Tuesday interview that Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) will be able to identify “areas of agreement” with Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly and ultimately pass legislation.
Kaine, citing his own experience leading a divided Virginia government as governor from 2006 through 2010, reflected to WTOP News, “We disagreed on a lot, but we always found things we could agree on.”
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Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney reportedly wants the Virginia General Assembly to approve $100 million for the city’s sewer upgrades, plus additional revenue for new speeding cameras, and warned Virginians could see their utility rates “skyrocket” without additional state funding.
“We’re asking for more because we know if we are unable to find the needed amount, a lot of this burden will fall on the ratepayers,” Stoney claimed, according to 12 On Your Side. The outlet reported that Stoney warned “utility bills could skyrocket” without additional funding approved by Virginia lawmakers and Governor Glenn Youngkin (R).
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The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) created its new Office of Behavioral Health and Wellness on Friday, and the agency explained it will operate using resources made available by the Right Help, Right Now program created at the behest of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) last year.
A press release from the Virginia agency explained the new office seeks to “address the unprecedented rise in mental health and behavioral challenges facing Virginia students post pandemic” with what one spokesman called “wraparound services” to keep students emotionally capable of learning in school.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly filed resolutions on Wednesday to amend the Virginia Constitution to allow same-sex marriage.
State Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax) filed twin versions of SJ 11, which would repeal “the constitutional provision defining marriage as only a union between one man and one woman as well as the related provisions that are no longer valid as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.”
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Virginia Delegate John McGuire (R-Goochland) sharply criticized Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) in a Thursday appearance on The John Fredericks Show, claiming Good harbors hatred for former President Donald Trump. McGuire launched a primary challenge against Good immediately after winning election to the Virginia State Senate.
McGuire argued to host John Fredericks, who is publisher of The Virginia Star, that Good is a political enemy of the former president, fails to represent the voters in his district, and contributed to Virginia Republicans’ loss of the Virginia House of Delegates in November.
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Polling released on Thursday revealed the majority of Virginia voters continue to approve of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) despite Republicans failing to hold the House of Delegates or capture the Virginia Senate last November.
The Mason-Dixon poll found 58 percent of Virginia voters approve of Youngkin’s job performance as governor, compared to 37 percent who disapprove. Just 5 percent of respondents said they are not sure about their opinion of Youngkin.
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A number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have expressed support for the effort by Governor Glenn Youngkin and Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson to bring the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals to Virginia, though one high profile senator has ruled out the possibility without significant action.
The plan to relocate the professional sports teams was announced on December 15, 2023, when Youngkin said it would require $1.35 billion in public dollars, making it the “largest-ever public subsidy for a project of its kind,” according to The Washington Post.
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Old Dominion University released its annual State of the Commonwealth Report on December 18, 2023. While the authors found Virginia’s economy improved in 2023, they also found that people continued to leave the commonwealth, the economy grew slower than in neighboring states, and the economic activity was not evenly dispersed.
Economic “good news” offered by the report includes a “record number of Virginians” who were “at work or looking for work,” with workforce “participation increased above pre-pandemic levels.” Virginia’s hotel industry also saw growth, with revenues surpassing those of 2019.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly are reportedly backing the campaign finance bill to ban politicians from using money donated to a political campaign for personal expenses after it introduced by State Delegate Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax) on December 20.
As introduced, HB 40 would amend existing law to limit those running for state offices in Virginia to using campaign funds strictly for campaign expenses, costs incurred as a state official, contributions to sanctioned groups or campaigns, or childcare expenses caused by the campaign.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Friday the distribution of more than $18 million in federal grants to 16 Virginia communities to improve existing housing and improve infrastructure. Youngkin claimed his distribution will help Virginians manage the increasing cost of living.
In a press release, the governor’s office said the distribution of Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs) “will support projects that rehabilitate housing, revitalize downtown districts, improve water and sewer infrastructure and provide dental facilities for needed services, benefiting more than 2,800 low- and moderate-income Virginians.”
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Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke), who was tapped by House Speaker-designee Don Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) to serve as the Chair of the House Education Committee, predicted Democrats will find some “accord” with Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in a Thursday interview. Still, Rasoul said he wants more funding for Virginia’s students, particularly those learning English as a second language.
Rasoul said he expects “common accord” with Youngkin on “mental health and some student mental health work” in remarks made to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, calling them “[p]laces where we can work together.”
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly have signaled their opposition to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s plan to eliminate the state’s unpopular car tax as part of his budget since he unveiled it last week. Despite Youngkin’s calls for additional mental health and education funding, the plan’s detractors say revenue generated through taxing personal vehicles is necessary to fund the commonwealth’s schools.
Youngkin declared before the Virginia House of Delegates on December 20 that the commonwealth’s “car tax belongs in the trash can, not in your mailbox,” and his budget revealed plans to offset revenue lost by eliminating the car tax and lowering the income tax with a sales tax increase.
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A federally funded program in Virginia to provide coaching and academic recovery to the commonwealth’s students is set to conclude this year, with state officials pointing toward Governor Glenn Youngkin’s ALL in VA plan as a possible way to bridge the gap in resources as pandemic-era federal funding runs dry.
The Engage Virginia program unveiled the the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) in February is set to conclude on December 31, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday, explaining that Youngkin’s administration said “the one-time federal funding for the program has been exhausted, and the program is wrapping up.” However, the outlet noted the governor’s office suggested “school divisions could individually engage with the program by using their allocations from the governor’s ALL in VA plan.”
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Virginia Delegate David Reid (D-Loudoun) filed a bill earlier this month that would include privately-created identification cards as permissible forms of voter identification.
Reid filed HB 26 on December 18 to amend existing Virginia law regarding voter identification to allow “any valid identification card containing a photograph of the voter and issued by any private entity that is licensed or certified, in whole or in part, by the Department of Health, Department of Social Services, Department of Medical Assistance Services, or Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.”
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Two Virginia Democrats in the State Senate introduced legislation on Tuesday to increase penalties for gun owners in cases of minors committing crimes, with even higher punishments if the adult knew the minor offender was previously charged with a violent crime.
Virginia State Senator-elect Schuyler Vanvalkenburg (D-Henrico) and Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SB 44 to amend the Code of Virginia to make it a Class 1 misdemeanor, “If the owner of a firearm allows a minor to possess his firearm and such a minor” takes the firearm to a school zone or gun-free zone, or uses the firearm “to intentionally or with gross negligence cause bodily injury to himself or another person.”
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The budget Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) proposed on Wednesday includes nearly $95 million in funding for the Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, also known as the Norfolk Sea Wall, but tied $21 million of the funding to the completion of a long-delayed casino.
Youngkin’s budget includes $73.8 million for the project, a series of improvements that includes levees, storm surge barriers, pump stations, and other improvements to manage the flow of water during storms. However, the budget calls for an additional $21 million in funding that is “contingent upon the City applying revenues generated by a casino gaming establishment.”
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