With no revised budget on the table yet, Senate Democrats on Wednesday postponed a potential showdown with Gov. Glenn Youngkin on tax cuts and spending priorities, but they reminded the governor that the legislature does not back down on policy decisions it already has made.
Here's a look at what also happened Wednesday"
Youngkin's scorecard
The General Assembly gave Youngkin most of what he wanted during its annual veto session, sustaining three gubernatorial vetoes and approving changes he made to legislation to tighten regulation of the commercial hemp industry — largely aimed at products containing delta-8 — as well as nearly 70 other bills that it had adopted during the legislative session that ended on Feb. 25.
It also agreed with four amendments he had proposed to a stopgap budget bill the legislature adopted on the last day of the session, as the House and Senate continue to negotiate over a $1 billion difference in changes to the two-year state budget.
But the Senate rejected amendments he proposed to at least 10 bills as an inappropriate exercise of executive power on issues the legislature already had decided.
“He is trying to go around the process and be an extra legislator,” said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, who led the push to reject Youngkin’s proposed amendments to three bills.
For example, Senate Democrats blocked a substitute bill Youngkin had proposed to prohibit picketing at the residence of U.S. Supreme Court justices, other judges and court participants, just as the assembly did earlier this year and during deliberations on the budget last year. The governor tried to attach the substitute to a bill that Deeds had introduced and the legislature had approved to prevent the publication of personal information about judges and other court officials on state websites.
Senate Republicans argued that the governor’s proposal was consistent with the underlying bill’s intent to prevent intimidation of judges and other court officials, but Democrats said the constitutional right to free speech is paramount.
“We have to remain faithful to the First Amendment,” said Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Petersburg.
Senate rejects Youngkin’s attempts
The Senate also rejected Youngkin’s attempts to reverse decisions the assembly made earlier this year. Those decisions included a reduction of the minimum amount of acre ownership required to participate in the state site readiness program for economic development (two companion bills), requiring disclosure of State Parole Board decisions to make prisoners eligible for parole (two bills), allowing Dominion Energy to recover costs for its offshore wind farm, the location of a facility for growing medical marijuana in western Virginia, the allocation of money to the repair of highway bridges and the development of policy on the resilience of coastal areas to sea level rise.
One of the most sensitive debates involved access by children to pornographic sites on the internet. The assembly had adopted legislation proposed by Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, to prevent children from being exposed to online porn, but Youngkin proposed to go further by restricting commercial access to online data for anyone up to 18 years old without parental consent.
Senate Democrats argued that the governor’s amendments went too far, potentially raising conflicts over interstate commerce and consumer data privacy on issues that are not resolved nationally.
“We have to get this right and we have to do this the right way,” said Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax. “And that’s through the legislature, and that’s next year.”
Decision on 2 dozen policy changes
Senate Democrats also objected to Youngkin’s proposal of substitutes to more than two dozen bills that would change the policy decisions that assembly already had made.
“He’s a bit of a rookie and he’s not willing to take ‘no’ for an answer,” said Sen. Adam Ebbin D-Alexandria, who noted that the Senate General Laws Committee, which he chairs, had twice voted down the amendments that Youngkin proposed to Stanley’s bill.
Youngkin was generally upbeat about the outcome, which he said “once again showed us that together we can find commonsense solutions on behalf of the 8.7 million Virginians who hired us.”
“I was humbled to see legislators from both sides of the aisle come together around our proposals to lower the cost of living with more transparency around electric utility legislation, strengthen the enforcement on our new ban on the purchase of agricultural land by foreign adversaries, and improve our enforcement of intoxicating hemp product regulations,” he said in a statement.
But Youngkin said he was “shocked by the Virginia Democrats’ decision to put politics before the safety of Virginians, especially our youth, online, at home, and at work. We will continue to fight for legislation that protects our children from the dangers of Big Tech, defends our Supreme Court Justices and their families from intimidation tactics, and shields Virginia residents and businesses from soaring offshore wind costs.”
Hemp
Youngkin’s amendments to bills that more tightly regulate Virginia’s hemp industry passed both chambers Wednesday following robust debate.
The amendments to the House bill sponsored by Majority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, passed on a vote of 52-42. The amendments to the Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, passed 33-7.
Youngkin’s amendments allow businesses packaging products that include hemp to exceed a previously proposed 2-miligram THC cap if a product meets a 25-to-1 ratio of cannabidiol (CBD) to THC.
THC is a chemical found in both hemp and marijuana that can create the feeling of a high. While most hemp companies have operated within federal guidelines for hemp products (a 0.3% cap on THC in products), some companies have sold products containing a chemical called delta-8, which is not federally regulated.
The compound creates a similar high to chemicals found in marijuana and is available in some hemp products.
Youngkin also struck language that required a bittering agent in topical products like hemp skincare.
Businesses selling products meant to be consumed or inhaled will need to pay an annual $1,000 fee and could face a fine of $10,000 per day if caught selling illegal or mislabeled products.
Kilgore said his bill accomplished the key goal of regulating THC in hemp products. He said the governor’s amendments spared a kind of CBD product the General Assembly authorized in 2015 when it learned it was the only medication that helped a family manage its child’s epileptic fits.
Dels. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William and Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, argued that passing the amendments would only encourage an illegal market for delta 8 and THC products.
Adams said the governor’s amendments would create what she called “an illicit THC market,” with language that allows products with cannabidiol that is no less than 25 times greater than the amount of total tetrahydrocannabinol per package.
Adams said that ratio would allow a product that could be intoxicating, and that the governor’s amendment was meant to ensure that an out-of-state firm’s product remained available, although it could be made by other firms.
“This is about money, not people,” she said.
But Del. Margaret Ransone, R-Westmoreland, said no other firm had stepped up to market a product that would meet the same need as the product the General Assembly authorized in 2015.
The Hanger and Kilgore bills were inspired, in part, by an uptick in calls to poison control centers after some hemp products intoxicated children. Attorney General Jason Miyares also vowed to crack down on products that are packaged to resemble popular candy brands.
While some in the hemp industry supported ideas like packaging requirements and child-proofing, they worried that further restricting THC limits would make many products that are currently sold illegal and put companies out of business.
“This bill still takes a lot of full-spectrum non-intoxicating products off of store shelves,” Virginia Hemp Coalition president Jason Amatucci said in an interview with The Richmond Times-Dispatch: “It’s far too punitive with retail retailers.”
Rights restoration
Before the session on Wednesday, state Sen. Lionel Spruill, D-Chesapeake, met with Youngkin to stress his concerns with the governor’s new approach to restoring the rights of people convicted of felonies.
“We agreed to meet again next week,” Spruill said.
While Govs. Bob McDonnell, Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam took steps to restore rights automatically — roughly 300,000 former inmates thus regained their right to vote — Youngkin has adopted a case-by-case approach, and last year restored rights to just 4,300.
Virginia and Kentucky are the only states that bar people convicted of felonies from voting; most restore rights automatically once individuals complete their sentences or probation.
Youngkin spokesperson Macaculay Porter said the meeting had a constructive tone.
“The governor deeply respects Sen. Spruill and has a good working relationship with him,” Porter said.
“During today’s meeting, Gov. Youngkin and Secretary (of the Commonwealth Kay Coles) James were receptive to his ideas,” she said. “They’ve agreed to have a follow-up meeting and continue to work on this topic.”
Abigail Zwerner
Also Wednesday, lawmakers formally commended Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student Jan. 6 at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City County, welcomed Zwerner and members of her family to the chamber’s floor for the formal presentation of a Senate resolution that commended her for her “heroic actions” in protecting the pupils in her classroom.
Norment told lawmakers that, as Zwerner reached for the gun, the child fired and the bullet passed through Zwerner’s hand and her chest and lodged in her shoulder. Zwerner ushered her students to another room and was the last person to leave the classroom where the shooting took place — “heroic actions” the legislature’s resolution highlighted.
The Richneck Elementary shooting came months after high-profile shootings at the University of Virginia and a Chesapeake Walmart.
“I am prayerful that those of you who are privileged to return in 2024 have a laser like focus on school safety,” Norment said as he introduced Zwerner.
Zwerner has filed a $40 million suit against Newport News school officials. A Newport News grand jury has charged the 6-year-old boy’s mother with a child neglect felony and a misdemeanor related to recklessly storing a loaded firearm endangering a child.
Welcomes and goodbyes
The Senate welcomed a new member, Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, who was sworn into office on Tuesday, two weeks after winning a special election for the 9th Senate District seat vacated by former Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, elected to Congress in late February to succeed the late Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th.
Bagby, who previously served six years in the House of Delegates, acknowledged after his inaugural Senate session that “the pace is slower,” but he expressed pride in serving a Senate district that previously had been represented by Gov. Doug Wilder and Sen. Benjamin Lambert, both Richmond Democrats, as well as McEachin and McClellan.
The veto session also was a time for goodbyes to senators and delegates who will not seek re-election this year — although they are likely to meet again in special session on the budget before leaving office.
Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News, thanked the House for rallying around his family after the death of his infant son Peter, and said it was the honor of his life to have served.
He shared stories about how his corner of the House pioneered the white flags House members wave these days when a colleague’s speech has lasted too long. He also recalled how two successive speakers of the House chastised him as acting beneath the dignity of the House for his habit of saying “Play Ball” at the start of each day’s business.
“So I say, one last time: Play Ball.”
Obamacare health insurance costs are set to spike next year because the General Assembly budget impasse means a financial deal that cut premiums has now lapsed, a State Corporation Commission analysis shows.
The General Assembly also welcomed new Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico and commended Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old in Newport News.
