Despite a shortened 2025 General Assembly session due to a water plant failure in Richmond, legislators still managed to introduce and debate almost 2,500 bills — an impressive workload by any measure. In the end, however, a total of 1,440 of those bills were killed, with 409 (or 28 percent) killed without even the dignity of a recorded vote.
Of the 964 bills that passed, 408 garnered unanimous support. While this could lead one to assume the session was fairly non-partisan, 58 percent passed with over 40 percent opposition – more than twice as many as any session in the last eight years.
This shortened session, it turns out, was one of the most partisan sessions in recent memory. This is likely due to the fact that unity of the majority party always goes up when the size of their majority narrows — but it is also a reality of a General Assembly that lacks moderates from either party (thank you to the Virginia Public Access Project for these statistics. Note that 65 bills were consolidated into other bills, so the math above may look skewed).
With almost a thousand bills now sitting on the Governor’s desk, only half are controversial. And, a large percentage of those passed bills are “retread” legislation vetoed by this governor in years past. These retread bills should be quick work for the Governor’s veto pen as little to no attempt was made to alter the legislation to survive a veto. But, these bills are a good indication of what the progressives have planned next year if they keep the General Assembly and take over the Governor’s mansion. We will be taking a closer look at these bills over the next few months.
This week, the Thomas Jefferson Institute, in conjunction with the dozen members of the Virginia Conservative Leaders Network, sent Governor Youngkin a book of our recommendations on bills he should veto and those he should sign. The Thomas Jefferson Institute participated in most of the recommendations of the Network, and led the effort on bills related to energy and the economy. Recommendations from the network covered both passed legislation and budget amendments.
Governor Youngkin has already broken records with the number of vetoes he has issued during his term, but this should not dissuade him from continuing to use his veto power liberally. Below are our recommendations which were included in the Power of the Pen book sent jointly by the Leadership Network to the Governor (if you want more information on this book, or a copy, or if you want the full reasoning for any of our recommendations, you can email Derrick directly at [email protected]):
VETO RECOMMENDATIONS
Veto the Increase and Expansion of the Minimum Wage (HB1928 & HB1625)
This will harm low skilled workers and small businesses and undermine job growth in Virginia. By removing the exemption for migrant workers, it will also drive up farm prices and force the reworking in the payment arrangements agreed to between farmers and seasonal workers.
· Veto Paid Family and Medical Leave (HB2531)
This will create a massive new payroll tax funded entitlement of $1.7 billion per year that will reduce worker take home pay and harm small business.
· Veto 1 percent Local Sales Tax Authority (SB1307)
This is a massive and regressive tax increase that will reduce Virginia’s competitiveness with surrounding states.
· Veto the 1.5 percent Bonus for all state employees (Budget Item 469 #1 S)
This is an $83 million expenditure that ignores the fact that the current biennium budget already includes a 3% salary increase for each year for state employees. These funds could be better used to reduce taxes and benefit all Virginians equally.
· Veto the Elimination of the Support Cap on Education Spending (Budget Item 125 #3H)
This spends an additional $227.5 million on support staff by lowering the ratio of support to teachers, at a time when the number of students per teacher is decreasing and the number of non instructional staff is increasing. No further money should be spent of this amount without fundamental reform of education that includes greater educational opportunities and choice.
· Veto the Unconscious Bias Mandate on Doctors (SB740)
This requires all doctors to take unconscious bias training which is proven to mostly increase bias, and falsely assigns disparities in health outcomes by race or gender as a result of racism or bias.
· Veto Pay Parity for Midwives (HB1923)
This requires midwives to be reimbursed at the same rate as licensed medical doctors.
· Veto the Removal of Tax Exemption for United Daughters of the Confederacy and other confederate organizations (HB1699)
This sets a precedent for viewpoint discrimination in the exemption process and ignores the role these organizations play in education and Virginia history.
· Veto the new Integrated Resource Plans (HB2413/SB1021)
This mandates that a “social cost of carbon” be added to any cost benefit analysis which would effectively eliminate the use of hydrocarbon fuels in the Commonwealth by use of an inflated and impossible to calculate carbon cost.
· Veto the Expanded Energy Storage Mandates in VCEA (HB2537/SB1394)
This would require an estimated $29 billion cost in an attempt to capture energy to be stored when renewable energy from windmills and solar farms are not producing energy. This would be a massive cost on ratepayers with little actual benefit. Battery technology is not yet
· Veto the Virtual Power Plant Pilot (HB2346/SB1100)
This would create a pilot program to allow Dominion to create a virtual power plant by taking control of distributed energy through control of smart meters and other existing energy storage options (like electric vehicles and buses).
· Veto Unregulated Energy Sales by Co-ops (HB2644/SB1197)
This would allow energy co-ops to bypass SCC regulation and create a precedent to allow investor owned utilities to sell directly, thus bypassing and jeopardizing the grid.
· Veto Utility-Owned EVCharger Network (HB2087)
This allows Dominion and APCo to build out a network of EV charging stations and pass the cost on to ratepayers generally. This will further distort the market and further stress the grid once completed.
· Veto the Prescriptive “Efficiency Measures” to eliminate Gas or Fuel Oil Use (HB2744)
This requires Dominion and APCo to force 30 percent of their customers who are using natural gas or propane to convert to electricity. This can cost as much as $20k per household (paid by the household) and limits consumer choice. It will also be a windfall to the power companies as it drives customers to increase their use of their services.
SIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
· Sign the Extension and Increase in the Standard Deduction (Budget Item 255 #1)
This budget amendment would extend the standard deduction for one year and increase the deduction by $250 per individual and $500 per couple. This tax cut benefits a majority of Virginians and will help spur economic growth.
· Sign the “One Time” tax rebates (Budget Item 255 #1)
End of year tax rebates are not ideal, but this rebate of $200 for individuals and $400 for couples will return the current budget surpluses to taxpayers and spur economic growth.
While the Thomas Jefferson Institute is reviewing many other bills of concern and communicating with the Governor’s team separately, we believe the above bills and budget provisions would have the greatest impact on the Commonwealth.
If you would like to express your views to the Governor, you can call his office at (804) 786-2211 or email your concerns directly to [email protected].
Derrick Max is the President and CEO of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. He can be reached at [email protected].