Live from Virginia Monday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond, WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia, WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 PM) Hampton Roads, WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke and Weekdays 6-10 am and 24/7 Stream –  host Fredericks welcomed Delegate (R-VA) Terry Kilgore of Gate City to the show to talk about the new mask mandate legislation that will allow parents the freedom to choose whether or not their child will wear one at school.
Fredericks: Joining us now, Terry Kilgore. He is the majority leader of the new Republican majority House of Delegates in Virginia. Terry, thank you for your patience. Wow, what a week you guys have had.
Now you’re standing up against the democratic tyranny in the Senate and, and retaliating on the fact that the Senate rejected Governor Youngkin’s nominee for one of the agencies, Tom Wheeler, that served in the Trump administration.
You’ve got major education reform going on. Lots to report on. The first thing I want to say is Terry, welcome. The second thing I want to say is, this is what winning looks like. I think Republicans in Virginia have so far, three weeks in, exceeded everybody’s expectations.
Kilgore: We feel good up here, John. And you know, the shots across the bow last week, where you know, that was me, the Speaker, myself, and others, letting the Senate know you don’t run all this up here. We’ve got the House and we got Governor Youngkin, who has the final say on a lot of legislation. And you can be a brick wall if you want to be a brick wall.
But if you’re a brick wall, then you’re not going to get a lot of your deals passed, a lot of your programs funded. I just got tired of, of a lot of the folks that said, “hey, Glenn Youngkin, over in the Senate, say, Glenn Youngkin needs to be more non-partisan.” And they’re over there, killing all these bills. So you know, we wanted to send a message last week, and we think the message is sent.
Fredericks: What about the Wheeler nomination? You guys say you’re going to retaliate? How are you going to do that?
Kilgore: Well, I mean, we kicked off 11 or so of the Northam’s appointments and, and you know, a lot of folks say we should have taken them all off. But we strategically stopped everything Friday and came back with our plan.
If you look at the ones that we take off, we removed most of the board of education, removed the air pollution board, the water board, and … [other] boards. Those are the two boards that kept doing the RGGI requirements and things of that nature. So those are big areas.
And today, John, we have the mask bill – the Senate mask bill, which we’ll shoot over to the governor today and he will sign it and he will put emergency on it and send it back to us.
And we will address that issue, and kids will not be wearing masks unless the parents want them to. So it’s gonna be a big day today. And a big week this week.
Fredericks: Walk us through the fast-track apparatus. Instead of having to wait until July, we’re trying to get the mask-optional mandate signed and passed. Walk us through how that happens.
Kilgore: It’ll pass the floor today. Goes directly to the governor. The governor will then put an emergency clause on it. If the emergency clause had come through either House or Senate, it would have taken a two-thirds vote.
But the governor amending bills can send it right back and it only requires a majority. Once he then wants that to pass, then it’s the law. That should be done in the next couple of days.
Fredericks: The House passes it today, you send it to the governor’s office, so you don’t have to wait till crossover.
Kilgore: Nope. As of today, send it right up to the governor’s office. He will put an emergency clause on it and send it back.
Fredericks: And then you just need simple majorities in the two Houses.
Kilgore: The majorities in both Houses. Yes.
Fredericks: You got a majority in the House. You’ve already got a majority in the Senate, obviously, because you got, no matter what happens, Peterson is voting for it. He’s the one that sent the letter. I think Morrissey is backing it as well. And so is Lewis on the Eastern Shore. You’re gonna pass it. Does it go back to the governor or is it just law?
Kilgore: It goes back to the governor if it’s flawed. Once we adopt his amendment, and he’s already signed it, sent it back. So it’ll be the law and we can put this behind us,
Fredericks: Can the Democrats do anything in the Senate to try to bottle his bill that comes back up through committee as they’ve done?
Kilgore: No, it goes directly to the floor, John. So there shouldn’t be anything they could do. They could obviously delay it a day or two. But you know, there’s gonna be immense pressure on them to move it forward.
Fredericks: So that bill passes. Yeah, it’s got the emergency order and it becomes law. Let’s pick a date, on whatever, Friday the 19th it becomes law. I’m in Fairfax County. My school board has voted. I’m not – I’m just saying as an example.
Kilgore: Oh, I know.
Fredericks: If somebody lives in Fairfax County, their school board voted nine-to-one to keep the mask mandate, not optional. But on. Does this law supersede that?
Kilgore: Yes, yes, it does. It gives parents control.
Fredericks: So the school board can’t do anything, the superintendent who’s been spying on parents there and having meetings about sending kids home with a warrant because they haven’t been wearing a mask. They can’t do anything.
Kilgore: No. This is the law.
Fredericks: This is what winning looks like. This is why these guys have consequences.
Kilgore: We wouldn’t be here with, you know, we wouldn’t be here without all our grassroots folks, folks that you talk to every day coming out and supporting us during this last election supporting Governor Youngkin and supporting the House candidates. We wouldn’t be here without all that, John. As you know, November was great for us.
Fredericks: I gotta tell you, it could be as early as this week, where every parent and every school district in the Commonwealth of Virginia is going to make their own mind up whether or not to wear a mask. And superintendents can’t stop it. School boards can’t stop it.
It is the law in Virginia, and it’s going to take effect any day now. And I’ll tell you, for parents that hate these masks and for the child abuse that we’ve put these kids through, is that not going to be a day of celebration and rejoicing or what?
Kilgore: It’s going to be great. The Democrats need to read the room on this. Our other Democrat counterparts are just doing away with masks. and if you were like me and watched the Super Bowl last night, how many masks could you see on all these stars and all these government officials that were in attendance at the Super Bowl last night?
There was none that I saw. This is just something that we need to get over and get by, let it be a personal choice. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask. But, don’t tell me what I need to do with my kids or your kids.
Listen to the full interview here:
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Photo “Terry Kilgore” by Virginia State Parks CC BY 2.0.
