Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed he will “work with legislators” to achieve compromise legislation addressing controversial skill games machines.
The Virginia Senate tossed Youngkin’s version of the bill, with just six senators voting in favor and 34 voting against. Youngkin’s amended bill sought to place strict restrictions on legislation that originally would have allowed skill games in convenience stores throughout the commonwealth.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin and Democratic leaders in the Virginia General Assembly confirmed on Wednesday they will release a budget in May and pass it during a special legislative session.
The governor’s office released a joint statement including Youngkin, Speaker of the House Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), Senate Finance Chair L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and House Appropriations Chair Luke Thorian (D-Dumfries) confirming they will continue work on a bipartisan budget that will ultimately be unveiled on May 13.
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A coalition of conservative leaders in Virginia praised Governor Glenn Youngkin for his “Common Ground Budget” and record vetoes on Monday.
The Virginia Conservative Leaders Coalition celebrated the governor’s “thoughtful navigation of Virginia’s fiscal priorities” in a Tuesday press release by Virginia Institute Action. The group claims the compromise budget proposed by Youngkin “exemplifies his leadership in bridging divides.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed in comments made Wednesday that he dropped his request for tax cuts as an olive branch to Virginia’s Democratic lawmakers, who the governor hopes will similarly drop their requests for tax hikes.
Youngkin maintained that Virginia does not “need to raise taxes” and has “plenty of money in the system” during an interview with WTOP News. He told the outlet that Virginia lawmakers should “press forward with an agreement that we won’t raise taxes, and I will stop advocating to reduce them.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin received praise on Wednesday in a commercial celebrating his decision to amend a bill critics argue would have allowed illegal immigrants to receive free healthcare by expanding a federal program.
As passed by lawmakers, SB 119 would expand the federal 340B program that was designed to for hospitals to buy drugs at discounted prices in order to provide healthcare to low-income individuals.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Monday night finished acting on the more than 1,000 bills passed by Virginia lawmakers during the 2024 legislative session, signing nearly 800 bills into law.
In total, Youngkin signed 777 bills into law. The governor made amendments to an additional 116 bills, sending them back to lawmakers for further review, and vetoed 153.
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A March poll of Virginia Republicans found Lt. Governor Winsome Sears is the current favorite candidate to succeed Governor Glenn Youngkin in 2025, with Attorney General Jason Miyares currently behind by more than 25 points.
The Cyngal pollsters claim Sears “holds an impressive 28-point advantages over Miyares on the governor’s ballot,” with 43.5 percent of support from Republicans. While Miyares had a distant 15.8 percent of support, a decisive 40.7 percent of those polled said they remain undecided.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday announced a veto of legislation that would have mandated “environmental literacy” education across the commonwealth’s schools.
The governor vetoed HB 1088, which would have mandated the Virginia Board of Education to create or purchase “instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy that are based on and include peer-reviewed scientific sources.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin was accused of using his veto power to “punish” Democratic lawmakers who contributed to the defeat of his plans to build an arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Alexandria, Virginia.
After Youngkin vetoed Democratic-led bills to enact a $15 per hour minimum wage and regulate the legal sale of marijuana in the commonwealth, Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) suggested the governor is using his veto to punish his political opponents but conceded to 13 News Now, “Nothing that [Youngkin] did was unexpected.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Friday vetoed bills to regulate marijuana and raise the minimum wage, which were positioned by Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly as possible bargaining chips in negotiations to build an arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Alexandria, Virginia.
The arena project was officially pronounced dead last week, when Monumental Sports and Entertainment announced a deal with Washington, D.C. to stay in the nation’s capitol for decades on Wednesday.
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed bills Thursday that would have raised Virginia’s minimum wage to $13.50 per hour in 2025 and $15 in 2026.
The companion bills were among the first to be prefiled by General Assembly Democrats, indicating their status as high-priority legislation.
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Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday vetoed legislation that would have created a state-regulated market for recreational marijuana sales.
The Old Dominion currently permits qualified patients to secure marijuana for medical purposes and in 2021 legalized its use and cultivation by residents aged 21 and older, though it has not yet approved a framework for legal retail sales, according to The Hill. The measure would have set up the process to permit the market to open in May of 2025 and set up a maximum tax rate of 11.625%, the Associated Press reported.
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Virginia is beginning to experience some of the impacts from the cargo ship crash that brought down Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, closing a vital shipping lane leading to one of the eastern seaboard’s busiest ports.
Shortly after on Thursday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin offered to assist neighboring Maryland. Within hours, the commonwealth’s ports were already preparing to absorb some of the diverted shipping traffic.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on took action regarding 67 pieces of legislation Tuesday, with a number of gun control bills vetoed, amended or signed by the governor.
Youngkin said in a statement his actions represent a balance between advancing public safety and “protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms.”
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Democratic leaders from the Virginia General Assembly held a press conference on Monday to discuss the state of negotiations to pass a budget for the commonwealth, raising claims about the governor’s behavior and aptitude during the negotiations.
Various Democratic leaders declared themselves the “adults in the room” during budget negotiations, claimed Governor Glenn Youngkin lacks political aptitude and accused his administration of acting like “spoiled brats” while refusing to respect the separation of powers.
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Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly are reportedly working on plans to build a new facility for the Washington Capitals and Wizards in Fairfax County after the defeat of proposed legislation to build the arena in Alexandria.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) pitched a plan to use the money from a new casino in Fairfax County to build an arena, according to The Washington Post. Surovell’s plan reportedly has the support of the company seeking to build the casino, as well as political consultant Ben Tribbett, who the outlet reported also works for Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday announced that he vetoed 22 crime bill passed by Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly that he said “would have undermined public safety” in the commonwealth.
Youngkin confirmed the 22 vetoes in a press release announcing action on 60 bills. In addition to the vetoes, Youngkin signed 36 bills into law and made amendments to two.
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Various state legislators are focusing on post-election audits ahead of the November 2024 general election, with Republicans looking to implement or improve audits in some states, while Democrats in one state are trying to prevent an audit of the presidential election.
Post-election audits have been on the books of some states for years, most famously, the “hanging chad recount” fought over in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. The issue of post-election audits and the ensuing litigation has received renewed attention since the 2020 presidential election, after numerous irregularities were discovered. The Arizona Senate post-election audit was one of the more famous following the 2020 race. Dispositive evidence that irregularities “moved the needle” one way or another is still a point of contention.
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Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas acknowledged in a Tuesday interview that Governor Glenn Youngkin could veto the budget proposed by lawmakers, but nonetheless insisted any compromise that would fund the creation of the Potomac Yards arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals is a “non-starter.”
In her Tuesday interview with WTOP News, she acknowledged Youngkin’s remarks indicating “he may have to veto the budget,” calling it “his prerogative.” Still, she pledged, “at no point will I ever be in a position to say I am going to commit state tax dollars for an arena that’s going to benefit billionaires,” calling it “a non-starter for me.”
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A Democrat in the Virginia General Assembly claims Governor Glenn Youngkin has refused efforts to bargain his Potomac Yards arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals.
Youngkin’s office reportedly told State Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) that the governor has no interest in signing legislation that would create a legal market for marijuana in the commonwealth, even though Virginia legalized the drug in 2021.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin twice referred to the budget proposed by the Virginia General Assembly as “backward” in remarks made Monday, setting the stage for a showdown with Democratic lawmakers in April.
Youngkin first said the commonwealth’s lawmakers created a “backward budget” in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on Friday acted on more than 80 bills approved by the Virginia General Assembly. In total, the governor signed 64 new bills into law, amended 12 and vetoed eight.
Youngkin called the 64 bills he signed into law “bipartisan” and “a clear demonstration of what can be achieved when we set politics aside and work together for Virginians” in a statement.
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Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill Friday banning legacy admissions at public colleges in the state.
Several states have moved to eliminate legacy admissions, which are admissions based on prior familial attendance to a school, after the fall of race-based admissions at the Supreme Court in June 2023. The bill passed the Virginia Senate with bipartisan support, 39-0, and passed the state’s House of Delegates 99-0, and has now been signed by Youngkin.
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Virginia Lt. Governor Winsome Sears on Thursday reportedly declined to endorse former President Donald Trump when asked by reporters in a move just hours after Governor Glenn Youngkin formally announced his endorsement for the former president.
Sears was apparently asked about a potential Trump endorsement while walking to the Virginia Senate, and reporter Graham Moomaw reported she replied, “Everyone has to make their own decision.”
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A poll of Virginia Republicans released Tuesday shows the majority would be less likely to support Governor Glenn Youngkin in the future if he does not veto a bill expanding a federal drug program which makes funding available for hospitals to provide care for illegal immigrants.
The Tyson Group poll asked Virginia Republicans if they would be more or less likely to support Youngkin in the future “if he strengthened a program that subsidizes healthcare for illegal immigrants?”
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Another Virginia Democrat suggested Governor Glenn Youngkin will need to approve a partisan bill that would allow the commercial sale of marijuana in order to secure key support for a bill to fund the construction of an arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Commanders in Potomac Yards.
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) told Axios on Tuesday that he has “been very clear” with Youngkin, and explained, “if the governor would like the arena, that cannabis has to be part of the discussion.”
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The Virginia General Assembly approved a unified bill that would legalize controversial skill games throughout the commonwealth on Friday. Critics, who argue the devices would institutionalize gambling throughout Virginia, have called for Governor Glenn Youngkin to veto the bill.
After the Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate passed wildly differing versions of legislation to legalize skill games, the General Assembly agreed on combined legislation that limits bars and other places that sell liquor to four machines and truck stops to 10 machines. Lawmakers also seek to impose a 25 percent tax rate on proceeds generated by the machines.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reportedly offered Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) more than $300 million in toll relief for Hampton Roads in exchange for her approval for the Potomac Yards Arena to be built for the Washington Commanders and Wizards to move to the commonwealth, according to a Tuesday report.
The governor and his office “have privately pitched a $322 million plan for toll relief in Hampton Roads,” according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, which reported the offer the Youngkin administration privately outlined the offer to lawmakers, and noted the total is more than three times the $92 million plan requested by Lucas.
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A spokesman for Governor Glenn Youngkin expressed “serious concerns” about both bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly to allow skill games in convenience stores and bars throughout the commonwealth, citing a series of potential issues with the legislation in a statement provided to The Virginia Star.
The administration’s concern about skill games comes amid calls to veto the legislation, and as The Star publisher John Fredericks warns that inaction by the governor could be a “presidential killer” should Youngkin run for the White House in 2028.
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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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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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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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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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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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Democratic-sponsored bills meant to inhibit censorship of books with sexually explicit content are advancing through the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate this session — and not just along party lines.
House Bill 571, sponsored by Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, passed the House Education Committee Wednesday 14-8, with two Republicans — Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, and Del. Baxter Ennis, R-Chesapeake — voting for the legislation.
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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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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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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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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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Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order to implement artificial intelligence standards and guidelines he says will protect Virginians.
Executive Order 30 will implement AI educational guidelines for the classroom and policy and information technology standards. He says it will “safeguard the state’s databases while simultaneously protecting individual data” for Virginians.
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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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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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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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