Well, well, well, folks, it looks like Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia has taken a chill pill this year. Last time, he was throwing down vetoes left and right like it was some kind of political rodeo. But this time, he’s gone a bit soft, only vetoing three bills. And get this, they were all sponsored by Democrats! Can someone say “petty”? Anyway, one of them was a House bill that just wanted to review cases when grievance procedures aren’t followed. But Youngkin said it would increase red tape and delays. Clearly, he’s not a fan of bureaucratic tape, unless he’s the one holding the scissors.
Despite his change in tactics, the House sustained his veto on this one on a party-line vote. Maybe those Democrats didn’t want to let their governor win one. Who knows? The other two vetoes were Senate bills that were also left unapproved. One of them would have let utility and broadband providers leave their service vehicles on private property for up to 72 hours. But Youngkin said, “not on my watch,” and vetoed it because it violated private property rights. The other Senate bill was about vehicle noise. Apparently, the governor thinks it’s unnecessary to study the issue of excessive noise, which can be grounds for the police to pull drivers over. Maybe he thinks everyone should drive around in silence like a bunch of monks.
But don’t worry, folks, Youngkin did praise the lawmakers for finding some common ground. He even said he was “humbled by legislators from both sides of the aisle coming together” on important issues like electric utility regulation and banning foreign adversaries from buying agricultural land. Looks like someone’s trying to play nice, huh? The Senate was mostly on board with Youngkin’s changes. But before you go thinking he’s turned over a new leaf, nine of the 17 changes he proposed to one bill on electric utility regulation were purely grammatical fixes. Even the Senate majority leader had a joke about how much it spent in the English department.
Of course, there were some things the Senate just wasn’t willing to let slide. They rejected Youngkin’s amendment trying to revert the minimum land requirement for site-development grants back to 100 acres. He wanted it reduced to 50. But the Senators said, “no, thanks.” They also refused his attempts to change bills related to renewable energy, the harassment of judges, the parole process, and protecting minors online. You heard that right, folks. Youngkin tried to prevent pornography sites from being sued if they don’t verify the ages of those accessing their content. But he was really trying to add a sneaky little provision about consumer data protection. Yeah, nice try, Youngkin.
Overall, it was a pretty uneventful day in Virginia’s politics. The Senate and House only had a few scrapes, except for the farewell speeches and tributes to retiring members. Oh, and their budget is still in negotiations, so no action there for a while. But don’t worry, we’ll be keeping our eyes on Youngkin to make sure he doesn’t try to pull any more fast ones. Stay tuned, folks.
