Gun Violence Prevention

SB 886, which would have changed the definition of “trigger activators” to close gun violence loopholes. Identical to HB 1660.

SB 848, which would have prevented people under the age of 21 from purchasing assault weapons.

SB 891, which would have required a five-day waiting period for the purchase of a firearm. Identical to HB 2631.

SB 744, which would have prevented people who are prohibited from possessing firearms from bypassing that stipulation by receiving a weapon from a non-prohibited person. Identical to HB 1960.

HB 2064, which would have created greater consequences for companies and individuals for failing to provide proper firearm locking mechanisms during the purchase of a weapon.

SB 1181, would have made it a Class 1 misdemeanor to sell or purchase a large capacity magazine for an assault firearm and would have also raised the minimum age for purchase, transfer, and sale of such weapons to 21. Identical to HB 1607.

HB 1797, would have authorized the Superintendent of State Police to determine whether a person’s permit for concealed carry issued in another state meets Virginia’s standards.

Housing as a Human Right

SB 1313, which would have authorized all localities in the Commonwealth the ability to create affordable housing programs.

HB 1973, which would have preserved localities’ right to defend affordable housing programs.

SB 1342, which would have required private utility companies to make energy efficient upgrades for lower-income residents. Identical to HB 2744.

HB 1638 would have expanded rights for returned citizens seeking affordable housing.

HB 2781 would have expanded the number of localities that can implement affordable housing programs.

SB 1329 would have created greater penalties for leaving an unsecured firearm visible in an unoccupied vehicle.

SB 777, which would have created a housing task force designed to help lower-income families. Identical to HB 1935.

Tenants’ Rights

HB 1718 would have created greater protections for renters when a landlord fails to remedy an issue that *threatens their life and safety*.

• Got a sinkhole in your kitchen? Never fear, Gov. Youngkin is here! … to make sure you owe triple rent while your landlord vacations in Tahiti.

SB 815, which would have provided additional protections for tenants. Identical to HB 1872.

SB 812, which would have amended the waiting period for landlords to charge late fees from 5 to 14 days. Identical to HB 1719.

HB 2229 would have expanded tenant protections.

HB 2122 would have required landlords to provide tenants with a written rental agreement and acknowledgment of their rights within 10 days of entering the agreement.

Healthcare/ Health as a Human Right

SB 1324, which would have prevented non-facility employees from obstructing access to health facilities.

• This would have prevented anti-choice protestors from blocking access to abortion clinics and denying people potentially life-saving procedures.

HB 2769, which would have prevented treatment and insurance discrimination against people with HIV.

• Just mind-bogglingly indefensible. I didn’t realize Gov. Youngkin was Reagan reborn.

HB 1994, would have required businesses that sell alcohol to provide free water.

• Water is the most fundamental human right there is. This one is truly despicable.

HB 1724, would have created the Prescription Drug Affordability Board.

• Quiet part. Loud.

SB 1013, which would have improved protections for people with intellectual disabilities.

HB 1802, which would have expanded disability accommodations.

HB 1827 would have created greater oversight for localities overall public health and access to health facilities.

HB 1639 would have prevented health insurers from discriminating against tobacco smokers with greater fees.

Workers’ Rights

HB 2098 would have required that employers *PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES*.

• Uh…

HB 1928 would have raised the minimum wage to $15.

• $15 an hour is not even remotely a living wage in the vast majority of Virginia, *and* it wouldn’t have even taken effect for a few years, by which time it would be, like, *half* a living wage. Fuck you.

HB 1625 would have eliminated minimum wage exemptions applied to farm workers.

SB 1132, which would have prohibited employers from seeking salary history of prospective employees, protecting workers.

• This is just one way in which employers not only discriminate against potential hires, but also conspire to lower their wages. Shame.

SB 917, which would have allowed public employees to collectively bargain. Identical to HB 2764.

• That’s it. Simply *the right* to collectively bargain. I thought right-wingers were supposed to hate it when the government tells you what you can and can’t do?

HB 2531 would have granted Virginians paid family medical leave.

• This was barely enough PFML in the first place, but even the thought that we deserve to rest when we’re direly injured or, you know, just had a child, is too much for this extremist.

HB 1919 would have expanded protections against workplace violence.

• It’s always good to know that Youngkin has our best and brightest in mind.

SB 853, which would have required public service companies to pay employees according to the federal wage rate. Identical to HB 2356.

• Youngkin argued this would increase the costs to consumers. By how much? Who knows. Probably not more than Trump’s tariffs, and Youngkin sure didn’t speak out about those.

HB 1830, which would have required school boards to approve employees’ unpaid leave requests.

SB 1489, which would have expanded protections for service workers. Identical to HB 2559.

HB 2743 would have ensured that public employees working on underground infrastructure be paid a fair, prevailing wage.

SB 919 would have expanded employee protections for employees of private companies contracting for public services. Identical to HB 2619.

HB 2561 would have expanded overtime rights and protections.

HB 1921 would have expanded sick leave for home health workers to cover all private and public employees.

SB 1052 which would have expanded employee protections for employees of small businesses.

• Currently, the definition of “employer” creates some legal loopholes that allow for exploitation.

SB 962 would have required contractors and subcontractors working on public projects to complete safety programs and apply them. Identical to HB 2482.

Voting and Elections

SB 813, which would have made it so that voter registration may not be systematically removed within 90 days of an election. Identical to HB 1657.

• This one is important because this is exactly what Youngkin and his administration did during the last election cycle. There are years and years to clean up voter rolls. The only reason to do it in the last 90 days is because Youngkin wanted to affect the outcome.

HB 2277 would have created punishments for electoral boards that failed to certify an election.

• Of all an electoral board’s functions, this is the most essential. The idea that the bodies that exist precisely for this purpose can somehow get away with not performing it is simply ludicrous.
• That said, Governor Youngkin did offer an explanation for this veto. Basically, he said that the current system already accounted for the issues that sparked this bill. Respectfully, if that was true, there wouldn’t have been the issues in the first place, and the bill wouldn’t have been put forth. In fairness, those cases *are* resolved. To me, however, it just seems like a precautionary tool that we’ve nixed at the outset on flimsy reasoning.

HB 2002, which would make it so that the state cannot cancel a voter’s registration based on data or reports not provided by the Board of Elections.

• Considering the GOP’s broad continued assault on voting rights, this is just a drop in the bucket, but the idea that the BOE can cancel a voter’s registration *just cause* with no current recourse more than justifies this veto’s place on this list.

HB 2276 would have created greater oversight in the management of voter rolls.

• Extremely important in the wake of the GOP’s assault on voting rights, much of which Youngkin spearheaded here.

SB 814, which would have amended and streamlined some election systems in localities.

SB 760, which would have moved the deadline for the receipt of absentee ballots.

• This would have ensured that all votes are properly counted and that absentee ballots are just as valid as in-person votes.

SB 1009, which would have required the state Board of Elections to evaluate the feasibility to ranked choice voting and take measures to make it feasible.

• In his veto, Youngkin argued that “more data is needed on [Ranked Choice Voting’s] impact and benefits” before it is codified into law. This is a hilariously bad argument as A) there is already an abundance of research on RCV spanning decades, and it’s a system that many other countries and even some states employ, and B) THIS BILL IS ABOUT GATHERING THAT VERY DATA.

HB 2668 would have allowed the State Board of Elections to remove any member of an electoral board or general registrar by a recorded two-thirds majority vote of all its members after a public hearing on related matters.

HB 2056, would have amended absentee voting deadlines.SB 1119, would have made primaries for all elections align with the date of the presidential primary. Identical to HB 1794.

Education: Students’, Parents’, and Teachers’ Rights

SB 1017, which would have required school boards to pay for accumulated school meal debt.

• “Child lunch debt” sounds like Cold War propaganda, yet it’s real, and Governor Youngkin loves it!

HB 2341, would have required public schools to develop inclusive and responsive mental health resources.

• In his veto, Youngkin said that this bill could “introduce subjective and divisive criteria into school-based mental health programming, conflicting with existing federal executive orders.” … You mean the EOs that Trump has signed that basically *direct* schools to discriminate? These resources were already needed, but they are much more necessary now that the federal government has declared war on the people they’re trying to help. But Youngkin knows that, he just doesn’t care.

HB 2237, which would have made it so that no school board employee could be suspended without notice.

HB 2244 would have developed new proportional accreditation scores for schools.

SB 1032 requires school districts to give sufficient notice to teachers who will be let go for the following year (and teachers who plan to leave to give proper notice to school districts). Identical to HB 1915.

HB 1769 would have established a Chronic Absenteeism Task Force to monitor chronic absenteeism and work on solutions.

Environmental Justice

SB 1047, which would have required the Department of Energy to evaluate and improve demand response programs.

SB 1008, which would have improved protections under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act.

SB 893, which would have required private utility companies to develop a report on geothermal heating and cooling systems to keep them in line with required upgrades.

HB 2638 would have protected trees during development.

HB 2550 would have allowed counties and cities to monitor for exhaust system violations.

HB 2113 would have created a body to incentivize public bodies towards interconnecting solar facilities to the power grid.

HB 2090 would have made it easier to enter into multi-family shared solar agreements.

HB 2037 would have allowed localities to include a provision in parking lot development agreements that the developer cover the lot with solar panels.

HB 1791 would have expanded funds for private developers to build electric charging stations.

HB 1764 would have allowed towns within counties that have implemented plastic bag taxes to collect some of that revenue.

HB 1616 would have required the Dept. of Energy to identify and develop training resources to advance workforce development in the offshore wind industry.

Racial Justice

SB 995 would have required applicants for real estate appraisal licenses to take and complete racial bias courses to be audited by the Fair Housing Board. Identical to HB 1693.

Economic Justice

HB 1634, which would have created greater protections for businesses owned and operated by women and/or non-white people in the city of Portsmouth. Identical to SB 872.

Criminal Justice

HB 1886 would have made it so that courts cannot issue a judgement of “guilty” just because a person failed to pay costs or fees related to deferral.

HB 1873 would have made it so that a person could not be held in jail simply for failing to pay bond or bail.

HB 2039 would have created greater oversight for law enforcement’s use of encrypted communications.

• Look, I understand why encrypted communications are sometimes necessary for law enforcement. The problem is their track record of what they’ve used them for.

SB1191, which would have created greater oversight for adults charged and held in jail.

• In his veto explanation, Youngkin argued that “this legislation undermines [the presumption of innocence] by allowing sensitive data about individuals who have merely been accused of a crime to be shared across systems.” I suppose I see his point (though I doubt very much that he actually gives a shit about protecting innocents), but protecting those innocent people can only be done if we have accurate data. It is that lack of oversight that has allowed the Trump administration to arrest and deport US citizens with no record of a crime (a reminder that Youngkin swears fealty to Trump and his administration). If knowing who is in our jails and why is an attack on those people’s presumption of innocence, then how grave is the crime the administration you swear to has perpetrated and why do you not use the same language or argument there?

SB 778, which would have created a minimum age for charging a person as a juvenile.

• Currently, there is no minimum age for charging a person as a juvenile, which creates some… *interesting* legal problems.

SB 1409, which would have expanded protections for prisoners subject to solitary confinement. Identical to HB 2647.

HB 2746, which would have prevented “incapacitated” people from being defined as “mentally incompetent” and thus unable to vote.

• The important note here is that this definition is as it pertains to guardianship/ conservatorship hearings. Given how much control those positions impart, I think it’s especially important to create as much of a regulatory framework as possible to keep those beholden to them safe.

HB 1894, would have created greater protections for incarcerated people by regulating internal building temperatures.

HB 1713, would have expanded rights for defendants in felony cases.

Controlled Substances

SB 970 would have legalized weed. Identical to HB 2485.

• This is just bad policy at this point. The tax revenue alone justifies this even to the most conservative amongst us, but we all know he just doesn’t want us to have any escape from the horrors.

HB 2613 basically would have made it so a child cannot be seized by CPS just because a parent smoked weed.

HB 2555 would have reduced penalties for marijuana-related offenses.

SB 1135, which would have legalized the use of medicinal magic mushrooms.

• Not exactly a priority, but as a person interested in exploring this as a treatment for themselves, I’m still big mad.

Infrastructure

SB 1233, which would have protected pedestrians via pedestrian crossing violation and stop-sign violation monitoring systems.

• This wouldn’t be so high if pedestrian deaths were not such a pervasive and un-answered problem in Richmond,

SB 1021, which would have created greater oversight for private utility companies. Identical to HB 2413.

SB 823, which would have required private utility companies to prioritize hiring and feeding into the Commonwealth.

SB 1254, which would have required counties of a certain size to develop and adopt an environmental justice strategy.

HB 2136, which would have required the State Corporation Commission to establish the Office of the Public Utility Ombudsman to protect the interests of residential customers of public utilities.

HB 1922, which would have established a commission to support small women-owned businesses.

SB 1348, which would have required transportation network companies to provide annual reports to the DMV on fare collection. Identical to HB 2756.

HB 2397, which would have expanded the number of regional councils that could receive grants from the Virginia Growth and Opportunity Fund.

HB 2054, which would have allowed localities that have developed affordable housing to pursue development of assisted living facilities.

Countering Disinformation and AI

Taxation and Representation

HB 2264, which would have required the state to develop a free-file program from state taxes. Identical to SB 1306.

HB 1610, which would have required the Department of Taxation to analyze how pervasive the problem of outstanding accounts is and submit that report.

Miscellaneous

HB 1939, which would have created a separate classification for electric-powered landscaping equipment.

SB 1319, which would have required business to disclose the use of PFAS materials.

SB 1234, which would have changed permit application rules for well construction.

SB 1125, which would have made it unlawful to separate animals born in captivity from their mothers except in necessary circumstances.

SB 1124, which would have made the classroom training portion of driver education able to be administered in person or online.

SB 1118, which would have required localities to keep a record of cemeteries plotted and maintained on private property.

SB 1024, which would have required the DMV to make it easier and more accessible to make voluntary contributions during electronic transactions.

HB 2477, which would have provided that a private appurtenant easement may be created for any purposes by the owner of the dominant and servient estate by the recordation of an instrument that grants or reserves such easement. The bill further provides that the rule of property law known as the doctrine of merger shall not prevent such grant or reservation.

• I’m not even gonna begin to pretend to understand this one, which is why I copied the language straight from Plural’s assessment rather than trying to put it in my own words. That said, I don’t really understand why this was veto-worthy.

HB 1990, which would have allowed the governing body of a locality that has been subject to a court order imposing a remedial election system under voting rights laws to adopt an ordinance to convert one or more at-large members of such body to single-member districts.

• As with HB 2477 above, I’m not gonna pretend to know what’s going on here. But I doubt Youngkin had anyone’s best interests in mind.

HB 1803, would have created an advocacy group for licensed behavior analysts.

HB 1621, which would have required community colleges to appoint a duly elected, nonvoting advisory and staff representative to the board.