Gov. Glenn Youngkin added to his record score of vetoes Friday, killing 38 more bills and bringing his total to 437 for his term.
His vetoes included the General Assembly鈥檚 second effort to guarantee a right to contraception ( and ) as well as the legislature鈥檚 replay of a measure to end a tax break for Confederate organizations ().
Youngkin vetoed the bills after the General Assembly rejected his proposed changes to those measures.
He previously vetoed several other General Assembly replays of measures he had vetoed in 2024, including a proposal to create a legal retail market for marijuana and to ban assault-style firearms.
People are also reading…
He signed 53 other bills into law, although the legislature had rejected his proposed changes for those measures. Youngkin had until midnight Friday to act on bills for which the legislature had rejected his proposed amendments. His bill signings and vetoes close out his actions on legislation from this year鈥檚 regular General Assembly session.
鈥淭here are bills that I have vetoed before that were vetoed again, and there are a lot of bills that I think are very interesting, that I hadn鈥檛 seen before, that we tried to make a little better. Didn鈥檛 get the amendments passed, but I鈥檓 gonna sign it, because I think they actually are pretty decent bills,鈥 Youngkin said.
Youngkin鈥檚 437 vetoes stand at nearly four times the record any earlier governor set for what鈥檚 has long been a relatively infrequent exercise of gubernatorial muscle.
Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who like Youngkin faced a General Assembly controlled by the other party and like Youngkin had never before held elected office, vetoed 120 during his term.
Contraception bill
The contraception bill the General Assembly passed would guarantee Virginians鈥 right to contraception. Under Youngkin鈥檚 proposed revision 鈥 which lawmakers rejected 鈥 medical providers could decline to prescribe contraceptive measures if doing so violated their religious belief.
鈥淔or the second year in a row, Governor Youngkin has vetoed the Right to Contraception Act, choosing politics over the personal freedom of Virginians,鈥 said state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, who sponsored the Senate bill.
鈥淭his bill was clear and direct 鈥 it defined contraception and protected the right to use it, including IUDs and emergency contraception. That should not be controversial in 2025,鈥 said Hashmi, one of six Democrats seeking the party鈥檚 nomination for lieutenant governor in a June 17 primary.
On the Confederate tax measure, Youngkin wanted the legislature to hold a second vote next year after a general review of real estate tax breaks.
Youngkin signed bills ( and ) that say the dealers who sell fatal dose of drugs with a detectable amount of fentanyl would be guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Youngkin had proposed that selling any fatal dose be treated as second-degree murder, which is subject to a longer prison term. He鈥檚 pushed for three years to say selling fatal overdoses should be treated as murder, including an amendment this year that the General Assembly rejected.
He also signed a bill () that set tough new limits on hospitals, doctors and debt collectors seeking repayment of debts for medical care. The bill limits would have limited interest charges and the time during which a debt could be collected.
The General Assembly rejected Youngkin鈥檚 proposal to strike language that said health care providers would be liable for damages caused by any collection firm that bought the debt.
Also on the consumer protection front, Youngkin signed bills ( and ) that crack down on so-called 鈥渏unk fees鈥 鈥 service charges and other fees added on after a sale. Youngkin wanted the General Assembly to vote on this idea next year before any law could take effect, but the General Assembly rejected this idea.
On measures that touched his differences with Democratic legislators over race and gender, Youngkin vetoed bills ( and ) directing school boards to notify parents they need to store guns and prescription drugs safely. The legislature had rejected Youngkin鈥檚 proposed addition requiring schools to tell parents if students say their gender identity differed from their sex at birth.
But he signed a bill () that said magistrates and judges should consider pregnancy or recent birth when deciding about bail or jail. The bill said they should consider pregnant 鈥減ersons鈥 or a 鈥減erson鈥 who has recently given birth or is nursing a child. Youngkin wanted to change these references to say 鈥渨oman鈥.
Youngkin also vetoed bills ( and ) that would have required doctors to complete training on unconscious bias. He proposed instead that obstetricians and gynecologists be trained on care for groups with above average rates of maternal and infant death.
Among the other measures he acted on, Youngkin:
- Signed a bill () that sets restrictions on social media platforms鈥 interaction with minors. The General Assembly had rejected his proposal to add language allowing parents to tell the platform to disable any infinite scroll or other feature that automatically loads and displays additional content, on the grounds that this can keep kids hooked to social media.
- Signed a bill () that says employers are liable when employees while on the job cause another鈥檚 personal injury or death. The General Assembly had rejected his proposal to limit this to cases of sexual assault.
- Signed a bill () that sets rules for how automatic license plate readers and their data can be used.
- Signed a bill that says Parole Board () deliberations are not open meetings under the Freedom of Information Act. The General Assembly rejected his proposal to add language saying that if people on parole violate rules for post-release supervision, a judge can send them back to prison.
- Signed bills ( and ) that aim to improve the quality of textbooks in public schools. Youngkin had rejected and the General Assembly insisted on language that teachers and subject matter experts should study and possibly propose changes to the state鈥檚 textbook selection process.
- Vetoed bills ( and ) that aimed to make it easier to place small solar projects on sites such as parking lots, rooftops and abandoned industrial sites.
On the much-lobbied front of data centers, Youngkin vetoed bills ( and ) that would have said in a rezoning case local governments can require developers of data centers to submit assessments of the centers鈥 impact on the environment and on neighbors. The bill said localities must do it; Youngkin proposed saying they may do so.
