Youngkin Vetoes Minimum Wage Hike, Prescription Affordability Board Bills

Monday was Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s deadline to take action on the roughly 900 bills that Virginia’s legislature approved to send his way. Monday afternoon saw over 300 signatures and a handful of vetoes, while he had until 11:59 p.m. for his other signatures, amendments and vetoes to be posted on Virginia’s Legislative Information System.

Youngkin tweaks state budget with eye on federal cuts, but embraces key spending

Here’s some of what he vetoed by 5 p.m. Monday.

Minimum wage proposal dies

Youngkin vetoed for the second straight year a widely backed bill to raise Virginia’s minimum wage that would have allowed it to climb from $12.41 per hour to $13.50 per hour by January 2026, and reach $15 by January 2027.

Democrats, including the bill patron Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, and various advocates insisted that the increase is necessary to keep pace with rising living costs. However, Republicans and other critics warn it could burden businesses.

The governor’s veto excluded a statement.

Ashley Kenneth, president and CEO of the progressive Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, said in a statement that the governor’s veto will continue making Virginia unaffordable for many working families and deepening barriers to economic opportunity for Virginians.

“Working people in Virginia drive our economy and deserve to be paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work,” Kenneth said. “Yet some businesses continue to exploit their workers through low pay that does not allow them to meet their basic needs.”

Prescription Drug Affordability Board proposal defeated again

A years-long quest to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board was defeated again.

The proposal would have created an independent, nonpartisan board of medical and health experts tasked with analyzing data to set payment limits on drug prices within state-sponsored health plans.

While Democrats have largely led the effort to establish a board, some Republicans, including ​​Del. Ellen Campbell, R-Rockbridge, who co-sponsored the bill, have lent their support.

“Big Pharma has gotten away with charging hardworking Virginians outrageous prices just so they can stay alive,” said Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, who has been a key champion of the bill in the House of Delegates.

No statement was attached to his veto by the time of this publication. Previously, Youngkin described the proposal as “noble in its intent” but warned it could “limit access to treatments and hinder medical innovation” when he rejected the bill last year.

Other opponents of the bill included the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a prominent trade group that has lobbied against the bill and expressed skepticism about it.

Charise Richard, a senior director of state policy at PhRMA, stressed in an interview last week that PDABs are relatively untested, despite their surge in recent years.

Though at least 11 states have implemented such boards, Maryland was the first. Last fall the board approved a process to set an upper limit payment to cap drug costs on state health plans, its overall set up has been slow since its 2019 establishment and it’s not yet yielded the cost-savings at the core of its mission. An effort this year to expand the board resulted in heated debate in Maryland’s legislature.

Certain firearms will still be allowed in public areas

The governor vetoed an effort to prohibit assault firearms from being carried in public areas.

Senate Bill 880, carried by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, would have prohibited certain firearms, including semi-automatic center-fire rifles, from being carried on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk or any other place everyone can go, with some exceptions, the proposal states.

The current law prohibits certain shotguns, semi-automatic rifles and pistols from being carried in specific localities and when they are loaded.

Ebbin’s SB 1450 was also vetoed.

His bill would have created standards of responsible conduct for members of the firearm industry and required them to establish “reasonable controls” regarding the selling and marketing of firearms. The companion bill, carried by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, was also vetoed.

Solar canopy bill rejected

A proposal from Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax would have allowed localities to include solar canopy requirements for applicants seeking local developments.

Bills that change how localities can conserve trees amid development await Youngkin’s approval

Solar canopies are structures over parking lots that provide shade to parked cars and generate electricity through solar panels on top. While the state law wouldn’t have required localities to include this idea in local ordinances, it would have empowered localities that wanted to do so.

Though the bill passed with bipartisan support, it was ultimately vetoed.

by Charlotte Rene Woods and Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury

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