News from the South - Virginia News Feed
Democrats fail to override Youngkin vetoes in largely symbolic showdown
by Markus Schmidt, Virginia Mercury
April 2, 2025
In a dramatic but ultimately symbolic show of defiance, Virginia House Democrats on Wednesday tried — and failed — to override 13 of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s vetoes from this year’s legislative session, knowing full well the numbers were never in their favor.
Youngkin, a Republican, rejected 157 of the 915 measures sent to his desk by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly in February, flexing his veto pen more aggressively than any Virginia governor in decades.
But with Democrats holding only narrow majorities — 51-49 in the House and 21-19 in the Senate — their chances of reversing any of those decisions were always slim. Overriding a gubernatorial veto in Virginia requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
Still, Wednesday’s veto session was less about math and more about momentum in a pivotal election year. With every seat in the House of Delegates on the ballot and a gubernatorial race already underway, Democrats used the day to draw sharp contrasts with the Republican agenda — and with the party’s standard bearer, President Donald Trump.
Nearly every Democratic lawmaker who rose to speak did so with a common refrain, casting House Republicans as “terrified of Trump” and unwilling to stand up for Virginia values — from voting rights and gun safety to fair wages and union rights.
Bid to ban assault-style weapons falls short
While the Senate declined to take up any of the vetoed bills, House Democrats fell short in their attempt to override Youngkin’s veto of a bill restricting assault-style firearms. The 50-46 party-line vote was a setback for legislation central to Virginia’s ongoing gun debate.
House Bill 1607, identical to Senate Bill 1181, would have made it a Class 1 misdemeanor to import, sell, or transfer assault-style firearms, with exceptions for antiques, inoperable or manually operated guns, and those made before July 1, 2025. It also barred those under 21 from possessing such firearms and banned high-capacity magazines.
Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, a combat veteran and the bill’s sponsor, defended it as a public safety measure.
“These weapons were designed for the battlefield, not for our streets,” Helmer said. “They have no place in Virginia. Our law enforcement officers work tirelessly to keep our community safe … The least we can do is to support them.”
He accused GOP lawmakers of bowing to special interests: “Once again, the Republicans’ priorities are not the priorities of Virginia’s working families. They are too terrified of Donald Trump to act to remove weapons of war from our communities.”
Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, also a veteran, pushed back, saying the bill would punish law-abiding citizens.
“I also carried weapons overseas in combat situations, and I don’t recall once when I was either conducting combat operations (or) any part in the oath I swore to the Constitution to then be able to come back, sit in this legislature and deprive American citizens of their constitutionally protected rights to defend themselves.”
Protecting voting rights
The House also came up short in an effort to override Youngkin’s veto of HB 1657, a bill that would have required the Department of Elections to complete any large-scale voter roll removals at least 90 days before any primary or general election — a safeguard currently in place only for federal races.
Mirroring SB 813, the measure permitted removals in cases of death, felony conviction, mental incapacity, or at the voter’s request — all allowed under current law. It also would have extended the time registrars have to process cancellations from 30 to 60 days and doubled the response window for voters flagged over citizenship concerns from 14 to 28 days.
“The right to vote is sacred as the cornerstone of our democracy and the foundations of our commonwealth,” said Del. Rozia Henson, D-Woodbridge, the bill’s sponsor. “To have a person’s voting rights stripped away so close to an election is simply something that you cannot fathom.”
Henson added, “Let me be clear, if you are ineligible to vote, you simply cannot vote, but it is also the law that voters cannot be systematically purged at the whim of the governor. Yet time and time and time again, Republicans have shown that they’re too scared of Donald Trump to stand up for our democracy and too afraid to protect the right to vote.”
A similar fate befell HB 2002, which sought to limit local registrars to canceling voter registrations only based on data from the Department of Elections or approved state agencies — unless a voter submitted a written request to cancel their own registration.
The bill also aimed to reinstate protections for active-duty military members, Americans temporarily overseas and their families, ensuring their registrations couldn’t be canceled while they remained eligible.
“In Virginia we believe in fair, secure, and accessible elections,” said Del. Amy Laufer, D-Albemarle, the bill’s sponsor. “We have a duty to ensure that our elections are secure without undermining the fundamental right to vote, and we cannot allow outside influences or partisan games to threaten that sacred right.”
Minimum wage hike fails
An attempt by House Democrats to override Youngkin’s veto of a proposed minimum wage increase also fell short.
HB 1928, sponsored by Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, outlined a phased wage hike — codifying the already-scheduled increase to $12.41 per hour on Jan. 1, 2025, followed by raises to $13.50 in 2026 and $15.00 by 2027.
Ward framed the legislation as essential to working families. “Raising a minimum wage is about people, it’s about families struggling to keep lights on,” she said. “It’s about parents working double shifts to afford childcare. And it’s about the workers who keep Virginia running, but they are still left behind.”
But Republicans pushed back, arguing the bill would backfire on the very people it intended to help.
“What your bill actually does is make it illegal to hire someone at a certain amount,” Freitas said. “There’s no such thing as just one minimum wage, there is always two. There is the arbitrary wage that you set, and then there is $0. And a lot of people are going to end up getting $0.”
He warned that higher wage mandates could eliminate jobs altogether: “You don’t just lift people up to a higher wage.”
Marijuana justice efforts stalls
Another proposal — HB 2555 — which would have offered sentencing relief for individuals convicted of marijuana-related felonies, also failed to clear the hurdle of a veto override.
The bill would have granted automatic hearings to those still incarcerated or under supervision as of July 1, 2025 for marijuana offenses committed before legalization in 2021.
The bill recognized Virginia’s shift in marijuana laws and aimed to provide relief for people still serving time for outdated crimes. But Youngkin, in his veto statement, argued that the bill went too far by potentially benefiting individuals convicted of serious crimes.
“While framed as a measure for non-violent offenders,” he wrote, “this bill would allow sentence reductions for individuals convicted of serious crimes, including those involving fentanyl distribution, sales to minors, and violent offenses where marijuana was a factor.”
He also warned of broader consequences for the justice system. “The proposal places an undue burden on courts, prosecutors, and victims,” Youngkin stated, “requiring hearings even for those whose sentences were enhanced by prior marijuana convictions but were primarily convicted of far more serious offenses.”
Henson, who sponsored the legislation, defended the bill as a matter of justice.
“We came a long way in legalizing marijuana,” he said. “The question is why are they afraid to give someone a second chance?”
“Justice is supposed to be about balance,” Henson added. “We have people convicted of marijuana-related offenses still suffering, even though what they did is no longer against the law. This bill gave a chance to make things right.”
No strengthening of union rights
Lastly, the House was unable to secure enough votes to override the governor’s veto of HB 2764, which would have allowed collective bargaining for Virginia’s public employees.
The measure aimed to repeal the state’s ban on public-sector union negotiations and create a Public Employee Relations Board to oversee the process for state and local workers.
The bill required good-faith bargaining over wages, hours and working conditions, and removed a provision mandating secret ballots in union elections — a change critics said could compromise employee privacy.
In his veto statement, Youngkin called the proposal a major policy shift that would “threaten the funding and delivery of critical state and local services” and cost taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars a year.” He also criticized the lack of a funding plan, saying agencies were unprepared for the legal and administrative demands.
Del. Kathy Tran, D-Fairfax, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure was about standing with workers.
“Virginia has an opportunity to lead,” she said. “We can demonstrate that we value our workers … by giving them a seat at the table and (improving) our services.”
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Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
The post Democrats fail to override Youngkin vetoes in largely symbolic showdown appeared first on virginiamercury.com
News from the South - Virginia News Feed
As partisan disputes boil, it’s still unclear how new federal law will impact Medicaid in Virginia
by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury
July 10, 2025
The “big beautiful bill” was passed by both chambers of Congress and last week, President Donald Trump signed it into law, triggering a countdown until sweeping changes to Medicaid take effect, including potential coverage loss for millions nationwide, financial strain to hospitals and new work requirements for Medicaid recipients. While the changes won’t kick in for more than a year, Virginia lawmakers are already preparing for the transformation of the state’s health care landscape.
It’s still unclear exactly how many Virginians could lose Medicaid coverage because final analyses from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) haven’t dropped yet. The uncertainty has left many wondering if they or loved ones will be impacted — and set the stage for partisan bickering.
Democrats have warned for weeks that over 322,000 Virginians could lose health insurance, based on a state-by-state breakdown from the U.S. Senate’s Joint Economic Committee and previous CBO estimates released as the bill made its way through Congress.
What happens to Medicaid in Virginia if massive federal bill to slash billions becomes law?
Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Tuesday that figure is “literally made up,” while other Republicans have pointed to a 7-year-old state study, conducted before Virginia expanded its Medicaid program in 2018, to claim far fewer would be booted from Medicaid.
Clearer understandings of just what will happen to Medicaid in Virginia and other states may be best found in future OMB reports but its most recent estimates found 10.8 million Americans nationwide could lose insurance as a result of the bill.
‘A moving target’
The bill’s rapid race over the finish line, from the House to the Senate to Trump’s desk in a span of mere weeks, could be the root of confusion about its full impact concerning health care, and lawmakers’ differing interpretations. Analysts and organizations tracking the legislation also tried to keep pace.
While the CBO was able to do further analysis on the House version of the bill earlier in the summer, the shortened timeline for the Senate version before passage, paired with a federal holiday has contributed to a lack of final analysis.
Freddy Mejia, a policy director with The Commonwealth Institute, noted the whiplash lawmakers and analysts experienced trying to keep track of the House and Senate versions of the OBBB.
The impact between the two different bills is “kind of a bit of a moving target,” he said.
He plans to keep an eye out for further reports from CBO now that OBBB has fully passed.
On a national scale, Democrats have stressed that the number of Americans facing the loss of their Medicaid coverage could be close to 17 million. This, a CBO spokesperson said, is because the office created another analysis with provisions that weren’t in the bill that passed, but which could also have an effect: expiration of ACA premium tax credits and a proposed Health and Human Services rule for marketplaces.
Beyond just health insurance, CBO estimated that in general, resources would decrease for lower-income households while increasing for middle class and higher-income households. That supposition, however, stems from the House version of the bill, supported by Virginia Republican U.S. Reps. Jen Kiggans of Virginia Beach and Rob Wittman of Westmoreland, which did not become law. Fresh CBO review could reveal how people in different income brackets will fare with the new law overall.
Old data, new frustrations
State Republicans’ allegations that Democrats’ Medicaid coverage loss estimations were inflated first circulated as the big beautiful bill wound through congress. This week, the debate came to a head with Youngkin accusing Democrats of “extreme assumptions” at an event announcing a slate of regulatory reductions on Tuesday.
“The number that Democrats are throwing around on Virginians who will lose their health coverage is made up,” Youngkin said Tuesday while talking with the media at the event. “They choose extreme assumptions in every measure.”
It’s unclear what data Youngkin is using to refute Virginia Democrats’ Medicaid loss estimates and members of his staff did not respond when asked.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Virginia’s House of Delegates have cited n a 2018 study from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). Garren Shipley, a communications staffer for the House Republican Caucus, shared the study with emphasis that the party doesn’t believe mass disenrollment would happen because of Congress’ bill.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Like CBO, JLARC is a nonpartisan research entity in state government that lawmakers often tap to study various issues. The 2018 JLARC study Shipley referenced came the same year Virginia expanded its Medicaid program.
At the time, JLARC estimated that about 32% of Virginia’s Medicaid expansion population would be subject to work requirements and 7% would be deterred from enrolling or leaving the program due to the requirements.
As the JLARC study is over seven years old, it’s likely some of its estimations are no longer relevant or accurate. What is certain, however, is that changes to Medicaid requirements and hospital funding mechanisms are on the horizon.
Work requirements, risk to hospitals
Youngkin also framed the work requirements as an important part of Medicaid reform. It’s something state lawmakers had initially considered when expanding the program seven years ago. The new law will require those receiving Medicaid benefits to maintain full-time employment subject to twice-yearly verification, which some lawmakers and advocates say are either unnecessary because many recipients already work, or needlessly burdensome to those living with a disability.
“Redetermination is a really important process,” he said. “It asks us to redetermine every six months, and that gives us a chance to assess who’s gotten a job, (and) who hasn’t complied with the work requirements.”
Youngkin emphasized how Medicaid is supposed to ensure that the “deeply impoverished,” mothers, and children have health insurance rather than able-bodied people “who can get a job and have simply chosen not to.”
Most Medicaid recipients do work, though some like Richmond-area resident Andrew Daughtry, currently do not. A construction worker, he’s tapped into Medicaid for surgeries to recover from an injury that’s left him temporarily unable to work. Earlier this summer he said that it felt “insulting” to have his work ethic questioned.
The twice-yearly employment verification is meant to kick people off their insurance if they aren’t able to keep their jobs while the phase-down of Medicaid provider taxes and state-directed payments are also meant to curb costs for the federal government.
But hospitals warn of heightened chances for closures — particularly in rural areas —- or trimming of offered services and staff. Several hospitals in Southwest and South Side Virginia had already closed obstetrics units, for example, prior to the new congressional bill.
Virginia’s state budget will fund OB-GYN medical residencies amid obstetrics closures
Julian Walker, spokesman for the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, reflected on the intent of the Affordable Care Act — a hallmark law of Democrat Barack Obama’s presidency that allowed states to expand their Medicaid eligibility to provide health care to more people to begin with. The law was about keeping people insured and healthy in order to keep everyone’s bills down.
“The impact is not exclusive to the Medicaid population,” Walker said. “It has ripple effects.”
He noted that uninsured people are likely at or closer to poverty levels than insured people. Without health coverage, they’re more likely to put off preventative care or seek treatment for conditions until emergencies arise.
Walker said people’s conditions are likely to be worse by then — requiring more resources between staff, medications, treatments and length of stay in a hospital. Longer stays mean less available beds for others, regardless of Medicaid status.
Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine, remained vocal on social media throughout the reconciliation process to warn that some hospitals would be strained and likely to close. Sometimes, he tagged Virginia’s congressional Republicans, whose districts include rural hospitals and sizable amounts of Medicaid patients.
Hospitals are also federally required to provide care regardless of whether someone can pay their bills or not, so they absorb that cost while also trying to offset it. As hospitals periodically negotiate with private health insurers, Walker said rates will likely go up for employers and employees with private insurance.
“Different constituencies may feel the impacts differently,” Walker said. “Some more than others — but this has potential to have much more far-reaching implications.”
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Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
The post As partisan disputes boil, it’s still unclear how new federal law will impact Medicaid in Virginia appeared first on virginiamercury.com
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This article presents a nuanced view of recent Medicaid legislation, highlighting concerns predominantly raised by Democrats about potential coverage losses and financial strain on hospitals. The language emphasizes the risks to Medicaid recipients and rural healthcare providers, citing nonpartisan sources like the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and independent state studies. While it includes Republican counterarguments, such as Gov. Youngkin’s dismissal of Democrats’ estimates and references to older studies supporting a less severe impact, the overall framing tends to emphasize the possible negative consequences of the bill on vulnerable populations and public health systems. This leans the piece slightly toward a Center-Left perspective, focusing on social safety nets and healthcare access while maintaining some balance by reporting Republican viewpoints.
News from the South - Virginia News Feed
Federal analyst accessed license plate reader data for immigration enforcement
SUMMARY: Richmond Police Department (RPD) no longer allows government access to its License Plate Reader (LPR) system for immigration enforcement. Despite this, a federal ATF analyst used the LPR program last February to assist in immigration-related operations without RPD’s permission. RPD Chief Rick Edwards condemned this breach, emphasizing that LPR data should not be used for immigration enforcement to maintain community trust. The department disabled its LPR system about a month ago due to concerns over federal misuse. Meanwhile, Chesterfield Police granted limited immigration authority in January but recently revised policies to restrict data sharing with federal agencies. Critics argue such surveillance expansions harm immigrant communities and erode trust in law enforcement.
Federal analyst accessed license plate reader data for immigration enforcement.
News from the South - Virginia News Feed
VA plans to cut 30,000 staff by end of September
SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to reduce its staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of September, down from a previously considered cut of 70,000 to 80,000. This 6% reduction follows a Republican spending plan supporting veterans programs. Since January, 17,000 VA employees have been cut, with 12,000 more expected to leave by September 30th through attrition, early retirement, or resignation. The announcement received mixed reactions, with some community members concerned about impacts on veterans and military families. Local employment centers are preparing to assist affected VA workers.
The VA said the cuts to staff have been reduced by 6% instead of 15% as originally planned.
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