Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday announced he has vetoed seven more bills, including measures to set up a legal market to sell cannabis and to increase the state's minimum wage.
In 2021, Virginia made it legal for adults to possess and use small amounts of cannabis, but did not authorize buying or selling, and a black market has emerged in the void.
Youngkin has long said he was not interested in setting up a legal market for sales.
“The proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety," Youngkin said in a statement Thursday.
"States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescent’s health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue."
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The cannabis bills were Senate Bill 448, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, and House Bill 698, sponsored by Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax.
Youngkin said the legislation Virginia lawmakers passed "also does not eliminate the illegal black-market sale of cannabis, nor guarantee product safety. Addressing the inconsistencies in enforcement and regulation in Virginia’s current laws does not justify expanding access to cannabis, following the failed paths of other states and endangering Virginians’ health and safety."
Youngkin also vetoed Senate Bill 696, sponsored by Sen. Angelia Williams Graves, D-Norfolk, which would require a hearing to review reducing sentences for individuals currently incarcerated or on community supervision for felony marijuana convictions.
Youngkin said in his veto message: "This bill grants eligibility to a significant number of violent felons who have already received a full and fair hearing." He added: "Now is not the time to allow an imprudent resentencing process that undermines public safety."
Chelsea Higgs Wise, who oversees a group called Marijuana Justice, said she was not surprised to see Youngkin veto the bills.
The legislation had the chance to repair the harm done by old marijuana laws, she said, adding that the bill to create a legal market would have brought needed tax revenue to the state.
Wise called Youngkin’s position on the effects of legal sales on health and safety a “list of misinformation that continues the drug war.” Wise said research indicates marijuana becomes safer once under a legal and regulated market.
The bill would have created a framework in which marijuana would have been tested, packaged and clearly labeled. These days, buyers cannot always be assured what is in the cannabis products they purchase.
Demand for marijuana has been strong since the state legalized possession in 2021. There is a $2 billion market for cannabis products in Virginia, and it is all illegal and untaxed. Twenty-three states have legalized recreational cannabis sales, Wise said.
As for Senate Bill 696, which could have freed people imprisoned for marijuana charges, Youngkin said the bill could have reduced sentences of people convicted of violent offenses or selling other illegal drugs, such as fentanyl.
Wise pointed out that the bill did not guarantee any prisoner’s release. It only guaranteed a hearing, in which a judge would determine if the imprisoned person deserved a suspended sentence. Judges should be trusted to consider the totality of a person’s charges, Wise said.
The vetoes “continue the targeted war on drugs with a war on Black and brown communities,” she said.
Rouse, who sponsored the Senate bill to legalize sales, said Youngkin is neglecting the problem of illegal marijuana sales in the state and cherry-picking which problems to address.
Krizek, who sponsored the House bill, said the veto will exacerbate the proliferation of illicit products, posing a greater risk to schools and public safety.
Minimum wage hike vetoed
Youngkin also vetoed Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and House Bill 1, sponsored by Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, that would increase the minimum wage from the current $12 an hour to $13.50 on Jan. 1 and $15 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2026.
The governor's veto statement echoes concerns Republican lawmakers expressed when the minimum wage proposals were debated in the legislature this winter — that the mandate would be a burden to small businesses in different parts of the state.
"A one-size-fits-all mandate ignores the vast economic and geographic differences and undermines the ability to adapt to regional cost-of-living differences and market dynamics," Youngkin wrote.
The bills would have continued Virginia on a trajectory first outlined four years ago.
More than 400 bishops, clergy and religious leaders from across the state recently urged Youngkin to accept the legislation to raise the minimum wage. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy said the hikes would mean a pay increase for 611,000 Virginians.
The Virginia Chamber of Commerce said in a statement Thursday: "The Governor’s action to veto this wage increase helps to protect Virginia’s overall economic competitiveness and business climate."
Record-breaking veto pace
Youngkin is plowing through hundreds of bills that the legislature passed in the session that ended March 9. The governor said Thursday that he had signed 100 more measures, which means he has now signed 230 of this year's bills to date.
Youngkin, on a record-shattering pace, has now vetoed 87 bills this year and a total of 128 partway through the third year of his term. Democrat Terry McAuliffe held the previous modern record for a Virginia governor, vetoing 120 bills in his four-year term from January 2014 to January 2018.
The governor faces an April 8 deadline to sign, veto or seek to amend legislation. Virginia lawmakers return to Richmond on April 17 to take up the governor's vetoes and his proposed amendments.
Democrats hold a 21-19 edge in the Senate and a 51-49 edge in the House, which means they likely will not have the two-thirds vote they would need to override any of his vetoes. Approval of an amendment requires a simple majority.
The administration announced the actions a day after the public collapse of the $2 billion proposed arena project in Alexandria that was Youngkin's top legislative priority. Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Washington Capitals, joined D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to announce a proposed deal that would keep the teams in Washington until 2050.
Hard feelings between Youngkin and Democratic leaders over the arena project precede their efforts to reach agreement on the two-year budget for July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026.