Virginia’s legislature returns to Richmond Wednesday to review Governor Glenn Youngkin’s vetoes and amendments. While tension remains high, at least one bill with strong bipartisan support could see Youngkin rebuked.
The last Virginia governor to have a veto overridden was Bob McDonnell in 2011. McDonnell said a bill increasing payouts for medical malpractice cases would hurt businesses. Legislators disagreed and after a 2/3rds vote in both chambers, the law is still increasing maximum payouts in the Commonwealth to this day.
A similar override could be in the future for Governor Glenn Younkin’s veto of a bill creating a local tax option for school divisions to raise funds for building improvements.
“That was so strongly bipartisan and so many rural Republicans voted for it I think there’s a pretty good chance that will still pass,” said Steve Haner with the conservative Thomas Jefferson Institute.
Haner said veto overrides aren’t that uncommon; he pointed to another such a vote under then-Governor Tim Kaine when he tried to block changes to conceal carry permits in 2009. But he also pointed to the 2/3rds majorities that approved the school tax legislation in both chambers.
Professor Stephen Farnsworth with the University of Mary Washington said Youngkin may have miscalculated when he overturned the largely red and rural-backed effort.
“The governor will face more severe threats of an overridden veto because of the way that he ignored Republican concerns,” Farnsworth told Radio IQ.
Whether or not the Republicans who voted in favor of the effort originally now want to rebuke their Governor remains to be seen. But if they do vote against Youngkin, Haner doesn’t think it’ll impact those Republicans much.
“He’s vetoed 100, 200, how many bills? If you vote with him 80/90 percent of the time how mad can he get?” he suggested.
And Farnsworth noted Virginia’s legislators often view their time in office differently than a Governor limited by a single term.
“If he’s going to run for Senate, President, all of these things require a lot of attention from conservative media. It’s probably the case he’ll get more attention from conflict than cooperation,” Farnsworth said of the governor’s switch from attacking Democrats for a “backwards budget” to now asking for “common ground.”
“But Republicans in the legislature aren’t going anywhere,” he added.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
