General Assembly sustains Youngkin’s vetoes

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The politically divided Virginia General Assembly worked through Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s scores of proposed amendments to legislation during a one-day session Wednesday, approving most of his suggestions on matters ranging from intoxicating hemp products to energy policy.

The legislature sustained the Republican governor’s three vetoes on a day marked by farewell speeches by some of this year’s many retiring legislators. The Senate also honored Abigail Zwerner, the Virginia first-grade teacher shot by one of her students in January, at a brief ceremony she attended with her family.

Of the 819 measures the General Assembly sent Youngkin during the regular session that ended in February, the governor signed 738 into law and proposed amendments to 78. Some of the changes lawmakers took up were small or technical; for other measures, Youngkin sought a more substantial rewrite.

Democrats moved to challenge Youngkin’s vetoes but failed to reach the two-thirds threshold required.

The three bills Youngkin vetoed would have: allowed public utility and broadband service vehicles to be temporarily left on private property without the owner’s consent, required changes in state employee grievance procedures, and convened a work group to study the issue of vehicle noise.