RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — With the 2024 General Assembly Session now in the rear-view mirror, Democrats are celebrating the passage of key priorities, while Republicans are leaving Richmond disappointed.
Democrats used their majorities in both the House of Delegates and Senate to pass several key priorities, including bills to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, ban the sale of new assault weapons and create a retail market for recreational marijuana.
Despite the amount of legislation passed, Randolph Macon Political Science Professor Rich Meagher believes the session will be remembered for something that wasn’t approved — measures to greenlight a new arena in Alexandria for the Washington Wizards and Capitals.
“I think that if the arena hadn’t come up, we would have seen a slightly different outcome, maybe something that was a little less filled with partisan rancor, a little bit less of the governor versus Louise Lucas and the Democrats,” Meagher said.
Meagher said that, since Virginia Democrats have effectively killed the arena deal, most of their legislative priorities are likely to meet the business end of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto pen.
“If Governor Youngkin was thinking that he might be a little more open to some kind of bipartisan agreement, and to maybe give Democrats a little more ground on some of the issues that he disagrees with them on, that seems much less likely now that his arena deal has been scuttled,” said Meagher.
Youngkin can still revive the arena deal, but any attempts would still need approval from Democrats in the General Assembly.
Source link
