| 5.) Governor Youngkin took action on 84 bills late Friday night, signing 64 bills with broad bipartisan support into law, amending 12 bills, and vetoing 8 (Read Gov. Youngkin's explanations here). Among the bills signed were a bill to end legacy college admissions and a bill to ensure same-sex marriage remains legal (here). Among the bills vetoed were bills to return Virginia to the ERIC voter rolls, to limit the removal of offensive books from schools, and to force the doubling of crews on freight trains -- a bill the Thomas Jefferson Institute opposed in the Richmond Times Dispatch for being a union-boosting bill with no evidence it would improve safety (here). Thanks for the veto, Governor!
6.) Gov. Youngkin's most creative amendment was to edit a bill requiring schools to notify parents of their responsibility to keep guns locked up and safe, into a bill to require schools to send parents a list of all their rights and responsibilities, adding the right to be notified of sexually explicit materials in school, the right to express disagreement with school and school board policies, and the right to be protected from drugs, exploitation and abuse while at school. Well played, Governor!
7.) The largest and most economically damaging tax increase of the 2024 session is the expansion of the sales and use tax to digital products and services, including purchases made by businesses. Business-to-business transactions are usually exempt from the sales tax, so this is a major policy change that will cost Virginia businesses an additional $2 billion in taxes. Thomas Jefferson Institute Senior Fellow Steve Haner discusses the danger of this tax (here).
8.) With massive increases in teacher salaries included in the passed budget agreement, Thomas Jefferson Institute's Chris Braunlich argued last week that reform needs to be put ahead of blanket pay increases (here) and our Nancy Almasi wrote that while teacher resignations are often behind the call for higher pay, studies show that most teachers are leaving teaching for reasons unrelated to pay -- including student behavior, poor leadership, workload and lack of support (here).
9.) Governor Youngkin said in a Friday press conference that the budget rewrite in the passed Conference Report includes a $2.5 billion tax hike that will hit low and moderate-income Virginians the most (here). He rightly called this a "backwards budget" that would undo a lot of the gains Virginia has made over the last two years.
10.) Governor Youngkin expressed disappointment in the failure to include his stadium proposal in the budget despite bipartisan support. An internal text by Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson disclosed this week through a FOIA request noted that the plan was to be funded by "taxing the crap" out of users (here). Jeff Schapiro wrote an insightful article on the failure to sell this stadium in Richmond generally and to Sen. Lucas specifically (here). Our hope is that Governor Youngkin finds a way to build the stadium in Potomac Yard without state funding or massive state bond guarantees.
11.) Dominion's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project is getting complaints from Virginia Beach residents who are describing earthquake-like noises, cracks in walls, and other nuisances from the construction (here). Whales would be joining in on the complaints, but as our Steve Haner noted in Bacon's Rebellion (here) they are washing ashore dead. Imagine how quickly the construction of a new oil drilling platform would be halted if whales were dying at the rate they are in the vicinity of this wind project…
12.) Senator Perry's Recovery School proposal for drug-addicted students was forwarded to next year's session, essentially killing it for now (here).
13.) Liberty University agreed to pay an unprecedented $14 million fine for its failure to disclose campus crime information as required by the Clery Act (here). Liberty has expressed concern about selective and unfair treatment in this process -- a reasonable concern considering the next largest Clery Act fines ever issued were only $4.5 million paid by Michigan State for its failures in the handling of Dr. Larry Nassar in the case of his sexual abuse of elite gymnasts and other female athletes and the $2.4 million fine against Penn State for its failures in the handling of the child sexual abuse cases against football coach Jerry Sandusky. 14.) Coach Joe Gibbs' Youth for Tomorrow -- a school for at-risk children in Bristow, cashed in on the data center boom by selling 70 of its acres to Stack Infrastructure for $81.3 million (here). That's a touchdown for the school and the youth they serve! | 
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