RICHMOND, Va. — With several days still left in the 2024 Virginia General Assembly, another deadline is quickly approaching for Governor Glenn Youngkin, facing a slate of bills that need to be acted on by the end of the week.
"For the last two years, he's had a Republican-controlled House [Of Delegates] killing everything that we sent over from the State Senate. So he hasn't really been asked to take, or forced to take a position on really anything," Senate Majority Leader Sen. Scott Surovell told media Monday morning.
Following the end of the 60-day lawmaking session for 2024, Gov. Youngkin has 30 days (until April 8) to act on bills that passed both chambers of the legislative body.
At the beginning of the last week of the session, Democratic officials say there are roughly 100 bills already sitting on Governor Youngkin's desk that require action before midnight on Friday. These are bills that were signed by both House Speaker and Senate President before last Friday.
When asked, officials Monday said a majority of bills on the expedited "7-day" timeline are bi-partisan efforts.
One example is a bill by Sen. Aaron Rouse (Virginia Beach) codifying the City of Virginia Beach's charter change to implement the 10-1 voting system for more direct voter representation.
“Promotes accountability, but also ensures our democracy is working for everybody in the city," Rouse said.
Many bills under the accelerated timeline address top issues such as gun reform legislation, reproductive rights and raising the state's minimum wage floor.
"In the next seven days, with the seven-day bills we just sent him, Virginians are finally going to find out where he stands," Sen. Surovell said.
As of Monday afternoon, other high-profile legislative efforts such as the skills games reinstatement or cannabis legalization bills were not considered within the pool of bills that need to be acted on by week's end.
“I don’t know what the Democrats hope to accomplish by sending these bills to the Governor on an accelerated timeline. In Virginia, the Governor works almost like a third chamber of the General Assembly. Regardless of party, the Governor’s office often finds errors and problems in legislation and sends down fixes. If these bills are truly that important, why would Democrats want to rush the Governor’s review," House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert said in a statement to 13News Now.