Progressive Bills Youngkin Vetoed Will Kickstart Agenda if Spanberger Wins
Predicting how Democrats will transform Virginia should they gain full control of state government in November’s election is easy. Just look through the list of 400 plus bills vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, most of them from 2024 and 2025. The progressive bills which reached Youngkin’s desk with unanimous or near unanimous Democratic votes and then died will […]
State Legislation on AI: How a Courageous Governor’s Veto Averted Regulatory Crisis
Artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly and powering solutions previously unimaginable. At the same time, AI legislation is on the rise and a patchwork of state restrictions looms over the momentum of innovators and US leadership. This Monday, HB 2094, the High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Developer and Deployer Act, was vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA). HB […]
Inspection Without Impact: Why Virginia Should End Mandatory Car Inspections
Virginia’s mandatory vehicle safety inspection program is less than a decade away from its centennial anniversary. Established in 1932, Virginia’s inspection program is the oldest continuous program in the country. In 1975, thirty-one states and the District of Columbia had mandatory safety inspection programs. Today, Virginia is one of just fifteen states that have retained such a […]
Consequences of The Quest for Zero Carbon
Virginians may be finally waking up to the consequences of the headlong rush to adopt utopian energy policies under our previous governor. The issues are getting more attention than ever before, and now people need to realize all the issues are really just one issue. A California regulatory board’s decision to ban new gasoline vehicle […]
Heat Rule Gets Cold Shoulder
Virginia’s Safety and Health Codes Board on Friday voted down a proposed workplace heat protection standard, strongly opposed by the state’s business community but ardently sought by organized labor and farmworker advocates. The Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) was seeking to push the proposed rules out for a final round of public comments. Abiding by the […]
Northam Regs Out of Step With Reality
Despite the stunning and rapid success of the vaccines in arresting the spread of COVID-19, if you enter a Virginia workplace you go back in time to the pre-vaccine era of doubt and fear. Virginia acted in haste in adopting permanent workplace rules related to COVID 19. Now that the Centers for Disease Control has […]
Employer Escape From Green Energy Costs Blocked
Virginia’s major energy-intensive industries will not get a requested path to avoid some of the coming cost shock from the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The bill that sought them a lifeline was tied to an anvil and sunk in a House of Delegates subcommittee January 25. It didn’t even help when the Virginia Manufacturing Association’s […]
Unfair Double Standards Rule
“How is this fair?” Shannon Jones wants to know. How is it that her grandfather’s funeral was forced – by order of the governor – to be almost a non-event while demonstrators and protestors violate Virginia’s 10-person crowd-size rules with absolute impunity? I have no answer. Perhaps someone will show this to Gov. Ralph Northam […]
Attorney General Ramps Up To Hunt for Corporate Bias
One intrusive employment law change opposed by business groups was finally watered down in the late stages of the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, but others are passing and will be actively enforced by a phalanx of new state investigators and lawyers. The final state budget, still in negotiation, could add as many as five new […]
A Growing Economy Needs Regional Bank De-Regulation
Following the shock of the recent Great Recession, Congress took actions to “save us” from such future threats. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act were supposed to prevent another recession by imposing greater regulations on our banks. These bills were to stop a few big banks from having overwhelming impact on our […]