Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed two top Democratic legislative priorities. He announced vetoes Thursday to bills that would have allowed the recreational retail sales of marijuana to begin next year and measures mandating a minimum wage increase.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two top Democratic legislative priorities on Thursday: bills that would have allowed the recreational retail salesof marijuana to begin next year and measures mandating a minimum wage increase.
The development, which drew criticism from Democrats who control the General Assembly, did not come as a surprise. While Youngkin had not explicitly threatened to veto either set of bills, he told reporters he didn’t think the minimum wage legislation was needed and had repeatedly said he was uninterested in setting up retail marijuana sales.
In 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, adopting a policy change that allowed adults age 21 and up to possess and cultivate the drug. But the state didn’t set up retail sales at the time and still hasn’t, due to shifts in partisan power and policy differences since then.
Youngkin and other Republicans don't even consider the fact that people will buy weed regardless and all they're doing is losing out on tax revenue. It likely won't even increase the private prison population much. It's pretty easy to hide the fact that you sell weed, especially if you can legally grow it.
Yep. I'm in Indiana by the Illinois border. I just drive half an hour to the closest Illinois dispensary. Yes, I'm paying high taxes. I'm okay with that. Alcohol has an excise tax on it too.
Youngkin really shoving his head completely up his own ass. Thinks taking a stand against massively popular ballot measures will cement his presidential run, while at the same time proving his inability to govern by leaving millions of tax revenue on the table. Here’s hoping this ushers in even stronger Dem representation in VA to keep the state blue.
Fucking Terry McAuliffe cemented his loss with, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
My jaw hit the floor. I knew his campaign was doomed. What kind of idiot tells voters that they shouldn’t have a say in what their kids learn? He destroyed his career with that mouth breathing comment and pushed the entire state into a pile of shit.
I wanted to reach through the tv and slap him in his face. He pretty much handed this idiot the governor’s seat.
What a cunt. Virginia really needs to split in two. The top 20% of the state geographically makes up the majority of its people and wealth. The rest is rednecks and dumb shits who get retards like this elected.
What are you smoking and why isn't it legal in Virginia?
State marijuana legislation has nothing to do with the flow of FedGov money into NoVa. The area owes its wealth to two factors:
Proximity to DC, including areas which used to be part of DC. With easy access to the Federal Government, both businesses and organizations want to be there.
It's not Maryland. Because who the hell wants to be in Maryland? Kidding aside, Virginia has lower taxes and is usually considered more business friendly than Maryland.
Also, both DC and Maryland already have legalized marijuana and neither of them have been cut off from the FedGov money train.
Lastly, "Republicans in NoVa"? I'm sure there are dozens, but if you start driving West on I-66, you're going to reach the border of West Virginia before you hit a major enclave of Republicans.
Man, I hate it when politicians represent the will of the people.
The weird thing about it is this only helps criminals. They already have legal weed, so the only crime is how it is sold. If you make legal retail sales, then you give money to corporations (Republicans like that, right?) and also get sweet sweet tax revenue from it (Republicans also like getting money to pay for more police and military equipment for them, right?). This is a weird mix of not getting revenue to pay for stopping crime while also encouraging crime to happen.