With the stroke of his veto pen, Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday ended a bipartisan effort to create a legal adult-use cannabis market in Virginia by next year. In his latest round of legislative actions, Youngkin rejected a total of seven measures, while signing 100 into law.
Youngkin vetoed both SB 448, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, and HB 698, introduced by Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax County. The legislation would have tasked the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, the agency created to oversee and regulate a marijuana retail market, to begin accepting applications for testing, cultivating, processing, retail and transporter licenses by Sept. 1, with retail to begin on May 1, 2025.
“The proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety. States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescent’s health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue,” Youngkin said in a statement.
The proposed cannabis legislation also would not eliminate the illegal black-market sale of cannabis, nor guarantee product safety, Youngkin further said. “Addressing the inconsistencies in enforcement and regulation in Virginia’s current laws does not justify expanding access to cannabis, following the failed paths of other states and endangering Virginians’ health and safety,” he said.
While Youngkin had vowed to review the proposal like any others sent to his desk, he had made clear several times throughout the session that he had no interest in the legislation. And at an event in Chesapeake earlier this month, he told reporters that he wasn’t planning on signing that bill. “Anybody who thinks I’m going to sign that legislation must have been smoking something,” he said.
Another time, Youngkin expressed concern that the creation of a legal adult-use marijuana market would put “a cannabis shop on every corner.”
But the final draft of the legislation sponsored by Rouse and Krizek would have limited the number of licenses issued to marijuana retail stores statewide to 350 (with floor space capped at 2,500 square feet), processing facilities to 100, and cultivation facilities to 125. The latter are spread across five tiers, beginning with micro-grow of up to 2,500 square feet, and a grow space of up to 70,000 in the fifth and highest tier.
Rouse and Krizek said Thursday that Youngkin’s veto of their proposal was “reckless and negligent.”
Rouse added that Youngkin’s dismissive stance toward addressing Virginia’s cannabis sales dilemma is unacceptable. “Public servants are obligated to tackle pressing issues, regardless of their origin or culpability. They cannot cherry-pick which problems to address,” he said.
Krizek said that the governor’s failure to act allows an already thriving illegal cannabis market to persist, fueling criminal activity and endangering our communities. “This veto squandered a vital opportunity to safeguard Virginians and will only exacerbate the proliferation of illicit products, posing greater risks to our schools and public safety,” Krizek said.
Democrats still held out hope that Youngkin would consider signing cannabis legislation in exchange for their support of what he considered to be the legacy project of his tenure: the proposed $2 billion sports arena in Alexandria that would have brought the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals to Virginia at state taxpayers’ expense.
But when negotiations officially hit a dead end after Senate Democrats blocked his plan from even being considered, there was little incentive for the governor to mull over a compromise on cannabis.
Youngkin also vetoed SB 696, sponsored by Sen. Angelia Williams Graves, D-Norfolk, which would have mandated that individuals incarcerated for certain marijuana offenses would receive automatic resentencing hearings and have their punishments adjusted. The measure cleared the Senate on a 20-19 party-line vote last month, followed by a 52-43 bipartisan vote in the House last month.
Youngkin’s views on cannabis, however, are out of touch with the majority of Virginians, according to a poll released earlier this month by the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College. The survey found that 63% of Virginians strongly or somewhat support laws that would help small businesses compete with pharmaceutical companies and existing medical cannabis dispensaries, while only 15% somewhat or strongly oppose.
Youngkin also vetoed a proposed minimum wage hike. Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly passed identical bills last month that would have raised the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. It currently is $12 an hour.
Youngkin said in a statement that another minimum wage increase would “implement drastic wage mandates, raise costs on families and small businesses, jeopardize jobs, and fail to recognize regional economic differences across Virginia.”
For a complete list of legislation that Youngkin signed into law this week, click here.