Gov. Glenn Youngkin kicked off his action on over 900 bills and budget amendments Wednesday by signing dozens of pieces of legislation and announcing his plan to sign others that would bolster Virginia’s economy, he said, even as federal funding and workforce cuts continue to play out on the national stage.
“My filter here is really focused on bills that are good for Virginia business, when they have something to do with the business side of things,” he said during a Wednesday press conference. “There’s a lot of familiar bills that I will once again veto, but I do believe that there is a substantial amount of bipartisan legislation that moves us forward.”
Youngkin, a Republican, said that job growth slow-downs were anticipated for fiscal year 2026 when his office put together their budget amendments package that was presented in December.
“That was a recognition that there might be some disruption in the work force, but also continued strength in Virginia businesses looking to hire,” he said. “With that said, I also recognize that there will be the dislocation that we talked about in the federal workforce.”
Federal workforce cuts and a response from Democrats
There were about 145,000 federal jobs in Virginia, according to the Office of Personnel Management, before the federal funding and workforce cuts began. About 315,000 federal workers lived in Virginia, according to the Census Bureau — that included federal employees who lived in Virginia and commuted into Washington, D.C., or Maryland — and there were about 400,000 contracted employees in the commonwealth, before the cuts began.
Youngkin noted that there have been about 1,000 new claims into the state’s unemployment commission. Though, he added, there are more economic development opportunities on his desk after the 2025 session than in the previous three years of his administration.
Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield County, who is seeking election as lieutenant governor, offered a rebuttal on behalf of the Democrats after Youngkin’s press conference concluded.
“I heard the governor talking about site readiness and these economic development opportunities, but what we didn’t hear are a focus on the issues that really impact Virginia’s workers,” she said.
Those issues include paid family and sick leave, raising the minimum wage, access to child care and affordable housing, she said. She also noted the loss of federal workforce jobs as another concern for constituents.
“The governor never speaks to those concerns,” she said.
Bills signed from Southwest and Southside lawmakers
The bills Youngkin announced his support for during the Wednesday press conference, but has yet to sign, include SB 1275, a bill by Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight County, which would give small localities access to site investment grants to attract businesses; and SB 1207, a bill by Sen. Tammy Mulchi, R-Mecklenburg County, that would create a grant to support the Microporous battery company opening a plant in the Southern Virginia Megasite in Pittsylvania County.
Youngkin noted that, on top of signing Jordan’s bill, he plans to include in his budget amendments incremental money for business-ready site investments.
“I think that we’ve demonstrated that the ability to continue to invest over years in site development is a clear winner,” he said. “That package of opening up site investment to some smaller jurisdictions and making sure we have adequate support and financial resources is important.”
Other bills signed on Wednesday include:
SB 1176: Patroned by Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, which amends the Roanoke charter to allow the city council to appoint the director of real estate evaluation rather than the city manager.
SB 1366: Patroned by Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County, which allows compound drugs to be distributed in health systems under common ownership.
The governor is expected to continue to act on bills over the next five days before the March 24 deadline. The bulk of those actions could come down Monday, he said.
Update, March 20, 10:53 a.m.: This story was updated to remove one of the bills previously listed as signed by the governor, due to an error on the Legislative Information System website. The bill had not yet been acted on by Gov. Youngkin.
