Gov. Youngkin endorses in three Republican nomination battles
Youngkin is starting to pick favorites in Republican nomination races
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The rundown
Youngkin announces three more endorsements. This time in three Republican nomination battles.
The RSLC attacked Democrats for killing a Youngkin amendment. Democrats say the legislation was not properly vetted.
Dave Brat endorses a candidate in SD-12
RSLC attacks Democrats for killing a Youngkin amendment. Democrats say the legislation was not properly vetted.
Senate Democrats killed an amendment on a bill that would have required parental consent for children under 18 to join social media platforms and visit websites that collect user data. This amendment was thrown onto a bill from Sen. Bill Stanley (R) that passed in both chambers and will create a civil liability for any “commercial entity that knowingly or intentionally publishes or distributes on the Internet material harmful to minors.”
Stanley’s original bill passed unanimously in the House and 38-2 in the Senate.
However, Gov. Glenn Youngkin returned the bill to the legislature with the parental consent amendment. Parental consent rules are already in place for children 13 and under — Youngkin’s amendment would have expanded that to include children 17 and under. Democrats say there was not enough time to do the work necessary on a bill that will have a large impact across the commonwealth.
The governor can still sign the original bill into law, or veto it.
The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) attacked Senate Democrats on Wednesday for voting against the amendment from Youngkin.
But Democrats say Youngkin is trying to skirt around the legislative process.
“We need to give some more attention to our data privacy rules surrounding children,” Sen. Scott Surovell (D) said during a phone with Virginia Scope. “But the issue with the governor’s amendments is that they just haven’t been vetted in an ordinary legislative process with sufficient public comment and consideration.”
This amendment is identical to a bill that was referred for study during session.
“The bill was heard by the General Laws and Technology Committee who referred it to the Joint Commission on Technology and Science who is going to be looking at it over the next 12 months with sufficient time and public discussion and vetting to hopefully come up with a quality product,” Surovell said.
He accused Youngkin of trying to save his previously failed legislation by sneaking them into amendments during the final hour of the legislative process.
“This governor proposed four different administration bills that were killed in committee and tried to slap them on other unrelated bills as governor’s amendments this session,” Surovell said. “If we are going to honor our legislative process, the governor should not try and do an end run around our committees every time he gets a result he doesn’t like in committee.”
In the end, Democrats say they want more time to work on this legislation that would impact businesses across the Commonwealth.
“The bill wasn’t ready,” Surovell said. “That legislation affects thousands of businesses. In order to do it right, it requires some serious, lengthy public hearings, comment and discussion.”
