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Executive Schedule
8:30 AM: GOVERNOR GLENN YOUNGKIN DELIVERS REMARKS AT AUTOZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
LOCATION: New Kent, VA
11:30 AM: GOVERNOR VISITS PORT OF VIRGINIA
The Supreme Court reduced the authority of the EPA to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions in a blow to climate change advocates. In a 6-3 ruling, the court sided with conservative states and fossil-fuel companies in adopting a narrow reading of the Clean Air Act.
New Laws Take Effect July 1 - VPAP
This year, more than 800 bills were enacted into law by the Virginia legislature. Below is a summary of 29 high-profile laws that take effect on July 1.
Del. Elizabeth Guzman and PWC Director of Elections to hold town hall tonight on redistricting
Join Delegate Elizabeth Guzman and Prince William County Director of Elections Eric Olsen as they discuss the new districts were formed and how the geography and demographics have changed. The announcement says they will cover magisterial, House of Delegates, and Senate districts.
WHEN: *TONIGHT* Thursday, June 30 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Zoom. Join HERE.
The Education of Glenn Youngkin - Time
by Molly Ball
Glenn Youngkin is the kind of person who, if you ask him if he knows how to nae nae, he’s going to take it as a challenge. On a Thursday afternoon in late April, the Republican governor of Virginia is touring CodeRVA, a diverse magnet high school for students interested in tech careers—the sort of place that Youngkin argues can be the linchpin of his conservative education agenda. Craig Butts, a 17-year-old senior, shows the governor his creation: a Super Mario-inspired video game that displays the relative sizes of the planets in the solar system. Then he slyly asks the question.
“Can I nae nae? No,” Youngkin confesses. Then he gets an idea, and his big, smooth, plasticky face lights up: “Can you show me how to nae nae?” Politicians should know better than to dance in public, a rule that perhaps especially applies to a lanky 55-year-old white man in a neat suit and tie. Staffers groan; the first lady grimaces; the lieutenant governor cries out, “Don’t do it!” But Youngkin gamely plants his feet, raises a hand and executes a couple of hip-swivels as Butts gives an impromptu hip-hop dance lesson. Before moving on, Youngkin mutters the phrase that could be his signature: “How much fun!”
On abortion, Gov. Youngkin says he’ll sign ‘any bill ... to protect life’ - Washington Post
by Laura Vozzella
Gov. Glenn Youngkin said this week he believes life begins at conception and vowed to sign “any bill … to protect life” that reaches his desk, expressing more ambitious antiabortion goals than he set out last year on the campaign trail or expects to pull off in the next legislative session.
In remarks to conservative activists Tuesday night, Youngkin (R) indicated that if the political landscape shifts in Richmond, he would like to rein in abortion rights beyond what he is seeking now — a ban on most abortions after 15 or 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Community college board relents on search after Youngkin threatens to replace members - Richmond Times-Dispatch
by eric Kolenich
Gov. Glenn Youngkin demanded the board overseeing Virginia’s community colleges welcome his administration into the search for a new leader or resign Thursday, leading the board to relent and drawing accusations from Democrats that he’s bypassing the state’s layered governance structure.
Youngkin’s message apparently hit its mark. On Wednesday, the board said it will welcome a representative of the administration as a nonvoting member of the search committee.
Virginia declines to join federal-state offshore wind partnership - Virginia Mercury
by Sarah Vogelsong
A press release from President Joe Biden’s administration describes the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership as a joint effort between the White House national climate adviser, four cabinet secretaries and the governors of “several East Coast states who are early leaders on offshore wind development.”
The 11 states listed are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Those jurisdictions cover the entire span of the nation’s eastern coast from Maine to North Carolina with the exception of Virginia.
Virginia lawmakers punt on bills aimed at limiting partisan election oversight - Virginia Mercury
by Graham Moomaw
Despite getting several extra months to negotiate, Virginia lawmakers went home for the summer without a deal on proposals to limit partisan influence in the state’s election bureaucracy.
Legislation that would have removed the governor’s power to appoint the state elections commissioner and given the two major parties equal representation on the State Board of Elections effectively died for lack of a final vote. The General Assemly didn’t take up two pending bills on the topic when lawmakers met in Richmond this month to finish work on the state budget, which was supposed to be done in March.