Governor Glenn Youngkin signed 738 bills into law

The Governor Amended 78 Bills, Vetoed Three Ahead of 30-day Bill Review Deadline

RICHMOND, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin signed 738 bills into law, offered substantive and technical amendments to 78 bills, and vetoed three bills, taking action on a total of 819 bills sent to his desk during the 2023 General Assembly Session.

“At the conclusion of the Session, I was honored to sign key pieces of bipartisan legislation that bolster law enforcement, cut red tape, make Virginia more competitive, and build on my commitment to restore excellence in education. While the 2023 Session leaves many big items unfinished, including the adoption of a budget that offers serious tax relief for Virginians and makes significant investments like our Right Help, Right Now initiative to transform behavioral health care, we have made significant progress in advancing commonsense policies that deliver for everyone,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.

Bills by Lynwood Lewis and Robert Bloxom were included.

HB 1950 (Bloxom) and SB 1160 (Stuart) – Directs the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to review and update its “Guidelines for Establishment, Use and Operation of Tidal Wetland Mitigation Banks in Virginia” and its regulations, Wetlands Mitigation-Compensation Banks and Supplemental Guidelines.

SB 1388 (Lewis) – Directs the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to develop plans for studying the ecology, fishery impacts, and economic importance of menhaden populations in the waters of the Commonwealth and to provide a report on its findings to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.

Bills for the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Resiliency were also signed:

HB 1485 (Webert) and SB 1129 (Hanger) – Changes the contingency for the effective date of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan to allow consideration of a combination of point or nonpoint source pollution reduction commitments other than agricultural best management conservation practices when determining whether the Commonwealth’s commitments in the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan have been satisfied.

HB 1664 (Hodges) and SB 897 (Stuart) – Establishes the Governor’s Blue Catfish Processing, Flash Freezing, and Infrastructure Grant Program and authorizes the Governor to award grants to political subdivisions from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund as part of the Program. Such grants, in amounts up to $250,000, shall be awarded as reimbursable grants to support blue catfish processing, flash freezing, and infrastructure projects.