Governor Abigail Spanberger, who took the oath of office and was inaugurated as Virginia’s 75th Governor on Saturday, addressed a joint session of the General Assembly on Monday afternoon, setting out her legislative priorities and encouraging work to find common ground. Governor Spanberger highlighted several Executive Orders she signed on Saturday that are intended to reduce costs and streamline housing production, and discussed several legislative proposals designed to address cost-of-living concerns in the areas of health care, energy, and housing, including:
- Placing guardrails on certain practices by pharmacy benefit managers
- Providing targeted health care premium assistance
- Strengthening health care workforce incentive programs
- Expanding energy storage
- Enhancing programs that assist low-income Virginians with energy efficiency improvements
- Rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
- Bolstering certain protections for tenants
- Allowing local governments to adopt affordable housing programs (as the Governor explained, “Our proposal will empower local governments to adopt affordable housing programs that fit their needs – because the people closest to the problem are often best positioned to solve it.”), and
- Creating a revolving loan fund to support mixed-income housing developments
The Governor complimented Governor Glenn Youngkin’s economic development efforts, notably his investments in site development, and indicated her plans to build on these successes through initiatives such as the creation of the state’s Economic Resiliency Task Force to coordinate a statewide response to federal actions; her directive to her Cabinet members to support farmers in expanding their markets; and her support for workforce development efforts. She reiterated her opposition to repeal of Virginia’s “Right to Work” statutes, but emphasized her desire to be the best state for working families as well as the best state for business through initiatives such as a statewide paid family and medical leave program, increased access to child care, and a $15 per hour minimum wage.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle