Virginia lawmakers gave final approval Saturday to a bill that will legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, but not until 2024, when retail sales of the drug would also begin.
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Politics
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The General Assembly has endorsed several improvements to the state’s unemployment system as the coronavirus pandemic continues to exacerbate its flaws.
A Virginia law that will ban all restaurants and food vendors from using polystyrene food containers by July 2025 is on its way to the governor.
Virginia lawmakers demanded answers Wednesday from Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration and the state’s government watchdog agency following a news report that raised new questions about the state parole board’s handling of the case of a man convicted of killing a Richmond police officer.
Governor Ralph Northam today announced that as COVID-19 hospitalizations and infection rates continue to decline and vaccinations rise in Virginia, certain outdoor sports and entertainment venues may begin to operate at increased capacity starting Monday, March 1. He amended Executive Order Seventy-Two with the next steps of the “Forward Virginia” plan to safely and gradually ease public health restrictions while mitigating the spread of the virus.
“Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of all Virginians, hospitalization and positivity rates across the Commonwealth are the lowest they have been in nearly three months,” said Governor Northam. “As key health metrics show encouraging trends and we continue to ramp up our vaccination efforts, we can begin to gradually resume certain recreational activities and further reopen sectors of our economy. Even as we take steps to safely ease public health guidelines, we must all remain vigilant so we can maintain our progress—the more we stay home, mask up, and practice social distancing, the more lives we will save from this dangerous virus.”
Today the Virginia House of Delegates passed Senator Scott Surovell’s legislation to raise Virginia’s auto insurance minimum coverage limits. SB 1182 has now passed out of the Senate and House of Delegates. The legislation awaits Governor Ralph Northam’s signature to become law.
Virginia’s insurance minimum coverage limits have not changed since Surovell was 4 years old in 1975. They constitute the lowest level of insurance that is required to drive a car.
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Now cross-crossing Virginia campaigning to be its next governor, Pete Snyder doesn’t often get to eat breakfast with his child.
Recently, however, he did. After they ate, his daughter Bee, 6, showed him something special hanging on her bulletin board. There, above her desk, Bee had pinned three of her father’s campaign bumper stickers to her bulletin board. It was a proud dad moment for the candidate.
Are there any Republicans left in Fairfax County?
Conservatives in the deep-blue county are waking up to the fact their interests are not being represented in Richmond.
Virginia has made headlines in recent months for criminal justice reform measures but advocates say more needs to be done. They are disappointed lawmakers in both chambers of the General Assembly recently killed proposals to reduce qualified immunity protections for police officers.
State lawmakers so far this session have advanced bills to legalize marijuana, remove mandatory minimum sentences and abolish the death penalty. During the special session called last year, the General Assembly banned police from using no-knock search warrants and chokeholds.
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