Virginia General Assembly Convenes Veto Session Wednesday

Virginia’s General Assembly will reconvene in Richmond on Wednesday, April 5, for this year’s veto session. Legislators will take a look at bills that were struck down by Governor Terry McAuliffe on his way to setting a record for the most vetoes ever by a Virginia governor.

An email from Delegate Rob Bell touched on some of his legislation including the Tebow Bill that McAuliffe vetoed for the third year in a row. Bell concluded:

In addition to his 38 other vetoes, McAuliffe vetoed two of my bills. The first,  House Bill 2343, would require state officials to provide local registrars with the list of their voters who are also registered to vote in another state. The second, House Bill 1578, is the “Tebow Bill,” which would permit schools to let homeschoolers play on high school athletic teams.

For a summary of all Governor McAuliffe’s vetoes, click here.

Not surprisingly, every single veto is of a Republican bill. Some represented years of work, and of course had to pass both houses to even reach the Governor’s desk.  We will need 2/3 vote to pass any of these bills — which means we will need votes from some Democrats to be successful. You can follow the floor debate tomorrow here.

It takes a two-thirds vote to override a veto which Republicans don’t have unless they are able to persuade some Democrats to join them. That, however, is highly unlikely.