Spanberger’s Radicalism Revealed: Only 5 Vetoes Out of 1,082 Bills
by Victoria Manning
In just three months, Virginia's governor has undermined Second Amendment rights, parental authority, and fiscal responsibility.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran as a moderate, but her actions after the first legislative session prove otherwise. She has embraced an extreme left-wing agenda, eroding Second Amendment rights and backing laws that will make Virginia an even more expensive place to live. For the first time in five years, the state is now facing a budget deficit.
The Democrat-controlled legislature sent 1,082 bills to the governor’s desk to sign. She only vetoed five bills, amended 111 (which will return to the legislature for consideration), and allowed the rest to become law.
One of the key responsibilities of the General Assembly is to approve a budget. Yet despite holding full control, the Democrats haven’t passed a spending bill. For four years under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the state had $10 billion in surplus revenue and delivered $9 billion in tax relief to Virginians. Now, after just one session under Democrat leadership, Virginia faces a half-billion-dollar deficit because the leftist majority demands bigger government rather than fiscal responsibility.
Democrats prioritize stripping the rights of Virginia citizens over responsible spending and balancing the state’s checkbook.
Restoration News previously highlighted some of the worst legislation passed by the General Assembly: Virginia Under Siege: Democrats Wage War on Law-Abiding Virginians. Now, Spanberger has allowed a vast majority of these bills to become law. In Virginia, if the governor doesn’t veto or return the bill to the legislature with amendments, the bill becomes a law—even without her signature.
The passed legislation includes multiple laws restricting the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
House Bill (HB) 217 is a bill that will prohibit the sale or importation of what Democrats call “assault weapons.” Their definition is broad and includes “a semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol with a magazine capacity in excess of 15 rounds.” It also includes semi-automatic shotguns that can accept detachable magazines.
Controversial red flag laws were previously intended to allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge to confiscate a firearm from someone at risk of harming themselves or others. HB 901, just signed into law by Spanberger, expands red flag laws to permit more than a dozen other categories of people to petition a judge to take away someone’s weapons. Now, a social worker, family therapist, member of the local community services board, or even a school principal may petition to revoke a person’s Second Amendment rights. These laws may violate the due process rights of those being targeted.
Another law Spanberger signed threatens parents’ fundamental right to direct their children's upbringing—a right the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld under the Fourteenth Amendment. Not only does HB 6 guarantee a right to contraception without an age limit or parental consent, but it also establishes a right to sterilization under the same parameters. It also runs afoul of existing Virginia law, which provides that a “parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.”
Another alarming and underreported piece of legislation is HB 913, which mandates the return of all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Youngkin had eliminated these programs due to the divisive instruction teachers were pushing in classrooms. The returning DEI propaganda includes statewide teacher training on issues such as “white privilege” and other social justice initiatives through the VDOE’s “EdEquity” program.
Restoration News previously detailed the content of the EdEquity trainings. For example, on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Democrat-controlled VDOE disseminated a sensitivity training program highlighting not the tragedies of 9/11, but how teachers should be careful not to use words such as “terrorists,” and should reject the notion of American exceptionalism. The webinars also instructed educators that “teaching is a political act.”
Spanberger campaigned as a moderate. But now, only three months into her governorship, her mask and gloves are off. She hid her true agenda and is now actively pursuing policies that threaten the rights and values of Virginians.
Virginia has the first and oldest democratically elected legislative body in North America, celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. Our founding fathers adopted the Constitution to preserve the natural rights of U.S. citizens. Those rights are quickly eroding under Virginia's new Democrat-controlled monopoly.
Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, immigration, and military issues. She is the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member and has a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse to her reporting.
Republished with permission from Restoration News.
