Under the Virginia Constitution, after a legislative proposal is approved by both the House of Delegates and by the Senate, it must then go to the Governor for review. The Governor may sign it, may veto it, or may make suggested changes to the bill. If the Governor takes no action, the bill becomes law. If the Governor vetoes the bill, or makes changes, the legislature can accept that change or can override the decision.
If the bill is sent to the Governor while there are still at least seven days left in the session, then the governor has seven days in which to act. If there are fewer than seven days remaining, the Governor has 30 days in which to act.
The Governor receives feedback from relevant administrative agencies, the Attorney General and stakeholders while considering specific legislation.
There are several bills that we have been following that have been approved by both the House and the Senate, and have been “signed” by the presiding officers of both, but have not yet been “communicated” to the Governor.
For example, HB 225 (Hope), which creates a task force to evaluate the effectiveness of the Marcus alert system, has been approved by both bodies and has been signed by the presiding officer of both bodies, but not yet communicated to the Governor.
Likewise, HB 996 (Seibold), which expands the Postsecondary Education Rehabilitation Program (PERT), has been approved by both bodies and signed by the leaders of both bodies, but has not yet been sent to the Governor. dLCV believes the PERT program has been very successful; expansion will work to the advantage of young people with disabilities as they transition into adulthood.
The session will end on March 14th. There are more than seven days remaining in the session.
Our mission is to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation. We are available to educate policy makers about the potential impact of legislative proposals.