The Virginia House of Democrats successfully passed HB 1 and HB 2, which would see the minimum wage in the commonwealth raised to $15 per hour by 2026 and make the sale or transfer of “assault firearms and certain ammunition feeding devices” a misdemeanor criminal offense.
Filed by Delegate Jeion Ward (D-Hampton) (pictured above), HB 1 would see Virginia’s current minimum wage of $12 per hour increased to $13.50 per hour in 2025 before increasing to $15 per hour in 2026. It passed through committee with partisan votes, and narrowly passed in the House of Delegates with 51 votes in favor and 49 votes against.
HB 2, filed by Delegate Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax), seeks to ban the possession, sale, purchase, or transfer of any “assault weapon,” which the commonwealth defines as any “semi-automatic centerfire rifle or pistol which expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine which will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock” or a “shotgun with a magazine which will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered.”
A second gun control measure seeking to ban plastic firearms, HB 173, was passed with the same partisan margin of 51-49.
That bill also narrowly passed through committees with partisan votes, and likewise narrowly passed the House of Delegates with 51 votes in favor and 49 votes against.
Youngkin is widely expected to veto any partisan legislation that restricts gun rights in the commonwealth, but was recently warned that any remaining cooperation from Democrats may disappear outright if he takes action to stop the minimum wage increase.
State Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), who introduced the Virginia State Senate version of the minimum wage bill, SB 1, predicted last month on social media, “If Youngkin vetoes my minimum wage bill, he will quickly find the cooperative tone from Democrats changing very quickly.”
Around the time Lucas made her prediction, Youngkin told the press that he did not see the necessity of a bill to raise the minimum wage.
“I don’t think that you need to send a bill because the market is handling it,” the governor reportedly told the press, declaring that Virginia “should allow small business to handle” a wage increase without a government mandate.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Del. Jeion Ward” by Del. Jeion Ward.
