This story was reported and written by Radio IQ.
Leaders from Virginia’s Senate Republican Caucus announced their priorities at a press conference Monday, with Minority leader Ryan McDougle saying his party is all in on Governor Glenn Youngkin’s car tax rebate effort.
“This is substantial for some families because it will be $150 individually and $300 for individuals filing jointly,” McDougle said at a press conference Monday.
There are income caps on the refunds, and vehicle owners would have to pay the tax before getting the refund.
NAACP of Virginia president Cozy Bailey said the car tax refund looks good on the surface, but he feared Youngkin hadn’t properly considered its impact on localities. He instead called it “eye candy.”
“We’d love to see no car tax in the Commonwealth of Virginia but it's more than a slogan,” Bailey told Radio IQ. “It takes a lot of study and assessment, and we haven’t seen that yet.”
But McDougle said the car tax refund, with an estimated cost of about $1.1 billion funded by the recent budget surplus, could aid nearly two million Virginians.
“I don’t consider that eye candy,” McDougle said.
Senate Republicans are also throwing their weight behind Youngkin’s “No tax on tips” push. Estimated to cost around $30 million, Senator Mark Obenshain called it a “win-win.”
“It’s a win for workers across the commonwealth and a win for businesses who’ve been struggling to find enough employers,” the Senate GOP Caucus chair said.
Other legislative priorities for the minority party in the senate include homicide charges for drug dealers who sell fentanyl that leads to an overdose death.
“As long as people are dying in every corner of Virginia, of every socioeconomic background, that means there’s people out there peddling this poison,” Obenshain said.
Additional criminal justice reforms include increasing the penalty for repeat offenses involving firearms.
“These are people who have already demonstrated their willingness to put the lives of those in their communities at risk,” Obenshain said.
A ban on transgender girls playing sports is also a top priority for Senate Republicans.
“We need to make sure we’re standing up for fairness, equal opportunities,” Obenshain said. “We’ll be protecting women who engage in sports on all levels.”
The ban would only apply to transgender girls.
Another priority is support for Youngkin’s recently announced maternal health initiatives, those include campaigns to get moms on Medicaid, funds to boost rural healthcare access and pre and postpartum educational campaigns
“Making sure women know to ask for help,” Sen. Emily Jordan, who recently had a baby, said. “There’s going be a PR campaign so women can know where they can get help.”
Details on these proposals will become available after they’re published online shortly after the 2025 session starts later this week.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
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