With the 2022 session underway, this past weekend marked the beginning of a new administration as Governor Glenn Youngkin was inaugurated on Saturday. He took the oath of office just after noon, as did Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares. After swearing in new members of the cabinet, the Governor sat down to sign nine new executive orders and two executive directives.  The full list of executive actions can be found here, including an order “reinvigorating job growth by removing burdensome regulations from Virginia’s business community” and another “establishing the position of Chief Transformation Officer” in the Governor’s Cabinet. 

After convening the session last Wednesday, committees began meeting the following day to take up some of the roughly 2000 bills and joint resolutions that have been introduced so far. Members have until this Friday the 21st to introduce legislation.  Additionally, members were required to submit any proposed amendments to the introduced budget on Friday the 14th, and we should get a look at those proposed amendments sometime this week.  

We were fortunate to visit with several members of the General Assembly at Wednesday’s Tech on Tap event, held down the street from the state capitol at Sam Miller’s. Attendees had a chance to visit with key members from central Virginia and beyond to discuss issues coming before the General Assembly and the industry as a whole.

So far rvatech is following 62 pieces of legislation, including the state budget, in a variety of subject areas related to our policy agenda. There are numerous bills introduced so far related to STEM education, workforce development, data centers, economic development, and broadband. There are also a number of important budget-related items that are detailed in the bill tracking document linked below.