(SB1324)

GOVERNOR'S VETO

Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto Senate Bill 1324, which creates a criminal penalty for exercising the Constitutional rights of free speech and assembly in an overbroad and indiscriminate manner.

This legislation is an unconstitutional time, place, and manner restriction on the God-given, constitutionally protected right to the freedom of speech. It creates new criminal penalties for what one might say or where they stand when they say it. If this bill were to become law, a citizen of the Commonwealth, the crucible of our representative democracy, could be jailed simply for carrying a sign.

Accordingly, I veto this bill.