(HB1263)

GOVERNOR'S VETO

Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto House Bill 1263, which aims to establish a system for public sector collective bargaining.

I support establishing collective bargaining rights for public sector employees. Under current law, state employees are prohibited from collective bargaining, and local public sector employees can only bargain if their locality opts in to collective bargaining. Public servants should have the same right to collectively bargain that Virginia's private sector workers have.

I appreciate the General Assembly for their work on this legislation. I know we all want to create a strong, feasible, and durable public sector collective bargaining system that gives public servants a collective voice while we work to strengthen our schools, keep our communities safe, and deliver services to our neighbors and communities across the Commonwealth.

In an effort to achieve these shared goals, I put forth amendments which would have required the state to setup a system allowing state employees, home care workers, and higher education service employees to enter into collective bargaining agreements first, in order to demonstrate the efficacy of this new system, with public employees in localities following closely after. While preserving the enrolled bill's focus on allowing public employees to achieve collective bargaining, my amendments would have also provided additional flexibility for public employers to take into account existing local budget timelines and processes. However, the General Assembly rejected these amendments.

I remain committed to continuing to work with the General Assembly, unions, localities, and public servants across the Commonwealth to develop a public sector collective bargaining system that works for Virginia. However, I believe additional amendments are needed to the enrolled bill currently before me.

Accordingly, I veto this bill.