Spanberger signs workers’ rights bills, wants changes to drug affordability board legislation

Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed several workers’ rights bills into law, but her proposed changes to legislation to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board would delay the implementation of such a board.

Before the Monday night deadline for her to act on hundreds of bills the General Assembly passed, Gov. Abigail Spanberger proposed a delay to setting up a Prescription Drug Affordability Board and signed into law several bills aimed at bolstering workers’ rights. 

Spanberger proposed changes to the Affordable Medicine Act, which would create an advisory board to study data and require that federal drug price caps under Medicare be applied to state-regulated health insurance plans. The bill passed in the General Assembly with bipartisan support with the goal of bringing transparency to drug prices.   

AARP Virginia said Spanberger’s amendments include a reenactment clause on the portion of bill that allows the state to mirror Medicare negotiated prices, “meaning that provision will not become law unless passed again by the General Assembly in 2027, further delaying relief for Virginians struggling to afford their medication.”

“We are profoundly disappointed in the governor’s action and ask the General Assembly to reject this unacceptable amendment,” AARP Virginia State Director Jim Dau said in a statement. “Virginians have made it clear that they expect leadership from our elected officials to make every day needs more affordable, with increasingly costly prescription drugs at the top of the list.”

As a candidate, Spanberger pledged to “combat the skyrocketing cost of drugs and improve access to affordable medication.”

Other bills

Spanberger proposed amendments to paid sick leave legislation that the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy called “technical amendments that clarify definitions and implementation details.”

Spanberger did something similar with the paid family and medical leave legislation: she sent it back to the General Assembly with “several, largely technical amendments,” according to Freedom Virginia. 

“For too long, Virginians have had to make the impossible choice between caring for themselves or loved ones and a paycheck, but this legislation will finally guarantee 12 weeks of paid leave for over 3 million Virginians,” Freedom Virginia co-executive director Rhena Hicks said in a statement.

Spanberger signed into law legislation that lets local governments add protections for building maintenance workers. Protections allowed by the bill include that the new company can only dismiss current workers for just-cause or as part of a reduction in its workforce. Today, if a building owner changes the company it uses for building maintenance, then all the workers can lose their jobs with no recourse. 

But the worker retention legislation would let localities pass ordinances or resolutions to, for example, require that the new building services employer retain the current employees for a transition period of 90 days. That would give these workers time to negotiate with the incoming company.

Spanberger also signed legislation that would require employers to provide workers with basic protections from extreme heat while on the job. She further signed legislation that puts limits on how much a worker’s wages can be garnished. 

Virginia lawmakers will meet in Richmond next week on Wednesday to take up Spanberger’s amendments. They can either vote to adopt them or reject them. 

If lawmakers reject the changes, then Spanberger can either veto the original bill or sign it into law. If she does nothing, then the bill becomes law.