Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will introduce legislation next month to raise the age limit for people to purchase tobacco products and vaping devices from 18 to 21, but it will have exemptions for those who serve in the military.
“It has been one of the highest honors of my life to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth. I want to thank the citizens of Virginia Beach and Norfolk for giving me that privilege,” Wagner said.
“Raising the legal age for tobacco purchases to 21 is a common sense way to address this escalating public health concern,” said Delegate Chris Stolle.
After three alpacas were attacked and injured last October in James City County, Virginia, lawmakers in Richmond are set to classify the animals as livestock, granting them legal protections they did not have before.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018), Virginia lawmakers are jumping on the opportunity to collect internet sales tax. The bigger question: what will the money be used for?
The bipartisan, bicameral bill from Virginia lawmakers would increase the minimum age for those prohibited from “purchasing or possessing tobacco products, nicotine vapor products, and alternative nicotine products.”
The State Senate now has a date to return to the General Assembly building to finalize a biennial state budget, but it also needs to articulate a budget that it is willing to pass.
An extra $400 million from income tax payments could come surging into Virginia’s coffers from the federal tax overhaul signed last year, but state finance officials are not ready to trust the wave they say could disappear after summer’s end.
On May 14, members of the Virginia State Senate will return to Bank Street in Richmond to finish, hopefully, the two-year state budget, over one month after spending plans from the lower chamber were forwarded.