RICHMOND, VA — Today Governor Youngkin vetoed bipartisan legislation to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which would have lowered the cost of prescription drugs for all Virginians. The PDAB legislation was patroned by Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) and by Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Franklin) in the Senate (Senate Bill 274), and by Del. Karrie Delaney (D-Fairfax) and by Delegate Nadarius Clark (D-Suffolk) in the House (House Bill 570).

This year during the General Assembly session, bipartisan legislators collaborated to pass these companion bills aimed at establishing a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) that would comprise a small, independent group of health care experts to analyze the affordability of certain expensive prescription drugs and potentially institute reasonable upper payment limits to protect consumers from harmful price-gouging. This board would be tasked with implementing evidence-based strategies to reduce the costs of prescription drugs.

This veto follows reports last week that Governor Glenn Youngkin has taken over $300,000 from the pharmaceutical industry, and POLITICO’s reporting that the Governor recently met with industry lobbyists who pressured him to veto this bipartisan legislation that would lower the cost of medicine.

This legislation received strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, as well as support from AARP Virginia, the Virginia Catholic Conference, the Virginia Association of Counties, The NAACP and the Commonwealth Council on Aging. A recent poll from AARP Virginia found three-quarters of Virginia voters want their legislators to pass a PDAB, including 85% of Democrats, 71% of Republicans and 70% of Independents. A 2022 Mason-Dixon poll showed similar support for the proposal in the six regions of the Commonwealth.

Rhena Hicks, Executive Director of Freedom Virginia, released the following statement:

“Governor Youngkin has once again shown his true colors as someone who would rather stand with Big Pharma than Virginians struggling to afford life-saving medicines. The governor has talked a big game about bringing down costs for families, but you cannot lower the cost of living without lowering the cost of medicine. If the governor truly cared about standing up for hardworking Virginia families, he would have signed this legislation.

“Freedom Virginia would like to thank in particular Senators Deeds and Stanley and Delegates Delaney and Clark for their leadership on this issue, as well as every delegate and senator across both parties who voted to make medicine more affordable for Virginians. We look forward to working with these leaders in the 2025 General Assembly session to bring back this legislation and continue this fight.”