
Like many recent politicians, Virginia's Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has made "affordability" the linchpin of her gubernatorial agenda. Right on cue, state lawmakers recently passed Spanberger's 16-bill "affordability package," which is already receiving pushback as to whether it will actually lower costs.
But little attention has been paid so far to one of the most expensive pieces of proposed legislation currently percolating in Richmond: a likely repeal of Virginia's longtime ban on collective bargaining for government employees, which would replace it with a mandate to do just that.