RICHMOND, Va. — Just a few hours before the legislative deadline, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed SB 274, which would have established a Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) in the Commonwealth.
The bill had passed the Senate 23-16 and the House 50-47.
That board could have placed price caps on what the state pays manufacturers for prescription drugs, eventually reducing prices for consumers. The bill limited the board to 12 price caps per year from 2025-2028.
Sen. Angelia Williams Graves (D-21st District) was a co-sponsor. She spoke with 13News Now hours before the veto.
“It should not cost someone their rent money to get medication. It really shouldn’t,” said Williams-Graves.
Opponents of the bills had questioned the benefits of the proposed board. Critics of PDABs frequently argue the advisory boards place blame on the wrong players in drug pricing. They say pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which negotiate on behalf of insurance companies, are the real problem.
“The high cost of health care affects everyone, and it hits Black and Latino communities the hardest,” said Region One Vice President of the Virginia NAACP, Gaylene Kanoyton. “While I had hoped the Governor would understand the gravity of this issue, he clearly does not.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Press Secretary Christian Martinez released the following statement on the veto:
“Governor Youngkin embraces policies that make medication available and affordable for Virginians, that’s why he signed a bill that provides cost-saving transparency and regulations to the pharmaceutical industry and allows state government to study a plan to import lower-cost prescriptions for Virginians. He rejected a proposal to establish a government price-control board because this policy is not only unproven to lower drug prices it would potentially restrict the access and creation of needed medications and life-saving treatments for families across the Commonwealth.”
Sen. Williams Graves issued the following statement Tuesday morning:
"I am extremely disappointed that the Governor vetoed the Prescription Drug Affordability Board Bill. The end results of this bill would have been beneficial to all Virginians and kept drug manufacturers from price gouging our residents. Clearly he is out of touch with the needs of working Virginians and his veto of this bill shows it."
Maryland was the first state to establish a PDAB back in 2019. Since then, seven other states have followed suit.