Nursing Homes, Health Care Associations Sue Youngkin Over Vetoed Nursing Home Bill

By Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

September 3, 2025

Almost 200 nursing homes in Virginia announced Wednesday they are suing Gov. Glenn Younkin for a veto he executed earlier this year that would have helped support staffing efforts at the facilities, which are facing a critical shortage. The Virginia Health Care Association – Virginia Center For Assisted Living notified the state’s Medicaid office this week that 181 members plan to challenge the governor in the Virginia Supreme Court.

Within this year’s budget bill was a provision the General Assembly passed that would have provided additional state and federal Medicaid reimbursements to nursing homes to help support staff growth efforts. The idea was among several recommendations made by a special bipartisan committee of lawmakers that toured the state last year to explore health care disparity solutions — particularly those in rural areas.

Virginia House clerk rejects three of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s vetoes

As part of the legislative process, governors review all bills that pass the state legislature. From there,

they can choose to sign, amend or veto them. However, the Clerk of the House of Delegates, Paul Nardo, rejected three of Youngkin’s vetoes this spring, including the one on the nursing home reimbursements measure, a move the governor chose to ignore.

Nardo, who is also the Keeper of the Rolls, acted within his purview when he published a letter to Virginia’s Legislative Information System that he would not formally publish the vetoes. He called them unconstitutional under Virginia’s Constitution.

Nardo explained at the time that Youngkin had broken procedure by attempting to veto the provisions without also vetoing the budget appropriation that contained them.

It’s the “unconstitutional” argument that is at the core of the pending lawsuit by the nursing homes. The cohort wants the state’s top court to force Youngkin to comply with the law.

Miyares joins multi-state lawsuit against federal change to nursing home staffing

In a release, VHCA-VCAL president Keith Hare said that the cohort “had hoped it would not come to this.”

“This legal action is really about patient care for some of our most vulnerable fellow citizens. It is imperative that nursing homes have the resources they need to appropriately staff facilities and provide their residents with the high-quality care they deserve,” he added.

Political analyst Stephen Farnsworth predicted at the time of the veto back-and-forth this spring that the dispute “could end up in the courts like just about everything else these days.”

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit Virginia Mercury.com.