The House Privileges and Elections constitutional amendment subcommittee voted 5–3 to table House Joint Resolution 492, a measure to make Virginia’s right-to-work rule part of the state constitution, after more than an hour of testimony from business groups and labor organizations.

Sponsor Delegate C. O’Quinn told the committee the amendment would put the state’s existing right-to-work law into the constitution and said doing so would provide certainty to employers considering long-term investments in the commonwealth. “I think this would give [businesses] that certainty,” O’Quinn said.

Supporters included Brian Slater, who identified himself as Secretary of Labor. Slater argued the amendment would preserve competitiveness: “Right to work and ensuring this, in the Constitution ensures that there are more businesses coming to Virginia paying more taxes, hiring more people who pay more taxes, and growing the revenue of the Commonwealth,” he said. Brett Vassy of the Virginia Manufacturers Association said right-to-work ensures neutrality for workers, telling the committee, “Right to work is not a right not to be union. It is a right to neutrality.”

Labor unions, education and trades groups uniformly opposed the proposal. Doris Krause Mays of the Virginia AFL-CIO reminded members that Virginia voters defeated a similar constitutional amendment in 2016 and urged the committee to preserve an environment in which workers can organize free of intimidation. Jason Parker of the Virginia State Building Construction Trades Council said the largest economies are not right-to-work states and questioned the practical benefits of embedding the rule in the constitution.

Delegate Price invoked historical context and concerns about racial impacts in his remarks before moving to table the resolution; Chair Price’s motion to table was seconded and the clerk recorded the motion as adopted on a roll call vote of 5–3. Committee members did not advance an alternate measure at the meeting.

The subcommittee recorded testimony from a range of business and labor organizations and public commenters but did not provide a roll-call list of individual votes beyond the 5–3 tally. With the tabled vote, HJ492 will not move forward from this subcommittee at this time.