Youngkin signs into law hate crime bills aimed at curb­ing anti­semitism

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R‑VA) signed into law a pair of bills that strength­en hate crime laws, build­ing on efforts to curb anti­semitism in Vir­ginia.
The leg­is­la­tion expands state statutes for hate crimes to include crimes com­mit­ted against peo­ple because of their eth­nic ori­gin. Youngkin signed SB7 and HB18 into law on Tues­day and said they would pro­tect peo­ple who are Jew­ish, Mus­lim, and Sikh, among oth­er groups, from hate crimes.
“From day one, we have made com­bat­ing anti­semitism and reli­gious big­otry a top pri­or­i­ty. As one of my first exec­u­tive orders, I formed the Com­mis­sion to Com­bat Anti­semitism, which issued a rec­om­men­da­tion that Vir­ginia revise its laws to ensure Jew­ish Vir­gini­ans are pro­tect­ed from hate crimes, along with Mus­lims, Sikhs, and oth­er eth­nic and reli­gious groups,” Youngkin said in a state …