VPAP Analysis of 2023 General Assembly Legislation: 867 Out of 2,200 Bills Passed, Most Without Much If Any Controversy

Interesting analysis by VPAP on the “2,200 bills bills introduced in [the 2023 Virginia General Assembly], excluding commending and memorializing resolutions.” A few takeaways:

• Out of those 2,200 bills introduced, 1,297 were killed and 867 passed, with another 36 “consolidated.”
• Of the 867 bills which passed, most (499) were completely non-controversial and passed unanimously. Of the remaining 368 bills which passed “with opposition,” only about 130 faced “notable” or “great” opposition, with the rest facing only “slight” (“votes against <10%”) or “some” (“votes against between 11%-25%”) opposition.
• Most bills which were killed (1,095 out of 1,297) met their demise with a recorded vote in committees (522 in GOP-controlled House subcommittees, 447 in Dem-controlled Senate committees, 273 in GOP-controlled House committees).
• Overall – and not surprisingly, given Republican control of the House of Delegates – 73% of bills sponsored by Democratic delegates were killed, while just 51% of bills sponsored by Republican delegates were killed.
• As for State Senators, 48% of bills sponsored by Republicans and 48% by Democrats passed.
• Finally, the percent of bills passed in the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session was similar to 2022, when Republicans controlled the House of Delegates, but MUCH lower than in 2021 (57%), when Democrats controlled the House of Delegates and State Senate. Bills killed with no recorded vote accounted for just 16% of all bills this session, down from 54% in 2017, so a huge change there…for the better.