From VAPLAN; great work by Cindy as always!
After some very long floor sessions in both the House and the Senate, crossover was reached–for the rest of session, each chamber will only consider bills that originated in the other chamber. Racing toward the end of this short session!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Delegate Callsen on the House floor for Black History Month: “Study after study shows that race matters in the criminal justice system…political rhetoric steeped in fear and not fact has been used to justify what is by definition an unjust system…Mr. Speaker, my hope with this speech is to remind everyone in this chamber that the history of our justice system is both Black history, and also current events. And any of us in this room who are in a seat of power should be analyzing policies not with a campaign lens, not only with a personal lens, but with a lens of what is just, fair, and aligned with truth and fact.”
Left behind in the dust:
- The House occasionally dockets bills to subcommittees that never then see the light of day. Here are a few bills that were left unvoted on in the House:
- HB1865, the Access to Justice Act, which would have ensured a public defender’s office in every jurisdiction as well as an appellate defender office, made it out of Courts of Justice, only to die a quiet death in Appropriations without a vote. (It was expected to cost nearly $90 million.)
- HB2607, prohibiting campaign contributions from public utilities, was left without a vote in House Privileges and Elections committee.
- The House Education committee has endured listening to this bill to require students to pass the US Naturalization Test to graduate several years in a row. This year, they didn’t even docket it.
- House Finance left behind without a vote a bill to impose a $5 tax on firearms purchases.
- House Courts of Justice did not docket for discussion a bill to “clarify” that terminating a nonviable pregnancy isn’t a crime. Which, of course, wouldn’t be needed if we didn’t ever criminalize people and their doctors for private healthcare choices.
- The Senate typically dockets all the bills that are filed. However, it’s not unusual (in either chamber) for bills to get suddenly re-referred back to committee from the floor when there are no more committee meetings, effectively killing the bill.
- On the day of crossover, two campaign finance bills were re-committed back to committee: SB1050 prohibiting campaign contributions from corporations, and SB1469 restricting the dollar amount of all campaign contributions.
- Additionally, the Senate recommitted SB1190 that created a consortium to assist localities in setting and achieving clean energy goals, and barred restrictive ordinances that limit solar.
Some interesting resolutions that crossed over:
- HJ440 and SJ251, to have the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study what books are being banned in what schools, why, and at whose request.
- SJ255 to have JLARC study Virginia’s campaign finance laws (mostly with an eye to whether they are clear and transparent and enforceable).
- HJ446 to designate the first full week of September as Zero Waste Awareness week.
- HJ447 to have the Commission to End Hunger create a statewide food desert mapping system for Virginia.
- SJ269 to designate March as Persian Heritage Month.
- SJ253 and HJ443 to have JLARC study the potential impact of moving Virginia’s elections onto an even-year only schedule.
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