The General Assembly is about bills. About 2000 are introduced each year and we have only a few weeks to guide them through the whole legislative process. Typically about forty percent pass.
The Senate traditionally hears and votes on each and every bill. Our process is transparent and every vote in subcommittee, full committee, and on the floor is recorded and available on line.
The House, with the Republicans in charge, is very different. Some bills are never heard. The committee chairman does a "pocket veto" -- stuffing the bill in a pocket where it disappears.
Other bills are defeated without a vote. Here is how that works. A bill is sent to subcommittee. The majority party prior to the meeting has decided to "kill" it, so someone moves to "Table" the bill. Then, on a voice vote, it is tabled and defeated. No fingerprints, no accountability.
Among the bills defeated in this disgraceful way every year are gun safety measures and redistricting measures.
This year, after protesting this tactic for years, a citizen group (Progress Virginia) is live streaming subcommittee meetings on line. You can watch how good bills are defeated at Eyes on Richmond. I suggest you watch for a while to see in real time how democracy is being undermined.
This year I have introduced eighteen bills and one constitutional amendment. They cover many topics and several were suggestions of my constituents. Here is a short summary of the most significant:
VOTING:
As the ranking member of the Privileges and Elections Committee, I often focus on election law. Again this year I am trying to allow registered voters to cast their votes in person absentee without having to give an approved reason. This will prevent many people having to lie in order to vote (SB844). In case that fails, I have another bill (SB845) that adds "caregivers" to the list of people who cannot get an excuse.
REDISTRICTING:
I have both a bill (SB878) and a constitutional amendment (SJ290) that list criteria that must be used in redistricting. As the former Democratic chair of Privileges and Elections, I am teaming up with the current Republican chair, Senator Jill Vogel, in this effort. We both recognize how flawed our system of redistricting is and we hope to improve it before the next redistricting in 2021.
FIREARMS:
Governor McAuliffe asked me to carry one of his major pieces of legislation. SB1039 will expand the bill I successfully carried last year that makes those subject to family abuse permanent protective orders give up their firearms. The prohibition on possessing or transporting a firearm would be expanded to those with any permanent protective order. That will help protect neighborhoods and workplaces as well as victims of stalking, for example.
STUDENT LOANS:
For the past year, I have been working with Delegate Marcus Simon on ways to help borrowers refinance their student loan debt. The State Council on Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) conducted a thorough review of what other states do and made recommendations for us. The result is that we introduced an ombudsman bill (SB1035) and two bills setting up a refinancing authority (SB1036 and SB1053). We are calling this the "Student Borrower Bill of Rights."
TERRORISM:
An Arlington police detective who works on the regional terrorism task force brought to my attention a serious omission in Virginia's code. We do not criminalize material support or resources to designated terrorist organizations. This makes us dependent on federal action and could have the effect of slowing down investigations. SB1052 corrects this lapse in our laws.
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES:
Virginia uses the outdated and insulting term "mentally retarded" throughout the capital punishment sections of our code. The Crime Commission did a thorough review of court cases nationwide to see if there would be any downside to changing to "intellectual
disabilities." Fortunately, there is not a downside and my bill SB 1362 makes the change everywhere in the code.
CIGARETTE TRAFFICKING:
Because Virginia's cigarette tax is so low, cigarette smugglers are buying huge numbers of cigarettes here in Virginia and then selling them in New York -- and reaping huge profits. Unfortunately, these are really bad actors and have ties to both terrorists and gangs. For several years, with the help of the Crime Commission, I have been sponsoring bills to make the smuggling illegal and difficult.
As we go through the next few weeks, I will let you know how these bills --and others-- are faring!
