On Wednesday, January 11, the 2023 session of the General Assembly convened in the Capitol in Richmond. During evenly numbered years, the legislature meets for sixty days in order to complete work on the Commonwealth’s biennial budget. During oddly numbered years, the legislature is constitutionally mandated to meet for only thirty days. This abbreviated timeline—known as the “short session”—reflects the original expectation that minimal work on the budget or bills would be required.
Over time, however, a greater number of bills were filed during the short session. Accordingly, the thirty-day session is now extended to forty-six days in order to complete work (and allow legislators to return to their districts on the weekends). With a mere six and a half weeks to hear and vote on thousands of bills, the short session will necessarily move at a breakneck pace. Bills are rapidly being referred to committees, and committee chairs are subsequently moving quickly to assign bills to subcommittees. Thorough vetting, including stakeholder and constituent testimony for and against bills, will occur during subcommittee meetings. Proposals lacking consensus will likely fail to pass, as there is simply not enough time to work through thorny problems.
Due to the continued divided legislature—a Republican majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate—there will be little movement on major or “hot button” issues (despite the attention-grabbing headlines that will likely grace the news). At this time, consensus issues appear to involve mental health and workforce development issues. Contentious debate will likely swirl around tax, energy, and education policy. Stay tuned for details!
