Week Six: The Crossover!

This was crossover week, when the House had to take any action on House bills, and the Senate had to take any action on Senate bills (except for the budget). After crossover, senators go over to the House to defend their bills and vice versa. Unfortunately, there are always a few casualties–bills that don’t make the crossover; a few are highlighted below.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Delegate Mundon King, during floor discussion of HB404 to prevent taxpayer funding on ANY abortion care, no exceptions: “This is not a gimmick, this is not a joke. When the patron introduced this bill, he knew exactly what he was doing: targeting vulnerable survivors of rape, and women who could lose their lives if they have a life-threatening pregnancy. All of this is an attempt to hide behind just how cruel this bill actually is. The people of the Commonwealth deserve to know where their delegates stand on whether they live or die during childbirth.”

Bills that died on the Senate floor:

• The Senate voted down SB78 (Favola) to require campaign ads that are independent expenditures to list the names of the organization’s top donors.
• LG Winsome Sears broke a tie in opposition to SB712 (Marsden), that would have made it a crime to release hunting dogs on a highway.
• Sears also broke a tie in opposition to SB643 (Aird) that would require courts to consider mitigating circumstances in finding someone in contempt of court for failing to appear.
• The Senate recommitted SB107 (Suetterlein) from the floor back to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, effectively killing the bill without a recorded vote (since there were no further meetings of that committee). The bill would have prohibited legislators from accepting contributions during special sessions.

Bills that died on the House floor:

• The bill (HB404 – Griffin) to prohibit taxpayer funding of any abortion care, without exceptions, failed to be engrossed to its final reading, with 95 nay votes.
• HB179 (Gardner) that would allow sentences to be served concurrently rather than consecutively was passed by for the day several days, and ultimately went without a floor vote.
• HB1406 (Fowler) to double the number of free fishing days (where no license is needed) failed to pass the House, despite having had bipartisan support in committees.
• HB808 (Rasoul) that would have allowed state psychiatric hospitals to delay admitting a minor under a temporary detaining order if the minor has a life-threatening medical need the facility cannot meet. It was taken by for the day and did not get a floor vote.

Bills left in Appropriations/Finance:

• For the 11th year, a bill to ban the personal use of campaign finance contributions (HB40 – Simon) died, this time left without a vote in House Appropriations.
• In the Senate, SB326 (Roem) prohibiting contributions from public utilities was left to die without a vote in Finance after reporting from Privileges and Elections committee.
• Paid Family and Medical Leave (HB737 – Sewell), reported on a party-line vote from Labor and Commerce, only to die quietly without a vote in Appropriations.
• The Second Look legislation (HB834 – Cousins), which was being weaponized by AG Miyares and the GOP, was left behind in Appropriations. It would have created a petition process for someone who has worked to rehabilitate themselves while incarcerated to ask the judge to reconsider the length of the sentence.
• HB1001 (Tran) and SB374 (Boysko) to allow state employees to collectively bargain, were left behind in House Appropriations and Senate Finance, respectively, without a vote.
• A bill regulating the sales, advertisements and packaging of liquid nicotine and hemp products (HB1509 – Seibold) reported unanimously from General Laws and then was left in Appropriations without a vote.
• The famous “Glenn-dome” bill (SB718 – Surovell) to build a sports and entertainment complex in Alexandria to host the Wizards and the Capitals, funded by bonds that are guaranteed by the Commonwealth, was loudly left to die in Senate Finance committee, although the House cognate (HB1514 – Torian) is still alive and crossed over to the Senate this week.