With a Democratic majority in the Senate and a GOP majority in the House, it’s a rare bill that can get through both chambers. House GOP bills to roll back our progress are thankfully mostly blocked in the Senate, while Senate bills to move forward are blocked in the House.
Here’s what that looks like:
House GOP holding back Virginia progress, blocked:
Marriage equality into our Constitution: HJ57 (Sickles-HD43) and SJ5 (Ebbin-SD30)
Tools to fund repairs on crumbling school infrastructure, including allowing localities to raise local taxes (SB298, Deeds-SD25; SB37, Norment-SD3; SB472, McClellan-SD9; HB531 and HB545, Hudson-HD57), and allowing unexpended local funds to be used (HB251, Simonds-HD94; HB608, Bourne-HD71; SB481, McClellan-SD9)
Banning the sale of untraceable “ghost gun” kits that can avoid background check requirements: HB399 (Simon-HD53) and SB310 (Ebbin-HD30)
Equal pay for equal work, preventing employers from asking wage history of candidates: SB447 (Boysko-SD33)
Pretrial diversion program as an alternative to criminal prosecution: SB674 (Hanger-SD24)
Restricting use of trained attack dogs in prisons: HB908 (Lopez-HD49)
Creating ombudsman to conduct oversight of Department of Corrections: HB655 (Hope-HD47)
Allowing localities to set stricter building energy efficiency standards: HB905 (Lopez-HD49)
Banning personal use of campaign funds: HB973, Simon-HD53 and HB1296, Cherry-HD66
Senate Democrats defending Virginia progress, blocked attempts to:
Repeal the Virginia Clean Economy Act (HB118, Freitas-HD30)
Repeal death penalty abolition (SB379-DeSteph, SD8)
Repeal minimum wage increasing (HB320, Freitas-HD30; HB171, Marshall-HD14; SB173, Peake-SD22); count health care benefits towards minimum wage (HB296, McNamara-HD8) and exempting small employers (HB1040, Scott-HD88)
Repeal local option for collective bargaining (HB883, Byron-HD22; SB374, Obenshain-SD26)
Repeal local option to restrict firearms in public spaces (HB26, Anderson-HD83; HB483, Freitas-HB30; HB827, Wilt-HD26; HB1033, Davis-HD85)
If any of the above bills are important to you, now is the time to contact your legislators and tell them how this bill affects you and your family. Contact information for Delegates and Senators can be found HERE; if you aren’t sure who represents you, put your address in HERE to find out.
Virginia Progressive Legislative Alert Network
PO Box 2612, Merrifield Virginia 22116-2612 United States
