It’s halftime in Richmond.
Hard to believe, but this year’s General Assembly session is almost half done.
This Tuesday marks the day we call “Crossover” — the deadline for bills filed in the House to pass through the House so they can be heard in the Senate. Bills that don’t meet the crossover deadline are effectively done for the year, so it’s a good time to take stock of where some priority measures now stand, and there’s good news and bad news to share:
We can now confirm the House will not vote on any of Republicans’ proposed abortion bans.
You can read more about those measures here. None of the House bills to restrict abortion rights were heard in committee last week, which means they can’t pass the House by the crossover deadline or become law this year. House Republicans are clear on why they’re unwilling to vote — they know abortion bans won’t pass the Senate — and they don’t want to put their members on the record opposing abortion rights in an election year. We know they’ve seen the polling: just 23% of Virginia voters support tighter restrictions, and the vast majority want Virginia to stay a safe haven for abortion access in the South. I’ll continue to stay vigilant for any attempts to roll back our basic body rights, but if you’ve been holding your breath right along with me, now’s the time for a sigh of relief.
We also know some good bills won’t pass, like the 17 proposals House Democrats filed to address gun violence.
I wrote to you about those bills late last month. They were serious attempts at bipartisan progress: promoting safe storage of firearms near children, stamping bullets with tracking numbers to aid in solving crimes, removing guns from people who’ve been convicted of domestic violence. Many of our bills had strong support from law enforcement, like the bill I carried to empower campus police to investigate and intervene when firearms are brought to school. All of them met the same fate — tabled with nearly no debate or alternate plans to keep people safe. It’s a gutting, real reminder that the only path to progress runs through taking back the House, and that work can’t come soon enough. Just last week, the Charlottesville community lost another bright light to gun violence, Eldridge Vandrew Smith, who had given so much to serving others and diffusing violence before it starts. We can make the investments our community needs to keep people safe, but we need Richmond to stop standing in the way.
Those are just a few quick updates for now. I’ll have lots more news to share later this week when we know which bills have made the cut.
