By GRAHAM MOOMAW AND NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
Lawmakers have a few more days to get their homework done before the 2020 session adjourns. But there’s still a big pile of it to get through. And the policy negotiations that are happening before that pile can shrink mostly happen out of the public eye, through emails and phone calls, quick huddles in hallways or meetings in unknown rooms at unknown times.
By ALAN SUDERMAN AND SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press
The Virginia Senate on Wednesday approved a bill over the objections of Dominion Energy that would restore state regulators’ oversight of how electric utilities can write off certain costs, the first time in recent memory the energy giant has lost a floor vote in the business-friendly upper chamber.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
The Virginia Senate voted 29-11 Wednesday morning to insist that the House of Delegates include a series of amendments — including one to extend the lifespan of a Wise County power plant — in a controversial energy bill.
By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE
In Richmond, public defenders make nearly 40 percent less than their counterparts in the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. Both public defenders and prosecutors are state-funded jobs and they are generally paid equally. Virginia law allows localities to supplement both offices, and that’s where much of the disparity comes from. Delegate Jeff Bourne (D-Richmond) filed a bill earlier this year that would have required any locality subsidizing its prosecutors to give proportional funding to its Public Defender’s Office. The bill was met with opposition from local governments and Commonwealth’s Attorneys across the state.
By DAVE RESS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A thief will need to steal something worth at least $1,000 to face Virginia’s felony penalty of up to 20 years in prison after Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill increasing the trigger for a charge of grand larceny.
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Gov. Ralph Northam this week signed legislation that bans discrimination on the basis of hair texture or style, making Virginia the fourth state to do so. The new law comes amid a growing movement nationwide that has reached schools and even the U.S. Army, and has sought to shed light on grooming policies that disproportionately affect women of color — like bans on braids, locks and twists.
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation Wednesday allowing the Virginia Lottery Board to sell tickets via the internet. Northam signed 32 bills Wednesday, including Senate Bill 922, which allows lottery officials to provide internet sales. It is the first of several pieces of gaming legislation to work its way through the General Assembly and reach the governor’s desk.
By KATE MASTERS, Virginia Mercury
Legislation to update Virginia’s vaccination requirements for schoolchildren is on its way to the governor’s desk after the House voted 54-44 to approve a Senate-amended version of the bill. The final version adds four new vaccines to the state’s immunization schedule, which hasn’t been updated since 2008.
By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
HB 798 came to the House of Delegates as a new section of the Code of Virginia’s Title 40.1, chapter 3 -- state labor law dealing with protection of employees. It banned retaliatory action against employee-whistleblowers, or employees who help investigations into employer’s actions or who refuse to commit a crime for the employer. It came out of the House saying that, too.
South Boston News & Record
Voters in Mecklenburg, Charlotte and other Virginia counties may soon have the right to raise sales and use taxes by 1 percent in their respective localities to fund new school construction. On Friday, both houses of the General Assembly approved three bills that would allow a select group of localities to impose a penny increase on top of Virginia’s 5.3 cent sales tax. However, voters would first have to give their consent by approving a ballot referendum authorizing the tax.
By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Subscription required for some articles)
Despite agreement among legislators on most of the candidates seeking vacant Virginia trial court judgeships this year, one circuit court vacancy in Roanoke sparked public debate at the Capitol Tuesday. A move was afoot to advance the House of Delegates’ preference – a former delegate – for the 23rd Circuit seat. Onzlee Ware, once a Democratic legislator, is now a juvenile and domestic relations judge in Roanoke.
By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury
After almost two years of operating on a temporary basis, the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice became permanent Wednesday when Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill establishing it as an advisory body to the executive branch. The final legislation, which was carried by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring of Alexandria, creates the 27-member council to provide recommendations to the governor “that maintain a foundation of environmental justice principles intended to protect vulnerable communities from disproportionate impacts of pollution.”
