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The Virginia Public Access Project
VPAP analyzes the fate of 3,001 bills introduced during the annual General Assembly session. How many passed? How many failed and where were they killed? The analysis shows a big increase in the percentage of bills that passed despite running into significant opposition along the way.
By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury
For months, a handful of Virginia lawmakers had been pushing legislation that would grant access to paid sick time to thousands of workers. But their pitch grew increasingly pointed as the proposal came down to the wire in the final days of the General Assembly and state officials confirmed the state’s first cases of coronavirus. . . .The proposal, which would have required businesses with 15 or more employees to grant all workers at least five paid sick days a year, failed Sunday when lawmakers adjourned without the Senate taking up the issue for a final vote.
By TAL AXELROD, The Hill
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said Tuesday he will self-quarantine after he and his wife interacted with a friend who later tested positive for the coronavirus. Beyer said the Virginia Department of Health told him that the friend’s infection began shortly after their contact on Feb. 28 and that his chance of having the virus is low. His office will be closed for almost a week.
By KATE ANDREWS, RICHARD FOSTER AND SYDNEY LAKE, Virginia Business
Amid fears of the novel coronavirus that spread to Virginia this week, the University of Virginia and other state universities are considering moving classes online — a move already being taken by several major universities across the nation that have been cancelling in-person classes, including Harvard University, Columbia University and Princeton University.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., wants employers to offer paid sick leave as coronavirus spreads across Virginia and the U.S. Kaine on Tuesday co-sponsored emergency legislation to give workers paid sick days immediately, citing coronavirus and future public health crises. The proposal comes days after the Virginia legislature killed a similar measure.
By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Sometime next year in Suffolk, online retailing behemoth Amazon will have 1,000 employees working alongside fleets of robots picking and shipping orders from a facility larger than the Pentagon’s office space. Less than two miles away in Chesapeake, it will have 500 workers unloading containers from the port in a 650,000-square-foot space inside a new master-planned community.
WAVY
On Saturday, March 7, 2020 Virginia lawmakers voted to decriminalize marijuana. The move will have a ripple effect on law enforcement agencies across the commonwealth, forcing them to send their four-legged officers packing. The bill to decriminalize marijuana will go into effect on July 1, 2020. Sheriff Brian Hieatt said the change means the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office had to part with their two K-9s, Criss and Tina.
The Full Report
42 articles, 23 publications
Read Online10 Most Clicked
By TYLER ARNOLD, Washington Times
A bill requiring Virginia police departments to create a written policy on body cameras before the department can purchase or deploy a body-camera system has been signed by Gov. Ralph Northam. The legislation, House Bill 246, requires each police department to use the model policy established by the Department of Criminal Justice Services and follow all Virginia laws and regulations. The policies will have to be available for public comment and review before they can be adopted.
By MARIE ALBIGES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
If Virginia voters vote to amend the state Constitution to create a bipartisan way to draw legislative districts, Virginia lawmakers may have to return to Richmond for a special session. That’s because, in the session that ended this week, they failed to pass a crucial bill that would lay out how a new redistricting commission would work.
By GARY A. HARKI, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Four bills addressing the strip searching of visitors at jails and prisons in Virginia passed the General Assembly this year and await a signature from Gov. Ralph Northam. The legislation was introduced after The Virginian-Pilot’s report on an 8-year-old girl who was strip searched at the Buckingham Correctional Center last fall ...
By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
State officials want to give Virginia Beach money to help rebuild a city building where a mass shooting took place last year. But they won’t. At least not directly. For fear of creating a precedent, lawmakers created a work around, according to Virginia Beach’s lobbyist, Bob Matthias.
By MEGAN PAULY, WCVE
Virginia teachers could soon be able to ask their local school boards for collective bargaining agreements, if Gov. Ralph Northam signs a bill passed this year into law. Under the proposal, if the majority of teachers in a district decide they want to organize, the school board would be required to at least consider the idea of collective bargaining. The bill leaves a lot of discretion to localities, permitting school boards to iron out the details of the process.
By SARAH VOGELSONG, Virginia Mercury
When the General Assembly reconvenes for its final day of the 2020 session Thursday, it may take up an 11th-hour proposal from Democratic Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth that would smooth the path for Dominion Energy to establish a program that could put up to 1,250 electric school buses on Virginia’s roads by 2025 at the expense of utility ratepayers.
By JOSH JANNEY, Winchester Star (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)
The General Assembly session that wrapped up Sunday was "difficult," "heated" and "testy," according to local delegates, but it was transformative and several significant bills now await the approval of Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. The most recent legislative session was the first time since 1994 that Democrats had full control of the General Assembly — a result of the Nov. 5 elections.
By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Subscription required for some articles)
Two Virginia commonwealth’s attorneys seeking to become judges may have been torpedoed by the influence of a former governor. Both Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney LaBravia Jenkins and Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Slemp interviewed with legislators for general district court vacancies in their communities. Neither made it through the election process at the General Assembly, now controlled by Democrats, as of March 4.
By BEN PAVIOUR, WCVE
Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Franklin County) said he’s considering running for governor in 2021, but will likely put off the bid if Pres. Donald Trump wins re-election this November. . . . If Trump wins, “Northern Virginia may not be favorable to anyone that has an ‘R’ next to their name -- even someone who grew up in that region,” Stanley said, noting that he’ll consider a run “for something” in 2025 if he opts against a bid this year.
WHSV
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), one of Virginia's two Democratic senators in Washington, is launching a campaign for re-election to the U.S. Senate next week. Warner, who has been prominent in recent years as Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, served as Virginia's governor from 2002 to 2006. He was succeeded by Tim Kaine, who now serves as Virginia's junior senator alongside Warner. Warner was first elected to the Senate in 2008 and has been in the seat since.
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Dave Brat, the former 7th District Republican congressman ousted by Democrat Abigail Spanberger in 2018, is endorsing Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, to run against Spanberger this year. Brat announced Tuesday that he’s backing Freitas over Del. John McGuire, R-Goochland, and Chesterfield County nonprofit leader Tina Ramirez in the Republican primary for the contest
By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Two residents in a state-run facility for adults with intellectual disabilities in Chesapeake are being tested for the coronavirus. An internal email reviewed by The Virginian-Pilot indicates staff at Southeastern Virginia Training Center were informed of the situation Tuesday and told that they all must wear face masks for protection.
By LAURENCE HAMMACK, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
At a time when building the Mountain Valley Pipeline was focused almost entirely on controlling erosion, muddy runoff continued to flow from dormant construction sites. In a letter last month to a conservation group that first raised the issue, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Director David Paylor said the infractions would be forwarded to the state attorney general’s office,...
Inside NOVA (Metered Paywall)
For the first time in recent memory, Arlington will have no representation on the board of directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which operates the Metro system.
By PETER DUJARDIN, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
The former executive director of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport was found guilty Tuesday of 23 of the 24 felony charges against him. After about 6 1/2 hours of deliberations over two days, a 12-member jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk found Ken Spirito guilty of all but one of the charges he faced. He was acquitted on one of four perjury counts.
By CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS, Charlottesville Tomorrow
The University of Virginia today announced its goals to support the development of between 1,000 and 1,500 affordable housing units in Charlottesville and Albemarle County on parcels owned by the university and the UVa Foundation. “As an anchor institution, we feel a responsibility to be a good neighbor. One of the most pressing needs in our region is affordable housing, and we are looking forward to doing our part to help increase the supply,” UVa President Jim Ryan said in a statement.
Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
The University of Virginia announced Tuesday that it will aim to support and develop 1,000 to 1,500 affordable housing units in Central Virginia over the next 10 years.
By ANDREW RINGLE, Commonwealth Times
VCU is monitoring the new coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases grows across the country and in Virginia. . . . VCU events in New York surrounding the Atlantic 10 tournament, in which the men’s basketball team is scheduled to play Thursday, have been canceled due to concern about the spread of coronavirus.
By CONNOR MURPHY, The Breeze
When Paige Moody, a JMU political science graduate student, boarded her flight to Florence, Italy, six months ago, she wasn’t expecting to return to the U.S. for another 10 months. However, it was decided at the end of the week that all students in the program would be required to leave. She and the 43 other students in her program were informed through an email they received Feb. 29 at approximately 8 a.m. local time that her program would be canceled four months early due to concerns surrounding the presence of the COVID-19 virus, commonly known as the coronavirus.
By BRIDGET BALCH, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
Three more people in Virginia tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of presumptive cases in the state to eight, authorities said Tuesday. Of the eight, four are believed to have been exposed to the coronavirus while on a cruise on the Nile River in Egypt.
WAMU
Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the country’s largest school systems, is declaring Monday a student holiday to allow staff to prepare for a possible coronavirus outbreak. School staff will use the day to prepare for remote learning in the event that schools close.
By MARK BOWES AND FRANK GREEN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)
The Virginia prison system and operators of several jails in the Richmond area are intensifying cleaning of their facilities, increasing the screening of inmates and staff, and taking other precautions given the threat of the new coronavirus.
By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A Virginia Beach couple tested for the coronavirus on Sunday said lab results show they have the infectious disease. They are the first known coronavirus cases in Hampton Roads. The couple, who are not being named by The Virginian-Pilot because they are concerned about community alienation and possible repercussions at the wife’s job, said they received a call Tuesday telling them the results.
By CATHY DYSON, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
Health officials are trying to determine how a Spotsylvania County man, who represents at least the eighth “presumptive positive” case of coronavirus disease in Virginia, contracted the illness.
By BRYAN MCKENZIE, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
No cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Central Virginia, but the novel coronavirus that has shuttered Italy’s borders and closed Chinese cities already has had a significant local impact. Concerns about potential transmission of the virus led organizers on Tuesday to cancel the Virginia Festival of the Book, the five-day extravaganza of the written word slated for March 18 to March 22.
By ROBIN SCHWARTZKOPF, Cavalier Daily
The 26th annual Virginia Festival of the Book, originally scheduled for March 18-22 in Charlottesville, has been cancelled following concerns and a University-issued warning about COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.
By HANNAH NATANSON, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
One of the nation’s largest school systems will close Monday so staff can plan in case classes will have to be taught online as the number of coronavirus cases grows in the Washington region and nationally.
By JOHN BATTISTON, Loudoun Times
Several Loudoun government officials gathered in the board room of the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg Tuesday to publicly address coronavirus, or COVID-19, after a county resident tested "presumptive positive" for the virus earlier in the day. "We are continuing to do everything in our power to keep Loudoun safe and healthy," Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D) said to open the briefing ...
By STACY PARKER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A cheer and dance competition is scheduled for this weekend at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. A marathon with more than 50,000 attendees kicks off in less than two weeks, and the Something in the Water Festival is about six weeks away. How will the city handle special events in light of the coronavirus?
By MATT JONES, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 1 article a month)
Hampton City Schools is working on a division-wide instructional plan in case one or more schools need to close because of the coronavirus. In an automated phone call that went out Monday evening, a division representative said they would conduct a one-question phone survey Wednesday evening as part of the preparations.
By MARGARET MATRAY AND ANA LEY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Against the protest of dozens of law enforcement employees, Portsmouth’s leaders voted Tuesday night to OK the closure of the city jail — all while they remain entangled in an escalating legal battle with the sheriff over the facility’s future.
By SAM WALL, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Pulaski County is the first school district in the Roanoke and New River valleys to cancel a day of classes to evaluate its preparedness for the coronavirus. The school system sent out a notice on Facebook Monday letting parents know it was closing Friday “to provide our teachers a preparation day in which to develop lesson plans and activities that will allow them to engage students from home in the event that a long term school closure becomes necessary” due to COVID-19.
By RYAN SAYLOR, WFXR
Mayor Sherman Lea was first elected to the Roanoke City Council in 2004. Sixteen years later, he said he’s proud of the city’s progress and now as the city’s mayor since 2016, he’s ready for another term. “I think Roanoke has become a more inclusive, welcoming city that’s engaged,” Lea said, noting the city was recently awarded its seventh All American City designation.
By ROBERT SORRELL, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)
Schools in Bristol, Virginia will close next Wednesday, March 18 for one day due to COVID-19, according to Superintendent Keith Perrigan. The closure will allow the district to clean the schools and train teachers on remote education, if schools were to close for an extended time, Perrigan said.
By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee
Danville City Council might consider a ban on discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. City officials are exploring the possibility after Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation last week that allows localities to implement such a ban if they choose.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 25 articles a month)
National parks across the United States face a maintenance backlog of about $12 billion, with needs in Virginia alone exceeding $1.1 billion. Soon, we hope, these treasured attractions will receive the necessary funding to fix these longstanding issues. The Restore Our Parks Act seeks money to address deferred maintenance at our country’s national parks. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is the lead sponsor of the bill, which enjoys bipartisan support.
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Has there ever been a General Assembly session more consequential than the one that just closed? If so, it was long before living memory. Elections have consequences, the saying goes, and the consequences of the November 2019 elections that saw Democrats take control of the General Assembly for the first time since 1997 (and the first time with a Democratic governor at the helm since 1993) were on full display.
Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)
What does it mean that more than 23 percent of registered voters participated in Virginia’s Super Tuesday Democratic primary last week? That turnout broke the record set in 2008 (20 percent), when the main combatants were Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Virginian-Pilot Editorial (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
Hampton Roads residents know what to do when a tropical system threatens the coast. They check their storm supplies and stock up on items that need to be replaced or refreshed. They review their family emergency plan, making sure that everybody knows what to do. And they listen to updated information and heeding instructions made in the interest of public safety.
Washington Post Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)
When Virginia Democrats flipped both houses of the General Assembly in last fall’s state legislative elections, Republicans wasted no time in predicting a liberal-led political apocalypse. Leftist radicals, they warned, were coming to confiscate Virginians’ guns and decimate their rights. That doomsday prophecy proved false. The results from Richmond are in, and most Virginians would be hard-pressed to regard them as radical.
By JIM ARMSTRON, published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)
Recent legislative action by the General Assembly has brought solar and wind power plans to the forefront. At the present time, only 1% of Virginia power comes from solar cells. And there is no utility-level wind farm serving the state. In West Texas, wind and solar farms are common. They are commingled with large ranches and farms or oil fields. Or are in scrubby desert land only found attractive by jack rabbits amd snakes. In Virginia we love our rolling meadows too much to cover them up.
Armstrong is a Professor, Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He lives in Blacksburg.
By MEGAN GETTER, published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
You saw it on the news: remains of thousands of babies found in abortionist Ulrich Klopfer’s garage after he died. Shocking. Not shocking? The Indiana state licensing board finding Klopfer negligent in several areas, including failing to report the rape of minors, failing to follow informed-consent laws, and not following best practices for the administration of drugs and emergency procedures. Why isn’t this shocking? Because health inspectors have found these same violations across Virginia abortion facilities since 2011.
Megan Getter is a chemical engineer and was vice chairman of the Virginia State Board of Health.
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