| We’ve officially hit the halfway point of the 2024 legislative session, known as “crossover.” Moving forward, the Senate can only consider legislation that has passed the House and the House can only consider legislation that passed the Senate. The only exception is the budget bill, which will be acted on next week. Of the 737 bills that were introduced in the Senate, 452 passed for further consideration in the House. The Senate will now act on 734 bills that passed the House. A narrowly divided General Assembly means that Republicans must work across the aisle in order to get anything passed and advanced to Governor Youngkin. While there have been many party-line votes on issues that Republicans and Democrats strongly disagree on, there are a lot of bills that have passed with bipartisan support. Included in that are 13 of my bills which range from addressing barrier crimes in our behavioral health workforce to creating an Office of Working Lands Preservation. When sponsoring legislation, I always prioritize bills that will have a positive impact on Southwest Virginia and work to ensure that we are the best place to live, work, and raise a family. Broadband expansion continues to be a major bipartisan priority in the Commonwealth. This session I’ve been working with Senator Dave Marsden to ensure that taxpayer dollars invested to provide access to broadband are not in jeopardy of being clawed back by the federal government due to possible delays from different standards and requirements related to utility pole attachments. Oftentimes, these attachments are necessary to lay the foundation for broadband infrastructure. Additionally, legislation that I am co-sponsoring with Senator Lacherese Aird will help put Virginia at the forefront of harnessing artificial intelligence (AI). The bill prohibits any public body from implementing any system that employs AI without first performing an impact assessment. A Commission on Artificial Intelligence would also be created to help identify opportunities and risks and ultimately make recommendations for the utilization of AI in Virginia. As I mentioned earlier, there has been considerable legislation that passed on a party-line vote. These bills, if they become law, will limit Virginians’ constitutional freedoms, undermine justice for murderers and rapists, and hurt small, family-owned businesses. Here are some of the bills that I opposed, but still passed on party-line votes due to the Democratic majority:
Democrats pushed through a bill in the Senate to raise the minimum wage by a whopping 25%. With inflation still high, this is going to make it even harder to bring rising prices under control. Worse, many small family businesses may not be able to afford such a dramatic increase in payroll costs and the related increased employment taxes. Democrats repeatedly attacked the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Virginians, especially the rights to own and bear firearms for personal safety, sporting activities, and hunting. While they passed many bills attacking your constitutional rights, one of the most egregious was a bill that would have banned so many different guns that it would make most semi-automatic pistols illegal. Democrats also are working to reduce penalties for murderers, rapists, and other violent felons. They proposed allowing these “worst of the worst” criminals to apply to have a court review their sentence for early release after serving at least 15 years. Victims (or their families in the case of deceased victims) would have to relive the trauma of their initial crime as they faced the reality that the justice they assumed they received would be undone. As always, I encourage you to share your views, opinions, suggestions, and questions with me as it relates to legislation or state government. You can email my office at [email protected] or call us at (804) 698-7506. And if you are in Richmond, be sure to visit my office at the General Assembly Building. |
