Week 4 Update

From Senator Mark Peake

22^nd Senatorial District

INTRODUCTION

The fourth week of the 2023 General Assembly session featured longer committee hearings inside and more seasonably cold temperatures outside. February 7, known as crossover, is the deadline for the Senate to complete work on the bills filed by senators and the House to do the same with bills filed by delegates. Traditionally, the days leading up to crossover are among the longest of session, with debates on bills continuing well into the evenings.  

TAXES AND THE BUDGET

Although the General Assembly will pass hundreds of pieces of legislation without opposition this year, the bills that receive the greatest share of coverage from the news media are usually the ones that pass or fail narrowly.  Of those that fall into this close-vote category, most attention is given to the bills that pass or fail on a "party-line" vote.

In actuality, there are comparatively few bills that pass or fail on party-line votes.  With hundreds of bills already acted upon by the House and Senate this session, only a few dozen that have made it to the floors of either chamber have been approved or denied with all Republicans voting one way and all Democrats voting the other.
Legislation that gains widespread, bipartisan support – and there are a lot of very important and significant bills that do – customarily don't generate headlines or breaking news bulletins on the six o'clock news.
Since Republicans have the majority in the House and Democrats the majority in the Senate, some anticipate each side will defeat the bills passed by the other when they come up for review after crossover.  Assuredly, this will happen in many cases.  There are strong, principled disagreements between representatives of both parties over major issues.  There may be, however, opportunities for compromise that emerge later in the process.
As a case in point, consider Governor Youngkin's tax relief proposal.  The House already approved its version of the bill on a party-line vote, while the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee defeated our version on a party-line vote.  But, that doesn't mean the debate over tax relief is over for this session.

This weekend, the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees will release their respective packages of amendments to the 2022-2024 budget.  Presumably, the House version will incorporate the provisions of Governor Youngkin's tax relief plan and the Senate version will not.  Both chambers will approve their versions of the budget on February 9 and negotiations over the different versions will begin shortly thereafter.  Ultimately, it will be those negotiations that determine how much tax relief Virginians will be receiving this year.   

I submitted a budget amendment seeking $1M to conduct cyanobacteria mitigation and/or remediation activities on Lake Anna in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services. The budget amendment request is to protect the health and safety of the lake and those who use it.

LEGISLATION

Most of my legislation has now been considered by committees. On Tuesday, in the Education and Health Subcommittee. I introduced three bills. Senate Bill (SB) 960, "Youth Health Protections Act," was recommended to the Education and Health Committee to pass by indefinitely. SB 1132, "Criminal History Record Information; Dissemination," was passed through the subcommittee and recommended to the Education and Health Committee to report. SB 972, "State health commissioner; powers in epidemic, religious tenets or practices," was recommended to the Education and Health Committee to pass the bill by indefinitely. Also, on Tuesday, in the Privileges and Elections Committee, SJ 235 "Convention of States" was officially passed by indefinitely.

On Thursday, SB 960, SB 962, and SB 972 were all passed by indefinitely by the full Education and Health committee. SB 1132, SB 964, and SB 1054 were reported from the Education and Health Committee and will go to the full Senate.

On Wednesday, I before the Senate Finance and Appropriation Committee to present SB 966, "Jails, local; compensation for cost of incarceration." Unfortunately, the bill was passed by indefinitely by a vote of 16-0.

In the Judiciary Committee, I introduced SB 989, "Crime victim rights; notification from the attorney of the Commonwealth." The bill was reported in an 11-1 vote with 2 abstentions.

The unanimously passed bills that went through the full Senate this week were: SB 973, "Sexually violent predators; civil commitment, penalty," SB 988, "Virginia Consumer Protection Act; exclusions; residential home sales between private parties."

 
VISITORS AND LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Several days of rain and even a few snow flurries were not enough to deter visitors from stopping by our offices in Room E615 in the Pocahontas Building this week. A pro-life rally, groups from Radford, the Amherst & Campbell County Sheriff's offices, and Autism Awareness advocates— we had a lot of groups here this week.

 
 

If you've got something on your mind about this year's session, you can send us an email at District22@senate.virginia.gov or call our offices at (804) 698-7522.

 
CLOSING

Next week, we'll know exactly what bills have and haven't made it through crossover.  And the House and Senate budget amendment proposals will be debated and approved.  I'll have the latest details for next week's column.  Until then, have a great weekend!  

Senator Mark Peake

22^nd Senatorial District