On Friday, February 27, 2015, the Virginia General Assembly adjourned. For the first time in 15 years, it was an early adjournment. Over 2500 bills and resolutions were filed, and Governor McAuliffe was presented with over 800 bills to review and consider. The annual Veto Session is scheduled for April 15, 2015.
With Republicans in control of both Chambers, this Session had less political rancor than past sessions. To be sure, there were politically motivated bills, but in the end, even the "big" issue - the state budget - was comfortably passed without much angst. Compare that to last year, where it took several special sessions to get a budget passed!
As always, there were a lot of items in the budget, including funding for pay increases for public employees, new funding for certain mental health services, and even funding to add to the "Rainy Day Fund." What is not in the budget is Medicaid expansion, as proposed by Governor McAuliffe. There were other bills reacting to recent news events, such as stricter regulation of day care centers because of fires and child deaths at such centers, and bills requiring the reporting sexual assault on college campuses, in reaction to the news out of the University of Virginia and the Rolling Stone article. Other than the budget, the other big issue was ethics, in response to the recent conviction of former Governor McDonnell and his wife. Arguably, ethics rules were tightened. Finally, Dominion Virginia Power got what it wanted - no oversight from the State Corporation Commission for five years, in exchange for freezing the base-rate charged to customers for electricity service.
This is an election year for the Assembly, with all 100 House Districts, and all 40 Senate Districts, up for election this November. So far, eight incumbents have announced that they will not run for reelection. The "fight" will be for the Senate. Republicans are comfortably in control of the House, but hold only a 21 - 19 advantage in the Senate. The Democrats are targeting several Senate districts, in the hopes of regaining control of that Chamber. Since Lt. Governor Northam is a Democrat, and presides over the Senate, even a 20 - 20 tie between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate swings control to the Democrats.
