ROUGH ROAD TO REFORM
The General Assembly approved several significant reforms this session, despite myriad distractions
As history unfolds, Virginians will likely remember 2019 by the misdeeds admitted by, and accusations levied against, several elected officials, rather than General Assembly’s legislative achievements.
Yet lawmakers managed to pass a budget with bipartisan support, increase the age to buy tobacco to 21 and reform the redistricting process.
Throughout the bulk of February, lawmakers were also being asked to appear on network television shows and provide statements concerning a growing storm cloud growing over the capitol.
Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring both admitting wearing blackface in the 1980s, and two women publicly confronted Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax with allegations he sexually abused them during separate encounters before he took public office.
Even as national media camped outside of the General Assembly building each day, legislators were inside making progress toward reform.
The most sweeping compromise came during negotiations over the fate of nearly $1 billion tax windfall the state is expected to see over the next two years as a result of federal tax relief signed in 2017.
The leaders of both parties — as well as the governor — set aside pre-session plans for the money and hammered out a deal that will cut Virginians’ tax bills by $976 million during the next two years.
Legislators also made much-needed reforms to the foster care system by tightening state oversight of local service boards, limiting social workers’ caseloads and setting up a hotline to record complaints.
The General Assembly agreed to raise the minimum age for buying nicotine products from 18 to 21. It was no small feat for a state with a long history with tobacco production.
Legislators, and particularly Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment, R-James City, were right to pump the brakes on several proposals to build casinos throughout the commonwealth.
Sen. Norment stopped local referendums on casinos until a comprehensive study on their impacts to the state is completed. Ultimately, it’s those referendums that will determine just how much Virginians are warming to casinostyle gambling.
The General Assembly also took its first steps toward a fairer redistricting process involving an independent redistricting commission. Legislators nationwide have, for too long, controlled how the districts are shaped, creating a partisan process that crafts maps that benefit the political parties and not the voters.
The measure needs to be passed next session before it is put on the ballot for a vote by the public. This is but one significant step forward in a path that must be walked before fair and equal representation truly exists in Virginia.
Legislators did miss several opportunities this session to address glaring judicial gaps that unfairly punish the poor and students.
The House Courts of Justice criminal laws subcommittee killed worthwhile reforms that would have repealed a law requiring driver’s licenses be suspended when people don’t pay fines and court costs on time. Studies have shown these types of laws stifle the abilities of poorer residents who require a vehicle to get to their jobs.
The subcommittee also killed a bill that would have directed schools to discipline students under school behavior codes for acting out in class, rather than directing them to the judicial system. The practice disproportionately affects students of color, pushing them into a classroom-to-prison pipeline that has few escape routes.
While violence in the classroom must be punished accordingly, there must be some leniency for acts such as being loud or closing a door too hard.
The House also dropped the ball when it chose to kill legislation ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment. The legislation would have to hurdle several obstacles in Congress before it would truly take effect, however, Virginia could have cemented its place in history by becoming the 38th state to ratify the legislation.
Ultimately, there will be plenty to talk about in the campaigns ahead that preceded the
Nov. 5 election when all 140 legislative seats will be on the ballot.
Legislators, still stung by scandal, did not visit the governor post-adjournment, which is a tradition. And those lawmakers choosing to run for re-election will likely face questions they had to avoid during the session about the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general — all of whom presently remain in power.
The voters will have the final say of 2019, and their voice will be heard greatest by the representatives elected to the General Assembly.