LAWMAKERS TO GATHER, 6 FEET APART
Va. politicians will vote on coronavirus relief measures, while practicing social distancing
When state lawmakers reconvene in Richmond on Wednesday, they won’t be at their assigned desks under the dome of the Capitol, literally close enough to rub elbows with their seatmates.
Instead, they’ll be casting votes on amendments proposed by Gov. Ralph Northam while sitting at least 6 feet apart, with one chamber spread out on the capitol’s grassy lawn, and the other 3 miles away at the Virginia
Science Museum.
And while maintaining their distance from one another, lawmakers will vote on measures to help pay for the virus that caused them to take these unprecedented measures.
At least one lawmaker, Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, has said she’ll self quarantine for 14 days after the session ends.
Funding for Virginia’s response to the coronavirus pandemic — and the damage it’s caused to the state’s spending plan — is likely to take up a large chunk of the lawmakers’ time on Wednesday. The governor proposed 144 budget amendments, most of which either freeze any new dollars the General Assembly allocated to things like raises and new positions or redesignate money to deal with the pandemic.
“We really cannot get a handle on how quickly we are going to open back up, and how quickly the consumers and the businesses are going to return to not only getting open, but to profitability,” Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne told senators at a virtual finance committee meeting on Monday.
But lawmakers may also focus
on a number of controversial amendments suggested by Northam. Topping the list could be a proposal to move May municipal elections to November out of an abundance of caution.
Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News and Williamsburg all have city council, school board or mayor elections May 5. If the General Assembly moves them, all absentee ballots already cast will be discarded, and Virginians will have to vote again in November. The terms of the local elected officials, which end June 30, would be extended.
At least three Senate Democrats have opposed the move — and that’s enough to kill the proposal in a chamber that’s skewed 21-19 to Democrats if all Republicans vote against it, too. The three Democrats proposed an alternative that moves the elections to June 16, one week before the congressional primaries that Northam moved from June 9 using his executive power.
Hampton Roads Sens. Mamie Locke and Lionell Spruill, along with Fairfax Sen. Chap Petersen, pitched the idea in a press release, with Petersen saying he would be asking the State Board of Elections to provide social distancing guidance to local electoral boards.
“Such a move would void thousands of absentee ballots already cast as well as nullify the efforts of candidates running this spring,” the senators said. “A November election date would also conflict with local charters and could leave local governments without a legally elected body for several months.”
They said the legislation would need to be taken up in a special session, which only the governor or two-thirds of the legislature can call.
Other measures lawmakers will take up include a plan to regulate and tax so-called games of skill — slot-like gambling machines found in bars, restaurants and convenience stores that Northam, a Democrat, said would help small business owners already impacted by the economic crisis — rather than ban them as legislators wanted.
They’ll also consider moving the effective date of the increased hourly minimum wage and the date public employees can request their localities grant them collective bargaining powers from January 2021 to May 2021.
Northam also proposed a change to Price’s bill that allows furloughed federal workers who are taken to court for unpaid rent or mortgage extra time to pay. Northam’s amendment would also make the bill applicable to any tenant or homeowner who is “experiencing a loss of income” as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
On the budget, the General Assembly is being asked to approve freezes of $874.6 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1 and $1.4 billion in the next fiscal year.
“We hope that that’s the worst it can be, but there’s no guarantee it won’t be worse than that,” Layne said Monday.
The freeze in spending would last until the state has a better idea of how much less money is coming in. Northam would then ask lawmakers to come back to Richmond sometime in late summer or early fall to reshape the budget.
The reconvene session typically lasts one day, but can last up to three days per the state constitution or up to 10 days with approval by the majority of lawmakers.
Just before lawmakers reconvene at noon, a group of people protesting the governor’s stay-at-home order are expected to gather around the Capitol. According to a Facebook group, the Reopen VA rally goes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with people remaining in their cars and gridlocking the streets surrounding the Capitol.
House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn said she would try to change the rules when delegates meet Wednesday and allow remote voting to minimize contact between legislators. If that is approved, her chamber would take up the amendments remotely on Thursday.