Senator Creigh Deeds

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You are here: Home / Archives for gun safety

Sine Die

March 5, 2021 by Creigh Deeds

In this most unusual year, the General Assembly adjourned sine die in the most unusual way. We adopted a procedural resolution to extend the 30-day session to the usual 46 days by having a special session the last couple of weeks. We finished our work late on Saturday, February 27, but we did not adjourn sine die until March 1. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Virginia General Assembly 2021 Tagged With: conservation and environmental protection, COVID-19, criminal justice reform, gun safety, health care costs, marijuana legalization, mental health policy and funding, promoting economic growth, Senate procedures, Virginia budget, Virginia General Assembly Special Sessions

2021 Session, Week 3

January 30, 2021 by Creigh Deeds

Marijuana, Bikes, and More

This most unusual of legislative sessions is going quickly. We are nearing the crossover, the deadline for the Senate to act on senate bills and the House of Delegates to act on house bills. It’s crunch time as the Senate completes work on bills and get them to the House for consideration. I want to report on some of the more significant actions.

As I’ve written in the space before, one of the big policies under consideration is the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Virginia General Assembly 2021 Tagged With: conservation and environmental protection, election reform, gun safety, K-12 funding, marijuana legalization, Senate procedures, State employee compensation

Tough Votes

February 7, 2020 by Creigh Deeds

The 2020 Session of the Virginia General Assembly is flying by. Committee meetings start early in the morning, and afternoon meetings run late into the evening. We all knew that coming into this session there would be a lot of hard choices. Among Democratic voters there was a lot of pent-up energy and a demand for change. The question of the session has been the extent of that change. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Virginia General Assembly 2020 Tagged With: gun safety, minimum wage

Almost to Crossover

February 1, 2019 by Creigh Deeds

The 2019 Session has almost reached crossover, the point at which the Senate and House can only consider legislation introduced in the other chamber. While the date falls just past the midpoint of each session, it is considered halftime. The big issues remain unresolved.

Hundreds of bills have been discussed and have met their fates. For example, the ERA does not appear that it will pass although there was talk of resurrecting the legislation in the House. Many of the Governor’s gun safety proposals were rejected in both the House and the Senate. While many more conversations remain on the transportation bills, many of the big issues seem unresolved. The budget remains in the state of flux. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Virginia General Assembly 2019 Tagged With: Equal Rights Amendment, gun safety, health care costs, K-12 funding, mental health policy and funding, state parks, Virginia budget, Virginia transportation funding, Virginia transportation policy

You Win Some, You Lose Some

January 18, 2019 by Creigh Deeds

The first full week of the General Assembly is now under our belts. A few significant bills have reached the floor, but most are awaiting action in committee. The committees are running full bore. Visitors from around the Commonwealth fill the halls trying to meet their legislators and talk about issues of concern to them, but often legislators are running from commitment to commitment. The constitutional limit on the session does not allow for breaks.

Under Virginia’s Constitution, the General Assembly meets for 60 days in even-numbered years and 30 days in odd years. The sessions can be extended by a 2/3 vote of the General Assembly; traditionally the short session is extended to 46 days. The daily count includes weekends, holidays, snow days and every day until we adjourn. In Virginia, odd years are election years, which can drive the introduction of more bills. While we do not typically work on weekends, we do not stop for holidays or bad weather. This can present real challenges during these winter months. Some legislators may have difficulty getting back to Richmond from their districts, or even getting to the Capitol from within the city limits.

The legislature could address this in a number of ways. We could work on weekends, which is not unprecedented. Back in the ’90s, House of Delegates committees met frequently on weekends. Occasionally we held floor sessions on Sundays. This approach would cause some people discomfort but would not require constitutional change, unlike other alternatives. We could simply write into the Constitution that the weekends do not count, which would extend the session out a few weeks. Or we could just extend the session to 60 days every year. Every odd year, we try to cram 60 days’ worth of work into 46 days.

This past week saw the Senate pass legislation on a 26-14 vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The bill now moves to the House of Delegates for consideration. All along, I felt this bill would pass the Senate if it came to floor. The real test will be in the House of Delegates. The primary effort will be to get it out of committee, as I expect it has the support of a majority of delegates. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Virginia General Assembly 2019 Tagged With: Equal Rights Amendment, gun safety, mental health policy and funding, Senate procedures, state parks, Virginia transportation policy

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