x
Breaking News
More () »

After mask mandate ban, fate of other bills uncertain

As the Virginia General Assembly reaches Crossover Day, the Senate OK'd recreational marijuana sales while the House banned the teaching of "divisive concepts."

RICHMOND, Va. — It's halftime at the Virginia General Assembly.

"Crossover Day" is the symbolic midway point of the legislative session. Each chamber has to finish work on its own bills before the measures cross over to the other chamber.

Already by a bipartisan vote, lawmakers have approved a ban on public school mask mandates.

But Christopher Newport University Political Science Professor Quentin Kidd said with a split government -- Republicans controlling the House of Delegates and Democrats controlling the Senate -- it may be tough in the end for many controversial, high profile bills to pass.

"I don't think it's going to be a session of big... anything big. Big pieces of legislation. Big pieces of policy-making, or anything like that," he said. "You're largely going to come out of this General Assembly session where both sides are going to be grasping probably at the few victories that they were able to get."

The question of what should and should not be taught in Virginia public schools was front and center, as the House on Tuesday discussed Republican-sponsored HB 787, which would ban teaching "divisive concepts" in public elementary & secondary schools.

Democrats objected to the bill.

"I think this bill gets into legislating emotions and beliefs," said Del. Schulyer Van Valkenburg (D-Henrico County). "And to paraphrase the Chief Justice John Roberts, that is a sordid business."

Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler (D-Virginia Beach) also weighed in. She said: "How about we improve our system instead of creating laws that tell teachers that they shouldn't do this and they shouldn't do that, which, we're already going to be in a shortage and crisis? Why don't we bring people together?"

In the end, nobody spoke in favor of the bill, yet it passed 50-to-49.

The fate of other high-profile bills remains unsettled. Eliminating the grocery tax is still in play but not certain, with the two chambers at odds over how much of the tax to eliminate.

Efforts to adjust the state's marijuana laws to speed up legal sales of recreational use to September 15 passed the Senate Tuesday on a bipartisan 23-16 vote. But the push appears to be stalled in the House.

Other bills under consideration include temporarily suspending the gas tax, restoring photo identification requirements to vote, and restoring "truth in sentencing" by rolling back good-time credits for felons.

The General Assembly is scheduled to continue through March 12.

Before You Leave, Check This Out