The General Assembly session that just wrapped up had a few successes, most visibly the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Overall, however, we're talking about "epic fail," particularly on the House of Delegates side of the Capitol. Here's a short list.1. Tobacco: An excellent proposal by Gov. Kaine to raise the cigarette tax from 30 cents per pack to 60 cents was defeated. An even better bill, this one by David Englin, would have increased the cigarette tax by 89 cents per pack, the revenues from which would have gone to Medicaid and public schools funding. Englin's bill went where so many good bills in the flat-earth-Republican-controlled House of Delegates go to die -- a subcommittee.
2. Energy/Environment: There was near-complete failure in this area to seriously address our energy and environmental challenges. Examples include proposals to charge a small fee for single-use plastic bags, Adam Ebbin's Green Public Buildings Act, a bill by Margi Vanderhye "requiring the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources that consume carbon-emitting feedstocks," another excellent bill by Margi Vanderhye to advance energy conservation and efficiency by "encourag[ing] investor-owned electric utilities to file tariffs with rate structures that reflect time of day and seasonal cost differential," etc., etc. We could go on all day. For this reason alone, we need to take back the House of Delegates this November. (Note: In fairness, the State Senate under the anti-environment leadership of Dick Saslaw, also killed several pro-environment bills, including several by Chap Petersen. Saslaw needs to be primaried in 2011.)
3. Voting: The House killed Rosalyn Dance's early voting bill, as well as her absentee voting bill. Also killed were a bill on provisional voting by Bob Brink and a bill by William Barlow (D-Smithfield) calling for a constitutional amendment to establish an 11-member, non-partisan redistricting commission. Lame.
4. Fair housing: A bill by David Englin to allow "localities to expand fair housing protections beyond the classes protected by state law" dies in House General Laws.
5. Access to birth control: The House Health, Welfare and Institutions committee killed (14-8) a bill that would have required "any pharmacist who refuses to fill a prescription for contraception to ensure that the patient seeking such contraception is treated in a nonjudgmental manner and is not subjected to indignity, humiliation, or breeches in confidentiality, and states that the pharmacist shall not confiscate such prescription."
6. Nondiscrimination in public employment: This bill by Adam Ebbin was Equality Virginia's top priority during the legislative cycle. According to Equality Virginia, "Every Virginian should have the right to a workplace free from discrimination and committed to equality of opportunity without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity." Apparently, Republican members of the House General Laws subcommittee prefer to allow discrimination against an entire class of Virginia taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. Wonderful.
7. Homelessness among veterans: A bill by Joe Bouchard that would have "the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study ways to "[reduce] homelessness among veterans in the Commonwealth" died in House Rules. What. The. Hell?!?
8. Autism spectrum disorder: Heck, the House of Delegates even rejected a bill by one of its own, Bob Marshall's bill to mandate coverage for autism spectrum disorder.
I could go on and on, but in short, the Republican-controlled House of Delegates was pathetic as always this year. We need a change badly this November or we'll see this "epic fail" for years to come.
