RICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly convened at noon Wednesday with pledges of goodwill across the aisle along with a healthy dose of partisan muscle-flexing.
House Republicans went into the session with a double-barreled message: They hope to find common ground with Democrats in the Senate, but they’re working aggressively to undo what they see as the other party’s misguided lawmaking from the past two years.
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“We are acutely aware of the fact that we have a divided government situation here,” House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said in a news conference before the session convened. “That doesn’t mean we won’t be boldly pushing forth ideas — we will.”
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This year the GOP holds a 52-to-48 edge in the House of Delegates, after a Democrat won a special election to fill an open seat in Norfolk on Tuesday. The state Senate remains in Democratic hands, at 21 to 19.
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Shortly after the House convened, Gilbert was elected speaker on a unanimous vote.
“I submit that there’s no one better qualified than Todd Gilbert to lead this body,” Del. Rob Bell (R-Albemarle) said in making the nomination.
As is tradition, the speaker’s nomination was seconded by a member of the other party — in this case, Del. Kathleen J. Murphy (D-Fairfax), who also happens to be a longtime and unlikely friend of Gilbert’s.
Murphy said she had witnessed “his dedication, his integrity and the depth of his commitment to our House, our commonwealth, his community and his wonderful family.”
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“While we do not agree politically, for the most part, it is my honor to second his nomination,” Murphy said.
Gilbert, a lawyer and former prosecutor who was first elected to the House in 2005, said becoming speaker was “the honor of my life.”
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“I do not take this lightly, and I pledge to you that I will give the utmost to be the speaker for all of Virginia and all of this chamber,” Gilbert said.
With Republican Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin set to take office Saturday, lawmakers will have to reach compromise to get anything passed.
Glenn Youngkin’s about to take office as Virginia’s next governor. Here’s everything you need to know.
A lineup of new Republican House committee leaders set out an agenda focused on what they said was fixing problems they are inheriting from Democrats.
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That included passing tax cuts, funding charter schools, slashing business regulations, giving raises to law enforcement, tightening up changes to criminal laws that Republicans said put dangerous people back on the streets and requiring resource officers in every school.
“We have the ability in the House Republicans to make real and lasting impact,” said incoming House majority leader Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott).
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Kilgore said House Republicans will work with Youngkin on his goal of withdrawing Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a compact among mostly East Coast states to trade credits for carbon emissions.
Youngkin has said he would get Virginia out of the group, which is aimed at reducing emissions, because he believes it leads to higher energy prices for consumers.
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Outgoing state Attorney Gen. Mark R. Herring (D) issued a formal opinion this week that the governor does not have the power to unilaterally undo the arrangement, which was passed by the General Assembly last year.
Kilgore said Wednesday that he believes the legislature can withdraw from the RGGI without gutting the entire Clean Economy Act that aims the state toward a carbon-free future.
“We know that we want to get to a clean economy and use the renewable energy, but you know the sun doesn’t shine every day, and the wind doesn’t blow every day, so you got to have that backup power plan,” said Kilgore, whose district is deep in the state’s struggling coal country.
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Del. Glenn R. Davis (R-Virginia Beach), who will chair the education committee in the session, said Wednesday that Republicans feel strongly the state should fund more charter schools. Asked if that would result in a loss of funding for public schools, Davis said no — because in Virginia, charter schools are public schools.
“There will not be any funds utilized that goes to a charter school that is not educating a public-school child,” Davis said.
He also called for reviving a bill that failed last year that would prohibit the teaching of any curriculum “compelling students to adopt the belief that any race is inferior to another.” That was a reference to critical race theory, an academic theory about teaching the history of racism that is not on Virginia’s public school curriculum but that Republicans ran against in last year’s elections.
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Del. Barry D. Knight (R-Virginia Beach), who will chair the appropriations committee, said Republicans plan to seek $300 rebates for each individual taxpayer and a doubling of the state’s standard deduction. He also promised to eliminate the state’s 2？ percent tax on groceries — 1 percent of which is levied by localities. Knight said he believed other funds could be found to make up for the loss of funds so localities would not face cuts.
In the state Senate, the last vestige of blue on Capitol Square, the Senate Democratic Caucus rolled out its agenda for the session with an emphasis on “kitchen table” issues.
“Virginia Senate Democrats’ goal is to make every Virginian’s life easier, safer and more prosperous,” Sen. Mamie E. Locke (Hampton), the caucus chairwoman, said in virtual news conference Wednesday morning. “And we have always fought for these ideals and will never settle for less.”
As Republicans take over Virginia House of Delegates, outgoing Democratic speaker promises to defend record
Affordable child care, transportation, improvements to the state’s beleaguered Employment Commission and paid family medical leave were among the issues they vowed to push through during the session.
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Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) talked up tax cuts — something Youngkin has also promised. But Saslaw said Democrats would prefer a refundable tax credit rather than the increase to the standard deduction that Youngkin seeks, saying the Republican’s approach “gives a lot of tax money away to people who don’t need it.”
Democrats also signaled an intent to push back against Youngkin on charter schools.
“We’ll consider any idea he wants to put forward, but we’re not going to compromise our principles, and our principles are going to require us to make sure that we don’t take money away from our public schools,” said Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath).
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They also made it clear that they intend to fight Youngkin’s nomination of Andrew Wheeler, President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, for secretary of natural resources.
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“We as a caucus have very serious concerns that he will have to try to overcome, and we will see where the votes are,” said Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan (D-Richmond), who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination last year.
Once the session began, senators kicked off by voting on rules that would allow any members who are sick with or exposed to the coronavirus to participate remotely. Without debate, they signed off 39 to 0 — and shortly thereafter, the 40th member, Sen. Mark J. Peake (R-Lynchburg), began participating remotely.
Masks were encouraged but not required in the Senate, as in the House. But the Senate, which lost a member to coronavirus last year, had some physical barriers in place meant to curb the spread of the virus, which in recent days has sent the state’s hospitalizations soaring to record highs.
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Three-sided plastic booths stood around the senators’ wooden desks, a precaution introduced over the summer, when they returned to the Capitol for a special session. Down the hall in the House, the desktop plastic barriers used over the summer were gone.
Also in the Senate, a three-sided, clear screen stood at the top of the dais where the lieutenant governor presides — a new feature added because Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears (R), who will be sworn in Saturday, has declined to reveal her vaccination status. Outgoing Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) presided Wednesday and will do so through Friday.
For the first time since the advent of the pandemic, senators and delegates had their usual army of teenage pages on hand to pass out documents, run errands and otherwise help floor and committee sessions run smoothly. They paired their classic blue blazers with dark masks.