Virginia House committees will not hold any special session votes on legislation this week after Democrats failed to get a supermajority vote Tuesday to immediately change the rules to allow online voting.
House Republicans quickly criticized the action, accusing Democrats of abandoning 400 years of tradition and rule of law to avoid public scrutiny of their agenda.
An immediate rules change requires 66 votes from the 100-person chamber. Democrats, who have a 55-45 majority, can change the rules with a simple majority (51 votes), but it requires the rules to be read on five different days.
Democrats failed Tuesday to get a supermajority on two resolutions. The first resolution would have immediately changed the rules to permit virtual voting. When that failed, Democrats proposed a resolution to temporarily permit virtual voting while the former resolution is pending approval by a simple majority. It also failed to get 66 votes.
Rather than conduct votes through in-person meetings while the rules change is pending, Democrats voted with a simple majority to give House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, the authority to assign committee meetings to be held virtually. This resolution, which passed with Democratic support, would not permit voting, which means each committee will have to hold off on votes until next week.
“[House committees] can have meetings, [they’re] just not having votes,” Filler-Corn told reporters after the vote.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Filler-Corn said it is not easy to conduct business and keep everyone safe. Although the Senate is progressing with in-person meetings and votes, she said the chamber has fewer people.
The Senate has 40 members, compared with the House’s 100 delegates.
“Since relinquishing the Speaker’s gavel in January, I have gone to great lengths to avoid commenting on procedural matters of the body or decisions by the Speaker related to her responsibilities as the leader of this chamber,” Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Height, said in a statement. “However, the actions we witnessed today are such an affront to the principles and traditions of representative democracy that I am compelled to call them exactly what they are: an unprecedented and unjustified power grab unlike anything I have seen during my 31-years as a Delegate.”
House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, told reporters that some lawmakers have aging parents and children and should not have to risk contracting the coronavirus.
Although Democrats said Republicans were made aware of the caucus’ virtual voting plan, Republican leadership said they never were made aware.
“With a single vote, they declared that they have no need to meet in public, they have no desire to receive public input, and they have no intention of changing that practice anytime soon,” House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said in a statement. “Our constituents deserve to have the business of the House done in public. They deserve the right to be heard in committee hearings.
“Worse, both the Speaker and the Majority Leader told the press that this had been worked out ahead of time between Republicans and Democrats,” Gilbert said. “That is false. But sadly, this is what we’ve come to expect from the Democratic majority.”
Republicans have expressed concern virtual voting could result in technical problems, particularly with the large number of members that will be present during floor votes. Some Republicans also have expressed concern they could be muted when speaking.
The special session, which convened Tuesday, primarily will address COVID-19-related budget issues and policing reform.
