Virginia lawmakers struggled to address a number of critical issues in the first half of the legislative session and still have no clear path to agreement on many popular priorities.
Key items such as banning smoking in restaurants, broadening the crackdown on illegal immigrants and expanding prekindergarten education programs appear likely to fail due to partisan bickering, business opposition and dismal budget conditions.
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Coming to terms with a newly divided General Assembly has been a key factor in the slow start.
“There’s not going to be a lot of progress with a conservative Republican House and a Democrat-controlled Senate,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “One side is trying to restrict abortion, and the other side is trying to restrict smoking.”
Conservatives have exerted their influence more by blocking proposals, such as greater restrictions on sales at gun shows, than by passing new legislation.
“Despite the fact Democrats hold the governorship and the Senate, Republicans are demonstrating they cannot control the agenda the way they would like,” said Robert Holsworth, professor of political science and dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University. “The reality is that this is just the preliminary skirmishing, because next week the real action begins when the budget gets forecasted.”
The state’s finances have continued to worsen since a $641 million deficit was announced last fall, although spending cuts and declining revenues have forced the numbers to fluctuate.
“It’s been largely noncontroversial so far,” said Del. Jeff Frederick, R-Woodbridge, “When there’s some hard numbers, that’s when you’re going to start to see fissures go more public.”
That is not to say the session has been devoid of agreement.
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate worked quickly to repeal abusive-driver fees, which were expected to raise $65 million for transportation by placing huge fines on certain traffic offenses.
