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The General Assembly session continues to move along quickly, as its second full week came to an end. At this point, we know just how much work remains to be completed prior to the scheduled end of session on March 10.
The deadline for submitting legislation fell on last Friday, January 20. This year's General Assembly will consider 1,977 bills and at least 450 resolutions. The average Senator filed 17 bills, while the average delegate filed 13.
The fact that nearly 2,000 bills have been filed is not an indication that there are 2,000 things wrong with Virginia. While every bill does propose a change of some kind to the Code of Virginia, many of the changes are relatively minor and technical in nature, often requested by state agencies or localities. The vast majority of bills will never be mentioned in your local newspaper or on the nightly television newscast.
Many others, however, will be covered extensively, regardless of their prospects. As a case in point, this week there was much media attention on a bill proposed by a member of the House of Delegates to study the possibility of selling marijuana in Virginia ABC stores. Stories about the bill appeared in daily newspapers, on radio, and on television. Despite this coverage, the bill will undoubtedly fail to make it past its first legislative hurdle, a vote by a subcommittee in the House of Delegates.
Why would a bill that has zero prospects of being enacted receive extensive coverage from the media? Any bill that is controversial always generates attention for the simple reason that disagreements are a lot more interesting than agreements.
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| Legislation | | |
Fortunately, the prospects for several of my bills are significantly better than attempts to sell marijuana at your local ABC store.
Earlier this week, the Senate Finance Committee voted to report Senate Bill 267 to the floor of the Senate.
This legislation adds transparency and accountability to the budget process. The bill requires the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee to issue reports identifying (i) any nonstate agency appropriation, (ii) any item in the conference report that was not included in a general appropriation bill as passed by either the House or the Senate, and (iii) any item that represents legislation that failed in either house during the regular or a special session.
The bill will be on its final reading on Monday, January 30. If passed by the Senate, the bill will move to the House of Delegates, where it will be assigned to a committee or subcommittee.
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| Mark Your Calendar for Constituent Day! | | |
Due to popular demand, we are again hosting constituent day this year. We will offer complimentary breakfast and lunch, a guided tour of the Capitol, and opportunities to hear from elected officials and other political leaders.
When: 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
February 22 or March 1
(select the date on which you can attend)
Where: General Assembly Building & Capitol
Richmond, VA
RSVP: Space is limited, so please reply promptly! When RSVPing, please indicate the date on which you can attend.
A detailed agenda will be forthcoming. |
| 2012 Legislative Survey | | |
Please make me aware of your priorities during the 2012 General Assembly session. Click HERE to take my survey. I look forward to your response. |
| Visitors | | |
Even without a Monday holiday, we had many visitors this week. We saw friends from the following organizations:
- The College of William & Mary
- Tidewater Community College
- Rappahannock Community College
- Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce (and several other Chambers of Commerce)
- Teachers from around the district
- Virginia Catholic Conference
Also, we wanted to recognize our guests from the Tea Party who visited earlier this year. Special thanks to Juliet Giblin and Mary Leedom for stopping by our office!
As always, we enjoy seeing friendly faces from home. Among our many visitors were Dr. Kris Powell, Dr. Kevin Walsh, Gloucester Treasurer Tara Thomas, James City Treasurer Ann Davis, York Treasurer Deborah Robinson, Janet Casanave, Phyllis Mateer, Win Sowder, and Walt Latham. |
| Commemorative Session | | |
The General Assembly ends this week with its quadrennial field trip to Williamsburg for a special commemorative session in the restored Capitol. I will report on that as well as the continued progress of this year's session, in next week's column.
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| Please visit us in Richmond! | |
We are now working in our office in the General Assembly Building in Richmond. If you are in town, please visit our office in Room 621. You can reach me or my legislative assistant, Amanda Johnston, by phone at 804-698-7503, email at district03@senate.virginia.gov or by mail at
Senate of Virginia
P.O. Box 396
Richmond, VA 23218-0396 |
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Very truly yours,
Senator Tommy Norment |
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Paid for and Authorized by Friends of Tommy Norment. | |
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