The Virginia General Assembly adjourned “Sine Die” Saturday, February 25th after considering approximately 3,000 bills! Our legislators also filled judicial vacancies, approved/rejected the Governor’s nominations, and passed a “skinny budget” which addresses Virginia’s most pressing financial needs. You may find the version of the budget as passed on the LIS website.
Dialogue on the budget between the House and Senate will continue for weeks, the goal being to settle the differences in the budget proposals between “Governor Youngkin’s Republicans” and “our” Democrats.
For those interested in more details, please refer back to the Commonwealth Institute’s in-depth side-by-side breakdown previously shared.
As the legislative work for 2023 concludes, we look forward to another busy campaign season! All 140 seats are up for election this year. Candidates are running for the first time after the redistricting process that ended in 2021.
Many legislators have announced their intentions to NOT seek re-election including our own Senator John Edwards (Edwards’ official announcement here), the Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) and Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment (R-James City). Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), the first woman to ever lead the Senate Finance Committee, says she will retire after 32 years in the Virginia Senate!
Notable House retirements include the most senior ranking member of the House, Ken Plum (D-Fairfax) and Jeff Bourne (D-Richmond).
Redistricting seems to be the chief reason that has led to an exodus of 1 in 4 members of the House of Delegates. So far, approximately 25 delegates plan to retire or run for a Virginia Senate seat.
House retirements include Kathleen Murphy (D-34 McLean), Kathy Byron (R-Bedford), Margaret Bevans Ransone, (R- 99 Westmoreland) who chaired the Privileges & Elections Committee, and Roxann Robinson (R-27 Midlothian), the Finance Chair, and John Avoli (R-Staunton).
During floor speeches the Chair of the House Courts of Justice Committee, Rob Bell (R-58 Albemarle), announced he will not seek re-election. Also, Delegate Dawn Adams (D 68- Richmond) Nurse Practitioner, announced she will not seek re-election to the House of Delegates. Instead, she ran in the Democratic Primary for SD9 vacated by Senator Jennifer McClellan, the Senate seat Delegate Lamont Bagby won.
Special congratulations to Senator Jennifer McClellan on her successful election to represent Virginia’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives!
As they say… watch this page! We repeat… All 140 seats are up for election this year!
With sincerest regards,
Your RVDW Legislative Committee
Jessica, Sandra, Barbara, Catherine, and Becky