State and National Government
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia is moving toward decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana.
The state House on Monday passed a decriminalization bill with bipartisan support. The state Senate is expected to pass its own version shortly. Gov. Ralph Northam has signaled his support for the measure.
If passed, the legislation would scrap criminal charges for possessing marijuana and replace them with small fines.
Supporters have argued the measure is needed in part because African Americans are disproportionately charged with drug crimes. A measure to legalize marijuana failed earlier this year.
Members of the Asian American Business Owners Association based in Roanoke say they “absolutely agree” that Virginia’s minimum wage is “long overdue” for an increase – but they also say the 15 dollars an hour proposed over the next 5 years is too much. More from WFIR’s Gene Marrano:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Lawmakers are closing a legal loophole that could charge unmarried people with a crime for having consensual sex. The House of Delegates passed a bill this week that aims to repeal the crime of fornication, which makes it illegal for people to have consensual sex outside of marriage.
Currently, fornication is a Class 4 misdemeanor and carries a fine of up to $250.
Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, introduced House Bill 245 to repeal what he called a Victorian-era law. The Virginia Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional in 2005.
Levine said the bill was necessary because keeping unconstitutional laws on the books can cause confusion.
“No one should think they can be prosecuted for this common practice,” Levine said.
The lawmaker added that people are rarely convicted for fornication, but it can be charged in conjunction with other crimes such as indecent exposure.
“Charge the crime that occurred, don’t just pile on with things that shouldn’t be a crime anyway,” Levine said.
The bill received bipartisan support on the floor. The seven votes against it came from Republican lawmakers. One Democrat abstained.
“Now that the Democrats are in power, I’m thrilled to get it off the books,” Levine said.
Levine pointed out that this is a crime a majority of Virginians have probably committed at some point in their life.
“It’s a stupid law. It’s crazy,” Levine said.
This is Levine’s second attempt to repeal the law, and the third by Democrats since 2014.
“I had that fornication bill before, it couldn’t get out of committee. The world has changed,” Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, said Thursday from the House floor. Sickles introduced the bill that failed in 2014.
Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin said she was unaware of anyone in the city being charged in years with fornication on top of other crimes. When asked how many fornication convictions there were in 2019, the Richmond City Sheriff’s Office did not have any records to report. There were eight convictions of fornication in 2013, a lawmaker told The Virginian-Pilot in 2014.
JoAnne Sweeny, a University of Louisville law professor who has written about fornication and adultery laws, said most people don’t think about being charged with fornication. That doesn’t change its status as a criminal act.
“In the U.S., if it’s on the books, it’s enforceable,” Sweeny said.
Fornication is part of Virginia law that outlines crimes involving morals and decency.
Sweeny said fornication law in the United States dates back to Colonial times and was enforced in the 1960s, with a sharp dropoff in enforcement in the 1980s.
Levine believes most Virginians, even those who don’t agree with sex outside of marriage, want this bill to become law.
“How is Virginia for lovers, if lovers can’t love each other,” Levine said.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Virginia Commonwealth University Capital News Service.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers in Virginia are advancing legislation to ban the sale of assault weapons and the possession of high-capacity magazines despite fierce opposition from gun owners.
A state House committee on Friday advanced a legislation backed by Gov. Ralph Northam to ban the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms, including popular AR-15 style rifles, and prohibit the possession of silencers and magazines that hold more than 12 rounds.
It’s the most ambitious measure proposed by Northam and one that’s met the most pushback, including from members of his own party. Gun owners packed the committee room Friday and erupted in protest when the measured passed. Capitol Police cleared the committee room of almost every spectator after the vote.
Heated debates over guns have dominated this year’s legislative session, as Virginia has become ground zero in the nation’s raging debate over gun control and mass shootings.
Guns were a key topic of last year’s legislative elections — particularly after a mass shooting in Virginia Beach claimed a dozen lives — and gun-control groups heavily funded Democratic candidates. Democrats won full control of the legislature for the first time in a generation and have promised to pass a slate of gun-control laws.
Gun owners are descending on local government offices to demand they establish sanctuaries for gun rights. More than 100 counties, cities and towns have declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries and vowed to oppose any new “unconstitutional restrictions” on guns. And last month, tens of thousands of gun-rights activists from across the country flooded the state Capitol and surrounding area in protest, some donning tactical gear and carrying military rifles.
Northam has been able to get most of his gun-control agenda passed in at least one chamber of the General Assembly this year, but struggled with the proposed assault weapon ban. Earlier proposals to ban possession of AR-15-style rifles or to require owners to register them with state police have been scrapped.
An estimated 8 million AR-style guns have been sold since they were introduced to the public in the 1960s. The weapons are known as easy to use, easy to clean and easy to modify with a variety of scopes, stocks and rails.
“They are the Barbie doll of the gun world,” said Nicholas McGraw, a gun owner from King William County who came to protest the bill Friday. He said he doubts the measure, if passed, would be effective.
“I have friends that are not going to comply,” he said.
Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran said a ban on selling assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is needed to help prevent mass shootings, or at least limit the damage mass shooters can inflict. He cited the fact that the shooter in the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 had a handgun with a high-capacity magazine.
“Assault weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment because they are weapons of war,” Moran said.
Opponents said the measure would make many law-abiding Virginians felons for owning commonly available guns and accessories.
“This bill does not make Virginians safer, what this bill does is make Virginians, law-abiding Virginians, felons overnight,” said D.J. Spiker, a lobbyist for the NRA.
The measure faces high odds of passage, as several moderate Senate Democrats have already indicated they’re unlikely to support an assault weapons ban this year. The full House is expected to vote on the measure in coming days.
A bill is making its way through the General Assembly that would impact anyone stopped on suspicion of DUI. Under current law, if you are convicted of DUI, you can petition the court 30 days later for a restricted drivers license — to work and back — as long as you submitted to a breathalyzer when you were stopped. But if you are convicted for refusing the test, you cannot seek that restricted license. The bill in question would permit that as well, and it has now passed in the House of Delegates. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
It looks like the impeachment trial hurt one candidate for president, but it wasn’t President Trump. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:The House of Delegates has passed a bill that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It applies to things like employment, public accommodation, and housing. House approval did not come before some emotional floor debate, as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports.
Virginia lawmakers are moving ahead with a budget proposal that would raise state gas taxes by 12 cents a gallon over the next three years. A State Senate committee advanced the bill to the full Senate yesterday, and it did so without hearing anyone speak in outright opposition. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more: