State and National Government
A House of Delegates committee — with its new Democratic majority — has advanced the Equal Rights Amendment. It comes from the committee that killed it last year and setting the stage for General Assembly ratification. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia moved a step closer to ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment on Tuesday, even as the measure’s future nationally remains in doubt.
A House committee approved a resolution to ratify the gender equality measure, which advocates hope will become the next amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The 13-9 vote split along party lines, with all Democrats supporting it and all Republicans opposing it.
A Senate committee already advanced a similar resolution. The resolutions are now before the full House and Senate, where floor votes were expected Wednesday. Democrats control both chambers, and their legislative leaders have said their caucuses unanimously support the measure.
“Each action we take to move this resolution forward signals to the country that we’re more than ready to do our part in creating a world where women are treated as equals,” Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, a sponsor of the House resolution, said in a statement. “I was proud to introduce this resolution and I look forward to voting to pass it in the House tomorrow.”
Each chamber will then need to pass the other’s resolution before ratification becomes final.
ERA advocates say the measure will enshrine equality for women in the Constitution, offering stronger protections in sex discrimination cases. Opponents warn it will erode commonsense protections for women, such as workplace accommodations during pregnancies. They also worry it would be used by abortion-rights supporters to quash restrictions on the grounds that they specifically discriminate against women.
Final passage would make Virginia the decisive 38th state to ratify the ERA, surpassing the three-quarters of states needed to add an amendment to the Constitution.
However, court battles are expected over a long-passed 1982 deadline set by Congress, as well as other legal issues.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The state of Virginia, as the motto says, is for lovers. So the state of West Virginia can hardly be faulted for what some might consider an indecent proposal – urging its neighbor’s northernmost county to
switch states. The West Virginia Senate voted Monday to extend this invitation to Virginia’s Frederick County. West Virginia’s House votes next. The proposed hookup comes despite a long ago breakup: 158 years ago, West Virginia split from Virginia during the Civil War. Senator Charles Trump says Frederick County never voted on whether to join the Union. Despite all this, one Frederick official says the county … just isn’t into its neighbor.
MGN
The new General Assembly majority is moving quickly to advance gun-related legislation that the previous Republican majority has blocked for years. Some of the Democrats’ centerpiece proposals received committee approval Monday, as WFIR’s Evan Jones reports.
Virginia lawmakers have taken the first steps toward enacting a series gun laws that supporters say will make the state safer — and opponents say will punish only law-abiding gun owners. The first step in the process is committee, in this case the Senate Judiciary Committee now chaired by Roanoke Senator John Edwards. The first of many proposals before it Monday was one to limit handgun sales to one per person per month, and it passed on a party-line vote. So did a separate measure calling for a limit of handgun purchases in Virginia to one per month per person and what is commonly called a “red flag” bill that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from anyone deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Some top Virginia Democratic senators are expressing reservations about plans to ban assault weapons — a key part of the new Democratic majority’s gun-control proposals and one that’s drawn fierce resistance from gun-rights advocates.
“A lot of people don’t really understand assault weapons and how complicated the issue really is,” said Democratic Sen. John Edwards. “It’s going to be very difficult to figure out a way to do it. But we’re studying it, that’s all I can say.”
He’s one of at least four moderate senators — the others are Sens. Chap Petersen, Creigh Deeds and Lynwood Lewis — who are skeptical of plans to ban assault weapons. None of them has ruled out voting for an assault weapon ban, but all have said they aren’t impressed with any of the drafts of proposed bans they’ve seen.
“I’ve not seen an enforceable bill that makes sense yet,” Deeds said.
Heated debates over guns are set to dominate this year’s legislative session. A failure to pass an assault weapon ban would be a blow to Democrats.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Edwards, moved quickly Monday to advance several pieces of gun legislation that a Republican majority has blocked for years. Those bills include limiting handgun purchases to once a month, universal background checks on gun purchases, allowing localities to ban guns in public buildings, parks and other areas, and a red flag bill that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from anyone deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others.
But a ban on assault weapons was not put on the docket for debate.
“Well, you can read into that what you want,” said Petersen, another Democrat on the committee.
Petersen said that “on paper” he supports an assault weapons ban but said he has concerns about “details that nobody seems to have figured out yet.” Those details include like what technically constitutes an assault weapon or what to do with people who already own them.
Gov. Ralph Northam and Democratic lawmakers have credited their focus on gun control for helping them win full control of the General Assembly for the first time in more than two decades. 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.
A Democratic-led special rules committee voted last week to ban gun s from the Capitol and a legislative office building.
Republicans and gun-rights groups are offering stiff resistance. 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.
Hundreds of pro-gun advocates showed up Monday to protest the gun-control bills heard in the Senate committee.
Some of the most vocal opposition has focused on plans to ban semi-automatic weapons such as the popular AR-15-style rifles. Gun-rights advocates have accused Democrats of wanting to confiscate such rifles from current gun owners. Northam has said he has no interest in doing so.
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.
George Persinger, 65, a custom home builder, drove about three hours Monday to voice his opposition to the proposed assault weapons ban and other gun control laws.
“The AR-15 is a tool. I can use this to go kill feral hogs. I can use this weapon at home. I can use it to protect myself and my family. My wife can shoot this, my kids can shoot this,” he said.
Edwards noted the popularity and widespread availability of AR-style rifles, saying that makes debates about outlawing them difficult.
“I don’t know how you ban them all of a sudden,” he said.
Democrats have a slim 21-19 majority in the state senate, giving them little margin to lose members on key votes like an assault weapons ban. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Democrat, casts votes in cases of a tie.
Gun control is only one part of an enormous agenda lawmakers are tackling this year. They have less than 60 days to get everything passed.
Young climate activists with the national Sunrise Movement from all over Virginia for a climate rally in Richmond today, to urge lawmakers to pass the state’s Green New Deal Act. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
The General Assembly begins its first full week of this year’s year’s session today, and the House of Delegates does so under newly-adopted rules that has Republican members fuming. The new Democratic majority adopted the rules last week, and among the changes, is one that moved setting policies for sexual harassment training and firearms away from the entire House; instead, they go now to the House Rules Committee. Most House committees have 13 Democratic members and 9 Republicans — the Rules Committee has 13 Democrats and 5 Republicans. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more on the debate:
The House Rules Committee and its Senate counterpart wasted no time Friday jointly adopting a new firearms policy for the state capitol. Democrats say the move was needed to protect public safety. Republicans call the action “egregious” and “overreach”. Previously, anyone with a valid concealed handgun permit was allowed to bring a gun into the Capitol.
A local Republican Congressman disagrees with those who say the intelligence of an “imminent attack” justifying a drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani wasn’t credible. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
Each session of the House of Delegates and State Senate begins with a an invocation delivered by leaders of various faiths. Northern Virginia Rabbi Bruce Aft had the honors at the House opening-day session January 8, and he cited a song made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more in this “News Extra”:
“Light One Candle” was written by the group’s Peter Yarrow, who is Jewish, and it is popular Chanukah song:
Virginia lawmakers voted Friday to ban firearms at the state Capitol, the first in what’s expected to be many contentious gun votes in coming weeks.
Newly empowered Democrats in the General Assembly voted to ban guns at the Capitol and a legislative office building, saying the move was needed to protect public safety.
Public officials have expressed concerns about planned Jan. 20 rallies that are set to draw huge crowds of pro-gun and gun-control advocates. Gun advocates from around Virginia and even out of state have pledged to turn out in force to highlight their resistance to proposed gun-control measures.
“The overall goal here is to protect and ensure the safety of our members and of the people that are in our building coming and going,” Democratic Del. Marcus Simon said before the vote.
The ban would apply to lawmakers in addition to the general public.
Republicans have voiced opposition to banning guns at the Capitol and some GOP lawmakers routinely carry guns while at the legislature. “I feel this egregious, I think it’s an overreach.” said Del. Terry Austin.
Previously, anyone with a valid concealed handgun permit was allowed to bring a gun into the Capitol. Weapons were banned in certain parts of the building, which was designed by former President Thomas Jefferson, including the Senate gallery and the governor’s office on the third floor.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has outlawed guns from other state buildings, continuing a policy started by his predessor, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, in 2015.
The debate on whether to ban guns in the Capitol is part of a larger fight on guns that’s set to dominate this year’s legislative session.
Democrats have a full majority at the state house for the first time in a generation and have promised significant new gun restrictions, including universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and a red flag law that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from anyone deemed to be dangerous to themselves or others.
Gun owners are demanding that local government officials 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.