Representatives of the people of Virginia have come to the capital in Richmond to renew a ritual begun in 1619 in Jamestown.
The General Assembly has convened again. But, it looks like it will be far from a mundane session in 2004.
We began last Wednesday with members of the House and Senate being sworn-in to office. We Delegates began our two-year terms and Senators started new four-year terms.
The Senate includes three new GOP members and one new Democrat. In the House, there are 12 new members, including three Democrats.
Things generally went according to form, but there were some controversies. The procedural rules proposed by the majority seemed to muzzle we minority Democrats.
Historically, it has been the right of any member to nominate someone for a judgeship from the floor.
But, since the official judgeship nominations are always those first approved by the majority caucus, floor nominations are rarely approved.
But, now, all nominations of judges must be of those persons deemed “qualified” by our judicial committee.
Last year, Democrats nominated from the floor a sitting Black judge whom the Republican majority had dumped.
Apparently, they did not want that to happen again. They also wanted to take aim at Governor Warner on the first day.
A resolution was introduced calling for the Governor to resubmit his budget without his tax restructuring proposal being part of it.
But, that needed a 2/3 vote and Democrats and a few moderate Republicans joined to block its approval.
While there was a little divisiveness to start the session, we did take some positive actions that first day.
Civil Rights Pioneers Honored
On that first day, we approved a resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
That historic case, which officially ended school segregation in our country, actually occurred on May 17, 1954.
The Brown case was a consolidation of five similar cases, including Davis vs. Prince Edward County, Virginia.
Therefore, the 18-month celebration of the Brown decision began here. Governor Warner mentioned it in comments that evening.
He was delivering the annual State of the Commonwealth address to a joint session of the General Assembly.
He not only mentioned the Brown decision, but he introduced Oliver Hill, the lead attorney in the Davis case, who was in the gallery for the speech.
Other Milestones
On Friday, we adjourned in honor of what may have been the greatest landmark event in our history.
It was the anniversary of the January 16, 1786, enactment by the Virginia General Assembly of The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
Introduced 14 years before by Thomas Jefferson, this became the basis for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees our basic freedoms.
This past Monday, while a holiday for most people, we continued our work. But, we honored the 75th birthday of Reverend Martin Luther King.
On a motion by Delegate Dwight Jones, who gave a moving speech, we adjourned in Dr. King’s memory.
Tomorrow is the deadline for the introduction of all bills and resolutions. Each House member can introduce no more than five bills.
However, most bills have already been pre-filed because we do not have a limit with those.
If this year is like other 60-day sessions in the past, I expect that we will have to act on about 3,000 pieces of House and Senate legislation.
This also marks my 12th session of the General Assembly. My first session was 1993 and I was 99th out of 100 in seniority.
Now, I rank 31st out of 100 and I am considered a senior member of the House. Hopefully, I can use that seniority to help my constituents.
I hope, too, that we can actually do good for the people of Virginia this year and not get bogged down in partisan bickering.
Regardless of what happens, you will read about it here in the Falls Church News-Press!
