From the desk of Del. Danny Marshall:
Most of the headlines you read from sessions of the Virginia General Assembly focus on high-profile legislation which is, by its very nature, highly partisan. You read or hear a steady stream of information about bills advanced on party line votes, or clearing by razor-thin margins. And yes, I have focused on some of this legislation in previous newsletters.
But I think it is fair to remind constituents that the vast majority of of the work done at the state legislature is bi-partisan, getting robust support from Democrats and Republicans alike. According to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), 72.6% of the votes taken so far in the 2024 session have been unanimous votes.
Granted, most of these are relatively minor pieces of legislation. But there are some very substantive bills included in this category. One of them is HB1357, a bill I introduced to allow the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville to offer non-credit workforce training programs. This is already being done with the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) under the supervision of the U.S. Navy. For now, the Navy is taking care of tuition for the students. In the future, the students will have to pay. That’s why the Institute needs state accreditation so they can offer students tuition assistance in the coming years.
This is a massive undertaking for the Danville area. Once they move into their permanent home next door to the Institute, ATDM training will operate around the clock, churning out between 800 and 1,000 graduates each year. Each of those students will spend 16 weeks in the area. This is the equivalent of a mid-sized industry moving into Danville. These students will need housing, food and many other things while living here. And they will be largely purchasing them from local businesses and vendors.
So as you can see, this is very significant legislation. And it was approved on a unanimous vote in the House of Delegates. It now heads to the State Senate.
VPAP’s analysis of 2024 legislation to date finds that just under 17% of the floor votes fall into the “closely contested” category. Those are votes with opposition by more than a third of the votes cast. Of that group, 40% were straight party line votes where all Republicans took one position and all Democrats took the other. 57% of the “closely contested” votes were near party line, where at least 90% of one or both parties voted the same way. Only 2.5% of the “closely contested” votes did not fall generally along party lines.
So yes, there is plenty of partisanship to go around in this year’s General Assembly session. But there is far more evidence of across-the-aisle cooperation. There are several issues where the differences between the two parties will be irreconcilable. But for most of the bills that are introduced in the Virginia General Assembly, their path to passage includes wide-ranging support from BOTH sides of the aisle. In our contentious political climate, I think it is fitting and proper that we recognize this.
Last week was the mid-way point in the 2024 session. “Crossover Day,” where each bill had to be acted on in its chamber of origin, came and passed. Our House Committees are now taking up bills that have cleared the State Senate.
The second half of this year’s session will likely be dominated by the budget process. This being an even-numbered year, the legislature will have to adopt a biennial budget and present it to the Governor for his signature. Each chamber will develop their versions of the budget. A conference committee will hammer out differences between the two plans. A final proposal will then have to pass both the House and Senate. It will then go to the Governor’s desk for his signature.
If you want to track legislation during the session, the General Assembly has several ways you can do it. Go to https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/. You can view committee hearings and floor sessions live. You can also view them in the website’s archive.
As always we love to hear from constituents! If you have any questions or need more information, please contact me at
