RICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly heads back into session on Wednesday to resolve legislative loose ends, including considering an earlier date for legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana and putting the finishing touches on a sweeping Voting Rights Act.
[Northam supports Voting Rights Act, paid sick leave for home health workers amid flurry of actions at deadline]
The legislature also will take up a request from Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to set aside $250,000 to investigate a state watchdog report that found violations in the way the parole board granted early release last year to a man convicted of killing a Richmond police officer in 1979.
Both the Senate and House of Delegates are scheduled to convene at noon, with both still observing extraordinary precautions to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The Senate will meet in a cavernous room at the Science Museum of Virginia, as it did during the regular session that kicked off Jan. 13 and the special session that followed on Feb. 10, which adjourned March 1.
The House of Delegates will continue to meet online.
The one-day session is an annual affair to take up any vetoes or changes to legislation proposed by the governor. While Northam issued no vetoes to the Democratic-controlled legislature, he suggested amendments to about three dozen bills, including 18 changes to the state budget.
After an ambitious session in which the General Assembly approved — and Northam enacted — a law abolishing the death penalty, most of the matters on the agenda Wednesday are relatively routine.
One exception is the marijuana legalization plan, the first of its kind in the South. Lawmakers had put off the personal possession component until 2024 to give the state time to create a new oversight agency and build a regulated commercial market.
But advocates argued that in the meantime, people of color would continue being arrested on marijuana-related charges at a disproportionate rate — as has been the case since the General Assembly decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana last year. Black people are about four times more likely than White people to be arrested for possession and given a civil fine, state statistics show.
[Northam proposes legalizing marijuana in Virginia on July 1]
Northam and House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) said recently that they favor moving the legalization date to July 1 of this year. The Senate initially approved that approach, as well, meaning it will be up to rank-and-file Democrats in the House to decide Wednesday whether to go along with the change.
If they do, the law would still call for the commercial market to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and certain components of the complex plan would have to be reenacted by the legislature next year.
Northam also has proposed speeding up the effective date of bills that provide for sealing or expunging some criminal convictions, including low-level marijuana charges. Rather than wait until 2025, as the bill requires, Northam would allow state agencies to begin the process of sealing criminal records as soon as they have the bureaucratic infrastructure in place to handle it.
The Voting Rights Act, which prohibits last-minute changes to polling places and guarantees voting access for people who are minorities because of race or language, has been approved by Northam but with minor technical amendments that the Assembly will have to ratify.
Among his budget changes, the most controversial is likely to be Northam’s call for an outside investigation of the parole board situation. The state Office of the Inspector General issued a report last year that found several violations of policy in the release of Vincent L. Martin, who was serving a life sentence for killing a Richmond police officer. The report said the board failed to notify the local prosecutor and family members of the victim in a timely fashion before the release.
Republicans have accused Northam of failing to take the matter seriously, and have highlighted a steady stream of leaked, unofficial findings from the inspector general’s office to suggest a pattern of misconduct in other cases.
Northam’s call for an investigation is likely to draw GOP criticism because it limits the probe to the Martin case and focuses on the conduct of the inspector general’s office.
Two gun-related bills will be back with proposed changes. One bans firearms from the State Capitol, Capitol Square and state-owned office buildings; Northam has proposed adding an exception for magistrates. Another bill prohibits anyone convicted of assaulting a family member from buying a gun; Northam’s amendment would make clear that the law covers domestic partners and would extend the ban to five years from three.
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