Divided government is playing out true to form in Richmond. A number of bills from state Sen. Adam Ebbin are a prime example.
Ebbin (D-Alexandria-Arlington-Fairfax) was the patron of SB1192, which if enacted would have created a broader ban on semi-automatic center-fire rifles, pistols and shotguns in public places in Virginia.
The measure passed the state Senate on a party-line vote of 21-18 (one of the 22 Democrats was away from the floor), only to be killed in a subcommittee of the House of Delegates Committee on Public Safety on a 6-4 vote.
Another Ebbin measure – SB1180 – would have allowed outside groups to provide funds and/or technical assistance to the Virginia Department of Elections and local election agencies across the commonwealth. The measure passed on a full party-line vote of 22-18 in the Senate, only to fall 6-4 in a subcommittee of the House Privileges and Elections Committee.
Similar scenarios are playing out across the Virginia Capitol; measures approved by the Republican-controlled House of Delegates are being nixed by the Democrats-in-charge state Senate and vice versa.
Whether the same scenario occurs next year will depend on the outcome of November’s elections, in which all 40 state Senate and 100 House of Delegates seats are on the ballot.
Should Republicans win the Senate and hold the House, they will be able to govern as they largely see fit for the subsequent two years. Should Democrats win the House and hold the Senate, they will still have a Republican governor to contend with, and are unlikely to have the votes to override Gov. Youngkin’s potential vetoes.
If Democrats hold the Senate and Republicans hold the House of Delegates, 2024 is likely to look a lot like 2023.
