01/11/12: The legislative show begins

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

IF YOU’VE NEVER paid much attention to the Virginia General Assembly, now would be a great time to start. The legislature convenes today, and live streaming of the session is available on its website, http:// legis.state.va.us.

The budget is expected to dominate the conversation, but there are a couple of lingering issues that will have to be dealt with rather quickly because they have implications for the upcoming year.

In a memo last week, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling laid out his interpretation of the law concerning his role as president of the Senate. He concluded that he can cast a tie-breaking vote on organizational matters and on most bills. The exceptions would be the final passage of certain matters, such as the budget, that expressly require that the votes be cast by members elected to the Senate.

The effect of Bolling’s memo, then, is to create a Republican majority in the Senate for purposes of committees and leadership, leaving the 40 senators — 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats — to broker compromises on such things as the budget, tax bills, constitutional amendments and the appointment of judges.

How this actually plays out during the session will be interesting to watch. For the past four years, with Democrats in the majority, a number of the bills that came over from the House of Delegates, where the Republicans enjoy a comfortable majority, were killed, some to the relief of those who had voted for their passage.

Although these bills, many of which deal with social issues, are among those that Bolling claims the authority to cast a vote should a tie occur, I suspect we will see them die in committee, rather than force Bolling, a candidate for governor in 2013, to cast a vote.

Redistricting was front and center last year, but the one thing the General Assembly did not complete, despite the constitutional mandate to do so, was congressional redistricting.

This is creating a bit of a problem with the upcoming U.S. Senate elections, which require signatures be gathered in congressional districts. The issue was first raised by Del. Bob Marshall, who is considering a run for the GOP nomination. One thing about Marshall: He is a stickler for the rule of law.

Not only must the General Assembly approve a congressional redistricting plan, but it must be approved by the U.S. Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act. The congressional lines will change, if for no other reason than to accommodate the changes in the population. Virginia law requires 10,000 signatures to be collected, with 400 from each of the congressional districts. The question is whether those signatures should be collected within the old congressional districts or the as-yet-undrawn new ones?

Further complicating the issue is the timing. The primary is set for June 12. With DOJ approval required, it is possible that the primary will be held at a later date. Should that be the case, Marshall asked, would the petitions containing the June 12 date be invalid? The window for collecting petitions is already short: the petitions could not be circulated until on or after Jan. 1 and are due March 12.

And, of course, there remains the possibility that the signature requirements will change, either because the legislature changes them or as the result of the pending lawsuit filed by presidential candidates who failed to meet the current requirements. Already the judge in that case has blocked the distribution of absentee ballots for the March 6 primary, pending his ruling, which is expected this Friday.

So grab some popcorn, head over to the General Assembly website, and watch democracy in action.