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GOP legislature moves to wrest regulatory power from Va. governor
GOP legislature moves to wrest regulatory power from Va. governor
By Laura Vozzella
February 7 at 5:54 PM
RICHMOND — Virginia’s Republican-controlled Senate moved to claw power away from the governor Tuesday, passing a proposed constitutional amendment that would enable legislators to veto regulations created by the executive branch. ... Under the measure, any regulations enacted by state agencies could be undone by a simple majority vote of the Senate and House of Delegates.
Supporters said the amendment, proposed by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Fauquier) and similar to one passed this year in the House, is needed to combat regulatory overreach that they described as pervasive in Richmond and Washington. Donald Trump won the presidency fueled, in part, by “this feeling that regulatory agencies have begun to take over and run the government,” said Sen. Richard H. Black (R-Loudoun). ... “There are unelected bureaucrats who enact their own laws without any input from the legislature,” Black said. “It diminishes the power of voters to influence their government.” .... As a proposed constitutional amendment, the measure would have to clear both chambers this year and next, and then win approval from voters. Governors do not have veto power over such amendments.
....
Also squeaking out of the Senate on a 21-to-19, party-line vote was a Republican-backed proposed constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to nonviolent felons. Democrats opposed the measure because violent felons would have to apply to the governor to have their rights restored — and have to wait five years after completing their sentences and paying any restitution, court costs and fees.
....
Bills that were killed for the remainder of the legislative session include ethics legislation that would prohibit candidates from making personal use of campaign funds and all bills prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination in employment and housing. Also dead is the so-called bathroom bill, which would have required people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to the sex listed on their birth certificate, as opposed to their gender identity.
....
Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post. Follow @LVozzella
By Laura Vozzella
February 7 at 5:54 PM
RICHMOND — Virginia’s Republican-controlled Senate moved to claw power away from the governor Tuesday, passing a proposed constitutional amendment that would enable legislators to veto regulations created by the executive branch. ... Under the measure, any regulations enacted by state agencies could be undone by a simple majority vote of the Senate and House of Delegates.
Supporters said the amendment, proposed by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Fauquier) and similar to one passed this year in the House, is needed to combat regulatory overreach that they described as pervasive in Richmond and Washington. Donald Trump won the presidency fueled, in part, by “this feeling that regulatory agencies have begun to take over and run the government,” said Sen. Richard H. Black (R-Loudoun). ... “There are unelected bureaucrats who enact their own laws without any input from the legislature,” Black said. “It diminishes the power of voters to influence their government.” .... As a proposed constitutional amendment, the measure would have to clear both chambers this year and next, and then win approval from voters. Governors do not have veto power over such amendments.
....
Also squeaking out of the Senate on a 21-to-19, party-line vote was a Republican-backed proposed constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights to nonviolent felons. Democrats opposed the measure because violent felons would have to apply to the governor to have their rights restored — and have to wait five years after completing their sentences and paying any restitution, court costs and fees.
....
Bills that were killed for the remainder of the legislative session include ethics legislation that would prohibit candidates from making personal use of campaign funds and all bills prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination in employment and housing. Also dead is the so-called bathroom bill, which would have required people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to the sex listed on their birth certificate, as opposed to their gender identity.
....
Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post. Follow @LVozzella
This legislation sounds like something that ALEC or the Koch brothers are secretly behind. And by "behind," I mean, "drafting."
The reason for the concern among Republicans is:
Virginia rolls back restrictions on abortion clinics
By Laura Vozzella
October 24, 2016
RICHMOND — The Virginia Board of Health voted Monday to scrap hospital-style building codes for all abortion clinics, saying that they were unconstitutional under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. ... The board had signaled months ago that it would lift the requirements for 14 existing clinics but impose them on any new ones. But in an 11-to-4 vote Monday, it decided that the construction requirements should not apply to any of the state’s clinics. ... The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down abortion-clinic regulations in Texas. It also fulfills a central campaign promise of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who said during the 2013 campaign that he would be a “brick wall” against abortion restrictions.
“I want to thank the Virginia Board of Health for working to repeal onerous regulations designed solely to reduce or outright remove access to essential reproductive health services for women across the Commonwealth,” McAuliffe said in a written statement. “This vote demonstrates to the rest of the United States and the world that Virginia is a community where people can live, find employment, and start a family without politicians interfering with decisions that should be made by women and their doctors.”
....
Supporters said the changes would safeguard women undergoing abortions at the clinics and ensure that emergency-medical personnel had access to patients. Abortion rights advocates called the rules medically unnecessary and a transparent attempt to force clinics out of business. ... Whatever their merits, the rules have been tied up in the state’s complex regulatory process and shifting political winds. ... It fell to the state’s Board of Health to implement the rules. And after a series of required public hearings, the board voted in June 2013 to grandfather existing clinics.
But the board reversed itself that September under pressure from then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R). After advising board members against grandfathering, Cuccinelli said that his office would not defend them in any litigation resulting from such a decision and that members could be personally liable for legal bills.
....
Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post. Follow @LVozzella
By Laura Vozzella
October 24, 2016
RICHMOND — The Virginia Board of Health voted Monday to scrap hospital-style building codes for all abortion clinics, saying that they were unconstitutional under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. ... The board had signaled months ago that it would lift the requirements for 14 existing clinics but impose them on any new ones. But in an 11-to-4 vote Monday, it decided that the construction requirements should not apply to any of the state’s clinics. ... The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down abortion-clinic regulations in Texas. It also fulfills a central campaign promise of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who said during the 2013 campaign that he would be a “brick wall” against abortion restrictions.
“I want to thank the Virginia Board of Health for working to repeal onerous regulations designed solely to reduce or outright remove access to essential reproductive health services for women across the Commonwealth,” McAuliffe said in a written statement. “This vote demonstrates to the rest of the United States and the world that Virginia is a community where people can live, find employment, and start a family without politicians interfering with decisions that should be made by women and their doctors.”
....
Supporters said the changes would safeguard women undergoing abortions at the clinics and ensure that emergency-medical personnel had access to patients. Abortion rights advocates called the rules medically unnecessary and a transparent attempt to force clinics out of business. ... Whatever their merits, the rules have been tied up in the state’s complex regulatory process and shifting political winds. ... It fell to the state’s Board of Health to implement the rules. And after a series of required public hearings, the board voted in June 2013 to grandfather existing clinics.
But the board reversed itself that September under pressure from then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R). After advising board members against grandfathering, Cuccinelli said that his office would not defend them in any litigation resulting from such a decision and that members could be personally liable for legal bills.
....
Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post. Follow @LVozzella
