RICHMOND, Va. — It was Crossover Day Tuesday at the Virginia State Capitol.
Crossover Day is the date on the General Assembly calendar when the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia have to finish work on all the legislation their members introduced this session.
If it doesn't get out of the chamber today, it is dead.
But, if it’s approved, it then makes its way out of one chamber and into the other, which will then consider those bills in the second half of the session.
Ahead of Tuesday, the House had already passed around 320 bills and took up another 300-plus on this day.
Because of procedural rules in the House, most bills were just voted on and passed, including those to create a retail market for marijuana and to clarify how police can use license plate readers.
But a few bills drew some debate, such as a bill to create a Paid Family Medical Leave program.
Over in the Senate, they had passed nearly 375 bills before Tuesday, but things moved a little slower as their rules called for debate on some of the roughly 80 bills they had left.
Some bills were killed, including those around campaign finance reforms and one that would delay next school year's implementation of Governor Glenn Youngkin's new accountability system.
Among those that passed were a bill allowing a felony homicide charge against drug dealers if their product contains fentanyl and it is the main cause of death for a minor.
"I hope as it moves through the process that will also be able to protect our kids in college. Our 18, 19, 21-year-olds," Sen. Ryan McDougle (R-Hanover), said.
Another bill would allow for almost all government employees to opt for collective bargaining, rather than the current law requiring localities to give them the right.
"About 700,000 workers in our Commonwealth that do not benefit from collective bargaining right now, and should all of them attain themselves of that right, this would put about 15% of the Virginia workforce," Sen. Scott Surovell (D - Fairfax) said.
The two chambers have until February 22 to act on each other's bills, many of which will cover different ground.
The Virginia Public Access Project reports this session had the fewest number of identical or companion bills since 2017.
"This gives us an opportunity to bring more opportunity, more ideas to the table," House Speaker Don Scott (D - Portsmouth), said. "We have a lot of cover, but we also have a lot of different things that we needed to address."
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