RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia's official business officially kicks off Wednesday, as state lawmakers return to the State Capitol in Richmond for the beginning of the 2024 legislative session.
As always, the political context is the whole game.
Democrats won Election Night in November, delivering them slim majorities in both the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate. Still, those majorities are not large enough to overcome Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin's veto pen.
So what can Virginians expect to happen within this power structure?
CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth expects Democrats will advance bills that Youngkin will undoubtedly veto.
Bills like gun control measures, accelerating the minimum wage increase, and pro-union bills.
They will advance those bills as a way of putting Virginia Republicans on the record for future elections.
“It’s a very usual situation where you have a governor right now who’s far more popular than let’s say President Biden, but the Democrats have no fear of him. They are going to do what they want," Holsworth said.
There are several constitutional amendments Democrats are already planning to pursue, a process that does not involve the governor. Changing Virginia's Constitution requires the legislature to pass a resolution twice with a House of Delegates election in between before the question is sent to Virginia voters for a referendum vote.
"They’ll be on same-sex marriage, trying to ensure Roe v. Wade’s principals are embedded in the Virginia Constitution, and there will be another one with the automatic restoration of rights after prisoners have served their time," Holsworth said.
Although Republicans only trail by a few seats in both chambers, Holsworth said retirements and elections left fewer moderate Democrats who were inclined to side with the GOP on certain contentious issues, which leaves Republican lawmakers in the role of the vocal opposition, save for Yougnkin.
To this point, both the Governor and Democratic leadership have talked about the "collaboration" game, and Holsworth sees a few avenues where Youngkin and Democrats can move side by side.
"They’re going to try to expand the opportunities for childcare in Virginia. They’re going to try to address the mental health crisis that’s been ongoing to try and provide more access and more beds. Both parties are likely to do that. You’re going to see agreement on issues like how do we better treat opioid addiction or the fentanyl crisis," Holsworth said.
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During pretty much every session, there are a couple of issues that are outside each party's main platforms that grab the public's attention.
Holsworth said he expected Virginians will pay close attention to what happens with the "skill games" that still exist in many gas stations and restaurants or movement on the sale of recreational marijuana.
On the latter, Holsworth sees the political potential for Democrats to send Youngkin a framework for recreational marijuana sales in exchange for some movement on Youngkin's tax cut proposals.
"We’re in this sort of netherworld in Virginia on marijuana," he said. "One of the things that would occur if you have the recreational sale of marijuana is that it would be taxed and provide more dollars for the state budget. Where would the Governor be on that?”
The legislature will look very different, with dozens of new members from parties winning seats after redistricting caused a rash of retirements and primary fights.
Holsworth said that means many new faces with the Richmond delegation and less influence in leadership compared to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
"RVA may not have quite the influence that the two other major metropolitan areas have in Virginia, despite the fact the Democrats did extraordinarily well in this election in the region," he said.
The 60-day session begins at noon on Wednesday.
Youngkin will deliver his State of the Commonwealth address in the late afternoon.
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