Democracy for Virginia

How a bill becomes a law, Virginia style!

Lester Feder is one of the new regular contributors to the Democracy for Virginia blog.  You can read about Lester and our other new contributors here.

How can we influence legislation in Virginia? In order to lobby effectively, you first need to know how the process works and what opportunities you have to influence it. First I'll outline the process, and then describe the ways we can help move it in our direction.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll track a bill originating in the House of Delegates on its way to becoming law:

Step I: Filing and Introduction
Before the beginning of the legislative session, delegates can file as many pieces of legislation as they desire. This means they present them to the House clerk, who assigns them bill numbers. (The infamous domestic partnership ban, for example, is known as House Bill 751, or, more commonly, by the abbreviated HB 751.) After the session begins, each member can file up to five additional proposals.

Filing a bill, however, does not mean it automatically enters the legislative process. In order for the House to act on a bill, a member of that body—known in Virginia as a patron (which is equivalent to a sponsor in the US Congress)—has to introduce it.

Step II: Subcommittee and Committee
After a bill is introduced, the House Speaker assigns it to a committee where it will be given its initial hearing. Usually it is pretty obvious what will go to what committee: bills concerning transportation go to the Transportation Committee, bills concerning child support goes to the Health, Welfare, and Institutions committee, bills concerning guns go to Militia and Public Safety, etc.

The committee chairman usually assigns the bill to a subcommittee, which is made up of a portion of the committee membership, who review the bill and makes a recommendation to the full committee on what action to take on it. In subcommittee they have the option to amend it, and then they vote on whether the full committee should report it, which means the bill would advance to the next step in the process and be presented to the full House for passage; to table it, which means it does not advance, but does not totally die, either; or to pass it by indefinitely (PBI), which means it would be killed without ever coming up for a vote. (SUBCOMMITTEE VOTES ARE NOT RECORDED)

The committee takes up the bill as amended by the subcommittee along with its recommendation. Before taking final action, the full committee has the option to amend the bill once again. They vote on whether to report, table, or PBI the measure. (They are not obligated to follow the subcommittee’s recommendation.

If they vote to table of PBI a bill, it does not advance. If, however, they vote to report it …

More on Mitch: the "Conscience of the House" Retires

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a great article today on Delegate Mitch Van Yahres, who is retiring from the Virginia House this year.  The article reminds us of what a huge loss this will be:

In the 2004 General Assembly, veteran legislator Mitchell Van Yahres urged his colleagues to go on a "welfare diet."

Under his bill, legislators would volunteer to buy their food for two weeks using the same amount of money allotted in food stamps to a single individual to better understand "the dire circumstances of thousands of Virginia families." The bill was killed in committee and even laughed at.

But the bill was a classic shot at the rich and comfortable by a politician who has always thought of the poor and powerless as his constituency.

"You've got to be in somebody's life situation to understand what they're going through," said Van Yahres, a Democratic delegate from Charlottesville who announced he was retiring last week after more than two decades in the General Assembly. "It really upset me that they laughed at it. . . . These are the real moral values."

Van Yahres' seat in Charlottesville is considered a "safe" Democratic one, as is the seat in the 45th district, including parts of Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax, vacated by Marian Van Landringham, who has to leave the House for health reasons. 

The question for us now is what kind of Democrat will we choose to run in these "safe Democratic" districts?  Will we choose someone like Mitch Van Yahres, someone who would be willing to serve for decades if his constituents approve?  Someone who will use her power to stand up for the poor and the powerless?  Someone who will risk being laughed at to do the right thing?

Senator R. Craig Deeds, current candidate for Attorney General, said of Mitch Van Yahres:

"Mitch has been the conscience of the House...He always stood for things that were less popular. He stood up for things even when he knew he was in the minority. You have to have people like that."

Yes, we do.  We need to have Democrats who will be proudly, unapologetically progressive, especially in safe Democratic districts.  We need Democrats who will not only reliably vote the "right way", but who will take risks and introduce legislation to do what is right, even if that legislation might fail in our current political climate.  We need more conscience in the House.  That is our challenge in choosing candidates in the 57th and the 45th this year.

(Thanks to the Virginia Progressive for the lead on the article.)

 

Welcome, Nightline Viewers!

For those of you who watched ABC's Nightline tonight and are visiting the Democracy for Virginia Web site for the first time, welcome!  We invite you to join us!

Democracy for Virginia is a grassroots organization of Virginians who are interested in revitalizing progressive civic action in Virginia.  We work together to promote increased public participation in community, politics, and government.  Many of us first met each other during the Dean campaign in Virginia in 2003 and 2004 (which explains the picture of Howard Dean from a 2003 rally in Virginia on our front page), but our group has now grown to include hundreds of other Virginians who are interested in working together to improve our communities and our Commonwealth.  Though most DFV supporters are progressive Democrats, our group includes Greens, Independents, and even moderate Republicans who support increased civic participation and socially progressive, fiscally responsible candidates for public office. You can read about some of our activities during the past year here.

If you're visiting our site from out of state, you can still help. We believe strongly that the challenge of taking back America starts in Virginia this year.  We are the only red state with a Governor's race in 2005, and all 100 seats in our House of Delegates will be decided this November.  Since more than 40 of the Republicans in the Virginia House this year ran unopposed in 2003, many Democracy for Virginia supporters are very interested in recruiting and supporting ordinary Virginians who will step up and run for office this year.  We believe it is vital for democracy for voters to have choices in the voting booth.  If you're from out of state, join us and we'll keep in touch with you about opportunities for you to support us in Virginia this year.

Democracy for Virginia includes active local groups which meet regularly in locations around Virginia including Arlington, Alexandria, Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Falls Church, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Leesburg, Norfolk, Occoquan, Reston, Richmond, and Roanoke.  Many Democracy for Virginia supporters meet monthly at Democracy for America Meetups around the state.  If there is no local group in your area, you can still join us online to get involved and learn more about our activities.

Tonight's story on Nightline relates to Democracy for Virginia's Legislative Sentry initiative, which included a statewide email discussion group and numerous posts on the DFV web site about legislation from the 2005 session of the Virginia General Assembly. The specific bill featured in the Nightline story was introduced by John Cosgrove, a radical right-wing legislator from Chesapeake.  One local group including many ordinary Virginians from Chesapeake is Tidewater for Democracy, which is a grassroots organization that has also incorporated as a Virginia state PAC (Political Action Committee).  If you would like to help Tidewater for Democracy's efforts to support socially progressive, fiscally responsible candidates in opposition to right-wing radical politicians like John Cosgrove, you can contribute to Tidewater for Democracy's PAC here.

As you visit our site tonight, we welcome you to read more about Meetups around Virginia, local Virginia news coverage on HB1677, and other topics that interest you.  Please join us if you'd like to learn more and get involved!

The Story Nightline Doesn't Have Time To Tell

If you watched the Nightline segment on blogging tonight, you might be interested to read more about how blogs influenced Virginia Delegate John Cosgrove to withdraw HB1677.  Although Nightline interviewed me for the piece for over 90 minutes, they're only able to fit a few minutes of that into their broadcast, so here's the fuller story if you're interested.

Concerns about the bill were first posted here at Democracy for Virginia and in a cross-posted diary on DailyKos.  Both posts resulted in quite a few comments, but opposition to the bill in the blogosphere really took off when the story traveled to the infertility/miscarriage blogosphere through a great post at Chez Miscarriage.  You can get a sense of how the story traveled in the blogosphere by reviewing the "trackbacks" on my original post here and on the first post at Chez Miscarriage. 

Within a day, our site was getting tens of thousand of hits, and I posted an update with additional information on the bill and links to additional research on fetal death reporting for readers in other states who were concerned about how this issue was dealt with in their state.  Many blogs provided incredibly valuable additive research.

Meanwhile, hundreds of concerned men and women had contacted Delegate Cosgrove about this bill.  Although I had written him an email three days before posting my original concerns, I didn't hear from him directly until he had been inundated with concerned emails.  To his credit, Delegate Cosgrove spent many hours that weekend responding to concerned writers.  At his request, I posted his full email response to me here.

By Sunday of that week, newspapers and TV stations around Virginia had picked up the story.  Although Delegate Cosgrove at first acknowledged problems with the bill, his responses soon focused on what he called "misinformation" about the bill.  I wrote about that here.

Soon, the news broke that Del. Cosgrove would withdraw the bill entirely.  Still, Delegate Cosgrove seemed to deflect the genuine citizen concerns about the bill as written by blaming blogs for spreading misinformation, even though he never challenged or disputed the substance of the concerns expressed about the bill itself.  Many of the ordinary people who wrote to him with concerns about this bill were quite insulted by his implication that they were all dupes of a misinformation campaign.  It seemed like Cosgrove wanted to blame the messenger rather than address the message.  I wrote about this here.

All readers of the original story about the bill were invited to be skeptical about my concerns and interpretations.  The great thing about blogs is that readers are empowered to fact-check stories for themselves, and I encourage all readers to do so here.  Thanks for visiting Democracy for Virginia!

How did Virginia's local press cover the story on the fetal death reporting bill?

Those of you who watched ABC's Nightline story on blogging tonight may be interested to read about the traditional media's coverage of Delegate Cosgrove's decision to withdraw HB1677 and the role that blogging played in that decision.  Below are links to a few of the related stories and editorials that appeared in newspapers around the Commonwealth:

"Delegate to withdraw HB 1677"
Augusta Free Press, 1/11/05

"Del. Cosgrove pulls bill after Internet fuels fiery protest"
Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, 1/11/05

"Good for us, pregnancy bill is nipped in the bud"
Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, 1/12/05

"Power to the people: The story behind the withdrawal of HB 1677"
Augusta Free Press, 1/12/05

"A Blog Flog for Del. Cosgrove"
Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, 1/13/05

"Delegate Pulls Fetal Death Bill Under Pressure"
Times Community Newspapers, 1/19/05

As you can see from these clippings, particularly the editorials, the mainstream media in Virginia was actually quite (surprisingly) positive about the role that blogs played in informing Virginians about the bill and in inspiring people to write to Delegate Cosgrove, motivating him to withdraw HB1677 on the first day of the General Assembly session.

Building Democracy for Virginia's Membership

Dear People-Powered Friends,

When Democracy for Virginia met last month at the DFA regional caucus in Washington DC, I acted as the moderator for a discussion group on Membership Development.  We didn't have a lot of time to work out specifics on this topic, but we were able to formulate some general goals and we agreed to form a task force focused on building up DFV's membership.  We were fortunate to have 24 people sign up to be a part of this team and willing to devote time and energy to getting the good word out about Democracy for Virginia.

If you were unable to attend the 2/26 meeting but would like to be a part of the Membership Development team, please email me at julie@democracyforvirginia.com and tell me a little bit about yourself and why you are interested.

I hope to hear from you!

Julie Ide

Monthly Meetups: One Way to Get Involved With DFV!

Many Democracy for Virginia supporters gather at least once every month at locations around the state for Democracy for America Meetups.  Meetups are a great opportunity to meet with other Virginians interested in getting more involved in local and state government, to work together to promote socially progressive, fiscally responsible candidates, to collaborate on state and national issues, and to socialize in a casual, fun atmosphere with like-minded progressives, liberals, Democrats, and others interested in improving our country.

You can find Democracy for Virginia supporters at DFA Meetups in Arlington, Alexandria, Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Falls Church, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Leesburg, Norfolk, Occoquan, Reston, Richmond, and Roanoke next month.  If you're interested in getting involved with Democracy for Virginia, one way to dive right in is to stop by the Meetup closest to you!

I wrote last week here on DFV about our Meetup this month in Falls Church, and after the jump you can find brief reports from other great Meetups in Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Leesburg this month.  In addition, new Meetups are starting next month in Reston and Fredericksburg.

If you live in Virginia, there are a few more March Meetups that you can still catch:

• The new Fairfax City DFA/DFV Meetup will be held Wednesday, March 9, at Mama's on Lee Highway.
• The Arlington/Alexandria DFA/DFV Meetup gets together on Tuesday, March 15 at Capitol City Brewing Company.
• The Richmond DFA/DFV Meetup will be held on Thursday, March 16.

BREAKING: Delegate Van Yahres Won't Seek Re-Election

I just received terrible news in my inbox.  Delegate Mitch Van Yahres (D-57), one of the most courageous, outspoken, and inspiring progressive Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates, will not seek re-election this year.

In his announcement of his retirement at a Charlottesville Democratic Party fundraiser, Delegate Van Yahres said:

“Since 2000 the level of petty partisanship in the House of Delegates has increased to almost intolerable levels.  Democrats spend all our time trying to defeat the increasing number of bills that attempt to take away people’s rights; whether these efforts are directed at women, non-Christians, gays, immigrants, or anyone else that the majority party doesn’t like.  The General Assembly used to be about protecting rights and helping those who can’t help themselves.   Now it’s about a narrow conservative political ideology and getting re-elected…. 

In order for this to change we need more energetic young members.  So I have decided to step down to let a new generation of Democratic leadership take over.  On the positive side, this year I have seen a new spirit in the House Democratic Caucus.  A new Democratic delegate from the 57th district will be well situated to help guide the party’s resurgence…"

At times this session and last, it seemed like Delegate Van Yahres was a lone voice of courage, vision, and kindness speaking out against the narrow-minded extremes of far-right ideologues.  His weekly updates from the session never failed to inspire me.

Delegate Van Yahres mentioned that we need more energy in the House Democratic Caucus.  It seems to me, though, that at 78 years old, Delegate Van Yahres represented what Democrats need far more than youth: empathy, kindness, diligence, conviction to core Democratic  principles, and courage to stand up for them. 

The full press release is below the jump.  More on Delegate Van Yahres to follow in the coming days.

Welcome New Contributors

One result of the very successful Democracy for Virginia breakout sessions at last week's DC/MD/VA Regional Caucus for DFA is that more people have volunteered to become regular contributors here on the Democracy for Virginia Web site.  Many changes are planned for our Web presence in the coming months as we further develop our organizational structure.

This week, I'd like to welcome three new regular contributors: Kathy Welch of Blacksburg, Rich Kolker from Loudoun, and Lester Feder from Alexandria.  Kathy has written for DFV about the 9th Congressional District race in the past; she will now contribute regularly.  Read all about our three new writers below the jump, and please welcome them!

Narrow Escape

It seemed like fiction, a Handmaid's Tale, 2005. But it almost happened. A bill filed by Virginia Del. Cosgrove required women losing a pregnancy to file a police report within 12 hours. Cosgrove didn't blink when he tried to make miscarriage a police matter, but rather when an outpouring of women –- liberals, moderates AND conservatives -- said he’d gone too far.

(Continue reading "Narrow Escape" below the jump...)