Legislators are trying to figure out their next steps following a map proposed by two special masters to the state Supreme Court following the 2020 Census. State Sen. Amanda Chase (R) has a Senate district laid out for her to run in again in 2023 if she so desires. SD73 would cover the western half of Chesterfield, similar to her current district. That district also includes freshman Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D), but has a 54.3 to 38.7 percent Republican tilt based on the 2016 presidential election. However, Chase recently threw her hat into the ring as one of eight Republicans…
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State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D) took time last week to reflect on the Nov. 2 election in which Glenn Youngkin (R) won the governor’s race and his party picked up seven seats to win control of the state House of Delegates, subject to two recounts in Hampton Roads. Earlier, Morrissey said he thought Democrat former Gov. Terry McAuliffe would win, based largely on the coronavirus. However, that issue faded a bit over the last several weeks heading up to the election and trailed the economy, education and taxes in issues on voters’ minds, according to MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki. Morrissey said…
Chesterfield County grew 15.3 percent from 2010 to 2020 according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Chesterfield’s growth rate topped Richmond (11) and Henrico (6), but trailed some fast-growing Northern Virginia counties such as Loudoun (34.8), Stafford (21) and Prince William (20). In fact, Loudoun grew so fast it overtook Chesterfield as the state’s fourth-largest locality, behind Fairfax, Prince William and Virginia Beach. The population growth in Northern and Central Virginia will result in a shift of state representation from Southwestern and Southern Virginia. The 16-person independent redistricting commission is working on redrawing boundaries that will go into…
The area has the most liberal House member and most conservative Senate member in Virginia, according to rankings of the 2020 and 2021 legislative sessions compiled by a statistics major at Yale University. Armin Thomas compiled the maps based on an algorithm developed by two political scientists in the 1980s. In the results, Del. Lashrecse Aird (D-Petersburg) was the most liberal House member and Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) was the most conservative Senate member. Aird’s district includes southwestern Chesterfield County. Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield) was the most moderate member of either legislative body, and the only one out of 100…
The No. 1 topic that will be decided during a special session of the General Assembly that begins Aug. 2 is spending $4.3 billion of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan. State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) said that various cities and counties are vying for money for capital projects. He said that the second biggest item would be appointing members to the state court of appeals. Recent legislation expanded the court from 11 to 17 members, but there have also been two retirements, Morrissey said, so legislators will have to appoint a total of eight new members. The legislation,…
State Sen. Joe Morrissey said Sunday that the Democrats will not have an easy time hanging on to the governor’s office in November. The Republicans nominated Northern Virginia businessman Glenn Youngkin for governor, former Del. Winsome Sears for lieutenant governor and Del. Jason Miyares for attorney general during their unassembled convention on May 8. “The Democrats are not going to be able to corner the market on a diverse ticket,” Morrissey (D-Richmond) said. Youngkin is a white man, Sears is a black woman and Miyares’ ethnicity is Cuban. “The Republicans have put up a very formidable ticket,” Morrissey said, calling…
By a unanimous vote during a special meeting on May 12, the Chesterfield supervisors directed staff to write to Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to remedy the situation at Riverside Regional Jail. After hearing testimony from nine speakers, including Sheriff Karl Leonard, Commonwealth’s Attorney Stacey Davenport, defense attorney Sangeeta Darji and others, board member Jim Ingle (R-Bermuda) said, “At this point, we don’t have any other choice but to pull our [resident inmates] and relocate them somewhere else.” About 61 percent of Chesterfield’s inmates have been housed at the Riverside jail, which a state…
Cultural competency is one of the buzzwords that teachers, principals and school superintendents will become familiar with in Virginia, if they aren’t already. The General Assembly recently passed and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed legislation that requires educational staff to complete instruction in cultural competency for initial licensure or renewal. HB 1904 and SB 1196 passed the Legislature with mostly Democratic votes. Among eastern Chesterfield legislators, Dels. Delores McQuinn (D-Richmond) and Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield) and Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) voted yes, while Del. Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) and Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) voted no. The bills were among 117 tracked…
A one-day “veto session” April 7 resulted in approval of amendments to legislation requested by Gov. Ralph Northam (D), specifically marijuana legalization for up to 1 ounce effective July 1 and approval of $250,000 for a private law firm to investigate and report on the state parole board and the inspector general’s office. The former was legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond). The latter was in response to blowback after an inspector in the state IG’s office, Jennifer Moschetti, was fired after she sought whistleblower protection related to the release of information about the parole board not notifying the…
A number of bills have passed both houses of the General Assembly and await final passage after clearing a conference committee. State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) highlighted several of the bills on Sunday, Feb. 21. Legalization of marijuana — HB2312 and SB1406 — are under discussion. Some of the details yet to be ironed out between the two bills include licensing and distribution, Morrissey said. HB2047 would make a defendant’s mental health condition available at trial. Currently, state law only allows for an insanity declaration, which Morrissey described as an all-or-nothing approach. Other bills that could be signed by Gov.…