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2019 Virginia legislative session

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Virginia General Assembly

Seal of Virginia.svg.png
General information
Type:   State legislature
Term limits:   None
Session start:   January 9, 2019
Session end:   February 24, 2019
Website:   Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:   Justin Fairfax (D)
House Speaker:  Kirk Cox (R)
Majority Leader:   Senate: Thomas Norment Jr. (R)
House: C. Todd Gilbert (R)
Minority Leader:   Senate: Dick Saslaw (D)
House: Eileen Filler-Corn (D)
Structure
Members:  40 (Senate), 100 (House)
Length of term:   4 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:   Art IV, Virginia Constitution
Salary:   $18,000/year (Senate), $17,640/year (House) + per diem
Elections
Last election:  November 3, 2015
Senate
November 7, 2017
House
Next election:  November 5, 2019
Senate
House
Redistricting:  Virginia Legislature has control

Virginia convened its legislative session on January 9, 2019, and legislators remained in session until February 24, 2019. No party had a veto-proof supermajority this legislative session. Following the 2015 elections, Republicans had a 21-19 majority in the Senate. Following the 2017 elections, Republicans had a 51-49 majority in the House. The Democratic Party controlled the governorship after the 2017 gubernatorial election, meaning the state was under divided government.

At the beginning of the 2019 legislative session:
  • Republicans held majorities in the Virginia House and Senate.
  • Virginia was one of 14 states under divided government.
  • Virginia's governor was Democrat Ralph Northam.


    • Black.png Click the links to read more about the 2019 state Senate and state House elections.
    Black.png Click the links to read more about the 2015 state Senate and 2017 state House elections.

    Partisan control in 2019

    See also: State government trifectas

    Virginia was one of 14 states under divided government at the start of 2019 legislative sessions, meaning it did not have a government trifecta. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Virginia was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Virginia General Assembly in the 2019 legislative session.

    Virginia State Senate

    Party As of January 2019
         Democratic Party 19
         Republican Party 21
    Total 40

    Between 1994 and 2015, partisan control of the Virginia State Senate fluctuated, swinging back and fort between the Democratic and Republican parties. The table below shows the partisan history of the Virginia State Senate following every general election from 1991 to 2015. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Virginia State Senate election results: 1991-2015

    Party 91 95 99 03 07 11 15
    Democrats 22 20 19 16 21 20 19
    Republicans 18 20 21 24 19 20 21

    As a result of the 1991 elections, Democrats held a 22-18 majority. Elections in 1995 and 2011 resulted in the chamber moving to a split 20-20 partisan balance. Both of those elections were off of a Democratic majority and followed up by a Republican majority in the next election. The largest change in partisan balance of the state Senate was between 1999 and 2003, when Republicans gained three seats. The 2015 elections resulted in a 21-19 Republican majority.


    Virginia House of Delegates

    Party As of January 2019
         Democratic Party 49
         Republican Party 51
    Total 100

    Between 1991 and 2017, partisan control of the Virginia House of Delegates shifted in favor of the Republican Party and then began moving back toward the Democratic Party. As a result of the 1991 elections, Democrats held a 52-47 majority. Republicans gained control of the chamber in 1999 and, by 2015, expanded their majority to 66-34. In the 2017 elections, the chamber's partisan balance swung back toward the Democrats as they gained 15 seats and narrowed the Republican majority to 51-49.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Virginia House of Delegates following every general election from 1991 to 2017. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Virginia House of Delegates election results: 1991-2017

    Year '91 '93 '95 '97 '99 '01 '03 '05 '07 '09 '11 '13 '15 '17
    Democrats 52 52 52 50 47 31 37 39 44 39 32 33 34 49
    Republicans 47 47 47 49 52 67 61 58 54 59 67 67 66 51

    Republicans began making gains in the state House after the 1997 elections, when they picked up two seats. The chamber moved to a 52-47 Republican majority after the 1999 elections. The largest swing towards Republicans in the state House occurred as a result of the 2001 elections, when the party expanded its majority by 15 seats. Democrats gained 13 seats between 2003 and 2007. In 2011, Republicans gained eight seats, moving the chamber to a 67-32 Republican majority.

    In the 2017 elections, Democrats picked up 15 seats and nearly forced a 50-50 split in the chamber. The race for District 94 was an exact tie between Delegate David Yancey (R) and Shelly Simonds (D). A random drawing was held to select the winner and Yancey won.

    Two-thirds of members present in both chambers must vote to override a veto. If all members are in attendance, this is 67 of the 100 members in the Virginia House of Delegates and 27 of the 40 members in the Virginia State Senate.


    Leadership in 2019

    Virginia State Senate

    Virginia House

    Regular session

    The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2019 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria yet in 2019. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Noteworthy events

    Events involving Virginia's executive branch

    See also: Noteworthy events involving Virginia's executive branch, 2019

    In February 2019, a series of events unfolded involving the top three elected officials within Virginia's executive branch: Governor Ralph Northam (D), Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), and state Attorney General Mark Herring (D).

    On February 1, a website released a yearbook photo from Northam's medical school featuring a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The photo appeared on a yearbook page with Northam's name on it and pictures featuring him.[1] Two sexual assault allegations against Fairfax were made public between February 3 and February 8.[2][3] And on February 6, Herring released a statement saying he wore blackface in college.[4]

    Following the events, prominent Democrats called for the resignation of Northam and Fairfax. Northam said he was not in the yearbook photo, and Fairfax said the allegations against him were false.[5][3]

    Both Northam and Fairfax said they would not resign. Northam began what he called a reconciliation tour on February 22, 2019.[6] Virginia's legislative session ended on February 24 without the state House of Representatives having settled a debate over whether to hold public committee hearings to receive testimony from Fairfax and the two women who accused him of assault.[7]

    Click here for a timeline of events, statements from the three officials, and reactions from prominent Democrats.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Virginia state government

    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2019 legislative session, there were 25 standing committees in Virginia's state government, including 11 state Senate committees and 14 state House committees. There were no joint committees.

    Senate committees


    House committees


    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Virginia Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XII of the Virginia Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Virginia

    The Virginia Constitution can be amended through two different paths—a legislative process, and a constitutional convention. Virginia does not feature the power of initiative for either initiated constitutional amendments or initiated state statutes.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A simple majority vote is required during two successive legislative sessions for the Virginia General Assembly to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 51 votes in the Virginia House of Delegates and 21 votes in the Virginia State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    Amendments to or revisions of the state's constitution can be proposed by a constitutional convention as established in Section 2 of Article XII. A convention can happen if the state's legislature "by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house" calls a convention.


    Historical context: Between 1996 and 2018, the following occurred:

    • A total of 31 measures appeared on statewide ballots.
    • An average of 2.6 measures appeared on even-year ballots.
    • The number of measures appearing on statewide ballots ranged from zero to five.
    • Voters approved 87.1 percent (27 of 31) of statewide ballot measures.
    • Voters rejected 12.9 percent (4 of 31) of statewide ballot measures.
    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments, 1996-2018
    Total number Approved Percent approved Defeated Percent defeated Average Median Minimum Maximum
    31 27 87.1% 4 12.9% 2.6 2.0 0 5

    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Virginia.

    Virginia Party Control: 1992-2025
    Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Four years of Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R
    Senate D D D D S S R R R R R R R R R R D D D D R R D R R R R R D D D D D D
    House D D D D D D S S R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D R R D D

    See also

    Elections Virginia State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named photo
    2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named al1
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named al2
    4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named herringstatement
    5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named notin
    6. ↑ Atlanta Black Star, "Virginia Gov. Northam Meets With Civil Rights Leaders," February 22, 2019
    7. ↑ The Washington Post, "Amid sexual assault claims and blackface scandals, Va. legislature wraps up session," February 24, 2019
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