As the 2022 Session winds down, Our work to ensure access to the polls and making Virginia more inclusive, does not. House Republicans for the second time, killed two historic potential Constitutional amendments: one that would remove the discriminatory ban on same-sex marriage that is still in our Constitution, and another that would enshrine the automatic restoration of voting rights for people who have served their time and paid their debt to society in the Constitution.

This was a busy week in Richmond. We have officially wrapped up legislation that originated in the House and are officially on the other side of the Crossover. No new bills can be considered in either the House or the Senate. Now we begin to consider the bills passed by the Senate.

As we end our fourth week in Session we are spending long hours in the Capitol. Having lost our Democratic Majority it has been difficult to watch as the progress we have made over the last two years including bills to protect voting rights and promote gun safety, have been undone. These bills undermine the commonwealth’s democracy and are an attempt to silence Virginians. Among the legislation passed this week are bills that reduce in-person absentee voting, limit the period during which mail-in absentee ballots can be received and reinstates the archaic photo-ID requirements.