The 2022 General Assembly session is in full swing. In November’s election, Republicans flipped the House of Delegates, taking a 52-48 lead after two years in which Democrats controlled all three chambers of government. In recent weeks, GOP House members have worked to undo many of the laws Democrats put into place during their time in the majority.
In 2020, Democrats passed a law allowing localities to disallow possession of firearms on city property. Both Charlottesville and Albemarle have since taken advantage of that law, passing ordinances banning guns from parks and government offices. Last week, House Republicans passed HB 827, which would “remove the authority for a locality by ordinance to prohibit the possession or carrying of firearms” on that locality’s property.
Democrats also passed bills to increase Virginia’s minimum wage. The Dems’ new $11 minimum wage went into effect this January, and the party had set up a schedule that would see the minimum wage hit $12 an hour starting in 2023 and $15 an hour in 2026. A GOP bill which passed the House 51-48 last week cancels those increases and leaves the minimum wage at $11.
Expanding ballot access was a major component of Virginia Democrats’ platform, but new laws in that area are now on the Republicans’ chopping block. Last week a party-line vote saw HB 185 pass the house—the bill repeals a 2020 law that made it possible to register to vote on the day of an election.
All of these bills have yet to be debated by the...
A nursing home run by the family of Kim Keon-hee lost the first trial in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the National Health Insurance Service's disposition to claw back about 1.4 billion won in long-...