Latest Virginia State General Assembly News

FILE - This Wednesday July 25, 2018 file photo shows Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in Washington. Warner and Republican challenger Daniel Gade participated in a virtual debate in Northern Virginia earlier in the day. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Virginia: Warner, Gade meet in first debate of Senate race

Sep. 24, 2020 10:42 AM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and his Republican opponent Daniel Gade sparred over the dangers of the coronavirus, when to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court and other topics Wednesday during their first debate in a little-noticed Senate race. Warner, a Democrat and former...

Bill to end mandatory jail time for assaults on police fails

Sep. 22, 2020 5:12 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers on Tuesday killed legislation that called for eliminating mandatory jail time for assaulting a police officer, a bill that drew heated opposition from Republicans who said it would send the wrong message at a time when law enforcement has come under attack during...

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2016, file photo, Del. Marcus Simon D-Fairfax, speaks during a meeting of the Privileges and Elections subcommittee at the Capitol in Richmond, Va. A bill making its way through the House would require police chiefs to notify the Criminal Justice Services Board or a civilian review panel if an officer has received three complaints of excessive force in the previous five years. Simon, the bill's chief sponsor, said three complaints would not automatically trigger a decertification hearing, but would act as an

Virginia lawmakers push to expand police decertification law

Sep. 11, 2020 11:46 AM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A white Virginia state trooper yells an expletive-laden threat at a Black motorist who refuses to get out of his car during a traffic stop. Smiling for the driver's cellphone camera, the trooper remarks, “Watch the show, folks,” then yanks the man out of his car by his...

Virginia Senate approves sweeping police reform legislation

Sep. 10, 2020 5:40 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Senate approved wide-ranging police reform legislation Thursday that would prohibit the use of chokeholds, restrict no-knock search warrants, and expand the grounds to decertify law enforcement officials who commit misconduct. The legislation passed along party lines, and...

File - In this Jan. 23, 2019 file photo, Roy Mitchell, executive director with the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, comments on a Medicaid update presentation before the House Medicaid Committee at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. During a zoom call Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, Mitchell said hospitals in the state are in desperate need of the dollars that Medicaid expansion could provide as the state is among the highest in the country in medical debt. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

After victories, Medicaid expansion revisited in Mississippi

Aug. 30, 2020 8:24 AM EDT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — After voters expanded Medicaid in conservative states like Missouri and Oklahoma, health care advocates are renewing a push for expansion in Mississippi and other Southern states where Republican leaders have long been opposed. They say the changing tide has followed rising income...

Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, right, gives Senate Clerk, Susan Schaar, left, an elbow bump during a break in the Virginia Senate Special Session in the temporary Senate chambers at the Science Museum of Virginia Tuesday Aug. 18, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Lucas has been charged in the removal of a Confederate statue in Portsmouth. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)

Senator: 'I will be vindicated' in Confederate monument case

Aug. 18, 2020 6:04 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia state senator charged with damaging a Confederate monument said Tuesday that she will beat the case against her. “It’s just an unnecessary nuisance, but you know what? I will be vindicated,” Sen. Louise Lucas, a Democrat, said in Richmond. Police in...

The statues on the Confederate monument are covered in graffiti and beheaded after a protest in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Protesters beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument. The crowd was frustrated by the Portsmouth City Council’s decision to put off moving the monument. (Kristen Zeis/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

State senator charged with 'injury' to Confederate monument

Aug. 18, 2020 10:51 AM EDT

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Virginia state senator has been charged with damaging a Confederate monument in Portsmouth during protests that also led to a demonstrator being critically injured when a statue was torn down, authorities said Monday. Sen. Louise Lucas faces charges of conspiracy to commit a felony...

Marie Dantio poses for a photo in Alexandria, Va., Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020. Virginia lawmakers plan to take up dozens of criminal justice reforms during a special legislative session this week, but one proposal in particular is expected to spark an intense battle: a push to change a law that allows police to charge people with felony assault even if the arresting officers are not seriously hurt. Dantio was arrested in 2013 when she went to a church in the middle of the night to try to see a priest. Dantio, who has mental health issues and was homeless at the time, said she did not immediately respond to Fairfax County police officers who responded to a trespassing call. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Virginia to consider reducing penalty for assaulting police

Aug. 17, 2020 8:37 PM EDT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers plan to take up dozens of criminal justice reforms during a special legislative session this week, but one proposal in particular is expected to spark an intense battle: a push to change a law that allows police to charge people with felony assault even if the...

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