The Virginia State Capitol at night. (Photo: Craig Carper/VPM News) Ben Paviour and Roberto Roldan reported this story.
The General Assembly wrapped up its 2021 session on Saturday after lawmakers passed major legislation on marijuana legalization, criminal justice reform, and COVID-19.
For a second year, Virginia Democrats used majorities in the House and Senate to push their top priorities. They advanced “first-in-the-South” legislation that would ban the death penalty, create a Virginia Voting Rights Act, and declare racism a public health crisis. Lawmakers moved to allow people to expunge criminal records and expand access to absentee voting.
Virginia State Sen. Mamie Locke (D-Hampton), left, delivers the morning prayer as Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) looks on during the Senate session at the Science Museum in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Virginia General Assembly Passes Locke/McClellan Bill to Reform Discriminatory HIV Laws
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Much of the opposition to the bill was due to concerns by lawmakers about restricting the types of defenses that defendants may employ in court, or the belief that Virginia courts would outright reject a “panic” defense, thereby making the bill unnecessary.
Sen. Joseph Morrissey (I-Richmond), an independent who typically caucuses with Democrats, said lawmakers would be going “down a very slippery slope” if they began limiting the types of defenses a defendant could employ, reports NBC affiliate WVIR.
But Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) said that lawmakers have previously repealed defenses that people found abhorrent, and noted instances in which courts in the commonwealth have previously accepted the “panic” defense as legitimate.
âMassive Resistanceâ architectâs statue banished
Photo/Capital News Service
The statue of Harry Flood Byrd Sr. has stood in Virginiaâs Capitol Square since 1976, a decade after this death. That is a great stain on his career and a great embarrassment. But he was a man of a certain time in a certain era. Sen. Jill Vogel (R-27th/Upperville)
By Zachary Klosko
Capital News Service
RICHMOND â The Virginia General Assembly has voted to remove the statue of former U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. from Capitol Square, the area around the Virginia statehouse.
House Bill 2208, introduced by Del. Jay Jones (D-Norfolk), instructs the Department of General Services to place the statue in storage until the General Assembly chooses its final location. The bill passed the House in late January on a 63-34 vote, while the Senate approved the measure Tuesday on a 36-3 vote.
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The statue to former Virginia Governor and staunch segregationist Harry Byrd in Richmond s Capitol Square. (Photo: Craig Carper/VPM News)
A statue of former Virginia Governor Harry F. Byrd is expected to be removed from Richmond’s Capitol Square.
The Senate voted 36-3 to approve the removal Tuesday afternoon, but not before Democrats and Republicans gave dueling accounts of Byrd’s life on the Senate floor. Byrd was a leader in the South’s fight against racial integration in the 1950’s and 60’s, known as the massive resistance movement. He also led the creation of Virginia’s modern highway system and was rumoured to be a top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932.
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