2022 GA Recap Part I – Amazing Wins and Prayers Answered!
The 2022 General Assembly completed its work on bills and resolutions this weekend, leaving any bills still in conference committees and the 2022-2024 biennium budget left to finalize in a special session sometime in the coming weeks. Like any other session, this year had its fill of challenges, but here are some highlights of the biggest victories as well as some very pleasant surprises.
Parental Rights
Going into the session, we knew the Democrat-controlled Senate Education and Health committee was going to be where many of the major parental rights battles would be fought, but that there was also the chance that some legislators may bend to the demands of “school board moms” for more parental oversight of their child’s education. After a contentious showdown between Senate Democrats and Governor Glenn Youngkin for most of session, a few Democrats joined Republicans on the Senate Education and Health committee to pass two critical parental rights bills, SB 739 and SB 656, sponsored by Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico) - ending the school mask mandate and giving parents the ability to review sexually explicit class materials. SB 656 is awaiting the Governor's signature, while SB 739 was signed into law as soon as it cleared both chambers.
For more about these two bills, read our blogs HERE and HERE.
While the Senate committee was approving SB 656 and SB 739, the House was busy protecting parental rights by defeating HB 353 (D-Willett), a bill that would have allowed unaccompanied minors 14 years or older to be treated as an adult for purposes of consenting to certain medical treatment including elective surgeries and treatments, and possibly including transgender surgeries.
Biblical Marriage
The House Privileges and Elections committee held strong against legislation (HJ 57, D-Sickles and SJ 5, D-Ebbin) aimed at tearing down all vestiges of male and female marriage in our state constitution, even to the point of recognizing polygamous marriages. Not only that, but all 52 House Republicans thwarted two attempts during session by Democrats to change the rules in order to “discharge” – a parliamentary procedure to bring a bill out of committee for a full House vote - both HJ 57 and SJ 5.
Religious Liberty and Free Speech
An interesting story this session is how HB 1063, sponsored by freshman Delegate Irene Shin (D-Herndon), which will have a tremendous impact on the faith community, passed unanimously without much discussion. HB 1063, which is also awaiting action by the Governor, defines “religion” that is protected as “any outward expression of religious faith, including adherence to religious dressing and grooming practices and the carrying or display of religious items or symbols,” which could have a far-reaching impact. It seems that while most were focused on HB 753 (R-Adams, L.) and SB 177 (R-Peake) that attempted to protect the right of churches and other faith-based ministries to continue carrying out their uniquely religious mission under the Human Rights Act, HB 1063 was able to coast through the legislative process virtually unnoticed.
The General Assembly also passed HB 384 (R-Davis), a bill initiated by The Family Foundation, that would protect public employees, like Tanner Cross, a Loudoun County teacher, who was fired for speaking against a proposed policy at his school board in his personal capacity. This bill is now headed to the Governor's desk.
Defending the Sanctity of Life – at all stages
There weren’t very many pro-life bills to cheer for this year, but we were glad to see legislation (HB 1095, D-Kory and SB 668, D-Hashmi) that would have legalized physician assisted suicide be defeated. SB 668, which failed in a Senate Education and Health committee, and HB 1095 which was never given a hearing, promotes of a culture of death by taking advantage of the sick and elderly that only further demonstrates the left’s lack of respect for all human life.
Another dangerous bill defeated in a House committee that would have created a nightmare scenario for preborn life, parenthood, and the basic family structure was HB 480 (D-Helmer). The bill would have required all insurance plans to pay for “infertility” services for any person who cannot have a child on their own – i.e. Every single person (of any age) who simply decides they want a child will be entitled to have their insurance provider pay to help them create one (or many). Had this bill been passed, it would have severely undermined the nuclear family structure of a married father and mother with children.
We are also happy to report that SB 163 (R-Peake), which prohibits women who enter a surrogacy contract to be forced to have an abortion, finally passed this year.
Fighting Against more Vices in our Communities
This year we continued our principled opposition to legislation expanding casino gambling in the Commonwealth. Both bills (SB 1134, R-Taylor and SB 203, D-Morrissey) to allow for a casino in Petersburg without any economic study failed, and the biennium budget also contains language to prevent Richmond from holding another casino referendum for two years. And thanks to the sound judgement of House General Laws committee, SB 391 (D-Ebbin), which would have established the actual framework for the creation of a cannabis market in the Commonwealth, including edibles, was defeated. (For more on this bill read our blog HERE).
Final Thoughts
This session demonstrated three things: 1) The Republican majority in the House of Delegates stood strong for the interest of families when it counted, 2) The Senate Education and Health committee controlled by Democrats was a “brick wall” to many good parental rights and school choice policies, and 3) Some Senators felt the pressure of the parents demanding more oversight of their child’s education and sided with parents.
While there’s still a lot of work to do in future sessions to unravel the policies of the radical left, this session was a good start under the new leadership.
