RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia drivers who go too slowly in the left lane could get $250 fines, hunters could wear blaze pink instead of orange and women could buy a year’s worth of birth control under legislation still alive at the midpoint of this year’s General Assembly.
Tuesday was the deadline for all legislation, except for budget bills, to pass in the houses where they originated. Hundreds of bills have already died, including perennial legislation on social issues like abortion that either had no chance of passing the GOP-led General Assembly or surviving a veto by Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
Here’s a look at other areas lawmakers have addressed:
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MENTAL HEALTH REFORM
McAuliffe and lawmakers from both parties say they have made it a priority to pass mental health care reform and legislation to stem the state’s growing opioid addiction crisis.
The death of Jamycheal Mitchell, a mentally ill man, in a Portsmouth jail, was among several high-profile incidents that sparked calls for mental health care improvements. Virginia lags much of the country in general-fund spending on mental health care. Yet lawmakers are facing a tough budget year.
This year’s most important effort is a bill that would provide same-day access for mental health care at the state’s community services boards, state and locally funded organizations across the state that serve low-income people, several lawmakers say.
Overall, “this session will continue to make progress” but won’t get the job done, said Del. Vivian Watts, a Democrat from Fairfax County and a member of a panel convened three years ago to study the issue.
Virginia’s top public health officials have stressed the urgency of dealing with the rising abuse of opioids, which has been declared a public health crisis. Some of the measures working their way through the General Assembly are intended to reduce the prescription of drugs containing opioids, improve tracking of such prescriptions and expand access to naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Before the session began, McAuliffe said he wanted criminal justice reform to hold offenders responsible in a way that ensures they can also be rehabilitated and continue to be productive members of society.
One bill would increase the threshold of what’s considered a felony larceny from $200 to $500. Proponents say raising the threshold would save taxpayers’ money because of fewer people incarcerated for larceny. Opponents counter that a strict law prevents theft. McAuliffe said Virginia’s felony larceny threshold, the lowest in the country, was set in 1980.
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ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Lawmakers’ votes have limited the possibility of electric rates going down and increased the chances of them going up.
Legislators swiftly rejected a measure aimed at repealing a 2015 law that limits state regulators’ ability to adjust electric prices. Critics said the law, backed by energy giant Dominion Resources, was a corporate giveaway that’s making Virginia ratepayers pay too much on their electric bills. Dominion disputes those figures and said the law has ensured its rate remain stable.
Lawmakers passed legislation that affirms Dominion can recover $3.5 billion it plans to spend extending the life of its nuclear power plants in Virginia by 20 years to 25 years. The Senate has also approved a Dominion-backed bill that could make it easier for the company to get approval to bury power lines and pass on the costs to customers.
Dominion did suffer a rare defeat when the Senate passed a bill against its wishes that would require it to provide more information to state regulators about its coal ash impoundments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed - including details about water quality and recycling options - before closure permits are issued.
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