CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - Will 2020 be the year that Virginia’s cities and counties gain the power to remove Confederate monuments if they want to?
Some believe it’s much more likely now that Democrats are retaking control of the state Legislature.
The Daily Progress in Charlottesville reported Monday that a statewide coalition will try to make sure that state law is changed this year. Virginia code currently prevents localities from removing war monuments.
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The upcoming legislative session will be the first in more than a quarter century that Democrats have controlled both chambers of the General Assembly and the governorship.
Monumental Justice Virginia, a statewide coalition, said that bills will be filed in both chambers of the Statehouse to try to give localities power over monuments.
Charlottesville’s City Council voted in 2017 to remove statues of Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. But the efforts were stymied by a lawsuit arguing that the vote violated state code.
A judge ruled in September that the statues must stay. The city is planning an appeal.
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