It's half time at the General Assembly! Yes -- Crossover. What is crossover you might ask... well...
Crossover is the day during the General Assembly session where all the bills that passed the House of Delegates get sent to the Senate, and all the bills that passed the Senate get sent to the House of Delegates. The legislation will "crossover" from one chamber to the other for consideration, debate, and more voting.
This is especially important because some of the most dangerous, damaging bills for labor that Republicans forced through the House of Delegates will now go to the Senate. It is important that we as a community stay engaged and continue to push back against these policies that would take us backward. But the fight continues and our hard-won successes are worth recognizing.
GA at Halftime: A Snapshot of What's Next
Bad Bills That We Need to Defeat:
Attacks on Public Employee Organizing/Bargaining Rights (HB 336/337/341/790/883)
Attacks on Minimum Wage Increases (HB 296/ HB 320/ HB 1040)
Attacks on Prevailing Wage (HB 58/ HB 883)
Attacks on PLAs (HB 1091/ HB 883)
Attacks on Public Education: teachers and funding (HB 9/ HB 294/ HB 356/ HB 1024)
Attacks on Freedom to Vote (HB 46 plus several others that threaten access to absentee voting, voting by mail and add obstacles like discriminatory photo ID requirements)
Good Bills:
Equal Pay salary history bill (SB 447)
Paid Sick Leave for Grocery Store and Healthcare Workers (SB 352/ SB 624)
Buy Virginian/Buy American PPE (SB 416)
Safe and Thriving Workplace- Anti- Harassment Act (SB 494)
Right to Vote Constitutional Amendment (SJ 1/ SB 21)
School Construction Funding (SB 472/ SB 473 and several by locality)
Payment of wages- certified payroll, subcontractor payments (SB 524/ SB 550)
The bills listed above capture just some of the bills we've been tracking and working on. There are another set of good bills that did not pass as well as bad bills that have been defeated. At this stage, though, we wanted to focus in on what's next for the final half of session.
Though it is quite a feat to get bills passed out of the House, the work is not done. We have to ensure the Senate holds the line and that we can stop the House from damaging our hard work! As crossover takes place and the session continues, so will our efforts to be the voice of labor in Virginia.
We can't thank our labor lobbyists enough for joining us on a nearly daily basis to lobby on behalf of Virginia's workers and the labor movement. While every vote has not gone our way, there is no question we've made labor's voice heard through constant emails, calls, testimony and lobbying appointments with GA members.
We have just over 3 more weeks to go- help us finish strong! Sign up to virtually lobby with us this session -- the more labor activists we have, the better! Let's finish session strong, together!