Senator Ticer’s SB644 passed the Senate today by a 22-16 vote and now goes over to the House, where it will be heard by the House Transportation committee (unless the House Bill 1270 , which is identical, passes the House, in which event both bills will be “conformed” into one, whereupon I’m not exactly certain what the procedure is).To keep us in suspense, Del. Ebbin’s HB 1270 was “Passed by for the day” today, rather than having its 2nd reading, and I haven’t heard why. It could be something very innocent, like the patron was ill or otherwise not present, or it could be more problematic.
The bad news is, that the 22 – 16 vote in the Senate was almost exactly along party lines, with every Democrat voting for the bill, and almost every Republican voting against it, with one of each party not present. Fortunately, two freshman Republican Senators (Stuart and Vogel) must not have gotten the word and voted for the bill, for which we are
grateful. I, personally, was disappointed that my Senator (Stosch) voted against the bill, and will let him know in no uncertain terms. I was also disappointed to see that John Watkins who is on the Transportation Committee, and voted FOR the bill in the committee, turned around and voted AGAINST the bill on the floor. If we have anyone from his district on the list, they may want to call his office (698-7510) and ask WHY?. Our Williamsburg folks may want to call Senator Norment’s office (698-7503) and express their disappointment with his No vote, also.
Why this is bad news, is that the House has a Republican majority, and if anti-pedestrian sentiment is part of the GOP creed, we’re heading for a disappointment. We have gotten this bill further than it’s ever been before and we have a real shot at getting it through, but we’ve got to get it through the House.
Everyone should contact their Delegate’s office (again, if you already have done so in the last day or so, and particularly if your delegate is an R) and urge them to support HB1270 on the floor.
This whole issue should be a “no-brainer”, yet some of us have been working on it for 6 or 7 years.
Let’s get it all the way home this year, so we can go on to other things!
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