Virginia General Assembly
General information
Type:	State legislature
Term limits:	None
Session start:	January 9, 2019
Session end:	February 24, 2019
Website:	Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:	Justin Fairfax (D)
House Speaker:	Kirk Cox (R)
Majority Leader:	Senate:Thomas Norment Jr. (R) House:C. Todd Gilbert (R)
Minority Leader:	Senate:Dick Saslaw (D) House:Eileen Filler-Corn (D)
Structure
Members:	40 (Senate), 100 (House)
Length of term:	4 years (Senate),2 years (House)
Authority:	Art IV, Virginia Constitution
Salary:	$18,000/year (Senate), $17,640/year (House) + per diem
Elections
Last election:	November 3, 2015 Senate November 7, 2017 House
Next election:	November 5, 2019 Senate House
Redistricting:	Virginia Legislature has control

Virginia convened its legislative session on January 9, 2019, and legislators remained in session until February 24, 2019. No party had aveto-proof supermajority this legislative session. Following the 2015 elections, Republicans had a 21-19 majorityin the Senate. Following the 2017 elections, Republicans had a 51-49 majorityin the House. The Democratic Party controlled the governorship after the2017 gubernatorial election, meaning the state was underdivided government.

Click the links to read more about the 2019state Senate andstate House elections.
Click the links to read more about the 2015state Senate and 2017state House elections.

Partisan control in 2019

See also:State government trifectas

Virginia was one of 14 states underdivided government at the start of 2019 legislative sessions, meaning it did not have a government trifecta. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas,click here.

Virginia was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had aveto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called aveto-proof majority or, sometimes, asupermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures,click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of theVirginia General Assembly in the 2019 legislative session.

Virginia State Senate

Between 1994 and 2015, partisan control of the Virginia State Senate fluctuated, swinging back and fort between the Democratic and Republican parties. The table below shows the partisan history of the Virginia State Senate following every general election from 1991 to 2015. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin'sParty Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

As a result of the 1991 elections, Democrats held a 22-18 majority. Elections in 1995 and2011 resulted in the chamber moving to a split 20-20 partisan balance. Both of those elections were off of a Democratic majority and followed up by a Republican majority in the next election. The largest change in partisan balance of the state Senate was between 1999 and2003, when Republicans gained three seats. The2015 elections resulted in a 21-19 Republican majority.

Virginia House of Delegates

Between 1991 and 2017, partisan control of the Virginia House of Delegates shifted in favor of the Republican Party and then began moving back toward the Democratic Party. As a result of the 1991 elections, Democrats held a 52-47 majority. Republicans gained control of the chamber in 1999 and, by2015, expanded their majority to 66-34. In the2017 elections, the chamber's partisan balance swung back toward the Democrats as they gained 15 seats and narrowed the Republican majority to 51-49.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Virginia House of Delegates following every general election from 1991 to 2017. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin'sParty Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Republicans began making gains in the state House after the 1997 elections, when they picked up two seats. The chamber moved to a 52-47 Republican majority after the 1999 elections. The largest swing towards Republicans in the state House occurred as a result of the2001 elections, when the party expanded its majority by 15 seats. Democrats gained 13 seats between2003 and2007. In2011, Republicans gained eight seats, moving the chamber to a 67-32 Republican majority.

In the2017 elections, Democrats picked up 15 seats and nearly forced a 50-50 split in the chamber. The race for District 94 was an exact tie between DelegateDavid Yancey (R) andShelly Simonds (D). A random drawing was held to select the winner and Yancey won.

Two-thirds of members present in both chambers must vote to override a veto. If all members are in attendance, this is 67 of the 100 members in theVirginia House of Delegates and 27 of the 40 members in theVirginia State Senate.

Leadership in 2019

Regular session

The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2019 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria yet in 2019. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Noteworthy events

Events involving Virginia's executive branch

See also:Noteworthy events involving Virginia's executive branch, 2019

In February 2019, a series of events unfolded involving the top three elected officials within Virginia's executive branch: GovernorRalph Northam (D), Lt. Gov.Justin Fairfax (D), and state Attorney GeneralMark Herring (D).

On February 1, a website released a yearbook photo fromNortham's medical school featuring a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The photo appeared on a yearbook page with Northam's name on it and pictures featuring him.^[1] Two sexual assault allegations againstFairfax were made public between February 3 and February 8.^[2][3] And on February 6,Herring released a statement saying he wore blackface in college.^[4]

Following the events, prominent Democrats called for the resignation of Northam and Fairfax. Northam said he was not in the yearbook photo, and Fairfax said the allegations against him were false.^[5][3]

Both Northam and Fairfax said they would not resign. Northam began what he called a reconciliation tour on February 22, 2019.^[6] Virginia's legislative session ended on February 24 without the state House of Representatives having settled a debate over whether to hold public committee hearings to receive testimony from Fairfax and the two women who accused him of assault.^[7]

Click here for a timeline of events, statements from the three officials, and reactions from prominent Democrats.

Standing legislative committees

See also:Standing committee andList of committees in Virginia state government

Astanding committee of astate legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2019 legislative session, there were25 standing committees in Virginia's state government, including11 state Senate committees and14 state House committees. There were no joint committees.

Senate committees

House committees

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process forreferring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states,initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are alsomany other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Virginia Constitution can be amended:

See also:Article XII of the Virginia Constitution andLaws governing ballot measures in Virginia

TheVirginia Constitution can be amended through two different paths—a legislative process, and a constitutional convention. Virginiadoes not feature the power ofinitiative for eitherinitiated constitutional amendments orinitiated state statutes.

Legislature

See also:Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

A simple majority vote is required during two successive legislative sessions for theVirginia General Assembly to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 51 votes in theVirginia House of Delegates and 21 votes in theVirginia State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also:Convention-referred constitutional amendment

Amendments to or revisions of the state's constitution can be proposed by aconstitutional convention as established inSection 2 of Article XII. A convention can happen if the state's legislature "by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house" calls a convention.

Historical context:Between 1996 and 2018, the following occurred:

• A total of31 measures appeared on statewide ballots.
• An average of 2.6 measures appeared on even-year ballots.
• The number of measures appearing on statewide ballots ranged from zero to five.
• Voters approved 87.1 percent (27 of 31) of statewide ballot measures.
• Voters rejected 12.9 percent (4 of 31) of statewide ballot measures.

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Virginia.

See also

Elections	Virginia State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Virginia State Senate elections, 2015 Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2017	Virginia General Assembly Virginia House of Delegates Virginia State Senate Governor of Virginia Virginia Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2019 State legislative special elections, 2019 State legislative elections, 2018 State legislative elections, 2016	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Virginia General Assembly homepage

Footnotes