"Let's Go, Brandon" sign on the Virginia Capitol grounds

[mahatmakanejeeves]

And by "Let's Go, Brandon" I mean something else. The proposed amendment does sound like a backdoor way of getting around the First Amendment. I think that, had it passed, the Virginia ACLU would have challenged it.

I had the opportunity to break a tie vote today on a Senate budget amendment, voting no on language that would have stifled free speech. #LG42 #VAgeneralassembly #everforward

Link to tweet

Virginia Politics

More services or more tax cuts: Virginia House and Senate pass vastly different budgets

By Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella
Yesterday at 8:00 p.m. EST

RICHMOND — Two very different state budget plans emerged from Virginia’s divided Capitol on Thursday, with the Republican-led House passing a bill with hefty tax cuts and the Democratic-controlled Senate backing one with more generous government spending.

{snip}

Sen. Amanda F. Chase (R-Chesterfield), a self-described “Trump in heels” who has promoted former president Donald Trump’s false election claims, proposed floor amendments intended to boost “election integrity.” Most were shot down with voice votes, but Democrats insisted on a recorded vote for one of her amendments, which sought to devote $70 million to a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election. ... “This amendment is drawn from the darkest corners of the Internet,” Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) said ahead of the vote. “It is a conspiracy-theorist bonanza that I would hope we would defeat.”

Nine Republicans, representing nearly half the Senate’s Republican caucus, ducked off the floor and missed the vote. Chase got support from three fellow Republicans, two of them in party nomination battles for Congress, Bryce Reeves (Spotsylvania) and Jen A. Kiggans (Virginia Beach). The remaining six Republicans voted against, as did every Democrat.

{snip}

Reeves raised free-speech concerns about a budget amendment proposed by the full Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee that would have drastically tightened requirements for political demonstrations near the state Capitol. ... Existing budget language says a permit is required for any group of 10 or more people to march, picket or make a speech on property controlled by the Department of General Services, including streets bordering the Capitol. The amendment would have lowered the threshold to “one or more individuals,” so a lone person would need a permit to stand in front of the Capitol with a sign. ... “Somebody’s trying to stifle our First Amendment rights,” Reeves said.

It fell to Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) to explain the amendment on the floor because it pertained to a subcommittee he chairs. He told the body he was unfamiliar with it. After consulting with a Finance Committee staffer, he said it stemmed from a protester who earlier this year stood in front of the Capitol with an enormous anti-Biden sign with an expletive. ... “Our Capitol Police don’t have a way to get him off the grounds right now,” Petersen said, adding that the expletive could be offensive to families visiting the Capitol. ... The amendment died after Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (R) voted against it to break a 20 to 20 tie, with most Republicans opposed and most Democrats in favor.

{snip}

Karina Elwood contributed to this report.

By Gregory S. Schneider
Greg Schneider covers Virginia from the Richmond bureau. He was The Washington Post's business editor for more than seven years, and before that served stints as deputy business editor, national security editor and technology editor. He has also covered aviation security, the auto industry and the defense industry for The Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/SchneiderG

By Laura Vozzella
Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, she was a political columnist and food writer at the Baltimore Sun, and she has also worked for the Associated Press, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Hartford Courant. Twitter https://twitter.com/LVozzella