What goes on in a VA General Assembly committee meeting?
The Virginia General Assembly is divided into the Senate and House of Delegates. Inside of these two branches exists committees and subcommittees that will view bills that have been referred to the corresponding committee. For example, House Bill 36 (HB 36) was profiled on Nov. 19, 2019. HB 36 was then referred to the education committee and was later assigned to the education subcommittee of post-secondary and higher education.
The post-secondary and higher education subcommittee met on Jan. 29 to discuss a number of bills including HB 36. The room was packed with many attendants being forced to stand. I was one such unlucky attendee standing in the back straining to see the delegates of the subcommittee stationed at the far end of the room. “The House Post-Secondary and Higher Education subcommittee will now come to order,” said Delegate Mark Keam, beginning the session.
HB 36 was the second bill to be addressed during the Jan. 29 session. Delegate Chris Hurst introduced the bill and summarized by saying, “Quite frankly this is a simple bill to try and make sure we can ensure freedom of the press for journalists no matter if they are 17 or 77. If you are in high school or you are in college and you are learning how to be a journalist we need to make sure that you have the same protection that professional journalists have from onerous censorship.”
Hurst gave a few more words in support of the bill and then Keam asked for members of the public who were in attendance to speak in favor of the bill if they so desired. Several attendees rose from the audience and proceeded to the podium. One such attendee, Superintendent of Stafford County Schools Scott Kinzer, said, “Freedom of speech for anyone in a journalistic position should not be restricted by those who may be concerned of news that might be controversial, unflattering, or challenging of our leadership decisions. Student journalism programs are part of the students’ learning experiences and if the schools employed journalism teachers or advisors that understand the ethics and impact a story may have on their school and larger community then the fears we may have will be unfounded.”
After several more attendees spoke in support of the bill members of the public who were in opposition to the bill were given time to speak. One such attendee, VSBA Chief Lobbyist Stacy Haney, said, “We talked about high school and higher education. I wanna point out for the committee that this legislation also applies to students who are in middle school. So, just wanna be real clear about that and ask that you think about the maturity level and where we need to be with middle school students.”After attendees finished speaking in opposition to the bill, Hurst spoke with members of the committee directly before moving on to the next bill. Since the committee session in Jan., HB 36 has passed both the VA Senate and House of Delegates. On April 9, HB 36 was approved by the governor. The archives for the House of Delegates committee streams can be found at https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/committees/commstream.html
