A number of bills almost made it to the finish line, but failed in the last hours the Virginia General Assembly gave itself over the weekend to finish most action for the year.
A bill allowing Dominion Energy to sell electric school buses to local school systems that the power company could also use for energy storage remains alive, though, due to a parliamentary maneuver.
After the House of Delegates blocked the electric school bus bill last week on a 43-54 vote, the Senate allowed Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, to reintroduce her bill.
Under the rules change adopted late Saturday night that extended the General Assembly session, the House is allowed to consider Lucas’ bill when it returns Thursday to approve the two-year state budget.
Lawmakers are also set to elect a number of judges Thursday.
Any bills that ended up in conference committees for negotiations over House and Senate disagreements that either never returned for a floor vote or were not approved are now dead for the year.
Those failed bills include an effort to require paid sick leave for all workers in Virginia through a requirement for a minimum of one hour of sick leave earned for every 30 hours worked. The Senate blocked the bill over concerns about budget impacts.
It is also unclear how redistricting will be handled next year, since bills did pass laying out redistricting rules and putting a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall, but some other details about the commission that voters could approve this fall were left out.
Lawmakers also left a bill in conference that would have created a Virginia voting rights act requiring pre-clearance of voting changes in most of the state by either a court or the state attorney general.
An additional bill aimed at limiting frivolous lawsuits meant to silence people and the details of some long-term capital budget priorities are among other bills that withered in the final hours.
