160th Virginia General Assembly
160th Virginia General Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 160th Virginia General Assembly, consisting of members who were elected in both the 2017 House election and 2015 Senate election, convened on January 9, 2018. Republicans held one-seat majorities in both chambers, losing 17 seats in the House. MembershipIn the 2017 election, 25 women were elected to the House of Delegates, breaking the previous record of 19 that was set in 2013.[1] On January 1, 2019, Eileen Filler-Corn became Leader of the House Democratic Caucus, succeeding David Toscano. She is the first woman to lead a caucus in the 400-year history of the Virginia House of Delegates.[2] In addition, in the Dawn M. Adams became the first openly lesbian candidate to be elected to the House of Delegates.[7][8]
LegislationIn the aftermath of the 2019 Virginia Beach shooting, Governor Ralph Northam called for a special session of the Virginia Legislature in order for it to consider different gun-control bills. The House of Delegates reconvened on July 9, 2019 only for it to adjourn again after 90 minutes of session. This decision was made on a party-line vote. Northam expressed his disappointment that no gun-control measures were considered. Speaker of the House of Kirk Cox called the special session "just an election year stunt". He criticized the Democrats' focus on gun-control bills without considering mental health and penalization of crimes.[9] See alsoReferences
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