By Adam Pagnucco.
Over the last several months, I wrote about a few state bills that have since been resolved in the most recent session of the General Assembly. Let’s see what happened to them.
Ranked Choice Voting
Back in January, I wrote a series about ranked choice voting (RCV) that analyzed 1,120 RCV elections from around the nation and found that they produced the same outcome as traditional elections 98% of the time. Nevertheless, Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr introduced a local bill that would have allowed the county council to establish them for county office elections. RCV elections would have cost the county $1.2 million in FY24 and millions more in future years.
Outcome
The bill passed MoCo’s house delegation unanimously but it died in the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, without a vote.
The Linda Lamone for Life Law
Senator Cheryl Kagan introduced a bill to repeal the Linda Lamone for Life law, which due to a dispute between Senate President Mike Miller and Governor Bob Ehrlich nearly twenty years ago, made it virtually impossible to fire the state elections administrator. It’s amazing that this law lasted as long as it did since Miller and Ehrlich are both long gone.
Outcome
The bill passed the senate on a 43-2 vote, passed the house on a 135-0 vote and was signed by the governor. This was a huge win for Kagan, who is more active on election integrity issues than perhaps anyone else in Annapolis.
The Power Grab Bills
Senator Ben Kramer introduced two bills that would have significantly increased county executive authority over the planning board, which opponents dubbed the “Power Grab bills.” Their fate became one of the hottest issues in the county after the blowup of the planning board last fall.
Outcome
In a deal brokered by Delegate Lesley Lopez, Kramer withdrew one bill calling for a task force to study transferring Park and Planning’s authority to the executive in return for the establishment of a voluntary work group to examine how the two work together. The other bill was heavily amended to strip out any references to executive power over the planning board and eventually passed into law as an ethics and transparency package. While these bills did not accomplish much, they did produce one of the spiciest appearances of a state legislator at a council session in recent memory.
The District 18 Debacle Fix
A year ago, District 18 Delegate Al Carr dropped out of his house race to run for county council at the last minute. That left a vacant spot on the ballot that the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee filled with one of its own members. Senator Cheryl Kagan introduced a bill that would have extended the filing deadline by 7 days in such a circumstance to enable a competitive election rather than an appointment by political bosses.
Outcome
The bill died without a vote in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, chaired by Montgomery County Senator Brian Feldman. Unless this problem is corrected, the District 18 debacle could happen again in the next election.
Special Elections for State Legislative Appointments
I have written many columns about the state constitution’s reliance on party central committees rather than special elections to fill vacancies in the General Assembly. These kinds of special elections are held regularly in Virginia and thousands of people vote in them. Delegate Linda Foley, who was herself a central committee member appointed to fill a vacancy, introduced a bill to use special elections instead. Many other bills have been introduced on the same subject in the past.
Outcome
The bill died in the House Ways and Means Committee without a vote. Combined with the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee’s failure to reform its appointment process, this means that the Iron Law of Oligarchy once again reigns supreme.
Partisan Requirements for Board Memberships
At both the state and county levels, many boards have partisan requirements for membership to prevent them from being completely dominated by members of the same political party. The county government requested a bill stripping this requirement from its board of license commissioners, which decides on liquor licenses, and Delegate Linda Foley introduced a bill stripping it from the planning board.
Outcome
The liquor board bill was withdrawn. The planning board bill was amended to link partisan membership to the county executive’s last general election results. It was later withdrawn.
Income Tax Hike Bill
Until recently, the state allowed counties to charge flat income tax rates of up to 3.2%. In 2021, the General Assembly changed the law to allow county income tax brackets but the maximum allowed rate stayed at 3.2%. Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr, supported by Council Member Will Jawando, proposed legislation allowing the maximum rate to be raised to 3.7% at $500,000 for single filers or $600,000 for joint filers.
Outcome
The bill died in the House Ways and Means Committee without a vote.