Virginia Republicans Introduce Slew of Reactionary Bills

We all expected that the Republican Party was going to confirm to the world that it is a reactionary force that wants to take the Commonwealth of Virginia backward in time. Indeed, if they could get away with it, one would almost expect Virginia Republicans to introduce bills to bring back segregation or, better yet in their minds, slavery. As the Washington Post is reporting the Virginia Republicans have introduces several score of backward thinking, discrimination loving bills into the current session of the Virginia General Assembly. As is always the case in Virginia, gays among the targets of the GOP backed bills. Here are highlights from the Post story:

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell warned his Republican brethren to take it slow this month as they took control of the state Senate. “Don’t be arrogant, don’t overreach, don’t fight,” he told them. If the flurry of legislation they’ve introduced is any indication, Virginia’s most conservative Republicans aren’t holding back.

They are pushing legislation to: wipe out corporate income taxes; mandate drug testing of welfare recipients; crack down on illegal immigrants; beef up gun rights, property rights, parental rights and fetal rights; roll back gay rights; and free the commonwealth from federal laws it doesn’t like.

Many of those bills have come and gone before, sailing through the Republican-dominated House but dying in the Senate, where Democrats ruled for the past four years and moderate Republicans held sway before that. With the GOP now in control of the evenly split Senate, there’s hope among conservatives — and dread among liberals — that some of those measures will become law.

Democrats are still in a position to block them in certain areas — the budget, tax bills, constitutional amendments and judicial appointments — because Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) lacks the authority to break tie votes on those matters. And on social issues such as guns and abortion, moderate Republicans could very well stand in their way.

McDonnell, who prides himself on working well with Republicans and Democrats alike, had hard-nosed political reasons for discouraging a pedal-to-the-metal, hard-right agenda. If conservatives go too far too quickly for voters in this swing state, there could be a backlash in this year’s U.S. Senate and presidential races in November, political observers say. It also could hurt McDonnell’s chances to wind up as somebody’s No. 2 on the Republican presidential ticket.

One is the “personhood” bill, which seeks to define life as beginning at conception. Abortion-rights supporters warn that it could effectively outlaw the procedure as well as some forms of birth control, such as intrauterine devices. Another bill would require that any woman seeking an abortion be offered an ultrasound image of the fetus beforehand.

The conservative caucus also is pushing legislation that would: allow faith-based adoption agencies to refuse to place children with gay couples; lift a state requirement that schoolgirls get immunized against a sexually transmitted disease; and lift a one-gun-a month limit on handgun purchases.

Democrats aren’t feeling secure, . . . . “We cannot become another Alabama or another Arizona. We represent something better,” said Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington), a member of the Virginia Progressive Caucus, referring to a bill that would empower state police to enforce immigration law.

Virginia is already an exceedingly backward state by many measures. If the Virginia Republicans have there way Virginia could be challenging Alabama and Mississippi for the designation as the nation's most backward state.