VA Senate Dems Kill Transportation “Lock Box,” Oppose Protections For “Right To Work” Laws

Senate Democrats Kill Transportation ‘Lockbox’, Right-to-Work, Other Common-Sense Bills in Less Than an Hour

– Also vote to kill Repeal Amendment resolution –

It might be some sort of record. Legislators have spent entire careers in Richmond and been in the position to kill common-sense, conservative legislation only once or twice. And then they would think long and hard before following through.

But on Tuesday, the current crop of Senate Democrats managed to wipe out no fewer than FOUR such pieces of legislation IN LESS THAN AN HOUR.

During Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Senate P&E Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, Reapportionment, Referenda, Democrats cast party-line votes to kill the following measures:

· SJ 353 – Provides for a ‘lockbox’ that would block any attempt to divert money from the Transportation Trust Fund to other purposes.

· SJ 301 – Provides that unions may only be formed in Virginia via a secret ballot. Would block “card check” method of unionization.

· SJ 323 – Would enshrine Virginia’s right-to-work laws in the Constitution, giving businesses and employers certainty that the Commonwealth’s fundamental labor policy won’t make any snap changes after an election.

· SJ 280 – Memorializes Congress to call a limited Constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing a “repeal amendment” which would let 2/3 of state legislatures repeal any law passed by Congress.

RPV Chairman Pat Mullins issued the following statement on the Democrat’s dubious achievement:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of state Senators make such a strong case for their replacement in such a short amount of time. The Democrats’ decision to kill a Constitutional amendment that would have protected our Transportation Trust Fund is simply indefensible – especially given the frequent Democratic hand-wringing over transportation funding.

Their votes against protecting our Right-to-Work laws are astoundingly short sighted. At a time when Virginia needs every advantage it can get to bring jobs into the Commonwealth, putting Right-To-Work into the Virginia Constitution would give employers a new measure of certainty, making it easier for them to create new jobs. Yet the Democrats voted in lock step AGAINST making that advantage stronger.

Democrats like to talk about how there’s never been a challenge to our Right to Work laws, and so we don’t need a Constitutional amendment. But just because you’ve never had an accident doesn’t mean you don’t need car insurance.

But most baffling of all is their decision to vote against the Repeal Amendment. It’s apparent that these Senators missed the overwhelming message that voters around Virginia sent to Washington when they retired three incumbent Democratic Congressmen in November.”

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