2007 Legislative Session

These are the 2007 Virginia bills that impact the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and were tracked by Equality Virginia. Click on a bill number to view the Richmond Sunlight page for that bill.

ATTEMPT TO BAR GAY/STRAIGHT ALLIANCES – OPPOSE

HB 1727 (LOHR)/HB 3047 (COLE)

  • (HB 3047 was rolled into 1727) This bill would have required that local school boards implement either an opt-out or opt-in policy before students could participate in extra-curricular activities. Designed to suppress participation in Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs), this bill could have prevented at-youth risk from being able to participate in a critical support network, and would have provided an unnecessary and costly bureaucratic burden on school boards and educators.

    FINAL STATUS: This bill was troubled from the start. Going through several re-writes, it was defeated in committee on lobby day, then resurrected and passed. It passed the House of Delegates before being finally defeated in the Senate Committee on Education and Health by a vote of 9-6. Please take a moment to thank those Senators who voted to kill this anti-GSA legislation for the third year in a row!

END EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION – SUPPORT

SB 820 (DEVOLITES DAVIS)/ SB 1310 (LUCAS/LOCKE) AND HB 2550 (EBBIN)

  • Governor Tim Kaine issued Executive Order 1 on his first day in office to protect state employees from workplace discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation or disability. This bill would make this policy permanent and extend it to all in the state workforce.

    FINAL STATUS: Unfortunately, these bills were defeated in their respected committees this year with little debate allowed. The final Senate version, SB 820 failed to report (or pass) by a vote of 8-7. The House version was stifled in the House Subcommittee were it was assigned by a 3-2 vote. No testimony before the full committee was allowed.

LOCAL HEALTH INSURANCE BILL – SUPPORT

SB 1242 (WHIPPLE)

  • Provides that any locality that self-funds a health insurance program for its officers and employees may extend coverage under such program by any other class of persons as may be mutually agreed upon by the locality and the policyholder.

    FINAL STATUS: For the second year in a row, this bill passed easily in the Senate only to fail in the House. It passed the Senate 36-4, and the House Committee on Counties Cities and Towns by an 11-10 vote. Unfortunately, when it arrived on the House Floor, Del. Clarke Hogan (R-South Boston) made a motion to re-refer the legislation to the House Appropriations Committee, where it was sent to a subcommittee to die without proper debate.

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO ADD SEXUAL ORIENTATION – SUPPORT

HB 2252 (WADDELL)/ HB 2598 (PLUM)

  • These two bills would allow Richmond City (2253) and Fairfax County (2598) the right to add “sexual orientation” to their local non-discrimination ordinances and policies.

    FINAL STATUS: These bills were “tabled” in the House Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns by a 13-8 vote. Although they had passed subcommittee, absolutely no debate was allowed in the full committee. Dels. Waddell and Plum were not even allowed to speak in support of their own bills.

HOSPITAL VISITATION RIGHTS – SUPPORT

HB 2730 (ENGLIN)

  • Requires hospitals to develop regulations allowing patients to designate any individual for visitation purposes and to change the designation at any time.

    FINAL STATUS: This bill passed the House of Delegates 97-0 and the Senate 40-0!! It will now be sent to the Governor’s desk.

AMEND SO-CALLED “MARRIAGE AMENDMENT” – SUPPORT

HJ 678 (EBBIN)

  • Proposes to amend the so-called “marriage amendment”, by referendum at the November 2008 election. This proposed amendment would add a “savings clause” protecting rights, benefits, obligations or status for unmarried persons not already abridged.

    FINAL STATUS: This bill was defeated, or “passed by indefinitely”, in the House Privileges and Elections Committee.

REPEAL SO-CALLED “MARRIAGE AMENDMENT” – SUPPORT

HJ 721 (ENGLIN)

  • Would outright repeal the Marshall/Newman amendment from the Virginia Constitution.

    FINAL STATUS: This bill was defeated, or “passed by indefinitely”, in the House Privileges and Elections Committee.

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