Abstract
Benjamin Franklin may have been discussing the new United States
Constitution when he penned this note to his friend, French scientist Jean-
Baptiste Le Roy, but he could easily have been referring to politics in
Virginia. Virginia House of Delegates members and members of the
Congressional House of Representatives serve two-year terms. Members of
the Virginia Senate serve four-year terms. United States Senators serve sixyear
terms. And the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General
all serve four-year terms with only the Governor constitutionally limited to a
single four-year term. With all of these terms being staggered across the
various offices, the result is that every single year in the Commonwealth of
Virginia, there is a consequential election which could shift the balance of
power between and within the executive and legislative branches. Death,
taxes and Virginia elections—nothing in this world is more certain.
But with the certainty of constant elections also comes constant change.
Every January, the Virginia General Assembly convenes to debate and pass
the Commonwealth’s laws. The frequency of state elections can result in
whiplash policy changes from year to year as the two dominant political
parties trade majority rule. Only once in the past ten years has one party
managed to control the Governor’s office and both chambers of the General
Assembly when the Democrats accomplished this short-lived feat in 2019.
The Democrats quickly proceeded to pass a number of initiatives they had
long favored, including: criminal justice reform, the decriminalization of
marijuana, the creation of the Cannabis Control Authority, expansion of rights for
LGBTQIA+, and the Clean Economy Act, among others. But the rapid
advancement of so many initiatives in such a short period of time led
to significant pushback against the party; in 2021, Republicans regained
control of the House of Delegates and swept all three statewide offices for
Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. The Democrats
retained control of the Senate, setting up another electoral showdown for
control of the General Assembly in the November 2023 elections.
This article will discuss some of the policy initiatives introduced during
the 2023 legislative session in advance of the fall elections. It will examine
what happened with some key initiatives such as campaign finance reform,
ratepayer reform and the establishment of a cannabis retail market. It will
then analyze what should have happened in these areas and look to the 2024
session for what new initiatives we can expect to see introduced.
Recommended Citation
Carlos Hopkins & Abigail Thompson,
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda: How Virginia’s Everchanging Politics Creates (Missed) Opportunities For Major Policy Decisions,
27
Rich. Pub. Int. L. Rev.
1
(2023).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/pilr/vol27/iss1/3