Quick bill updates: Mandated health coverage | McDonnell-backed education bills pass | Death penalty expansion | Law to exempt yoga teachers from state regs | Student-athlete concussions | Workplace protection for gays | Personal voting history shielded | Ethics rules overhauled

Va. OKs first bill banning mandated health coverage

RICHMOND -- Virginia's General Assembly is the first in the nation to approve legislation that bucks federal health care reforms by banning mandatory health insurance coverage.

Without debate, the House of Delegates voted 80-17 Wednesday to accept Senate amendments to a bill that supporters say preserves Virginia's prerogatives as a state.

Thirty-four other legislatures have filed or proposed similar measures rejecting health insurance mandates.

But Virginia's legislature, scheduled to adjoun Saturday, is the first to finish work on a bill. The measure goes to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who plans to sign it.

The measures are advancing nationally as Republicans capitalize on voter discontent over Democratic-backed federal health care reform efforts in Congress.

-- The Associated Press

McDonnell-backed education bills pass

Bills pushed by Gov. Bob McDonnell to give the state a role in establishing charter schools and laboratory schools run by state universities are on the way to his desk.

The Senate passed both House measures without debate Wednesday, a day after it passed its own identical proposals despite concerns by some that creating the new schools would drain already hurting public school budgets.

Another measure to allow the state to regulate online schools also passed the Senate, but it must head back to the House for a final vote because the Senate changed it.

The state Department of Education would be allowed to help charter-school providers with their applications. The decision whether to approve the schools would remain with the local school board.

-- The Associated Press

Death penalty expansion bills advance

Virginia lawmakers have approved bills that will expand the death penalty, making more people eligible for capital punishment in a state that already is home to the nation's second-busiest death chamber.

A bill allowing the death penalty for those who kill auxiliary police officers now heads to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who supports expanding the death penalty. Another bill to make those who kill fire marshals eligible for death heads back to the House for likely approval of a change the Senate made.

The move comes a week before Virginia executes another inmate and as several other states attempt to limit the number of executions rather than expand the crimes eligible for death.

This year, eight states introduced bills to either abolish the death penalty or limit its application.

-- The Associated Press

Law to exempt yoga teachers from state regs

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed legislation that will exempt yoga teacher-training programs from state regulations.

The state's higher education council had sought to regulate programs in which students were trained to be yoga teachers, just as it does other vocational programs.

But many Virginia yogis said the regulations, including a required $2,500 application fee, were overly burdensome. And several yoga teachers had filed a federal lawsuit arguing the proposed regulations hindered free speech protections.

The bill exempting yoga from the regulations passed unanimously in both houses of the Virginia Legislature and McDonnell signed the measure Tuesday night. The law takes effect July 1.

-- The Associated Press

Student-athlete concussions bill advances to McDonnell

Young athletes who suffer concussions would be held out of sports games or practice under a bill that has passed the General Assembly and is on the way to the governor.

The Senate unanimously passed Sen. Ralph Northam's bill Wednesday, a day after it won unanimous approval from the House. Northam is a neurologist who said he has treated many student-athletes who have suffered concussions.

The measure would force coaches to bench players who've had severe blows to the head until they're cleared to return by a medical professional. It requires school divisions to provide student-athletes with information regarding concussions each year, with the parent or guardian required to sign receipt of the information.

If approved by McDonnell, the law would take effect July 1, 2011.

-- The Associated Press

Senator tries to revive workplace protection for gays

State Sen. Tommy Norment breathed new life today into the debate over protecting gay and lesbian workers from employment discrimination in Virginia.

The James City County Republican inserted language declaring the state has an "ecumenical" policy regarding sexual orientation for the public and private workforce into an economic development bill from Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Norment said the idea for the amendment was "a spontaneous thought."

The Senate Finance Committee approved the bill this morning. It recently was offered by the administration to give the governor greater flexibility to offer financial incentives to lure companies to Virginia.

It is widely viewed as vehicle to recruit defense giant Northrop Grumman, which is considering Virginia as a site for a new headquarters.

The battle over Virginia's lack of an official non-discrimination policy protecting sexual orientation has been a dominant theme during the 2010 General Assembly session. It gained intensity after Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recently sent a letter to Virginia colleges and universities advising them they don't have the power to protect gay and lesbian workers from discrimination. His letter drew condemnation from gay rights advocates and Democrats.

Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell did not include "sexual orientation" language in an equal opportunity executive order he issued. His Democratic predecessors, former Govs. Mark Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, issued orders which contained that phrase.

Legislation to change Virginia's policy failed in the legislature this year.

-- Julian Walker, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot

Personal voting history shielded

The House of Delegates voted Wednesday to keep a tight hold on Virginians’ personal voting history, inviting litigation over whether the information should be made more widely available.

In its original form, Sen. Janet Howell’s bill, SB624, would have given nonprofit organizations access to voter history lists. Those lists, kept by the State Board of Elections, don’t show how anyone voted, but they do reveal who voted in which elections, including primaries.

Under current law, they are provided only to elected officials, candidates and political parties, who use them for targeted campaign mailings.

Howell’s bill was introduced in response to a lawsuit brought by the Know Campaign, a nonprofit group that attempted to disseminate Virginians’ voting history in a get-out-the-vote campaign last fall.

The lawsuit, which challenged the current law on constitutional grounds, was settled pending a change in the law such as that proposed by Howell, a Fairfax County Democrat.

But by the time the bill reached the House floor, it had been amended to prohibit release of the information to anyone.

Proponents of the amended bill said voters expect and are entitled to keep their voting history private. Opponents said closing off all access to the lists would raise the cost of campaigning because candidates would no longer be able to tailor their mailing lists.

On a motion by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, the House sent the bill back to a House committee that has no more scheduled meetings, effectively killing it for this legislative session.

It’s clear lawmakers are closely divided on the issue, Kilgore said, so the matter would benefit from further study.

He acknowledged that leaving the law as it is will invite a re-filing of the lawsuit.

“I say let the court case go forward,” Kilgore said. “At least we’ll get some clear guidance from the court.” -- Bill Sizemore, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot

Ethics rules revised

The state Senate approved a comprehensive overhaul of the General Assembly’s ethics rules Wednesday. The measure now goes to the desk of Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has said he will sign it.

The rules changes ensure there will be no repeat of what happened last fall, when a closed-door investigation into conflict-of-interest allegations against Del. Phil Hamilton was halted for lack of jurisdiction when Hamilton resigned his seat.

Hamilton, a veteran Republican delegate from Newport News, was defeated after revelations that he lobbied for a job at Old Dominion University while he was securing state funding for the position.

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong’s bill, HB655, requires that an ethics investigation be carried to conclusion regardless of a lawmaker’s resignation. It also opens the process to the public once a preliminary inquiry has established a sound basis for the allegations of misconduct.

The Senate defeated an attempt to amend the measure on the floor, 21-18. A successful amendment would have endangered the bill by forcing it to be sent back to the House of Delegates, which derailed a companion bill last week.

The measure was approved on a 37-2 vote over the objections of Sen. Fred Quayle, R-Suffolk, who warned that it would expose lawmakers to “political mischief” by opponents.

-- Bill Sizemore, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot