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Toscano on Redistricting

January 22, 2013 by David Toscano

Toscano Morning Hour Comments on Redistricting

It has been said that redistricting is the exercising of raw political power, occasionally sprinkled with doses of public input. Well, yesterday in the other body we saw raw political power in full bloom, in a process that violates our traditions in the House.

As most know, on the floor of the other body, without any notice or opportunity for public comment, a substitute for a house bill – our house bill – was introduced which dramatically alters certain districts. Our bill – sponsored by the gentleman from Spotsylvania – was called “technical adjustments’ in re-districting plan. What the Senate did, however, was anything but technical adjustments. It made fundamental changes in the redistricting lines. It put Senators into the same district. One change shifted a Senator’s district by two-thirds.

This action by the other body subverts the will of voters who elected their Senators in 2011. If this bill passes – it will come over to the House as a substitute – many citizens will have their Senator changed, not by their vote, but by ours. That is not what democracy is all about.

Unlike our House procedures, this action was rammed through with no hearings, no public discussions, and no analysis.

It is probably unconstitutional, in that the constitution requires that we re-district “in the year 2011 and every ten years thereafter.” But even if it is not, the ramifications of this action are far reaching for this body and for the General Assembly. And I am talking not simply about the ramifications for this session and the various challenges we face, in taking on educational reform and the Governor’s transportation plan, both of which may now be at risk as a result of this action. The action simply interjects chaos into the redistricting process. If this is allowed to stand, we can redistrict every single year. Think about that for a moment – every single year.

That is not the House of Delegates way.

That is not the Virginia way.

This body is the only group who stand in the way of a bill that has implications far beyond what has been imagined previously.

When the bill comes over from the Senate, I urge us to reject this substitute, and send a message to Virginians that we support transparency and fair play.

 

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Filed Under: Press Releases Tagged With: Legislative Redistricting, Virginia General Assembly Process

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Press Releases

Toscano Statement on House and Senate Republicans’ Votes to Adjourn the Special Session

July 9, 2019

Toscano Statement on House and Senate Republicans’ Votes to Adjourn the Special Session on Gun Violence Prevention until November 18

RICHMOND –Following this afternoon’s surprise party-line votes which adjourned the Virginia General Assembly’s special session until November 18, 2019, Delegate David J. Toscano (D-57th District) released the following statement:

“House and Senate Republicans today showed Virginia that the only vote they are willing to take regarding gun violence protection is a vote to delay, delay, delay. In the face of clear support for action now, captured by multiple polls and embodied by the energetic activists who rallied at the Capitol today, they abdicated their responsibility to serve their constituents and the Commonwealth of Virginia in an appallingly cynical political move to push any votes off until after the November general election.

“I am disappointed but not surprised. Time and time again, whether it is about passing universal background checks for all gun purchases, or enacting measures that would permit a judge, after a hearing, to remove a gun from a person in a mental health crisis to prevent injury to self or others, the Republican leadership continues to stonewall and not even debate, much less pass, reasonable measures designed to reduce gun violence in the Commonwealth.”

Delegate Toscano is available today to the media for further comment.

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