Delegate David Toscano, who recently stepped down as minority leader of Virginia’s House, stepped up recently to talk about bills he’ll introduce or support.
In the last legislative session, Delegate David Toscano prevented passage of a bill that would have given more money to the state’s largest utility – Dominion. That victory surprised and encouraged the long-time legislator from Charlottesville, so next month he’ll propose a bill to ban campaign contributions from publicly regulated utilities.
He’ll also support legislation that would take the job of drawing political districts away from the legislature and give it to a non-partisan commission. Good luck with that, says his ally, State Senator Creigh Deeds:
“Since about 2002 I’ve introduced redistricting constitutional amendments 10 or 12 times, and I’ve gotten them out of the Senate, but I’ve never gotten that legislation out of the House.”
True, says Toscano, but Republicans may now realize they could soon lose control of the General Assembly, so maybe it’s time for a change.
“The best way to get to non-partisan redistricting is to elect a whole bunch of Democrats in the last election – enough to make the Republicans feel uneasy, so that they would approve something like this.”
To succeed, a constitutional amendment must be approved in two legislative sessions that are separated by an election and must then be okayed by the voters.
