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It would appear that the information was incorrect and that Senator Mark Obenshain did in fact support this legislation.
Senator Obenshain could not have done more to help us get this bill through and should be commended for his efforts.
Donna Holt
Our apologies
Here is a detailed update about the bill:
I do not have a correction ready but I’d like to set the record straight about Del. Athey’s amendment. The amendment was was proposed by Del. Athey on the House floor and we had no part in it. The amendment would have forced localities to reconsider the entire comprehensive plan should they decide to opt out of the UDA mandate by choice or by petition of 5% of the voters in the locality. While most of us would like to have the approved comprehensive plans to comply with the mandate reconsidered, the amendment transfers power from local government to the state which is the very thing the bill is meant to challenge to begin with.
The amendment is the only thing Senator Obenshain didn’t agree with and I have no problem with that. He was right to oppose the amendment. To have the entire comprehensive plan reconsidered is something we need to work lobby for at the local level.
Chairman Lucas sent a request for several bills including HB1721 to Senator Colgan to sign off on to get a review of the financial impact of the bill before they voted on it. Legislative services had already determined there was no financial impact. It was merely a scheme to slow down the bill and avoid a vote by Dems on the commitee (who were bought by the Home Builders Association). Senator Obenshain and Senator Martin made motion after motion trying to keep the bill in the committee and get a vote.
The Chairman knew that the Finance Committee would send it back to Local Government but had we let it take the normal course without Bob Marshall following up and getting Sen. Colgan to take it back down immediately, time would have run out and we wouldn’t have a vote. Senator Colgan deserves credit for doing the right thing. He, obviously, is a man of integrity.
We thought we had Roscoe Reynolds but he left when our bill came up and gave his proxy to someone else to vote for him. In his mind, I’m sure he thought somehow we wouldn’t notice that he voted against us or he could use the excuse that he wasn’t there and didn’t mean for his proxy to vote against us. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Sen. Ticer is retiring so she is the one who made the motion to let it go by indefinitely. She has nothing to lose.
It was carefully orchestrated and when plan “A” didn’t work, they went to plan “B”. Thanks to Delegate Bob Marshall and Senator Colgan, we got a vote and Reynolds and Lucas will definitely be targets in the election. The next best thing to getting a bill passed, is getting a recorded vote.
We’ll be back next year with a new Senate and a better bill.
Donna Holt
Executive Director
VA Campaign for Liberty
