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Thank you for taking the time to contact me and express your concern about gun-related legislation, which was heard in a special subcommittee formed by the Senate Courts of Justice Chairman Henry Marsh. I am very concerned about the precedent of forming a subcommittee with the sole purpose of killing legislation without the chance for it to be considered by the full committee.
At the last Senate Courts of Justice Committee meeting of the session, Sen. Mark Obenshain and I led an effort to have the bills which were killed by the special subcommittee placed on the full committee docket. Chairman Henry Marsh and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw refused to consider our motions on technical grounds. Since then, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, as presiding officer of the Senate, has ruled that the Rules of the Senate do not allow subcommittees to kill bills nor do they allow Chairmen to avoid placing bills on the docket. This ruling was issued at our request after the actions of the Democratic Majority at the final Courts Committee meeting and hence, could not help us this year. I am hopeful this ruling will prevent similar actions to stifle votes on important legislation in future years.
Thank you for taking the time to contact me and express your concern about gun-related legislation, which was heard in a special subcommittee formed by the Senate Courts of Justice Chairman Henry Marsh. I am very concerned about the precedent of forming a subcommittee with the sole purpose of killing legislation without the chance for it to be considered by the full committee.
At the last Senate Courts of Justice Committee meeting of the session, Sen. Mark Obenshain and I led an effort to have the bills which were killed by the special subcommittee placed on the full committee docket. Chairman Henry Marsh and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw refused to consider our motions on technical grounds. Since then, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, as presiding officer of the Senate, has ruled that the Rules of the Senate do not allow subcommittees to kill bills nor do they allow Chairmen to avoid placing bills on the docket. This ruling was issued at our request after the actions of the Democratic Majority at the final Courts Committee meeting and hence, could not help us this year. I am hopeful this ruling will prevent similar actions to stifle votes on important legislation in future years.