Lawmakers crossed the midpoint of the General Assembly session last week.
Almost 600 bills in the House and more than 500 in the Senate advanced, and only one bill passed both chambers by Feb. 7.
Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington Center for Leadership and Media Studies, said there will be a delay in the passage of controversial measures.
“Even things that passed in one house that are contentious will face problems in the other house, given divided government,” Farnsworth said.
“Hot-button issues” are unlikely to reach the governor’s desk, he said, due to the Democratic-majority Senate and Republican-majority House.
“The Senate won’t accept abortion restrictions and the House won’t accept gun control,” Farnsworth said. “Key issues are going to be delayed until one party ends up controlling both chambers and the governor’s office.”
The Senate passed a higher percentage of bills than the House. Almost 52 percent of proposed House bills advanced, and the Sen...