Senator Dick Black

RICHMOND (AP) — The General Assembly passed a new state budget late Thursday night after adopting a Republican-backed amendment to ensure that Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe cannot expand Medicaid without legislative approval. Read More…

RICHMOND — Senate Republicans on Thursday night used their new majority to pass a two-year budget that eliminates any opportunity for Gov. Terry McAuliffe or a year-old legislative commission to expand Medicaid or a private insurance alternative. Read More…

Reaction to Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s veto of a bill giving National Guard chaplain wide latitude to sermonize — another front in the ongoing separation of church and state debate — has been wide-ranging.

The social conservative Family Foundation in an e-mail said the governor denied “good sense and the General Assembly’s voting record” in favor of acquiescing “to the ACLU’s wishes” by vetoing “a commonsense, uncontroversial bill.” Read More…

WASHINGTON — The tragedy involving Sen. Creigh Deeds and his family has drawn the spotlight to mental health services in Virginia. And one of Virginia’s mental health laws regarding emergency admissions is out of step with similar laws in other states. Read More…

A cadre of six influential Republican legislators stood up Monday and said “No way” to the proposed 45-mile highway that is planned to run from I-95 in Prince William County, past Dulles Airport and all the way to Route 7 in Loudoun County. Read More…

When you have state Del. David Ramadan, the Grover Norquist pledge-signing, Ken Cuccinelli-palling conservative, praising the stance of Chap Petersen, a Democratic state senator from Fairfax, you know you’re dealing with an anomalous issue. Read More…

The passage of Senate Bill 890 Friday allows the wishes of Leesburg resident Virginia L. Bowie to establish an endowment for the Thomas Balch Library for Genealogy and History to be honored. The longtime library volunteer left a bequest of almost $618,000, but the Town of Leesburg could not legally accept the funds for library use. Read More…

The Virginia Senate narrowly killed a pair of constitutional amendments dealing with two perennial Republican favorites: right-to-work and charter schools.

Sen. Dick Black, R-Leesburg, proposed giving constitutional protection to tough right-to-work measures that prevent union membership from being a condition of employment. But it fell one vote short of the necessary 21 votes needed to advance after all 20 of the chamber’s Democrats voted against it. Read More…

RICHMOND – Qualifying for the presidential ballot in Virginia would get easier under a bill that passed the state Senate Monday.

Under Sen. Dick Black’s SB 690, the number of valid Virginia voter signatures presidential candidates must submit to qualify for primary or general election ballots would drop to 5,000 signatures with 200 each from of the state’s 11 congressional districts. Read More…

RICHMOND – A Senate subcommittee has blessed bills that would make it easier for presidential candidates to qualify for elections, but harder for some voters to cast ballots by eliminating some currently accepted forms of identification.

Those measures, both sponsored by Republican Sen. Dick Black of Loudoun County, received favorable recommendations from a subset of the Committee on Privileges and Elections Wednesday morning. Read More…