Senate Committee Kills Peake’s Bill to Shorten Early Voting Period

This article originally appeared here, at cardinalnews.org

Here are some of the bills involving legislators from Southwest and Southside that were acted on Tuesday in the General Assembly. You can look up all the bills before the legislature and their status here.

Peake’s bill to shorten early voting to 14 days killed 8-7

A bill introduced by Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, to shorten in-person early voting from 45 days before an election to 14 days, was passed by indefinitely Tuesday. 

SB 1072 was killed in a 8-7 vote in the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. 

Proponents of the bill who spoke during the meeting, and said they work in elections offices, said that the current early voting period uses a lot of resources for little payoff — few people come to vote absentee in-person for a large portion of the 45 days.

A representative from the League of Women Voters spoke in opposition to the bill, saying it would unduly restrict access to voting for military and overseas voters. A representative from the Virginia NAACP said they strongly oppose any legislation that would lessen the amount of time available for voters to cast their ballot.

Peake called the 135 days for early voting out of 365 in a year “absurd.”

Peake introduced a similar bill during the 2024 session that did not pass. 

Stanley‘s bill to require the release of non-human primates to a sanctuary after testing advances

Bill Stanley
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County. Photo by Bob Brown.

A bill introduced by Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, would require that non-human primates be released to sanctuaries instead of being euthanized by testing facilities managed by the state after they’re no longer needed. 

Stanley and Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax County, worked together on legislation a couple of years ago that helped to free thousands of beagles from a Virginia research and breeding facility. That effort earned Stanley the nickname of Senator Beagle, according to an article by The New York Times

“Baboons are a little different from a dog, of course. However, I’m reminded that we’re only a chromosome or two away from them. They’re intelligent and they’re sensitive beings,” he told the Senate Committee on Education and Health Subcommittee on Health while presenting his bill. 

Stanley said that SB 907 does not seek to interfere with experimentation but instead requires the facilities to adopt the baboons out to sanctuaries to live out their remaining days. 

A representative from People for Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Virginia Alliance for Animal Shelters spoke in favor of the legislation. 

Dr. Alfred Abuhamad, the dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School, spoke in opposition to the bill. Abuhamad said that while he supports the spirit of the bill and the ethical treatment of animals, he noted that there are “significant untoward effects” that have not been discussed. 

“These animals are genetically engineered to be in laboratories, they are accustomed to live in a controlled environment where food is provided to them, and their temperature is controlled,” he said. Taking the animals out of those environments and putting them into a sanctuary can create “significant” stress and more harm to them, he said. 

The bill was reported from the subcommittee unanimously with an amendment on Tuesday. 

Suetterlein’s right to access contraception bill fails; Democrats advance a different version

Sen. David R. Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County. Photo by Bob Brown.
Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County. Photo by Bob Brown.

A bill introduced by Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, would provide the right to access to contraception along with a religious or conscientious exemption. 

SB 1493 provides that no one should be compelled to provide contraceptives if they have religious or conscientious objections.

The bill was killed Tuesday in a 3-2 vote to pass it by indefinitely in the Senate Committee on Education and Health Subcommittee on Health.

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield County, had presented a similar bill earlier in the meeting that was successfully reported from the committee. One noticeable difference between Suetterlein and Hashmi’s bills was the absence of a religious or conscientious exemption.

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