As The Virginian-Pilot reported Tuesday, a bill designed to benefit one company was engrossed by the House of Delegates Monday. (The Pilot reported that the bill had passed on Monday – according to the Legislative Information System, that is not the case. Engrossed, according to this definition, simply means that the bill is ready to be voted on.) The bill, introduced by Del. Terry Kilgore, limits the asbestos-related health claims of Crown Cork & Seal, a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of cans and bottle caps with plants in Suffolk and Winchester.
Tuesday, the House voted on the bill and it was defeated 49-49 with one Delegate, Tommy Gear, not voting. (There is currently one seat open in the 100-member House.)
But wait!
Someone decided the bill should be reconsidered. (Too bad neither LIS or the floor minutes tell us who it was.) On a vote of 54-43, the House reconsidered the bill. That vote in itself is a little strange: five folks who had just voted against the bill – Dave Albo, James Edmunds, Todd Gilbert, Joe Johnson and Bob Marshall – voted to reconsider it. Bill Cleaveland, who voted for the bill, voted against reconsideration. Gear, who didn’t vote the first time, voted against reconsideration. Two delegates – Sam Nixon, who originally voted in favor and Algie Howell, who originally voted against – didn’t vote at all.
Anyone sense a little horse trading going on here?
On its second vote, the bill passed 49-48.
Voting in favor this time after voting against were Albo, a recipient of $3,000 of Crown’s $101,033 in contributions, and Edmunds, who has received nothing – yet. Cleaveland initially voted YEA but changed to NAY. He hasn’t received any money from Crown, either.
(Sitting this one out were Nixon, who has gotten $2,500 in contributions and Algie Howell, who has received none. Had these two voted like they did originally, their votes would have canceled each other out, and the bill would have still passed, 50-49.)
I don’t know what really happened here. But it just seems wrong to be passing laws that benefit a single company. Hopefully, the Senate will kill this.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 