Democrats in the Virginia Senate thought they’d won a modest victory last week when a bill to pare the list of acceptable identification voters can present at the polls was amended to delay the effect of that policy until July 2014, contingent on state funding to support it. Now, days later, some who support that amendment fear it may be in trouble. The legislation, SB 719 from Republican Sen. Dick Black of Loudoun County, is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday afternoon in a House of Delegates subcommittee whose docket also includesphoto ID legislation from Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg. Like Black’s bill, the Obenshain SB 1256 wouldn’t take effect until next year, and then only if the state appropriates funds to implement its provisions.
… Last month, a different House subcommittee turned back a photo ID proposal from a delegate, but advanced legislation to scale back accepted forms of ID one year after Virginia beefed up its voter ID statute.
Things took a different course in the Senate when Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling sided with Democrats and cast a tie-breaking vote to put the delayed enactment amendment on Black’s SB 719.
Bolling, who also broke a tie to advance Obenshain’s SB 1256, at the time explained that while he supports voter ID policies, it is too soon after changing the law to modify it a year later, saying it could confuse voters.
Several legislative sources predicted Tuesday the House will strip the delayed enactment language from the voter ID bill.
If things play out that way, the bill would head back to the Senate for reconsideration, which could again put Bolling on the spot.
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