:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/SSFKZI4NZRGGLBYULDRASQM36Y.jpg)
VIRGINIA BEACH — State legislators didn’t advance a bill that would have changed how Virginia Beach fills a City Council seat when there’s a vacancy.
The legislation required a charter change that would have called for the city to hold a special election to fill an empty council seat, rather than allowing the City Council to appoint a new member until a special election could be held.
Some council members and residents have criticized the current appointment process, claiming it opens the door to favoritism while preventing voters from selecting their representative.
Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler introduced the legislation on the charter change, which advanced in a House subcommittee in January, but no further action was taken.
Sen. Aaron Rouse, a former Virginia Beach council member, sponsored the legislation in the Senate, which passed in that chamber on Feb. 3, but was met with opposition in a House subcommittee Friday morning.
“We have fought hard for representation on City Council, not just from a racial standpoint, but economically as well,” Rouse told members of the House Counties, Cities and Towns subcommittee in Richmond. “There always seems to be a power elite who got the power to appoint members to City Council at the oppositions of districts.”
Rouse added, “What this bill would do is give the support and power back to the people to elect someone to represent them.”
Despite Rouse’s attempt to persuade the committee to advance the bill, some members were aware of differences in opinions at the city level.
Committee members tabled it in a 5-4 vote, which means it will not advance to a hearing in the full committee. The bill would have required a two-thirds majority vote of both houses and the governor’s signature to become law.
“I did my job in the Senate working in a bipartisan manner to get a unanimous vote on the bill,” Rouse said after the meeting in Richmond. “There’s still more work to be done.”
The City Council approved the charter change request in its legislative agenda last fall, after two public hearings. Both Convirs-Fowler’s bill and Rouse’s companion bill included verbiage provided by the Virginia Beach city attorney.
At the end of January, city election officials said they became aware of the bills and expressed concerns to the sponsoring legislators about the feasibility of holding a special election a week after a primary, as required by the charter change.
In an effort to clear up confusion about the bill and to address what some members described as “interference” by city leaders who had reached out to state lawmakers about it, the City Council held a special meeting Feb. 1. But it was unable to agree on a path forward.
Del. Joe McNamara, chair of the House subcommittee that heard Rouse’s bill Friday morning, said he watched the “highly divided” Virginia Beach meeting.
Today's Top Stories
“This committee doesn’t exist to referee disagreements on City Council,” McNamara said before voting to table the bill.
Council members can reevaluate the charter change and bring it back next year, according to the city.
“I would support a bill that the homework was done on, that the language was clear, that there couldn’t be any confusion around,” Councilman Chris Taylor said. “We have to do our due diligence.”
Convirs-Fowler said she would be willing to sponsor a similar bill again in the future.
“I’m still hopeful,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting it right.”
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com