Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - A new House sub-committee Friday killed two proposed constitutional amendments dealing with rights restoration and same-sex marriage. The Rules sub-committee is made up of four Republicans and one Democrat, and includes both the House Speaker and the House Majority Leader.
The amendments would have allowed people to regain their right to vote after serving their time after being convicted for a felony, and would have taken Virginia's same-sex marriage ban out of the state constitution. The ban is not in effect after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, but the language has never been changed. Democrats and supporters of removing the language worry the Supreme Court could reverse itself.
On rights restoration, Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said Republicans were working on some language that could work to pass the House, but that fell apart when the Elections Department revealed several hundred people who were supposed to be ineligible because of a conviction voted in the recent election.
