Virginia’s Part Timers

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year! You know, when Virginia legislators actually do their jobs.

Seriously, why is a part-time legislature even allowed? Our representatives literally spend like 75% of the year just… not representing us.

Well, that’s not entirely fair. Many legislators (at least the good ones) do, actually, work hard to represent their constituents outside of session. The issue is more that having a part-time legislature means that all these representatives need to have other jobs that split their time–another barrier to entry for those who are already working two, maybe three jobs and another degree of separation between our representatives and us.

Due to the nature of the part-time legislature, most of our representatives are people who are lawyers, real estate agents, and others who can afford the time, money, and energy to campaign for office and then hack it on a part-time salary. That in turn practically ensures that the people who make it to office will have *at least* a modest degree of separation from regular working people, making it harder for them to understand and fairly represent us, even when they are in session.

But I’m getting away from myself–let’s talk specifically about session.

The VA legislature finished up last session without wrapping up, well, much of anything. In fact, it was the 6th straight year that the legislature left its most important work on the table, meaning they had to hold a special session after the conclusion of the regularly scheduled session in order to, you know, do their jobs.

VA’s part-time legislature is a relic of a bygone era, a time when things were simpler and slower, and you could actually get away with ignoring what was going on for ¾ of the year. Unfortunately, that time has passed–if it ever existed. There are new issues every day, and even full-time legislatures struggle with the monumental task of staying on top of everything. No wonder our part-timers can’t cut it.

I mean, think about it. We have technology that is developing at an exponential rate every day, but we have a government built on rules from a time when horse-drawn carriages were the new-fangled mode of transportation.

As is, the legislature is woefully unequipped to handle our fast-paced, rapidly changing world, and that’s without even addressing the issue that all the feet-dragging and squabbling caused by bipartisan “compromise” brings about.

So, should we have a full-time legislature? I mean, it would mean more work for me, since I’d have to monitor their shenanigans throughout the year, so, not in love with that, but maybe, just maybe, we deserve a legislature that at least *tries* to fully represent its people. Not to sound like a starry-eyed idealist or anything.

A full-time legislature would mean full-time salaries and full-time representatives. Our electeds could afford to dedicate all their time to representing us, and so they would be much more likely to do so. In the meantime, though, the best we can do is to pay attention while they *are* in session. I’m going to be doing just that, and I’ve offered some helpful tips on how to follow along in my other blog post.