A pair of resolutions to recognize African-Americans who served as legislators during Reconstruction seems destined for a House-Senate conference committee.
Del. Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Richmond, and Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, proposed identical resolutions that call for the installation of a plaque near the House of Delegates recognizing 83 delegates and one near the Senate recognizing 14 senators.
Marsh's bill passed the Senate, but in the House McClellan's bill was amended to exclude the installation of plaques. On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee voted to amend Marsh's bill to match the changes the committee made to McClellan's resolution.
The committee chairman, Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, told Marsh he was going to suggest the resolutions be addressed in a conference committee, which consists of three senators and three delegates, adding that it was going to take "a little more thought and preparation."
"This group can't decide that right now," he told Marsh, asking if that suited him.
"All I want is the result," Marsh said.
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission would pay for the plaques honoring the black men, among them former slaves, teachers, farmers and carpenters, whose stories are little known. The legislation also would recognize 24 representatives to Virginia's 1867-68 constitutional convention.
Del. Robert D. Orrock Sr., R-Caroline, proposed the amendment to McClellan's resolution, saying the proposed plaques hadn't had a thorough vetting and he worried about the precedent it would set.
McClellan said she didn't understand the objections and that it's time to tell the stories of Virginians whose stories are not represented in the Capitol.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement