2017 General Assembly roundup

State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-30th) speaks to the Arlington County Democratic Committee on March 1, 2017, while Dels. Mark Levine (D-45th) and Rip Sullivan (D-48th) look on.

A state constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Adam Ebbin could change the dynamics of electing governors in the Old Dominion.

But whether it gets addressed in the 2020 legislative session remains to be seen.

Ebbin (D-30th) has proposed a change to Virginia’s current constitution that would allow governors elected from 2025 onward to serve two consecutive four-year terms. The current constitution, adopted in 1971, continued the previous prohibition on consecutive terms, although it does allow governors to serve in office in non-consecutive terms.

The challenge for Ebbin’s proposal in 2020 is that the legislature tends to avoid taking up prospective constitutional amendments in the year immediately after legislative elections, preferring to address them in the year of such elections (the next being in 2021).

State constitutional amendments need to be ratified by successive legislatures before and after such elections, so adopting one in 2020 might be seen by some in Richmond as premature and time-wasting. But with Democrats in power for the first time in two decades, that may no longer be the case.

If adopted by both houses of the legislature, constitutional amendments are sent to voters in the subsequent general election, which would put such a measure – whether Ebbin’s or someone else’s – on the ballot in November 2022.

Over the past two decades, state legislators have tried a number of times to amend the Virginia constitution to permit multiple consecutive terms for governors, but have never found a formula that satisfied enough lawmakers to win passage. As such, Virginia remains the only state not to allow governors to serve two consecutive terms.

One governor, Mills Godwin, was twice elected governor, albeit with a term intervening. He was elected as a Democrat in 1965 and as a Republican in 1973; Republican Linwood Holton served during the interregnum.

(The rumor mill suggests that former Gov. Terry McAuliffe may opt to make a run for the post he held – but unlike Godwin, McAuliffe almost assuredly would not be switching parties in the interim.)

Ebbin’s proposal caps the total number of four-year gubernatorial terms served by any one person at two, although someone who became governor with less than two years remaining on an unexpired term would be able to serve up to 10 years.

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(4) comments

William May

I think this is a BAD idea. If the people elect a not-so-good person we could be stuck with that person for more than 4 years.

Ralf Bee

How amazing that the Dems propose this ! Disgraceful !

Luis Ferrao

Democrats always looking for an angle.

CJE

[thumbdown][thumbdown][thumbdown]We are fortunate that we are stuck with the likes of Bob McDonnell and Ralph Northram for 4 years. I am one of Adam Ebbin's constituents and he never asks us what WE think, he only does what what HE wants.

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