Legislation Update: Stuart Strikes Data Center Bill, Subcommittees Table Bills from Delegates Paul Milde and Phillip Scott
Former Spotsylvania superintendent Mark Taylor spoke in support of Scott's bill, which focuses on graphic novels with "sexually explicit" images.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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State Senator Richard Stuart this week requested that one of his bills relating to data centers be stricken from a committee docket.
SB 976 would have removed a locality’s authority to make commitments related to accelerated permitting, property tax classifications, “and other such issues” in a performance agreement between the locality, a data center company, and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
The Advance wrote earlier this week about how SB 976—and another data center-related bill introduced by Stuart, SB 1425—could have damaged the state’s economic development reputation.
The bill was to have been taken up by the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology at the committee’s meeting on Wednesday but was stricken by a unanimous vote of 15-to-0 “at [the] request of the patron.”
SB 1425 is still with the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations but was not on the docket for Thursday’s meeting of the committee.
Phillip Scott’s Bill Aimed at Graphic Novels Tabled
Also this week, the K-12 subcommittee of the House of Delegates’ Committee on Public Education voted 5-to-3 to table a bill proposed by Delegate Phil Scott that would require school boards adopt policies prohibiting public school libraries from “obtaining or possessing any print or audiovisual materials that contain sexually explicit visual content.”
Scott, a Republican representing District 63, which includes parts of Spotsylvania and Orange counties, introduced HB 2400 at the subcommittee meeting this week, saying parents need reassurance that “libraries are safe spaces for our children.”
“This book issue has plagued our community, Virginia, and the nation for years,” Scott said. “Many graphic novels are grotesque. They range from risky to pornographic.”
He said the bill focuses on images in graphic novels specifically. He passed out folders to the subcommittee members that he said contained images from three books—Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson, and Let’s Talk About It by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan.
“We have seen the challenge system is ineffective in some places,” Scott said. “Our tax dollars go towards these books. This content is something I believe not just to be immoral but deeply inappropriate for our public schools.”
Mark Taylor—the former Spotsylvania school division superintendent who was terminated “with cause” by the School Board last spring—spoke in support of the bill, describing himself as “a retired superintendent from Spotsylvania.”
“Sexually explicit materials are an unhelpful distraction in the context of K-12 education,” he said. “Statistically less than 5% of K-12 students are going to become sex workers and that’s really the only reason you need this stuff helping prepare you for life. Please support this bill.”
Jennifer Peterson, the Spotsylvania parent who initiated challenges of at least 70 books in 2022 and 2023, also spoke in support of the bill.
Representatives from the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Association of School Librarians spoke in opposition to the bill.
Milde’s Bill Preventing Exchange of Items Between Pedestrian and Motor Vehicle Tabled
Last week, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Counties, Cities, and Towns voted 5-to-3 to table HB 2129, introduced by Delegate Paul Milde, who represents District 64, which is entirely located in Stafford County.
The bill would have allowed localities to develop an ordinance prohibiting pedestrians and occupants of motor vehicles from exchanging any item. It would also have allowed localities to charge a fine of up to $50 for violating such an ordinance.
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