Upcoming VA Legislative Session: Cats. More Cats.

Tom Nash has a nice piece in this week's Style Weekly laying out some of the big issues of the upcoming legislative session in Virginia - and I'm not just saying that because he quotes me in it. My favorite part:

Among other items legislators are looking to loosen government’s grip on are cats. A Chatham Republican, Sen. Bill Stanley, has proposed a measure that would authorize localities to allow people to take care of cats that roam free without being held responsible for them. The senator didn’t respond to a request for clarification about whether this is as cute as it sounds.

That seems like the right level of seriousness for this year's session, which should feature a lot of what Republicans want and almost nothing from the now powerless Dems.

One additional note: in the Style article, I note that the Dems are likely to try to point to ethics reform as something they can accomplish that won't really belong to the GOP/POB (Party of Bob... McDonnell, that is). But the Governor this week announced his "Equal Opportunity" agenda for the year. It's not quite the "Election Year Socially Divisive Wedge Issue Legislative Agenda" that Bearing Drift's Brian Schoeneman names it... but it's pretty close. It looks like if the Dems can't get anything passed in the General Assembly, they can at least remind voters that the Republicans are backwards on social issues in this fall's election. We'll see if another "rape wand" bill lands on the agenda (and in the national news) to help make that case for them.