Alert 2/11/08     Votes – Who Voted How

 

We had some questions about who voted on what and when. We believe the confusion is primarily over votes of Del. Watkins Abbitt on two bills – the puppymill bill (HB538) and the dogfighting bill (HB656).

 

Things are happening very fast this session, and it can be confusing.

 

Let us try to clarify.

 

In the alert of 2/7/08 called “ Get These Two Bills Out of the House”, the vote of the House Appropriations Subcommittee was reported on the puppymill (HB538) and the dogfighting (HB656) bills. Both bills made it past this subcommittee.

 

On reporting the vote of this subcommittee, we mentioned the votes of Del. Abbitt who is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee and, by definition, also a member of the full House Appropriations committee.

 

In the subcommittee, voice votes were taken. On both bills of interest, we said we believed Del. Watkins Abbitt voted against these bills.

 

When the full House Appropriations Committee voted on these same two bills, Del. Abbitt still voted against the puppymill bill (HB538), but he supported the dogfighting bill (HB656).

 

When these two bills were heard before the full House Appropriations Committee, there were more committee members and more voting, and so Del. Abbitt was no longer the only delegate voting against the puppymill bill.

 

Click here to see the vote:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+vot+H02V0063+HB0538

 

Lillian/Don