By Tyler Arnold
(The Center Square) – Virginia legislation that would have protected the freedom to worship during health emergencies was defeated in a Senate committee after seven Democrats joined together to block the bill from advancing.
House Bill 775, sponsored by Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, was defeated on a 7-7 vote in the Committee on General Laws and Technology after previously passing the House of Delegates narrowly 51-46. Republican leaders supported the legislation, but Democratic leaders were against it.
The legislation would have added limitations to the government’s authority during a health emergency by prohibiting any governmental entity from using its power to shut down religious services or impose restrictions on the exercise of religion in any church, synagogue, mosque or other place of worship. The bill would have exempted such activities from government power granted through the Virginia Emergency Services and Disaster Law of 2000.
“This vote by Senate [Democrats] was a slap-in-the-face to all of us,” Williams said in a statement. “I am grateful for the pastors and church leaders who testified … in favor of this bill. They told moving stories of how their churches strived honorably to follow protocols and keep people safe during the pandemic, but ultimately were viciously restricted by former Governor Northam. The shutdowns have taken a terrible toll on our churches. …Why the [Democrats] desperately want the power to quash our churches, I do not understand. But I do know this: our fight for religious freedom is even older than America. I will keep fighting for our freedoms – because our freedoms are what make America great.”
The bill would have prevented the governor from using an executive order to impose restrictions on the exercise of religion and would have prevented any such rule, regulation or order from any governmental entity. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, former Gov. Ralph Northam imposed a rule prohibiting more than 10 people from gathering together, which applied to religious services. For months, the governor imposed restrictions on gathering sizes and established mandatory social distancing requirements, which prevented places of worship from operating at full capacity.
Under the proposal in the unsuccessful bill, these places of worship would have been free to operate during a health emergency in the same manner as they do at any other time.
Republican lawmakers argued that the legislation would have protected the constitutional right to the free exercise of religion, but Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill, arguing that it would curtail the government’s ability to protect people from a health threat.
Because the bill died in committee, it will not receive a vote on the Senate floor.
