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State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) announced he will introduce legislation that would allow three Northern Virginia localities to require developers to enter into agreements to protect workers who are building certain high-density projects.

“The legislation reflects the values of communities that want to ensure that workers are treated fairly, paid competitive wages and protected from wage theft,” Ebbin said.

“Without additional authority, localities cannot require developers of large projects to provide necessary protections for the workers who build those projects.”

Ebbin’s bill includes exemptions for law enforcement, security personnel, military members and officers of the court. But it doesn’t exempt General Assembly members, some of whom have had firearm-related mishaps over the years. In 2006, a Republican delegate accidentally fired a handgun in his office, shooting into a bulletproof vest hanging on a door. In 2017, a Republican state senator accidentally left a holstered handgun on a chair in a meeting room.

Earlier this year, Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, raised eyebrows by wearing a revolver on her hip while presenting her bills to a committee, a move she described as a “deterrent” to aggressive left-wing activists.

Last year, Democrats in the House of Delegates pushed for a rule change that would ban guns in the gallery overseeing the legislative floor, bringing the House in line with the same rule in the Senate. Republicans voted it down.

In the Senate chamber, five senators attended, including Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, who took the floor to speak.

"On July 9, with parliamentary shenanigans, this session was gaveled shut before I even could speak," Ebbin said. "Ostensibly, we were there to give full and careful consideration to bills filed, or I should say they were referred to the Crime Commission for ostensibly extensive and careful consideration as though we didn't know already that keeping guns out of the wrong hands could save lives."

Ebbin then referenced the recent three-page Crime Commission report: "The absence of recommendations should not be interpreted as meaning that no changes to Virginia's laws are necessary, but rather that any changes are policy decisions, which can only be made by the General Assembly."

"I'm only here today to promise that come January the people of this commonwealth will see action," he concluded.

With Republicans in control of the General Assembly, LGBTQ rights advocates trying to pass stronger anti-discrimination laws in Virginia knew they had to think small.

After Election Day, that’s all over.

So what exactly is on the to-do list?

Housing

Employment

Public accommodations

Education

“It’s a big deal to know that you can’t just be swept aside as a second-class citizen,” Ebbin said. “And it’ll matter. There’s a lot of people older than me who thought this kind of environment would never come.”

“We’ve come forward. We’re not going back,” Ebbin said. “And I think there’s momentum to bring us to where we should and need to be.”