Before the pandemic, I would have walked the House floor – file card in hand.

A subcommittee may be gutting my bill, I learned today.

Normally, I would speak to the ten subcommittee members during a floor session of the full House.

I wouldn’t call them.  I’d go over to their desk and speak to them.

Democrats first, as they are more likely to support my position.

Such one-on-one conversations are justifiably discouraged for health reasons.

Plus half of us are in the House chamber, and half are in the House office building.

What am I doing instead?

Phone calls and emails – from me and advocates.

And perhaps a chance encounter – socially distanced.

Most of the time, I consider the glass to be half full, not half empty.

March 22 is the deadline for a bill to pass the House of Delegates and be guaranteed a hearing in the Senate.

One of my bills is being heard next week.  A lot of bills that have already been heard will be ahead of it in the line.

I asked a member of the committee leadership what he thought about the bill.

“I haven’t thought about it,” he replied.

He could have said, “We’re swamped.  I can’t promise you we’ll get to it on time.”

The glass is half full.

—-

The word from another committee was that my bill would be amended onto another bill.

The reasoning: that would better protect my bill in the Senate from a likely opponent.

If the Senate struck my language from the bill, it could be restored in the conference committee, where both houses are represented.

My name won’t be on the glass, but it will still be full of the policy change I want.  .