RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A proposal to update Virginia's definition of a hate crime to include gender, gender identity and sexual orientation has failed to get out of a Senate committee.
The bill submitted by state Attorney General Mark Herring failed after the Republican-dominated Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Monday voted 8-6 against reporting the bill to the full Senate.
Herring, a Democrat, says he is disappointed to see the bill die in a party-line vote.
He says that at a time when communities in Virginia and around the country are seeing a rise in hate crimes, the General Assembly has sent a message to people who feel vulnerable "that they will not take the measures needed to protect them."
An identical bill has been introduced in the House of Delegates.
