The Virginia General Assembly is halfway through its short legislative session — which, as expected in this election year, has seen more political performance than policy progress.

Most splashy legislative initiatives from both parties — things like changes to abortion laws, voter access, and LGBTQ-inclusive policies in schools — aren’t going to survive the sharply divided legislature. (Republicans control the House of Delegates while Democrats have the majority in the state Senate.) Many bills died in committee or face an impossible road ahead in the other chamber. Some didn’t even make it that far: Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert, a Republican, didn’t bother to assign the twenty proposed constitutional amendments — including Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 15-week abortion ban — to committees, preferring to wait and see what the Senate sent over to his chamber, per The Virginia Mercury.

A mildly fatalistic Groundhog Day joke about the legislative process — from Gilbert, no less — summed up the gridlock. “Happy Groundhog Day from the Virginia General Assembly where every legislative day feels just like the movie,” Gilbert tweeted.

Happy Groundhog Day from the Virginia General Assembly where every legislative day feels just like the movie. pic.twitter.com/1pJ7h8TWec

— Speaker Todd Gilbert (@cToddGilbert) February 2, 2023

The General Assembly calendar, rather than a small furry mammal, suggests that legislative winter in Richmond is roughly half over. On Tuesday, “crossover day,” the House of Delegates and Senate finished off their work on the bills that originated in their respective chambers and passed them along to the other chamber for consideration (the Tuesday deadline applied to all legislation except the budget bill).

A few notable initiatives may still squeak through. The Senate passed a resolution with bipartisan support that would repeal Virginia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage; in the House, the resolution’s is patron is Del. Tim Anderson, a conservative Republican from Virginia Beach.

Another constitutional amendment which would automatically restore voting rights to people who have served time (and paid required fees) for nonviolent felonies also has Republican support in the House. A Senate gun safety proposal, which would require gun owners who live with minors to store their weapons and ammunition in a safe (and crucially, has the support of the National Rifle Association) also appears to have garnered at least some bipartisan interest in the House.

And, in more cute animal news, it looks like Chincoteague Island’s famous ponies are garnering the bipartisan support necessary to become the official pony of the commonwealth (beating out their fellow shaggy small horses from Grayson Highlands, who are actually their descendants).

But, amid the gridlock, at least the lawmakers appear to be having fun. There was Senate Democrats’ literal trash can for Republican-backed legislation to restrict abortion, which they killed in committee. Anderson read aloud sexual scenes found in public school library books on the floor of the House of Delegates, which passed his bill giving parents more oversight over books in school libraries. There was newly-elected Del. Holly Seibold’s epic clapback to fellow Democrat Del. Marcus Simon’s attempt to grill her on her first bill on court interpreters. (The House approved unanimously — of the bill, and of Seibold’s quick wit.)

This year’s budget amendment bill — which will be one of the last things for lawmakers to hammer out — could still include some notable items for Northern Virginia.

For one thing, it looks like the bill could potentially revive the possibility of a state incentives package for a new Commanders stadium, which died in last year’s budget process amid scandal over the team’s workplace culture and sexual assault allegations. This year, the House budget includes some of last year’s stadium authority language, and an addition from Youngkin to allocate $500,000 to evaluate state incentives for attracting a stadium. The Senate budget, however, doesn’t include either provision.

At a Loudoun County Board of Supervisors meeting, Chair Phyllis Randall expressed some concerns about what she characterized as a change in the language: unlike last year’s version, the stadium authority doesn’t give the local government the ability to appoint a representative to the body, instead requiring only that a certain number of members need to live in the locality. It also gives sole authority for removing people from the authority to the Governor, giving localities no weigh-in there either.

“We need to actually ask for that,” Randall said. Last year, sites in Loudoun and Prince William counties were both identified as possible places a new stadium could be built.

Others in Northern Virginia are less interested in the idea of tax breaks for a new football stadium.

“The governor has desired to spend a lot of money on studies and outside consultants,” said Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) recently on The Politics Hour. “I don’t know why he needs to spend $500,000 to know that it would bring a lot of traffic to Northern Virginia and that billionaires can build their own stadiums.”

The Loudoun supervisors also discussed questions about what legislative liaison John Freeman referred to as a $200 million “spreadsheet tool error” by the Virginia Department of Education that could affect state support to public schools this year and next. The Senate budget proposal, Freeman explained, includes $58 million to make sure localities aren’t forced to make up the difference for their school systems this year (the rest would have to be accounted for in the next fiscal year).

Local officials in Northern Virginia were encouraged by a public push from Youngkin to include $230 million in the budget to support community mental health infrastructure, a need many localities feel acutely.

“I think that we may see some agreement in the budget addressing our mental health crisis and hopefully we can get the House to support more raises for educators to bring us closer to the national average in teacher pay,” said Ebbin. “But I don’t think you’re going to see large changes.”

The Senate budget package includes $370 million designed to address mental health issues, while the House budget includes $166 million.

In Loudoun County, Freeman told the supervisors that the House and Senate budget proposals are about $5 million apart in their spending on crisis receiving centers, which the county has its eye on. Both currently include more than $80 million, Freeman said, which would be allocated to localities based on need. There are different criteria for determining “need,” with the Senate version offering a much broader definition than the House, which could make it harder for Northern Virginia localities to qualify for the funding.

Neither proposal completely eliminates Northern Virginia communities from contention, but the mood of the supervisors about their prospects for winning the support was gloomy.

“Yeah, I don’t feel that optimistic,” said Randall.