Del. Tim Griffin, R-Bedford County, was removed from his committee assignments in the House of Delegates on Friday after a tense exchange between himself and Del. Cia Price, the chair of the Health and Human Services Health Professions subcommittee.
Some lawmakers have called the exchange, which occurred during the subcommittee meeting on Thursday, belligerent on the part of Griffin, who sat as a member on the subcommittee until Friday.
Griffin had begun speaking on matters that did not appear to pertain to the bill being discussed during the subcommittee meeting on Thursday, which prompted Price, the subcommittee chair, to ask him to remain on topic. He continued on, which prompted Price to bring the committee to a pause, also known as going “at ease.” The exchange continued between Price and Griffin for a handful of minutes while the subcommittee remained at ease.
Griffin said in a social media post following the exchange that House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, asked Griffin to apologize or be removed from his committee assignments.
By Friday, Griffin had been removed from the two committees that he sat on — the Committee on Health and Human Services and the Committee on Communications, Technology and Innovation.
“I will not apologize for my germane comments. The violence the Democrat constitutional amendment will do to unborn babies is relevant to a discussion on violence. I’ve never been interrupted by a committee chair. Cia Price should apologize to me,” Griffin said in an emailed statement Monday.
The bill that was being discussed during the subcommittee meeting on Thursday was HB 1523, which would establish requirements for certified violence prevention professionals to be regulated by the Board of Health. The constitutional amendment regarding access to reproductive health care, including abortion, was passed by the General Assembly in mid-January.
Price, a Democrat from Newport News, did not respond to a request for comment.
The office of Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, who controls committee assignments, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, also did not respond to a request for comment.
“I think all of us have a commitment to civility and [Republicans] saw that civility broken down by one of their members at a level of disrespect and belligerence,” Del. Rodney Willett, D-Henrico County, said in an interview on Monday. Willett chairs the Health and Human Services full committee and sits on the subcommittee.
He added that there’s a shared disgust between Democrats and Republicans regarding how Griffin treated Price and said that Griffin was “completely inappropriate” and “completely out of order.”
“Where he really stepped over the line was his specific treatment of the chair,” Willett said. “It was a level of disrespect that you just don’t see.”
In 2021, three GOP delegates were stripped of one committee assignment each by former Democratic House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn of Fairfax after they penned a letter to then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence that cast doubt on the validity of the 2020 election. Dels. Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun County, Ronnie Campbell, R-Rockbridge County and Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania County, were each removed from one committee.
In 2024, Scott removed Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, from his position on the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee during the session and assigned to a different committee, without explanation.