RICHMOND

They've whittled their 2,000-plus bills down to about 1,000. They've argued about drug testing for welfare recipients, reforming the state employee retirement system, how to fund transportation, whether to require ultrasounds prior to abortions, Sunday hunting, Sunday liquor sales, Internet sales taxes, fox penning, tax credits, teacher contracts, gun restrictions and a host of other issues.

Overarching the first half of this session has been the fact that Republicans now hold both houses of the legislature, which means more conservative legislation--especially on social issues--has passed.

But while those issues get the headlines, all 140 lawmakers have also worked on bills with local impact, or that garner less attention.

Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, has had a higher-profile session than usual, with at least two of his bills proving highly controversial.

Cole has the House bill that would require voters to show ID or vote a provisional ballot instead of a regular ballot, something that has inflamed Democrats, particularly members of the black caucus, who say the bill hearkens back to the discriminatory poll tax and poll test of the Jim Crow era.

Cole is also the sponsor of the bill that would remove state funding for abortions for women on the state medical assistance program whose fetuses are determined by doctors to be severely deformed.

Cole said he thinks the opposition to those bills is "way over the line."

"I'm surprised at the shrillness of the opposition to that," he said of the voter-ID bill. "I think it's totally out of proportion."

Both bills were passed by the House and await action in the Senate, although the abortion bill is on the docket for a committee this morning.

Also passed is Cole's bill to limit localities' use of the business, professional and occupational license tax, a tax businesses loathe. For local governments that currently impose a BPOL tax, Cole's bill would freeze the tax at its current level, preventing localities from raising it. For those without the tax, Cole's bill requires that if they do impose a BPOL tax, they impose it on a business's taxable income, not gross receipts.

Cole said he submitted "way too many" bills this year, and still has 27 or so alive.

But some have died in the House.