Week 4: Controversial Bills Meet Their Fate

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Dear Friend,

This past week, the Senate was busy acting on priorities that are important to Virginians and their families. Through committee hearings and floor debates, lawmakers learned about problems that must be addressed to help Virginians prosper and to create opportunities for the next generation.

I do not shy away from offering new and innovative solutions to problems I know need to be addressed even if certain stakeholders are wedded to the status quo. I just expect that it will take several sessions for lawmakers to understand new ideas and become comfortable enough to vote for transformational change.

K-12 Public Education:

Major Victory for Public School Facilities: I am particularly happy that a bill I co-sponsored (SB14) to allow localities to raise the sales tax by up to one percent, if approved by a referendum, and dedicate that money to the construction of new school facilities, passed with strong bipartisan support. As a member of the School Modernization Committee, I learned that the average age of our school buildings across Virginia was 50 years old. Our children were sitting in buildings with leaky roofs, malfunctioning toilets and lead in the walls. The heart wrenching tragedy is the fact that these old buildings do not have the infrastructure to support high-speed internet and other educational tools that every child needs to compete in the 21st century. I made these points on the floor of the Senate and this time the argument seemed to resonate.

In the past, Republican lawmakers avoided supporting a state-wide opportunity for any locality to raise capital for school construction as this bill offers. They only voted for the sales tax increase on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis (in current law only nine jurisdictions have such authority.) Their argument revolved around the “no tax” mantra even though locally elected officials would be the ones asking their residents to vote for the sales tax. This bill passed the Senate with strong bi-partisan support and I am confident my House colleagues will pass the bill as well. I do hope Governor Youngkin signs the legislation.

Sports Teams: School systems are organizing their sports teams and encouraging all students to participate in these extra-curricular activities without the drama of the culture wars that some state lawmakers always bring to the table. We defeated bills in committee that would require school systems to organize teams based on the biological sex of the players. (Refer to SB68-SB723)

Special Education: My comprehensive special education reform bill provides structure, supports, meaningful parental involvement and helpful training around the special education process. In some respects Virginia’s special education process exceeds the requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but in many other areas Virginia does not meet the Federal standards. In fact, the disparate ways school systems are approaching the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) process across the Commonwealth puts us at risk of losing federal dollars. A major goal of this legislation is to help prepare general education teachers to better integrate students with an IEP into the regular classroom. Evidence shows that students with learning disabilities benefit significantly from being in general education classrooms and other students benefit from learning in an inclusive environment.

School divisions in Northern Virginia are already implementing this goal but all school districts in the Commonwealth need to as well. I am supporting an accompanying budget amendment that will give schools districts a state transfer of funds to hire more special education teachers and state dollars to meet any personnel or data collection efforts necessary to meet state requirements. The details of my bill are noted in the link but many amendments have been added to the original bill which may be difficult to access. SB220 was reported from the Public Education Subcommittee unanimously. The bill now goes to the full Education and Health Committee next Thursday. Here is a link to a Virginia Mercury article that discusses the bill.

Teacher Pay: I expect we will be able to provide some state money for an increase in teacher pay. The Democratic majority has backed a plan to move Virginia to a place where we are above the national average in teacher pay. One day, I hope Virginia teachers will be the best paid in the country.

Protecting Animals:

Companion Animals & Lab Animals: I serve as chair of the Senate Companion Animals Subcommittee and have presided over the discussions of several bills this session. One such bill allows animal service agencies to offer vaccinations and microchipping at offsite clinics; another one will bring stakeholders together to consider how research laboratories at public universities in Virginia can be more transparent in documenting their use of animals in research and education. My bill (SB11), provides judges with the tool to prevent persons convicted of felony animal cruelty, who may be a continuing threat to animals, from ever again owning a companion animal. After a five year period the judge can modify the order if the offender can prove significant changes in behavior. This bill passed out of the Senate nearly unanimously. There is a companion bill moving through the House of Delegates. Animal protection may be one of the few issues that continues to be bipartisan.

Protecting Women & Access to Abortion Care: Public Hearing to be held February 7th

Menstrual Health Data: Once again I introduced a bill to protect women and their private menstrual health data from search warrants. However, this year, I expanded my bill to include data stored in any fashion, not just on an app. I also expanded protection to prohibit the use of any law enforcement tool that could be used to access the data. Last year, Governor Youngkin’s law enforcement policy chief spoke against my bill and his opposition garnered national attention. In fact, Governor Youngkin’s opposition was a talking point on the Colbert show and President Biden issued a statement noting how important personal privacy is to Americans. I don’t think Governor Youngkin will wander into this conversation again, but if so, I am ready. See SB16.

Making Virginia a Safe Haven for Abortion Care: I have also introduced a bill, SB15, to protect an out-of-state individual who has an abortion in Virginia from extradition for criminal prosecution to her state of residence. Virginia is the only state in the south that offers access to safe and legal abortions under the Roe v. Wade framework. My bill also protects doctors and other health care professionals from extradition who provide or assist with an abortion service. Most Virginians support this legislation, and it is absolutely necessary to protect the lives of women. It also makes the Commonwealth a welcoming state for obstetricians and gynecologists to conduct their practices and provide healthcare to women without the interference of the government. Articles in medical journals and in other reliable sources cite the exodus of obstetricians and gynecologists from states with strict abortion bans and also note the reluctance of new medical doctors in these disciplines to move to those states.

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee will hold public hearings on these bills immediately following the floor session on Wednesday, February 7th. It is unclear where my bills are on the docket or what time they will be heard. If you wish to speak virtually, please sign up one half hour before the hearing starts. Repro Rising VA, Planned Parenthood, Birth in Color, the League of Women Voters, and many other organizations have indicated interest in supporting my bills.

Fairfax Casino:

A subcommittee of the Finance Committee has recommended that this bill be carried over until next year. This is a first but important step in the process of defeating the Casino bill for this year. You should be aware that the full Finance and Appropriations Committee (a committee on which I serve) rarely overrules a recommendation from one of its subcommittees, but I would advise those who are opposed to this bill to remain vigilant and continue to contact key lawmakers. I believe the letter we received from Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chair, Jeff McKay, helped make it easier for the subcommittee to carry the bill over. I characterize the letter as one of “Thanks, but No Thanks.”

Coming Up:

Next week most of our gun safety bills will be heard on the Senate floor and passed over to the House of Delegates on a party-line vote. Thank goodness we achieved the majority. It is unconscionable that Republican lawmakers have turned gun safety and, by extension, public safety into a partisan issue.

The Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee, a committee which I chair, that has oversight over child welfare and prison reform issues among other responsibilities, has reported out several bills that encourage good behavior for the formerly incarcerated through the parole process (see the substitute to my SB80) as well as a bill to limit solitary confinement. These are priorities of the advocacy group, Social Action Linking Together, and its late leader John Horejsi. I will do my best to shepherd these bills through the legislative process.

My bills to improve the behavioral health system by implementing new ways for discharging patients from our state facilities should be heard on the floor next week.

These bills promote a more seamless transition to community-based care and policies to make work schedules easier for our nursing staff in state psychiatric facilities.

Lastly, thank you for the ongoing calls and emails. Although the volume of correspondence from constituents and others has been very high, I do appreciate hearing from you.

It is an honor and privilege to represent you in Richmond.

Sincerely,