2024 Session | January 19th Update

The 2024 legislative session kicked off on January 10th with the House of Delegates unanimously electing Don Scott of Portsmouth the first African American Speaker in the 405-year history of the body.  

Scott’s ascension to the Speaker’s dais was the result of Democrats winning 51 of the 100 seats up for grabs in November’s election, putting the party back in the majority in the House by the slimmest of margins. 

Along with the ability to elect the Speaker, majority status means Democrats will be in charge of the Committees and Subcommittees in the House where the real work of legislating happens.  

As the 26th most senior member of the House and one of the most senior members of the Democratic Caucus, I’ll have a lot of leadership responsibilities this session.  

I’m honored to have been appointed Chairman of the House Public Safety Committee by Speaker Scott, as well as Vice Chair of the Courts of Justice Committee. I’m looking forward to once again serving on the General Laws and Rules Committees as well. For subcommittees, I’m chairing the Civil Law Subcommittee of Courts of Justice and the Housing and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of General Laws this session. 

As Chairman of Public Safety, I’ll be charged with shepherding through a number of caucus priorities in the area of gun violence prevention, including HB2 our assault weapons ban, my bill to ban unserialized, untraceable, ghost guns, and a number of bills to required safe storage of firearms.  

The Courts of Justice Committee is among the busiest in the General Assembly, hearing hundreds of bills in the short 60-day session.  As Vice Chair of the full committee and Chair of Civil subcommittee, I’ll be working on legislation to improve access to justice by making Virgnia the 49th of the 50 states to allow class actions. I’ll be working on leveling the playing field between landlords and tenants when they find themselves in court and working on fine tuning of family law and civil procedures. 

On the General Laws Committee, I’ll reprise my role as the Chairman of the Housing and Consumer Protection Subcommittee where bills regulating real estate transactions, landlord tenant law, fair housing and other important subjects are addressed.  

If those assignments weren’t enough to keep me occupied, I’m also patroning roughly 20 bill myself, including my perennial effort to make it illegal for candidates to convert the funds in their campaign accounts to personal use. I also have a bill to establish a public financing option for candidates that choose to rely on small donations to fund their campaigns.  

On behalf of the City of Falls Church, I’ve reintroduced legislation to allow the city to change their charter to allow residents who aren't citizens to participate in local boards and commissions. 

My bill, HB 81, will finally abolish the common- law crime of suicide. An outdated provision that needs to be removed from the Code of Virginia. 

As I mentioned previously, I’ve reintroduced my bill to prohibit the manufacturing, importing, or selling of ghost guns.  

To further my gun violence prevention agenda, HB 175 prohibits individuals from carrying assault weapons in public areas and HB 183 requires firearms to be properly stored in a locked container when minors are present.  

Related to the election process, HB 185 requires that challenges to a candidate’s ballot qualifications be made at least 60 days before the election date. This will hopefully prevent deceptive challenges from being submitted for political purposes.  

I’ve also got a bill that will enhance consumer protection in Virginia, which allows for class action lawsuits in Virginia's circuit courts. 

Working with the Legal Aid Justice Center and Justice Forward, I’ve got two bills that will further improve the criminal justice process by allowing defendants to have more flexibility in jury sentencing as well as protect them from being charged with “failure to appear” when the circumstances are beyond their control.  

I’ve got a full legislative agenda, to say the least, and I’m looking forward to working on the issues that my constituents care about the most. In that vein, you can contact my office in Richmond any time, sharing your concerns about a bill or if you have questions about what’s happening - (804) 698-1013 or delmsimon@house.virginia.gov. 

2023 Election Results

Last week’s election brought a wave of change to the General Assembly. There are 34 new delegates-elect – 20 new Democrats and 14 new Republicans. With a new ruling Democratic majority of 51 to 49 in the House and 21 to 19 in the Senate.  

So, let me take this opportunity to thank those who helped make this happen – my constituents and supporters. With all the 13th District ballots counted, I earned 82% of the vote in Falls Church. It’s clear I wouldn’t be where I am without you and I can’t express how honored I am to continue representing the Little City and the new 13th District.  

With City Councilmember retirements, including my good friend Phil Duncan, this paved the way for some new members of the Falls Church City Council. Letty Hardi handily won re-election and will now be working with the newest councilmembers, Justine Underhill and Erin Flynn.  

On the School Board, Jerrod Anderson won reelection and we can welcome Bethany Henderson and Amie Murphy as the newest members. 

I also want to congratulate our new state senator, Saddam Salim. He and his campaign team worked diligently to earn the votes and support of our mutual constituents this past year. I look forward to working with him in the General Assembly for many years to come. 

And the winning doesn’t stop there. Congratulations to Andres Jiminez for winning the Mason District Supervisor race, Jimmy Bierman for the Dranesville District Supervisor race, and to Dalia Palchik for winning reelection as Providence District Supervisor.  

However, the biggest headline is that Democrats took control of the House of Delegates again with a slim majority of 51 to 49. And we maintained control of the state Senate.  

Overall, this year’s election proved the most expensive yet in Virginia. In the final stretch to ForElection Day, Democrats outraised Republicans, particularly in the House races - $14.2 million compared to $8.4 million.  

In this kind of divided government, where the election stakes were high and the resulting majority is narrow, we have to look for opportunities to be non-partisan. Because while Democratic control of the General Assembly means that we can stand against the most egregious right-wing legislation, it also means that getting the Governor to sign legislation that does reach his desk will be a challenge.  

So, in that vein, I’m focusing on the roots of my campaign promises – campaign finance reform. Every year that I have been in office, I have introduced a form of campaign finance legislation, whether it’s to require independent audits, banning personal use of campaign funds, or strengthening our campaign ethics laws. The only thing different in 2024 is that this issue is one that can work within the confines of the new makeup of the General Assembly and with our current Governor.

Reconvene & Restoration of Rights

I have some major news to share with you this month. Last week, my colleague, Kaye Kory, announced her retirement after many years of dedicated service to the people of the Commonwealth. I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to Kaye for her service and leadership. Kaye has been a tireless advocate for her constituents and a fierce defender of progressive values in Richmond. Her leadership and contributions to the Virginia House of Delegates will be greatly missed.

As you may know, both of our homes were drawn into the new 13th District by the Redistricting Commission and we would have had to face each other in a primary on June 20th. However, with Kaye’s decision to retire, I am now the official Democratic nominee for the district. I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve the people of the 13th District and to build on the progress we've made together. 

Reconvene Session

In other big news, the Virginia General Assembly Session and Reconvened Session have both wrapped up, with more than 800 new bills becoming law this year. We reviewed 78 recommendations and 3 vetoes from the Governor during Reconvene – while we upheld his vetoes, we did not accept all of his recommendations, sending 16 bills back to him to reconsider. He now has until May 12th to either sign or veto those remaining bills. You can view all the legislation from that day online at lis.virginia.gov.

One issue that drew a lot of attention during the Reconvene Session was the Governor's attempt to amend legislation to prohibit Virginians from exercising their first amendment rights by making it a crime to picket near the homes of Supreme Court Justices. Thankfully, this measure failed, and Virginians can continue to exercise their constitutional right to protest peacefully.

However, there is still some unfinished business in the Commonwealth. Despite a revenue surplus of $3.6 billion, we still don't have a supplemental budget bill to allocate this money to support public education and unmet needs for mental health services. Unfortunately, the Governor insists on using the surplus to cut taxes for giant, wealthy corporations, while Democrats are advocating for investing in the well-being of our citizens. It's crucial to prioritize the needs of our community, and I'm hopeful that we can reach a bipartisan agreement to use this surplus in a way that benefits all Virginians. 

Restoration of Rights

Finally, I want to draw your attention to an important issue that affects the rights of thousands of Virginians - the restoration of voting rights for former felons who have completed their terms of incarceration. The day before Reconvene Session, I participated in a news conference at the Bell Tower in Richmond, calling on the Governor to resume his predecessor's practice of automatically restoring these rights. We had a big crowd, including Senators Dick Saslaw and Maime Locke, House Democratic Leader Don Scott, himself a former felon whose rights were restored by Governor Bob McDonnell, and dozens of advocates and other legislators.

It was heartening to see the strong turnout and support for this cause, especially from those who, like Delegate Scott, have experienced the challenges and barriers that come with having a criminal record and have worked so hard to overcome them.

The Governor recently changed the policy to individually review each case, with no clear process for applying for restoration of rights. This new policy creates significant obstacles for many individuals who are trying to move forward with their lives and once again engage in their communities, exercising their right to vote as citizens of the Commonwealth.

I am deeply troubled by this change in policy and the lack of transparency and fairness in the current process. It's time for the Governor to live up to his values of forgiveness, mercy, and second chances and restore the rights of these individuals who have completed their sentences and are ready to fully participate in our democracy.

I urge the Governor to return to the automatic restoration of voting rights, as it's a crucial step in promoting a more inclusive and just society. As always, I am committed to representing the interests of the people of the 13th District and to working hard to create a better future for all Virginians.