The Compromise State Budget

The General Assembly wrapped up its regular session last month, sending 917 bills to the Governor for action. In Virginia, the Governor has until the end of March to sign, veto, or recommend amendments to the legislation we pass.

That’s out of more than 2,000 bills that were introduced. 

I’m proud to report that the 2025 session was a highly successful one for me. According to a recent Virginia Public Access Project analysis, I was ranked the most effective legislator in the state, with 14 of the 16 bills I introduced passing both chambers.

One of the most critical responsibilities of the General Assembly during our short session is adjusting Virginia’s two-year budget. This year, we’re looking at a significant surplus, though the ongoing dismantling of the federal government and workforce could have major implications for those numbers.

I’ve been tapped by the Speaker of the House to serve on a bi-partisan Emergency Committee to work to ascertain exactly what the impact will be on Virginia’s budget and help make policy recommendations to address the potential loss of revenue, providing for the needs of newly unemployed federal workers, and long term strategies to allow our economy to adapt the reality of an eviscerated Federal Government. 

With that in mind, here’s a look at what we accomplished in January and February.

Putting money back in the pockets of hard-working Virginians

The House-Senate compromise budget includes over $1 billion in tax cuts for Virginians, including tax rebates of $200 per individual and $400 per couple by October 2025, plus a permanent increase in the standard deduction to help lower tax burdens.

We’re expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), providing more relief to lower-income households. 

Affordable Housing

I hear about this issue a lot – from constituents and in my day job as a real estate title attorney. To help address it, this budget has significant investments to help Virginians achieve homeownership, address high rental costs for low-income Virginians, and increase the state’s supply of affordable housing.

Specifically, there is a pilot program that will provide direct rental assistance to families in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, so that the cost of housing does not exceed 30% of their income. A new grant program for first-time homebuyers to receive a grant of up to $10,000 was also established to help offset the cost of homeownership.

Public Education

This budget includes a historic $782 million increase in state funding for our K-12 public education system. Along with the already promised 3% raise, teachers and support staff will receive a $1,000 bonus.

We also set aside $150 million to improve school facilities, ensuring safe and modern classrooms for Virginia’s students. And we’re investing in early childhood education by adding 4,500 new early childhood education slots while keeping childcare costs affordable for working families.

Healthcare & Mental Health Services

Better and sustainable healthcare for all Virginians is a top priority. As a result, the budget includes an $869 million investment in health and human services, ensuring more funding for Medicaid, maternal health, and mental health services.

Of this, $41.2 million is earmarked for behavioral health, including crisis services, mental health workforce support, and expanded psychiatric resources. There is also $32.3 million to address critical improvements in state mental health facilities.

In addition, there is $8.7 million to hire additional support coordinators at Community Service Boards to ensure individuals receiving a DD waiver get timely access to services and to help with the increased caseload due to the significant addition of DD waiver slots this biennium.

We added an additional $1 million to expand pilot programs to divert and discharge individuals with dementia from state hospitals to community placements. Fairfax County will be able to expand their pilot program that reduces the risk of social isolation among older Virginians, with the goal of expanding the program statewide.

Environment & Infrastructure

Protecting our environment and shoring up our infrastructure projects are critical to Virginia’s continued economic success. As such, we’re maintaining our commitment to the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup by fully funding agricultural best management practices for the biennium. 

The Stormwater Local Assistance Fund will get $40 million to cover projected costs and the we will fully fund the state share of costs for wastewater treatment plant improvements. We’re also adding $25 million for drinking water grants to localities to upgrade or replace existing drinking water infrastructure.

This budget includes restores $3.3 million for operating support for WMATA.

Safer Communities

There is an additional $5.9 million to support grants for local community violence intervention programs, plus an additional $3.5 million for sexual assault and domestic violence victim agencies and victim witness programs.

New Laws in 2024

On July 1^st, several new laws went into effect across the Commonwealth of Virginia, including some that may impact Falls Church residents as they go about their daily lives.

The changes impact a wide range of areas, from animal welfare to higher education, reflecting the evolving priorities and values of Virginians. Here's a look at some of the key legislative updates that Falls Church residents should be aware of.

Animal Welfare

Fans of the News Press’s “Critter Corner” will appreciate a significant shift towards promoting animal rights and safety.

Declawing cats is now illegal unless it's deemed necessary for health reasons. This measure aims to protect cats from unnecessary harm and improve their welfare.

Localities have been empowered to create public online registries for individuals convicted of felony animal cruelty crimes. This initiative seeks to enhance public awareness and prevent further abuse.

On a somewhat related topic, a change championed by some of our rural neighbors in the western part of the state allows residents to legally claim roadkill, such as deer or possum, for personal use.

Casino Regulations

While area residents continue to monitor efforts to allow a casino here in Northern Virginia, effective July 1, Richmond is no longer eligible to host a casino after two failed referenda. A related change that may become relevant in our area someday says any jurisdiction that has had a failed casino referendum must now wait three years before attempting another vote. Petersburg will now take Richmond's place as a potential casino location.

Public Safety

Efforts to enhance public safety and address crime have led to the following changes:

One recommendation of the Governor’s Commission to Combat Anti-Semitism that failed to pass the Republican-controlled House of Delegates last year will become law this year after a change in partisan control of that body. The definition of a hate crime now includes ethnicity. This broadened scope aims to offer greater protection to diverse communities.

Starting July 1, driving without insurance in Virginia will no longer be an option. Previously, Virginians could register as uninsured drivers by paying an annual $500 fee to the Department of Motor Vehicles. However, this option will be eliminated. The DMV estimates that approximately 6,000 drivers will need to provide proof of insurance or face potential license suspension.

Local police agencies can install photo speed monitoring devices at high-risk intersections. This move is intended to reduce traffic violations and improve road safety.

Jury Duty Exemption Age Increase: The age at which citizens can be exempt from jury duty has been raised from 70 to 73, potentially expanding the pool of available jurors.

"Lucia’s Law" increases the penalty for parents who fail to secure their firearms. Passed with bipartisan support as SB 44 and HB 36, the law makes it a felony for adults to allow a child access to a firearm after being notified that the child poses a threat of violence.

The law is named after Lucia Bremer, a Henrico eighth grader shot nine times by a 14-year-old boy using his father's gun on March 26, 2021. Previously, Virginia law only prohibited recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured firearm around children under 14, without specific storage or locking requirements.

An auto sear is a device that converts a semi-automatic handgun into a machine gun capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute. Virginia law now prohibits the manufacture, sale, and possession of auto sears.

Consumer Protection

Several new laws will impact how food and alcohol businesses operate:

Home-Based Food Businesses: Entrepreneurs who prepare food in their private homes can now advertise online and sell their products at temporary events or farmers markets.

Permanent Cocktails to Go: The popular pandemic-era provision allowing cocktails to go has been made permanent. However, the allowance for third-party delivery of these cocktails will end on July 1, 2026.

Utility Service Protections: It is now illegal for utilities to be shut off during extreme heat or when temperatures drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This measure aims to protect vulnerable populations during harsh weather conditions.

Higher Education

Significant reforms in higher education have also taken effect:

Banning Legacy Admissions: Virginia's public universities will no longer practice legacy admissions, promoting a more equitable admissions process.

NIL Deals for Student Athletes: Virginia universities can now compensate student athletes through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals without fear of NCAA sanctions. This law aims to provide fair compensation for student athletes' contributions.

Reproductive Health & Education

Menstrual Health Data Protection: The use of search warrants to access menstrual health data stored in period-tracking apps is now prohibited, ensuring greater privacy for individuals.

Menstrual Education: School Boards now have the authority to include information about menstrual periods in health education for students in grades 4-8. This initiative aims to provide young students with essential knowledge about their bodies.

These new laws represent a diverse array of changes that reflect Virginia's commitment to enhancing the welfare, safety, and opportunities for its residents. You can view a more comprehensive list of new laws online at DLS.Virginia.gov.

Virginia's Education Funding Gap

 The calendar still says it’s July, yet back to school sales and ads are starting to pop up all over the place. And it just feels a bit too soon.

Unfortunately, when the kids do go back to school in just a few short weeks, public school students here in Falls Church and Fairfax will have be in classrooms staffed by teachers who are once again being asked to do more with less.

Why?

Because Governor Glenn Younkin’s Department of Education flunked math last semester and miscalculated the state’s share of education funding by about $201 million. To make matters worse, instead of passing budget amendments that would have fixed the error and added about $1 billion in additional education funding during the 2023 Session as the state Senate proposed, the Governor and his allies in the GOP controlled House insisted on billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations.

So, we ended the session with no new budget bill and when legislative leaders attempted to regroup after the primaries, we found we were no further along than we were last February.  Word on the street is that the Governor has stopped working on the 2023 budget amendments and turned his attention to his 2024 biennial budget proposal.

No budget compromise means no fixing this education funding gap.

Because of VDOE’s error, Fairfax County Public Schools will receive about $18 million less than expected in state funding and Falls Church Public Schools about $144,000.

And that’s just the beginning of our education funding shortfall. A recent study of Virginia’s school funding formula concluded we already underfund our schools by about $6.6 billion.

JLARC Study on School Funding

In 2021, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) conducted a study to determine the true expenses of Virginia's education system and evaluate what it would actually cost to implement Virginia’s mandatory Standards of Quality (SOQ).

The SOQ is a state mandate intended to ensure every locality has a high-quality public education system.

Currently in Virginia, we try to estimate how many staff positions are necessary to do all the things the SOQ tells a school system they have to do.  Most states (42 out of 50) allocate funding on a per-student basis. JLARC looked at what would we be spending if we joined the vast majority of states in providing funding based on the number of kids enrolled in school, not the number of staff we thought we would need to teach those kids.

The answer is we are off by $6.6 billion.

In K-12, for instance, our current approach tells us we need 113,500 FTEs statewide while the actual data shows that 171,400 staff are currently employed to cover the responsibilities of educating our kids.

It also doesn’t account for certain costs incurred because of students with higher needs, such as at-risk kids, kids requiring special education, or kids learning English as a second language (ESL). Although funding for at-risk and ESL students has increased over the years, the funding for special education has been stagnant.

This means that the financial burden rests with the localities. And some are better able to cover the disparities than others.

JLARC Recommendations

As part of the study, JLARC recommended several short-term and long-term options to improve the funding formula and better meet our education systems’ needs. Some of the recommendations are as simple as discontinuing Great Recession-era cost reduction measures that are no longer needed.

Some of the recommendations will require a longer-term commitment to redirect funding allocations to where it is needed most and at the level that reflects actual costs. This includes establishing new staffing ratios, re-benchmarking staff salaries, replacing the cost of competing adjustments with a more accurate method, and adopting economies of scale to help smaller school divisions.

Every school district must have the funding and resources they need to be successful - addressing the basics of increasing teacher pay and creating a safe learning environment. Providing additional resources for “no loss” funding due to reduced enrollment, expanded broadband access, need-based direct aid for remediating lost learning time, increasing the per pupil amount for the Preschool Initiative, and extended special education eligibility are also integral aspects of our public education system.

However, we must redefine the SOQ with more support from the state so that it reflects the priorities of a 21st Century public education system. These SOQs are only effective if they accurately reflect the actual costs the school districts incur to meet these standards. Otherwise, we are failing in our obligation to provide our kids with a productive and effective learning environment.

Northam's Budget Priorities - Education & Gun Violence Prevention

One of the quirky things about Virginia is that we don’t allow our Governor to run for re-election. The Virginia Constitution allows forbids a Governor from succeeding himself, although a former Governor can try to make a comeback after a term out of office.

We also adopt biennial budgets in the even years.  This creates another quirk, in that one of the very last acts the Governor is required to do is propose a new budget to the General Assembly, a few days before his successor is sworn in to replace him. 

Of course, this year the Governor’s mansion is changing partisan hands, which makes things even more - let’s stick with quirky, if not awkward.

Over the past week, Governor Northam has announced a series of crucial pieces of his last official budget, and he will continue to unveil important elements of the 2-year spending plan between now and the end of the year.

I’d like to focus on two of the more important rollouts we’ve seen so far, on public education and gun violence prevention. 

Public Education

Governor Northam’s proposed education budget builds upon our successes of the past two years and makes strategic investments, ensuring that Virginia remains one of the best education systems in the country.

A cornerstone of this investment is a 10% pay raise for teachers over the biennium – the largest single increase in 15 years. This means that Virginia teacher pay will exceed the national average.

Overall, the proposed budget includes $2.4 billion in new general fund spending for pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade. This highlights our continued commitment to having a world-class education system for every school aged child in the Commonwealth.

In the last several years we have expanded early childhood education to more Virginia families than ever before – doubling pre-k funding to serve a record-breaking 25,000 three and four-year-old children We’ve even received national attention for investments in an early childhood teacher incentive grant program.

This pandemic has underscored our need to increase access to mental health services, including within our schools. To that end, we’ve increased the budget to hire more school counselors.

After graduation, some seniors will directly enter the workforce, attend a college or university, or trade school. Investing in our kids includes investing in their futures, which means making it easier to attend an institution of higher learning or to start their careers.

Virginia high school students are now eligible for financial aid and in-state tuition, regardless of their citizenship status. And we’re expanding need-based financial aid for public undergraduate students - a $64 million investment is more than any Governor’s administration in Virginia history. Even students at private universities benefit thanks to our increasing the Tuition Assistance Grant (TAG) to $4,000 per student up from $3,400 previously.

We’ve made the largest-ever investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) - $328 million over three years. This includes $297 million for capital projects and nearly $32 million in operating support.

Our tuition-free community college program now helps working people who choose career paths in high-demand fields. Those pursuing careers in healthcare, information technology, manufacturing and skilled trades, early childhood education, or public safety may be eligible.

Gun Violence Prevention

The Governor’s other major budget announcement addresses gun violence prevention, introducing legislation to establish a Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention & Prevention. His proposed budget includes $27 million to support the new Center with 13 employees to oversee the program.

The Center’s mission will be to collect and report data on firearm violence. Bringing together public safety and public health experts to analyze this data and ultimately recommend strategies and best practices for violence prevention. The Center will also offer support to localities and community-based organizations working to address gun violence, coordinating a state and local response to these issues.

For decades, special interest groups have fought organizations that wanted to collect this data, which severely limits our ability to combat this crisis. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control announced specific funding for this kind of research, some of which will be done at the Virginia Department of Health and VCU.

Using this data, the Center will build on recent, commonsense legislative achievements that enhance public safety and allow us to start proactively addressing the root causes of gun violence instead of simply reacting once a tragedy has occurred.

Governor Northam’s entire final budget will be released on December 16^th. I’m looking forward to seeing what else he has proposed and that we can champion during the upcoming General Assembly Session.

Special Session Update

Virginia will be a more just and prosperous state as a result of the important actions taken by the Virginia General Assembly and approved by the Governor during our Special Session last week.

The General Assembly returned to Richmond on August 2nd for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Special Session was called so that we could allocate $4.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and appoint judges to the newly expanded Virginia Court of Appeals.

With this historic opportunity, my colleagues and I were committed to making sure that these funds were allocated in a way that maximized their impact. The pandemic highlighted a series of cracks in our government services – this budget helps fix that. Last week, we took the final vote on the budget and it will now go to the Governor for his signature.

Help for Small Businesses and Virginia Workers

We invested $260 million to fully fund the Rebuild Virginia Grant Fund Program so that we can clear out the application waiting list. We also allocated $76.5 million for additional small business and tourism & hospitality programs and put aside $862 million to replenish the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. The Virginia Employment Commission will also receive $73.6 million to upgrade their information technology system and to add additional call center staff and adjudication officers.

Public Health

Continuing our COVID vaccine outreach, $20 million will go to an information campaign targeted to hard-to-reach communities.

We’re also doing some major investing in our mental health services and substance abuse programs. $238 million has been allocated overall with specific set asides for retaining direct care staff at DBHS facilities, expanding community-based crisis services systems (like mobile crisis units and MARCUS Alert activities), renovating DBHDS facilities, and prevention programs.

Housing & Utilities

To better connect all Virginians, $716 million will be used to expand universal broadband access across the Commonwealth.

The budget continues our current rent relief policy by requiring a tenant or landlord to apply for rental assistance before proceeding with an eviction for non-payment of rent and we put an additional $2.5 million to Legal Aid for civil indigent defense in eviction cases. Customers with overdue utility accounts will have some more options with $120 million for the utility assistance program.

Education

Educating our kids is one of our highest priorities. As such, we’ve got money for teacher recruitment and $250 million for HVAC and ventilation system improvements in the school systems that need it the most.

For our public colleges and universities, there is $100 million in need-based financial aid and $11 million for the TAG Grant Program.

Elections

I’m proud of all the legislation we’ve passed in the past two years to expand voting rights and make the process more accessible. Keeping with that, we’ve allocated $3 million to assist localities with the expansion of early voting, including Sunday voting. We also have $1.5 million for a voter education campaign on new election laws and to combat misinformation.

Public Safety

We’ve also made a lot of progress in in criminal justice reform. This budget continues that effort with $34.8 million for the Department of Corrections to include funding for expansion of telehealth services, video visitation, and PPE. There is also $13.2 million for the Department of Criminal Justice Services sexual and domestic violence victim fund and $2.5 million to support the Office of the Attorney General's gun violence reduction programs.

In acknowledgment of the need to recruitment and retention, there is funding for bonuses for police officers, sheriffs, and new hires as well as compression adjustment bonuses from 2-8% as needed.

Expanding the Court of Appeals

During the special session, we also appointed eight new judges to the recently expanded Virginia Court of Appeals. This legal reform broadens the court’s jurisdiction guaranteeing appellate review of all civil and criminal court decisions. Previously, Virginia was the only state that didn’t automatically grant appeals.

This group of newly appointed judges is also historically diverse in profession, race, and gender. Of these eight, four are women, six are people of color, three are former public defenders, and one was a Legal Aid attorney. The appointees come from across the Commonwealth, offering geographic diversity as well.

February Budget Update

Finally it has happened to me right in front of my face
My feelings can't describe it
Finally it has happened to me right in front of my face and
I just can not hide it
~CeCe Peniston, "Finally"

It's budget week at the General Assembly. The House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees introduced their respective versions of the 2018-2019 Biennial Budget yesterday afternoon.
Finally, after years of Democratic lawmaker's advocating for it, the House Budget includes Medicaid Expansion.

Amendments to House Bill 29 increase health care coverage to uninsured Virginians with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) effective January 1, 2019, with 300,000 individuals projected to enroll.

As part of the deal to expand Medicaid, the plan incorporates innovative reforms to promote health and well-being, personal responsibility and fiscal sustainability.

Within 45 days after passage HB 29, Virginia will submit State Plan Amendment application & file initial paperwork for the section 1115 demonstration waiver. HB 29 provides $3.5 million General Fund (GF) and federal Medicaid matching funds to hire an expert with successful experience with similar waivers to assist with the design and federal approval process.

House Bill 30 provides $4.6 million GF in FY 2019 and $16.9 million GF in FY 2020 to support the Training, Education, Employment and Opportunity Program (TEEOP) for Medicaid enrollees.

My colleagues and I will be reviewing the entire proposed budget this week. On Thursday, we will vote on the House Amendments to the Governor's budget and any submitted floor amendments. The decision to expand Medicaid has freed up hundreds of millions of state general fund dollars for mental health, education, economic development and other important priorities.

2018-2020 Biennial Budget | House Version

Mental Health

• Total spending of $163.1 million from the General Fund over the biennium for behavioral health and developmental services including the following major items:
• $47.8 million for 825 I/DD waiver slots and 50 reserve slots
• $59.7 million for community mental health services
• $15.8 million for behavioral health facility capacity and operating costs
• $15.3 million for Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation capacity and facility expansion and services
• $36.1 million in savings for Community Service Board funding due to Medicaid transformation

K-12 Education

The Introduced Budget has a net increase of $515.9 million GF higher than the FY 2018 base budget – which includes rebenchmarking, policy changes, new and expanded initiatives

• $481.1 million for the total cost of Rebenchmarking
• $34.8 million for new policy changes, new/expanded initiatives
• To that, the Subcommittee recommends increasing the K12 budget by an additional $98.0 million over the biennium as compared to the introduced bill
• Increases the Supplemental Lottery Per Pupil Amount (PPA) by $43.4 million the first year and $48.1 million the second year
• The revised Supplemental Lottery PPA allocation totals $234.7 million the first year and $239.4 million the second year
• The per pupil amount increased from $274 each year to $336 the first year and to $342 the second year
• The recommended additional funding increases the total percentage of Lottery dollars going directly the school divisions to 40% in the second year
• School divisions have 100% flexibility on spending

Higher Education 

• Finally got funding for an office of Student Loan Ombudsman, which I've been working on with Senator Howell for a few years
• Commonwealth Cyber (CyberX) Initiative $40.0 million
• $40.0 million under VRIC for a new cyber initiative
• Engine for research, innovation, and commercialization cybersecurity technologies
• Address statewide shortage of advanced and professional degrees within the cyber workforce
• Hub and Spoke structure with the Hub located in Northern Virginia with Virginia Tech as anchor, along with participating universities and industry partners spokes co-located with, and operated by, other public universities throughout the Commonwealth
• Opportunity to participate in collaborative programs and access to investment resources via VRIC

I-66 

• Re-evalution of the inside the beltway tolling algorithm
• Establishing of reverse commuter tolling inside the beltway (which I don't support and will oppose on the House floor)

You can view online the full biennial budget and all the budget amendments.

The Governor's Budget

It’s going to be a much different year in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017 with Democrats having secured at least a 50-50 tie in the Chamber pending the outcome of a disputed election in Fredericksburg.

Democrats seem likely to be in a position to insist on a power sharing arrangement that allows us to Chair committees and possibly control the speaker’s gavel. As of this writing many of those details remain to be worked out, but be assured that I will revisit them in upcoming columns as session approaches.

Meanwhile, earlier this week outgoing Governor Terry McAuliffe unveiled his final biennial state budget, and in it, his last and best effort to provide health care to the over 400,000 Virginians who make too much money to qualify for traditional Medicaid coverage and not enough to afford even subsidized insurance in a health care exchange or in the open market by expanding Medicaid in Virginia.

The two-year budget plan relies on savings that will be realized only if we accept the roughly $6 million dollars a day that Medicaid expansion would provide and use it to pay for essential services that we've paid for from the General Fund instead for the last four years.

Two years ago, the Governor introduced a budget that used the savings to be realized from expanding Medicaid to lower the state's corporate tax rate. The thought was that Republicans love a good corporate tax cut more than they hated Obamacare, and that would give them cover to accept Medicaid expansion while doing something that would help McAuliffe lure more companies to Virginia to help diversify our economy.

Only he miscalculated. It turned out Republicans hated Obamacare more than they loved the idea of cutting corporate taxes.

This year the approach is different, and with the new make-up of the General Assembly, which now likely includes at last 50 Democrats, and possibly 51 depending on the result of pending recounts and lawsuits, it just might work.

Overall, things are looking good. Revenue forecasts are looking up and our unemployment rate is down to 3.6% - the lowest in nearly a decade. General Fund collections exceeded the official forecast by more than $134 million. Over the next biennium, the General Fund revenue forecast is just over $42 billion.

The Governor’s top budget priorities are funding vital public services like the Standards of Quality for public education and the existing Medicaid program.

Other highlights from this year's budget include:

• Funding to automate the teacher license application system and to support principal recruitment and retention in our hardest-hit school divisions.
• Updating Virginia’s education formulas including the Standards of Quality, which will add $436 million in education funding over the next two year.
• In the area of workforce development, $1 million in new funding is added to the budget for two-week cybersecurity camps dedicated to exposing high school students to careers in this rapidly growing industry.
• Children can’t learn if they are hungry, so we’ve added $2 million to support our breakfast incentive funding, which has dramatically improved participation in our high-need elementary schools.
• There is $4 million in increased funding for the New Economy Workforce Credential tuition assistance program to address the high demand of students wishing to participate in the program.
• In an effort to make Virginia a little greener, $2 million to support the development of the solar industry in Virginia. $110 million in Commonwealth Transportation Capital Projects Revenue Bonds for mass transit projects in FY 2020 to maintain the state’s commitments to these services.
• In addition to expanding Medicaid, the budget provides Full funding for the revised Medicaid forecast for foster care and adoption programs and Children’s Services Act caseloads as well as funding to support 825 additional Medicaid waiver slots over the course of the biennium for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• I’m excited about funds that will allow Virginia to continue to make strides in the way we treat people living with Mental Illness in Virginia, including $11 million to begin primary care screening and monitoring at the Community Service Boards, $1 million for the creation and expansion of mental health dockets in jurisdictions with high caseloads, $2.9 million to establish special units and programs for seriously mentally ill inmates and $10 million to support medication-assisted treatment for individuals who seek help with opioid addiction, through our Community Service Boards.
• Finally, the budget includes a 2% raise for state employees, including teachers, law enforcement, and state agency workers.

In year’s past a budget that includes these priorities might have been viewed as Dead on Arrival. With a 50/50 House of Delegates, well, not so fast. Should be an interesting session.

Making Our Community Safer

Earlier this week, prefiling of bills resumed for the 2017 House of Delegates Session. The House Majority Caucus decided to highlight the introduction of HB 1392, a duplicate version of a measure Governor McAuliffe vetoed in 2016, which would put guns in the hands of civilians inside our schools.

It's amazing to me that Virginia's GOP still hasn't gotten the message that the myth of the good-guy with a gun has been completely debunked. As so many across the country grieve and mourn those lost to gun violence, as police unions ask for action to restrict civilians from carrying firearms openly, for the Virginia House GOP to reintroduce a bill that will put more guns in close proximity to our school children shows just how out of touch they've become.

No one is more concerned about the safety of Virginia's children than I am. The fact is, this bill does nothing to improve the safety of children.

A study of mass shootings from 2009 to 2015 revealed that 96% of these tragedies occurred somewhere other than a school. In fact, accidental deaths involving firearms are the third leading cause of death for children.

I challenge my Republican colleagues in the House to show that they really are serious about protecting children by supporting legislation to require smart gun technology, to promote the use of trigger locks, and to fund a comprehensive study of gun violence as the public health scourge that it is.

At the same time, recent news stories involving lethal interactions between the police and men of color have been heartbreaking. Here in Northern Virginia and Fairfax we also have work to do with regard to the way police are trained and when and on whom they use physical force and how much is appropriate.

On Tuesday, the Fairfax County Police Chief released a report including data that showed 40% of use of force incidents involved African American suspects, even though African Americans are approximately eight percent of the overall county population.

These statistics were reported at the recommendation of the Fairfax County Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission on which I served. This week I wanted to highlight some of the recommendations of the Police Oversight and Use of Force Subcommittees.

Like the Mental Health and CIT Subcommittee I chaired, these subcommittees presented recommendations to the Board of Supervisors after months of stakeholder meetings. Each subcommittee comprised a group of individuals representing diverse backgrounds and experiences. The recommendations were only agreed upon after long discussions, presentations from several sources, and a comprehensive review of data.

For the past few months, the Board of Supervisors has been reviewing and implementing these recommendations. A regularly updated Progress Report can be found online - http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policecommission/progressreport.htm

One of the most important recommendations establishes a civilian oversight committee, which would go a long way in creating a transparent relationship between the police and the community. It is important to note that an oversight committee is not intended to be a punitive measure; it’s actually a pro-police position. Accountability and oversight builds trust and confidence which in turn makes policing our communities safer and easier for officers and residents alike. Further, making it a civilian oversight committee is integral to its success.

Specifically, the recommendations included:

• Appointing an Independent Police Auditor who will report to the Board of Supervisors to participate in and monitor Internal Affairs Bureau investigations of use of force and other serious cases;
• Establishing a Civilian Review Panel to respond to community concerns or complaints about alleged abuse of authority incidents by the Fairfax County Police Department;
• In addition, the Commission recommends strengthening the independent investigative ability of the Commonwealth’s Attorney (CWA) in use of force and other serious cases. The various reporting and disclosure obligations contained in the recommendations will provide for the disclosure of the information necessary for the public to judge the thoroughness, completeness, accuracy, objectivity and impartiality of the FCPD investigations of use of force incidents and complaints concerning FCPD activities.

I am a huge fan and supporter of our state and local police officers. I believe that holding them to high standards, requiring transparency, and accountability are pro-police positions that will build a rapport with the community. This will make their jobs easier, make them more effective, and improve morale among officers and the communities they police.

So, while a strong commitment exists to further improve the relationship between the police and our community, we still have much to do to fully implement the subcommittees’ recommendations. And if HB 1392 is any indication, we also have much to do to ensure that some of my General Assembly colleagues have a better understanding of how we can effectively protect our children from gun violence.