A "Richmond" Report

Over the years, members of the Falls Church City delegation have had various titles for their monthly “Richmond Report” columns.  Former Delegate Bob Hull called his the Coffin Corner Report, referring to his seat on the far left hand side of the chamber, where some of the most powerful legislators took their seats, and if they rose to speak on a bill, it was already dead. 

Delegate Kory still calls hers “The View from the Front Row” because for years she sat right up front in the chamber.  

The 2021 Session, like everything these last 11 months, looks and feels a lot different than it has in the past, due to the necessity of social distance. Like many of you, we’ve gone to a virtual workplace, and the workday is a series of Zooms, Teams, Webex, Google Hangouts, and good old-fashioned telephone calls.  

This year’s column could be the “View from Behind My Keyboard.”  

In spite of the challenges, when the 2021 General Assembly Session began on Wednesday, January 13th at precisely 12:00 noon, we hit the ground running. As Chair of the Privileges & Elections Committee, I gaveled in the first committee meeting of the Session, one half hour after adjournment of the whole House  

It wasn’t a simple organization session where we introduced ourselves and our staff. We advanced a large absentee voting bill that will make permanent many of the innovations we implemented during the 2020 Session that made it easier to vote, helping to drive record shattering turnout even in the midst of the pandemic. Look forward to the absentee ballot drop box a Falls Church City hall becoming a permanent fixture, literally! 

The odd sessions are busy for those of us on Privileges & Elections as they are the year we hear everyone’s ideas for amendments to the Virginia Constitution. Only those that pass this year will be considered a second time after this fall’s election, and if they pass again, will make it on to the ballot for a referendum in 2022. The two most likely to advance this year include a repeal of the 2007 amendment banning same sex marriages in the Commonwealth, and another that will automatically restore the voting rights of former felons who have completed their sentences.  

Campaign finance reform also works its way through P&E, and this year I hope my additional clout as Chairman gives my longtime effort to make Virginia one of the very last states to explicitly prohibit the personal use of campaign funds a better chance of succeeding.  

I’ll also continue to serve on the House Courts of Justice Committee, where we will continue to build on the very consequential criminal justice reform efforts we began in the special session last fall. With the Governor’s backing, we’ll take a serious look at legalizing marijuana. Doing so will provide revenue for a variety of programs across the Commonwealth, expunging old convictions, and repealing most mandatory minimum sentences.  

Also, I believe this will be the year Virginia finally repeals the death penalty – a bill that is long overdue and that I’m proud to co-patron. 

On the environmental front, we’ll continue to work on the Virginia Clean Economy Act and other measures to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. There is also a bill to establish an Electric Vehicle Grant Program to assist school boards with replacing existing diesel school buses with electric buses as well as a bill to create an electric vehicle rebate program for those wishing to purchase one.  

The state budget, fortunately, doesn’t look as grim as we originally expected at this point with the Governor estimating $1.2 billion in additional revenue in this biennium. ​Revenues are exceeding official forecasts, even during a pandemic, which is in sharp contrast to other states that have been forced to lay off workers, cut services, and even borrow money to pay the bills​.  

The proposed budget includes allocating $30 million to restore financial aid increases at public colleges and universities across our Commonwealth and to restore a planned increase to the Tuition Assistance Grants. Local school jurisdictions will get more than $500 million over the next two years.  

Broadband is getting some much-needed support with a historic $50 million boost in each year. ​ 

Overall, we’re off to a good start this session and I’m looking forward to all that we’ll be able to accomplish. I always appreciate hearing from constituents, so please reach out to my office anytime – (804) 698-1053 or delmsimon@house.virginia.gov.

It's the end of the year

It’s December, which means it’s time for an end of the year column.   

This year’s Richmond Reports started out on an optimistic note.  Virginia Democrats, at long last, had taken the majority in the House of Delegates for the first time in two decades.    

In 2019 (and before), I’d been an outspoken-back-bencher, serving on one House committee that rarely met, another committee that did all of its work in subcommittees (I wasn’t on any). And another committee where I was on a subcommittee, but it had been created for troublemakers like me (informally dubbed “the Simon” subcommittee) where only extra mundane bills were ever referred.  

 In 2020, I was appointed to the General Laws, Courts of Justice, and Rules Committees and was named Vice Chair of the House Privileges and Elections Committee. I chaired 3 subcommittees, while serving on 4 or 5 or maybe 6 altogether. It was a very busy time!  

Early 2020 taught me to be careful what you wish for…   

I had the privilege of presiding over the committee where we finally passed the Equal Rights Amendment so that it could go to the floor for a full House vote. This same committee passed several critical voting and election related bills, including no-excuse absentee, automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, and making Election Day a state holiday.  

In the House General Laws Committee, we passed the Virginia Values Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  

In the House Courts Committee, we passed marijuana decriminalization and repealed the medically unnecessary ultrasound requirement and 24-hour mandated delay, effectively removing political interference between a woman and her medical provider. 

I may be most proud of the work I did on another member’s bill, helping to shepherd Delegate Lamont Bagby’s HB 788, which came through my Housing subcommittee. Together we overcame the objections of numerous special interests to craft a bill that allows property owners to remove obsolete and unenforceable racists covenants from their chain of title.  

Just as we were about to celebrate a triumphant session in Richmond - where we made historic investments in education, healthcare, and public employees as well as raised the minimum wage and granted public sector units greater opportunities for collective bargaining, plus passed historic gun safety laws to protect our communities from the ravages of gun violence - the grim reality that a global pandemic had arrived in our Commonwealth set in.  

The Governor announced the first set of pandemic-related health and safety guidelines in early March. In April, we met for a Reconvene Session outside on the grounds of the Capitol, and did our business acting on the Governor’s amendments and vetoes. 

Unfortunately, that meant rolling back a lot of those investments we’d included in our budget while we waited to see what impact a quarantine and prolonged social distancing requirements would have on our revenues.  

While we stayed safer at home, glued to our screens, images of the murder of George Floyd made their way into our living rooms and our collective consciousness. 

In August, we met in a special session to revisit our state budget, take steps to provide relief to Virginians affected by the pandemic, and pass important police and criminal justice reforms.  Just this fall the Governor signed laws banning choke holds in most circumstances, eliminating most no-knock warrants, and making it harder for bad police officers to hop from department to department, or be hired in the first place.   

As the year comes to an end, I think we can all agree we’ve seen far too many of our friends and neighbors depart this life too soon. Far too many stores close their doors, many never to return again. There is no doubt that our efforts in Richmond to ease the suffering and provide economic relief have been insufficient to meet the need.   

I’m hopeful that with the inauguration of a new president and administration that believes in the power of Government to be a force for good, for positive change, things will get better. I hope that much needed stimulus payments make their way to individuals, business, and state and local governments.   

There are great challenges that continue to await us in 2021.  I don’t know when we’ll resume the roaring pace that we seemed to get off to early in 2020, but I am confident that we will pull together, though, and make 2021 a far better year than the one we are about to leave behind.