Special Session Wrap Up

Last week the Virginia General Assembly wrapped up one of the most special of Special Sessions in recent memory. It was special not simply because it was called by the Governor outside of our normal annual schedule. It was also the first session conducted almost entirely remotely with virtual sessions conducted by Zoom on the House Side. It was also probably the most productive and likely most impactful session we’ve ever held. 

Our ability to make improvements to Virginia voting laws that made the logistics of putting on an election during a pandemic possible would have been a remarkable achievement during a “normal” special session.  But this Special Session was extra special. 

We also passed an ambitious package of important police reform and criminal justice reform bills, which we funded while having to plug a 9-figure hole in the biennial budget we passed in March.  

Here are some highlights. 

Legislation 

The Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) will be tasked to develop a mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system throughout the Commonwealth next year under the provisions of Delegate Jeff Bourne’s HB 5043.  

We finally taken care of a bizarre oversight in Virginia that made us one of a handful of states where it wasn’t expressly illegal for law enforcement officers to engage in sexual activity with any detainees in Del. Karrie Delaney’s HB 5045.  

We banned the use of chokeholds (HB 5069) and no-knock warrants (HB 5099) while passing a robust police demilitarization bill prohibiting law enforcement agencies from acquiring military grade weapons and vehicles (HB 5049).  

My bill requiring decertification of law enforcement officers who have been terminated for misconduct or quit while an investigation is pending will keep bad officers from jumping from one jurisdiction to another (HB 5051), while other bills increase vetting and training requirements. HB 5055 requires localities to establish a law-enforcement civilian oversight committee that may investigate and issue findings on civilian complaints regarding officer conduct. 

To protect consumers, we passed legislation to prohibit price gouging of goods and services during a state of emergency (HB 5047). Another bill, HB 5050, authorizes the Governor to purchase and distribute PPE to non-governmental entities during a declared state of emergency due to a public health threat. 

The Budget 

Because of the pandemic, we also needed to address a reforecast state budget. Unsurprisingly, we weren’t able to maintain all the funding that we originally outlined earlier in the year. 

We allocated Federal Cares act funds to K-12 education to help with school reopening and virtual programs, unemployment assistance, direct aid for utility customers, COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, broadband accessibility, PPE purchasing, and mortgage and rental assistance. We also ensured that there is funding for the November election, providing for additional cleaning services, PPE, and drop boxes. While some of the CARES Act funding remains unallocated, we will be sure to utilize all the funding before the end of year deadline. 

To further help utility customers, the budget extends the disconnection moratorium until 60 days after the state of emergency ends. It also establishes a universal moratorium on evictions through the end of the year. Starting in the new year, individuals will be able to apply for a Rent and Mortgage Relief Program, which will create affordable payment plans. 

Over $140 million will be spent over the next two years on critical behavioral health services and DD waivers. There is also $7 million for the Virginia Federation of Food Banks. 

I even had a budget amendment that came from constituent casework, which was ultimately included in the final budget. The amendment provides that the DMV must allow individuals who are 65 or over and individuals with an underlying medical condition to make all needed transactions electronically or through the mail during the state of emergency. 

You can review the complete budget conference report online at budget.lis.virginia.gov. 

So, although the Special Session may be going on a bit longer than we thought it might, there is no question that we are making progress in the area of criminal justice reform and that we are making the state budget stretch as far as it can. I haven’t missed a single say of the Session Special and I’ve got the receipts. 

Vote No on Amendment #1

With voting in the 2020 election beginning as early as this Friday, September 18, 2020, I need to use this week’s column to redouble my efforts to encourage everyone to VOTE NO on Amendment #1 to the Virginia Constitution that appears on the ballot.

I have and continue to be a dedicated advocate for improving the way we draw legislative districts in Virginia. Unlike the proponents of the Amendment, I have never wavered from my commitment to the axiom that for democracy to work as intended, voters need to choose their representatives, not the other way around.

Unfortunately, that’s not what Amendment #1 on the 2020 ballot does. In fact, it does just the opposite, enshrining the role of legislative leaders while shutting out the voices of the Virginia electorate from the process, with no guarantee that communities of color will have any meaningful input in a process that for generations has been used as one of the most effective tools to limit their ability to have meaningful and proportional representation in the legislature.

Among the Amendment’s most glaring flaws:

• It creates a bipartisan commission, rather than a nonpartisan one, while giving legislators immense power in the process - even if 14 of the 16 members of the Commission agree to the maps, just 2 legislators can veto that vote.
• It’s not a citizen commission in any meaningful way. The non-legislative members of the Commission are chosen from a list of nominees provided by the political leadership of both houses. And a panel of retired judges selected primarily by, you guessed it, the political leaders of both houses of the General Assembly.
• It misses a crucial opportunity to enshrine real and lasting protections for communities of color in the redistricting process going forward.
• It does not guarantee transparency or public input in the Constitution or the redistricting process.
• It creates an untenable timeline that risks the integrity of our entire election process.

Let’s talk more about the very partisan nature of the Commission. Any independents or 3rd party adherents reading this, you will have no voice in this process. As noted above, all the members of the Commission with be loyalists from one of the two largest parties. That’s by design.

The Amendment only aims to make partisan gerrymandering impractical. It does so through a convoluted selection process that ensures no party is able to have an upper hand in negotiations. All the safeguards in the Amendment itself are designed to guarantee an equal voice to the largest political minority, as opposed to any voice for racial, ethnic, or language minorities.

While the Amendment does have language with some racial criteria, it only says “where practicable, opportunities for racial and ethnic communities to elect candidates of their choice” should be provided. That is a suggestion, not a requirement. Black Virginians and other minorities should not have to rely on the generosity of white people, it should be in the Amendment.

The Amendment first passed the General Assembly in 2019 under a Republican-led legislature after it became clear that Democrats were on the cusp of taking control of the legislature. Prior to 2019, they’d steadfastly opposed every effort to bring fairness, transparency, and citizen participation into the redistricting process.

Lest you think this is just an effort led by Democrats enjoying their newfound majority status and who’d like to do back to the Republicans what they’d always done in the past, please note that there are several grassroots organizations working to defeat this Amendment. Organizations like Progress Virginia, Virginians for Independent Redistricting, and New Virginia Majority are just a few of these organizations.

During the 2020 legislative session, the General Assembly passed into law HB 1255, which outlaws racial and political gerrymandering. This bill passed on a 100% party line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor, and all Republicans opposed. Amendment #1 would void that law, and once again bring gerrymandering back to Virginia.

This is not a situation where the perfect is the enemy of the good. We shouldn’t settle for a so-called anti-gerrymandering redistricting amendment that doesn’t actually end gerrymandering. Amending our state constitution is not an easy process, nor should it be. For this reason and for the reasons I outlined above, we should be highly discerning in what we add to our State Constitution and VOTE NO on Amendment #1.

New laws on July 1st

As a general rule, the new laws the General Assembly passes during its regular session in January and February take effect on July 1st every year. Some of the big changes we made this year, including increasing the minimum wage, may have delayed effective dates, while others, like all of our gun violence prevention statutes will take effect in just a couple of weeks.

So many big, exciting, historic things made headlines this session, that you could be forgiven for forgetting that we did some things that, in any other year, would have been THE big story out of Richmond.

For instance, you probably knew that Virginia decriminalized simple possession of marijuana, so that it’s now a civil offense punishable by a fine, but did you know that we also legalized sport betting in Virginia? The Virginia State Lottery will be in charge of granting licenses, setting up strong consumer protections (that’s why my bill was incorporated into the new law) and we established a Gambling Treatment and Support Fund.​

You probably heard that we granted localities the right to regulate firearms in the buildings and parks they own. You may even have heard recently that localities will have the right to move, remove or contextualize confederate monuments! You may not have heard about some of the other new powers we granted localities, and counties in particular.

Reducing reliance on real property taxes in places like Fairfax County in particular has long been one of my priorities. Now local governments can impose their own cigarette tax and create a plastic bag tax. They can also adopt their own affordable housing ordinances with certain provisions.

Localities now have the authority to enact their own human rights ordinances or non-discrimination policies in housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, and education on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. We also updated the Hate Crimes Statute to include gender, disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation to the categories of victims covered. This means that a higher criminal penalty can be sought for the offence and that the crime will be reported to the central information database.

You may have heard about the Clean Economy Act which seeks to transform the grid in Virginia and eventually wean us off of fossil fuels all together, but you probably didn’t know we made it easier for electric vehicle owners to install a charging station in front of their home or within the boundary of their community association’s parking area. For those looking to live greener lives, we’ve also made it easier to obtain residential solar panels with the Solar Freedom Act.

Many folks lauded us for ending the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for people too poor to pay their court fines or fees, but did you know that we also made it easier to report an overdose without having to worry about being arrested? Our Good Samaritan Law passed after being introduced for years without success.

In a year that seems to be a nonstop series of unprecedented bad news headlines, you’d be forgiven if you hadn’t heard that the General Assembly finally capped interest rates and fees on loans from predatory lenders. The loan companies will also have to make more reasonable attempts to verify a borrower’s income.

Student loan borrowers will also have protections at the state level, including a new Borrower’s Bill of Rights that requires student loan servicing companies to be licensed by the Bureau of Financial Institutions and promise not to lie to borrowers about their repayment options. If the Federal Department of Education won’t reign these companies in, we now can in Virginia.

In fact, we did a lot of things in Virginia that the feds just aren’t doing anymore. Some, they are now finally picking up on. In Virginia we passed a bill to prohibit health insurance companies from charging more than $50 a month for copays. Medicare and Medicaid just announced a similar deal with the pharmaceutical companies. It’s almost like they saw the writing on the wall.

Virginia is finally a leader on many important issues. I look forward to setting an example for the rest of the Country on justice and police reform at our upcoming special session this summer.

If you’ve got a legislative idea for next year, I’m all ears!

The Deep State is real

The Deep State is real.

Well, sort of.

To the extent you’ve been told there is a vast network of semi-anonymous appointed business leaders and career government bureaucrats who work together with a chosen few elected officials to make the really important policy decisions while almost no one is looking . . . well, here in Virginia, we call those Boards, Authorities, Councils, Commissions, Studies, and sometimes Study Commissions, or Select Committees, or some combination of all of the above.

Ok, it’s really not as nefarious as I make it sound. The meetings are all open to the public and subject to Virginia’s Freedom of Information laws and they provide a great forum of public and stakeholder input that we rarely have time for during our regular legislative sessions in January and February.

In fact, people ask me all the time how the General Assembly can really make the important policy decisions it needs to make during our very short legislative sessions – 60 day “long” sessions and 45 day “short” ones.

The short answer: We don’t.

The long answer: A lot of the heavy lifting is done in the off season with the help of these groups made up of subject matter experts, interested and affected parties, legislators, lawyers and advocates. Although these groups don’t have the power to change the law without General Assembly action, when their legislative recommendations are introduced, they carry a lot of weight and given the volume of work we have to do - rarely second guessed too much.

That’s why many times when people get down to Richmond to advocate during session, it feels like they are already too late. For the six years I served in the minority party in the House of Delegates, I often felt the same way. Legislators would appear before committees and their entire bill presentation would be “this is a recommendation of the Boyd-Graves Conference” and that would be that.

We made a lot of important progress during this year’s General Assembly session, but there is much more work to do. For the first time in 24 years, we’ve had both chambers and the Governor’s mansion under Democratic Control. Some of the bills dealing with stickier issues this year were referred to commissions for further study and refinement.

In the past, when a progressive policy agenda item was referred to a commission or “carried over” that was a relatively gentle way of killing the bill.

As our new Democratic majorities settle in for the long haul, though, the Speaker of the House has the opportunity to appoint new members to dozens of commissions, boards and councils. This creates opportunities for members who may have been sidelined previously to participate in the legislative process in new and more meaningful ways.

I was thrilled last week to learn that I’d been appointed by the Speaker to serve on the Board of Veterans Affairs, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council (FOIA), the Code Commission, and the Housing Commission.

The Board of Veterans Affairs works on policies related to veterans’ welfare and services available in the Commonwealth. It meets periodically throughout the year and works closely with the Veterans Affairs Caucus, of which I am also a member.

Transparency is the main purview of the FOIA Council. With some exceptions, the presumption is that documents from public officials and meetings of state and local public entities should be made available for review. It’s the exceptions that often cause the most issues. This is when the FOIA Council can step in to resolve disputes through advisory opinions, offering guidelines for interpreting Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.

Established as a permanent commission 1946, the Code Commission is one of the oldest commissions around. It’s tasked with supervising the codification of statutes after each legislative session, revising Code titles, identifying obsolete sections, and reconciling the administrative regulations of state agencies into the Virginia Administrative Code. The Commission meets once a month.

Meanwhile, the Virginia Housing Commission is tasked with ensuring the availability of affordable housing in Virginia. Through permanent work groups, the Commission makes recommendations and oversees studies related to housing, real property, and community development. The full Commission meets three times per year and the work groups meeting more often as needed.

The legislative session we just finished was historic by any measure, and there is even more to come. I’m excited to be a part of the conversation.

How a bill becomes a law

The legislative process in Virginia is almost exactly like what you remember from the Schoolhouse Rock video with the singing scroll of paper known as Bill. You remember him, right? He’s just a lonely old bill, and he’s sitting there on Capitol Hill? He was born as an idea from a constituent who called his congressman, who sat down at a typewriter, and typed him up, then he went to committee, then he’s signed and goes to the other House, then he waits to be signed, but explains that he’s worried about being Vetoed? Yeah, that’s the one.

In Virginia it works almost the same way, except since the legislature only meets part-time, 60 days in this year’s “long session” we can’t just start over if the Governor vetoes a bill. We have to wait until next year to start the process over. So if the Governor likes most of a bill, but not all of it, or wants it to do more, he can make recommendations for amendments, which the General Assembly can vote up or down. If we accept the recommendations, the bill becomes law. If we don’t the Governor can still veto it, or he can sign it as we originally sent it to him.

We are now in the week between the Governor’s deadline to sign, veto or recommend amendments to bills (April 11, 2020) and the Reconvene Session where we decide what to do about them (April 22, 2020). When we do go back, the General Assembly will have just over 100 bills with recommendations (but only one veto) to act on.

Like many things these days, this will be an unprecedented Reconvene Session. We won’t meet indoors in the House Chamber, because it would be impossible to adhere to social distancing and sanitation practices. Instead, the Senate will convene at the Science Museum of Virginia and the House will gather outdoors on the Capitol Grounds.

The setting won’t be the only thing this session will be remembered for. It’s unprecedented in more substantive ways as well, as this is likely the first time since Reconstruction, we’ve had what you can call a progressive or liberal majority in both legislative chambers with a like-minded Governor.

I'm proud to report that 14 of my bills passed this session, nearly doubling my production from my first 6 years in one session.

The Governor signed the Virginia Values Act, making Virginia the first Southern state to provide sweeping anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people - a bill I was proud to help craft as it came through one of the three subcommittees I chair.

Governor Northam also signed new laws to strike discriminatory language from Virginia’s Acts of Assembly, deleting 98 instances of overtly discriminatory language still on the Commonwealth’s books. This includes laws that banned interracial marriage, blocked school integration, and prohibited black and white Virginians from living in the same neighborhoods. While many of these Acts of Assembly have been overturned by court decisions or subsequent legislation, they had remained enshrined in law.

The Governor also signed a criminal justice reform agenda that includes measures raising the felony larceny threshold; permanently eliminating driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines, fees, and court costs; raising the age of juvenile transfer to adult court; and reforming parole, while decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana and sealing the records of prior convictions.

He also signed bills to make voting easier, to encourage the use of clean energy, and to enact common sense gun safety reforms. Any of these would be screaming headlines in any other year, but this year they barely made it into my column for lack of column inches!

Among the recommendations we will have to consider are amendments delaying the implementation of incremental increases to the minimum wage on a path toward $15 an hour, allowing local government employees to collectively bargain, and encouraging the use of project labor agreements and prevailing wage clauses in local government contracts. Although these progressive items may be put off a few months, they will become law, something unthinkable given the political landscape in Virginia a year ago at this time.

The 2020 General Assembly Session will go down in history, regardless of what we do, or where or how we do it at our Reconvene Session, and I couldn’t be more honored to be a part of it. Thank you for your trust and confidence during these trying times.

What a difference a year makes

Last August, I made some pretty big predictions about what a majority Democratic General Assembly would look like, specifically what kinds of legislation we’d pass. Here is an annotated version of what I wrote last year. Here we go!

Come with me, to July 1, 2020, in a world where control of the General Assembly has flipped…

One of our first orders of business when we returned to Richmond for the 2020 Session was to pass common sense reforms related to gun purchases and ownership. Beginning July 1, every firearms transaction in the Commonwealth is subject to a background check available on a website operated by the Virginia State Police. Falls Church City and Fairfax County owned buildings are not only tobacco free, but local governments have voted to make them gun free zones as well. We passed 7 common sense gun violence prevention bills this year, requiring universal background checks for all gun sales (HB 2), reinstating one handgun purchase per month limit (HB 812), requiring proof of competency to obtain a concealed carry permit, requiring individuals to report stolen firearms (HB 9), creating extreme risk protective orders (HB 674), allowing local governments the authority to ban guns in public spaces (HB 421), limiting children’s access to firearms (HB 1083), and prohibiting gun possession for those subject to a protective order (HB 1004).

Voting in the upcoming 2020 election is expected to break records for voter participation, not just because it’s a presidential election year, but because Virginia residents are now automatically registered to vote when they go to re-register their cars, apply for government benefits, or have any other interaction with state government. For those who aren’t automatically registered on Election Day, they will be able to register on the spot, and voting will begin early for anyone who wishes to cast a ballot, no reason need be provided. We’ve made Election Day a state holiday in Virginia (HB 108). And we’ve passed legislation to allow for no-excuse absentee voting (HB 1), same day voter registration (HB 187), and automatic voter registration (HB 235). Localities will even be able to use ranked choice voting for local elections if they choose (HB 1103).

Virginia is now part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and is committed to reducing our emissions while funding renewable energy programs and promoting green jobs. Expect to see rooftop solar panels dotting the landscape as the General Assembly removed regulatory barriers and added financial incentives for residential and community solar installation. We repealed the provision preventing us from joining RGGI and passed a series of bills (like HB 912) aimed at increasing our use of solar and wind energy. The Virginia Clean Energy Act (HB 1526) made it through as well. A comprehensive environment and energy bill, it will not only eliminate harmful carbon emissions by 2050 through strategic investments in solar and wind energy, but also require utility companies to significantly increase investment in energy efficiency programs and low-income communities.

Many Virginians will begin to see a more money in their paychecks each week as we begin the first step in a gradual increase in the minimum wage, which is on its way to $15 an hour. Those struggling with crippling student loan debt have new options to consolidate and refinance their loans, and those who suspect they’ve been overpaying can complain to the Virginia Bureau of Financial Institutions which now has oversight authority. A major compromise bill to raise the minimum wage (HB 395) made it through both houses, providing for a gradual increase to $15 over the next few years. And my bill (HB 10) to require student loan servicers to register with the SCC and establish a Student Borrower’s Bill of Rights finally passed as well.

Simple possession of Marijuana is no longer a criminal offense, but it is illegal to discriminate in housing and employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Not only did we decriminalize marijuana (HB 972), but we also passed a series of anti-discrimination bills. HB 6 prohibits discriminatory housing practices based on income. HB 827 prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions and HB 1514 prohibits racial discrimination related to hair texture, type, and styles. Lastly, SB 868 is an omnibus anti-discrimination bill, which explicitly creates causes of action for unlawful discrimination in public accommodations and employment in the Virginia Human Rights Act.

Virginia passed the Equal Rights Amendment, becoming the last state needed to add it to the US Constitution. HJ 1 was the first big piece of legislation that we passed this session.

We firmly established that the government has no business interfering in women’s healthcare and reproductive rights. HB 980 repeals the medically unnecessary ultrasound requirement and 24-hour mandated delay, effectively removing political interference between a woman and her medical provider and restores women's reproductive freedoms.

Well, look at that. In August 2019, that’s the column I hoped I’d get to write. I also did an Inside Scoop interview in December 2019, where I outlined these priorities. And here we are in March 2020. So, how’d we do?

2020 Crossover

We’re in the last three weeks stretch of this year’s 2020 General Assembly Session. Last week was the official halfway point known as Crossover - the term used to describe the last day before all bills in the House of Delegates are sent over to the Senate and vice versa.

It also means that we had a few very long days of debate on the House floor to finish up the remaining bills on the calendar. On Crossover day, we had 162 bills to vote on - we had already passed 668 bills that are now going through the Senate committee process.

We’re now sorting through over 550 new pieces of Senate legislation and will do the first round of debate on the 2020-2022 State Budget.

Unlike in previous years where I had few subcommittee assignments, I am now on six subcommittees, three of which I am the chairman (Housing/Consumer Protection Subcommittee, Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee, and the Subcommittee on Redistricting). In all the committees, we’re reviewing and moving legislation along with the goal of making sure we end session on time on March 7th.

Going Forward

I'm proud of my 14(!) bills that are headed to the Senate this week as well as the many others that I've had an opportunity to work on with my colleagues. You can view my complete legislative agenda here by going to lis.virginia.gov, selecting General Assembly Members, and then selecting my name.

Overall, we've passed a lot of substantive, progressive legislation in the House so far - raising the minimum wage (HB 395), repealing Virginia's mandatory ultrasound law (HB 980), allowing collective bargaining for public employees (HB 582), establishing the Virginia Values Act (HB 1663), ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (HJ 1), enacting the Governor's 8 gun violence prevention bills, raising the grand larceny threshold (HB 995), allowing no-excuse absentee voting (HB 1), creating the Solar Freedom Act (HB 572), same day voter registration (HB 201) - just to highlight a few!

The 2020-2022 State Budget

Over the weekend, the House Appropriations Committee released the 2020-2022 State Budget, which includes a series of additional, committee-approved budget amendments. As I mentioned earlier, we’ll do the first round of debate on the budget this week before the budget goes to conference – this means that a few House and Senate members will be selected to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the budget.

I’m happy to report that we already have some really good things in the budget that are earmarked to promote things like environmental responsibility, improve our education system, and make our communities safer.

More specifically, the budget includes funding to cover the expected costs of finally raising the minimum wage in Virginia. We’re sorely lagging behind our neighbors in Maryland, DC, and West Virginia who have already raised their wages.

We’re giving pay raises to state employees and teachers, who will get a 4% total raise.

There is $1.2 million for the Attorney General’s Division of Human Rights to support implementation and defense of recently passed human rights legislation. This refers to the Virginia Values Act and several other bills which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Early childhood education and k-12 will get $1.4 billion in new spending. There is also $11.2 million for Tuition Assistance Grants (TAG), increasing the award to $3,850.

On the healthcare front, we are finally putting money toward establishing a Virginia Health Benefit Exchange. In addition, we have earmarked $1.7 million to expand opioid treatment services and added 1,135 new DD Waiver slots.

To adequately administer the gun violence prevention legislation that has passed, the Department of Corrections will receive an additional $2.6 million.

In response to high eviction rates, there is $6.6 million for eviction diversion and prevention programs.

We’re keeping our commitment to protecting the environment by earmarking $30 million for the Department of Environmental Quality for additional staff and programs related to environmental justice initiatives. We have also removed the prohibition on joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) will receive $6.6 million, increasing benefits by 5%. There is also $2.4 million to establish the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Prevention Fund at the Department of Social Services.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the good things in the budget, but it certainly is a snapshot of the priorities of the new majority in the House of Delegates. You can view the complete list of budget amendments at budget.lis.virginia.gov.