Thank You & Preview of the 2022 Session

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Dear Friend,

First, thank you for your generous contributions to the Fairfax Democratic Committee’s Foster Kid Drive. Your love and kindness are much appreciated!

We raised enough funds through the Foster Kid Drive to give every child in the Fairfax foster care system a gift of their choosing and access to such services as specialized counseling, technology tools, and other supports throughout the upcoming year.

The new General Assembly session starts on January 12 and will conclude around March 12th. Given the results of the 2021 elections, it should give you comfort to know that the Democratic Senate is committed to maintaining the progress we have made in important areas such as gun safety, women’s access to abortion care, climate change remedies, and worker protection provisions.

In the 2022 session, our energies and efforts must be laser-focused on playing defense. Rest assured, I will keep an eagle eye on legislation that comes before the Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee, a committee that I have chaired for the past three years to ensure that our prison reform efforts are not diluted.

As the Democratic whip, I will stay in close contact with my colleagues and committee chairs as we work together to honor our Democratic values and represent those who elected us to be their advocates.

Highlights of My Agenda:

I am passionate about improving access to affordable health care. In collaboration with provider communities, I hope to enhance the possibilities for practicing telehealth, to ensure patients are not burdened with medical debt, and to advocate for more health insurance navigators so Virginians can more easily determine the plan that best fits their needs.

Moreover, I am acutely aware of the shortages of nurses and mental health professionals and will be working with stakeholders to address those shortages. I am also finding ways for alternative support systems to relieve police and sheriffs from having to wait with TDO patients in our emergency rooms.

In addition to the above-mentioned initiatives, I will be advocating for enhanced building efficiency standards and for solar-ready roofing. Lastly, I served on a Campaign Finance Reform Committee and will be coming forward with a bill that requires third party campaign finance disclosures. I will be providing you with more details on my efforts as my legislative requests are drafted.

What to Expect:

Tax and Spend Issues: Both Governor Northam and Governor-elect Youngkin are proposing tax cuts for the upcoming biennium budget. This is an expected discussion because Virginia closed FY 2021 with a record surplus of $2.6 billion.

I personally think it is time to evaluate our income tax structure, which is fairly flat when it should be more progressive. That kind of transformational change will take time and “buy-in” from a Governor who cares about such things. I do not have much information on what Governor-elect Youngkin might be proposing in the tax reduction area, but I would advise employing strategically targeted tax cuts. Virginia has many unmet and ongoing needs in the education, health care, and transportation areas that would benefit significantly from an infusion of funds. Such investments would help struggling rural communities and working class families proportionately more than across the board tax cuts.

Governor Northam is proposing to eliminate the 1.5 percent state sales tax on groceries; return up to 15 percent of the federal earned income tax credit back to Virginians, and give a one-time tax rebate of $250 to individuals and $500 to married couples. Lastly, Governor Northam is proposing to eliminate the accelerated sales tax, which is a budgeting move that requires retailers with sales in excess of $10M to pre-pay a portion of their sales tax every year.

Roll-Backs on Environmental Efforts: Governor-elect Youngkin has already stated that he will issue an executive order to remove Virginia from the Regional Green House Gas Initiative (RGGI). This initiative is a carbon market place that enabled Virginia to buy and sell carbon credits. Fortunately, we have been selling credits and last year yielded $228M for our efforts. That money was statutorily earmarked for flood prevention control and other environmental protection strategies. 

Removing Virginia from this worthy and revenue generating initiative will be devastating for the environment and for future investments in climate change initiatives. It will be particularly important for environmentalists and other advocates to help us ensure that we remain a RGGI member, remain committed to Advanced Clean Car Standards, and ensure that provisions in the recently passed Clean Economy Act are not gutted or delayed.

Public Education and Charter Schools: I am expecting a lively debate on issues related to the funding of public schools and how the charter school system should be bolstered. I am advising localities and other educational advocates to help ensure that the decision to grant a charter school license remain with local school boards and not shift to the state. I am confident that local school boards will craft contracts with charter school operators that will require open admission policies and certain academic outcomes. I fear that these protections will not necessarily be applied at the state level.

So far, both Governor Northam and Governor-elect Youngkin have proposed raising teacher salaries. In fact, Governor Northam has put enough money into the budget to fund the state’s share of a 10% teacher raise over the biennium. Of course, local dollars will be required to draw down the state’s share, but this increase would bring teacher salaries in Virginia above the national average.

I am hearing from school boards across my district (Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun) that removing the cap on school support personnel is their top priority. It is also the top priority of the state association of school superintendents. This request will be costly but very meaningful to our local school systems. I will do my best to deliver on this important topic.

Grateful for You: Thank you for your continued support. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if you have any questions or suggestions during session. It is a privilege to represent you in Richmond.

Sincerely,