Week Three: Important Bills Move Forward

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Dear Friend,

It is truly exciting to have Democrats in control of both chambers. The reasons you voted for Democrats are coming to fruition in the bills that are progressing through the legislative process. The most robust debates in the General Assembly have been centered around gun safety legislation. The Democrats are proposing common-sense legislation that an overwhelming number of Virginians support but none of our bills seem reasonable to the Republicans.

Firearms and Fentanyl Debate: Experts and others have reiterated many times that death from gun violence is the top killer of our children. When faced with this fact, the Republicans pivot because they are not supporting common-sense gun safety measures but are really excited to institute tough on crime penalties related to fentanyl usage. It seems like the play book never changes.

In fact, a Republican Senator rose on a point of personal privilege this week and accused the Democrats of not caring about kids or public safety. I countered those remarks with the fact that many factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, substance use treatment programs and other factors must all be addressed if we really want to curb the fentanyl crisis.

Point of fact: records from the office of Virginia’s chief medical examiner note that nearly seven times more minors died from gun violence than fentanyl overdoses from the start of 2017 through September 2022. During that time span, 355 minors died from guns and 51 from fentanyl. Unfortunately, facts don’t seem to matter in some of these debates.

Conversations with the Governor: Another major development is the Governor’s announcement that he does not believe the minimum wage should be increased. The legislature is on track to raise the minimum wage to $13.50 starting January 1, 2025 and $15.00 per hour starting January 1, 2026. The increase in the minimum wage is an important piece of the Democratic agenda to support working families and I believe it is a “must have” if budget negotiations with the Governor are to continue. Senator Lucas, chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, delivered that message in her own very colorful way.

We are keeping in mind that the Governor wants the Monumental Sports complex to find a home in Alexandria at the Potomac Yard metro site. But this deal would have to get a lot sweeter for me to even consider voting for it. The irony is there is no dedicated source of funding to support Metro in the budget, yet economic opportunities like the location of Amazon and the proposed Monumental Sports complex are only possibilities because we have a metro system.

Lastly, I am not going to support Governor Youngkin’s proposed $1.5 billion in tax cuts when so many core services are under-funded. As a member of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, I am going to push for a fairer tax system.

My Bills that Passed the Senate:

Protecting Children and Families:

Options for Childcare Centers in Office Buildings- SB 13 allows localities to waive zoning requirements, by the adoption of an ordinance, to facilitate the creation of child care centers in office buildings. This bill garnered wide-spread support among the localities, business leaders, non-profit organizations and advocates for early childhood education. The bill passed the Senate unanimously.

Ensuring that Offenders Transfer their Firearms--SB 47 establishes a process whereby the courts are informed of who the recipient is of a firearm transfer from an individual who is prohibited from possessing a firearm. My bill merely ensures that current law is followed. If the subject of a protective order or a convicted offender in an assault and battery case wishes to dispose of his firearms (as is required by law) through the transfer option, then my bill establishes certain requirements. The most important requirement is that the offender completes a form that provides relevant information about the firearm recipient, gives that form to the recipient and files the document with the court. My bill also requires that the recipient be at least 21 years of age and not reside with the offender or subject of the protective order. These two provisions track the requirements of the substantial risk order law. Unbelievably, not one Republican voted for this bill on the senate floor. I am optimistic that this bill will land on the Governor’s desk. We’ll see what he does.

Consumer Protections:

Limits the Need for Prior Authorizations for Drugs-- SB98 ensures that insurance companies cannot revoke a prior authorization within the currently established timeframe without due cause and “due cause” is defined in the bill. This proposal is particularly helpful for folks using expensive drugs for life-saving treatments by limiting the ability of insurance companies to ask for new authorizations. I worked with the Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia Health and Hospital Association and the Virginia Association of Insurance Plans to negotiate this bill. My bill passed the Senate unanimously.

Requires Fair Business Practices on the Part of Insurance Companies--SB425 is the result of a study that I mandated last year to create more positive relationships among providers, insurance companies and patients. The proposal describes what a “clean claim” is, mandates that insurance companies pay such claims within 30 days and provides a time-frame for when contested claims must be resolved. I worked with the same stakeholder groups noted in SB 98 but also included the Virginia Bureau of Insurance. This bill passed the Senate unanimously.

Protecting the Elderly and Vulnerable from Financial Abuse-- SB174 The Virginia Bankers Association asked me to carry this bill. The bill establishes a framework for bank employees to follow when there is a suspicion of financial abuse. Hopefully this legislation will go a long way toward protecting the savings of customers. Legislating in this area proved to be very complicated since there is an overlay of federal law and there must be a balance between protecting the privacy rights of customers and actions taken based on evidence that there may be financial abuse. Among other provisions, the bill allows for a customer to indicate a trusted individual that the bank can contact if evidence indicates suspicious transfers or withdrawals. If the bank suspects that the trusted individual may be the abuser, there is a process to involve adult protective services and law enforcement. My strategy to pass this bill was to grant civil immunity to the bank employee who acted on possible abusive behavior when in fact such behavior was intentional by the customer. This bill passed unanimously out of the Senate.

The above bills will now move on to the House of Delegates.

Odds and Ends:

Resolution on Israeli and Palestinian Conflict -My email box has been full of requests to vote “no” on a resolution regarding the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. The Senate Rules Committee, a committee that is comprised of committee chairs (of which I am one) and others, tabled this resolution since the Senate rules prohibit the body from acting on matters concerning foreign affairs.

Casino in Tysons -I have also received a lot of email on a proposal to allow the Fairfax Board of Supervisors to place a referendum before the voters for a casino in the Tysons area. This proposal offers a complete exception to legislation we previously passed that allows for no more than 5 casinos in the Commonwealth and identifies the jurisdictions eligible to host a casino.

Current law allows the locality to select the site for the casino but the proposal before us states which neighborhood must host the casino. Moreover, in the other cases where casinos have gone forward, the local governments have heavily lobbied in favor of a casino. The Fairfax Board of Supervisors has not indicated an interest in exploring an option for a casino at Tysons. Board Chair Jeff McKay recently issued a letter stating that the 30 percent local cut of tax revenue coming from the casino was not generous enough to give the Board of Supervisors reason to rally behind this bill. I am on the Finance subcommittee that is scheduled to hear this bill. At this time, I am not inclined to vote for the proposal.

Cannabis Legislation-Two years ago the General Assembly passed legislation that decriminalized simple possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana for private use. It is also legal, under a license, to grow and sell marijuana for medical use. However, current law left out provisions for the retail sale of recreational marijuana. This year the legislature is taking up bills to allow for the retail manufacture and sale of cannabis and to further reform our criminal justice system to reflect Virginia’s new policies. As chair of the Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, I am responsible for shepherding these bills through the Senate.

We have already had two hearings on these complex bills and expect to have at least one more as we weigh the issues of equity in licensing and public health matters. The Cannabis Control Authority is charged with examining the experiences of other states, good and bad, and promulgating regulations for the retail sale of marijuana by January 1, 2025. I expect a bill to pass out of the Senate in the next few weeks and to have a bill from the House of Delegates cross over for our consideration. It is unclear at this time if Governor Youngkin will sign a bill.

Thank you for the ongoing calls and emails. Although the volume of correspondence from constituents and others has been very high, I do appreciate hearing from you.

It is an honor and privilege to represent you in Richmond.

Sincerely,