Fundamentally unserious.

Those two words fairly summarize the proposed state budget from Governor Youngkin.

To its core, the Governor’s proposed state budget ignores the warnings of nonpartisan staff, and some of his own economic advisers. Youngkin’s fiscal proposal could result in an out-of-balance state budget.

As the nonpartisan staff director of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee told members, including myself, less than two months ago: “Recent increases to the standard deduction have reduced individual income tax revenue, the primary [general fund revenue] source, and staff would caution against further changes without adjusting spending or increasing other revenue sources.”

Youngkin is again calling for a permanent tax break to predominantly benefit Virginia’s wealthiest residents. To pay for it, Youngkin wants to increase the regressive state sales tax on all Virginians and reduce spending levels for critical investments, including public education.

After unveiling his budget proposal, Governor Youngkin added an even deeper note of unseriousness – a throw-away line in his speech about the Car Tax. Despite having two years to come up with a way to pay for it, Youngkin provided no plan – instead asking the General Assembly to improvise within our upcoming 60-day session.

Now is a time for thoughtful leadership – not slogans or shoddy math. The budget of the Commonwealth of Virginia is not a game to be conducted with play money.

As a returning member of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, I will scrutinize the budget and do everything I can to protect core investments in public education, Metro, affordable housing, mental health and public safety.

During this year’s legislative session, Senators are limited to introducing 21 pieces of legislation. The House of Delegates has not established such a cap.

Given the new limitation on the number of bills that I can introduce, I will be advancing progressive priorities through my own legislative portfolio, as well as working closely with colleagues.

I look forward to defending and advancing Virginia’s progress on LGBTQ equality and gun violence prevention. I will again introduce my amendment to Virginia’s Constitution to finally remove the discriminatory stain on our governing document that prohibits marriage equality, and instead enshrine an affirmative right to marry for two consenting adults in Virginia. I will also carry legislation to ban the carrying of an assault weapon in public, as well as other gun violence prevention bills.

​Stay tuned as I finalize the remainder of my legislative portfolio.

The proposal for an arena in Potomac Yard by the Commonwealth, the City of Alexandria, and Monumental Sports & Entertainment, has generated much interest and discussion, both locally and statewide.

I was not involved in the development of this proposal. However, I firmly believe it is a non-starter without a fully-functioning Metro system, and I was dismayed that the Governor did not include additional funding for Metro in his proposed budget.

The Governor needs to understand that new Metro investment is a requirement for the continued economic vitality of our region. We cannot even begin to consider his proposal for Potomac Yard without assurances that Metro will continue to adequately serve Northern Virginia.

To find more information, watch the presentation by the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, or sign-up to receive alerts about opportunities to make your views heard on the proposal, click here.

The announcement by Governor Youngkin and the City of Alexandria marks the start of a long process that ultimately will require a vote of approval by the Alexandria City Council as well as the Virginia General Assembly.

I have not yet seen legislation that would establish the proposed Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority. I look forward to reviewing the economic studies completed and provided to the Commonwealth and the City of Alexandria in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the executive summary of an economic study that was completed for Alexandria can be viewed here.

Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker and I will be participating in a virtual Zoom meeting hosted by the Del Ray Citizens Association on Monday, January 8th, at 7:00.

We will be fielding questions regarding the state’s role in the proposed arena project in Potomac Yard. This meeting will occur in advance of any votes pertaining to the proposed arena.

Those who wish to attend can sign up to receive the Zoom link here. You can ask a question in advance here.

At the end of a whirlwind 2023 election season, Virginians retained the Senate Democratic majority, and delivered Democrats a majority in the House of Delegates, marking the first instance in Virginia since the late 1990s of a fully-Democratic legislature and a Republican Governor.

In the weeks following Election Day, newly-elected and returning Senate Democrats conferred and elected colleagues to serve in leadership positions. We elected the following Senate Democratic Leaders:
​

• Scott Surovell (Mount Vernon) was elected Senate Majority Leader;
• Senator Mamie Locke (Hampton) was reelected Caucus Chair;
• I was elected Caucus Vice Chair;
• Senator Ghazala Hashmi (Chesterfield) was reelected Caucus Treasurer;
• Senator Barbara Favola (Arlington) was reelected Caucus Whip;
• Senator Lamont Bagby (Richmond) was elected Caucus Whip;
• and Senator Aaron Rouse (Virginia Beach) was elected Caucus Secretary.

​As Senate Democrats chose their leadership, House Democrats also moved forward with selecting the leaders of their newly-elected Democratic Majority.

House Democrats elected Minority Leader Don Scott (Portsmouth) to serve as the 58th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and the first African-American to serve in the role in the General Assembly’s 405-year history.

House Democrats also reelected my fellow-Alexandrian Delegate Charniele Herring as House Majority Leader, a role in which she previously served from 2020-2021.

Delegate Kathy Tran (Fairfax) was elected to serve as House Caucus Chair. Congratulations to these Democratic leaders.

​I look forward to working alongside them.

This Election Day, I was humbled by the support of the voters of the 39th Senate District who reelected me with more than 78 percent of the vote.

Thank you for the honor of representing you in the State Senate. I’ve worked hard to get results for our community’s progressive values, including protecting access to reproductive health care, safeguarding tenants from unlawful evictions, investing in our schools, banning guns from state buildings, and passing protections for LGBTQ+ Virginians.

But there’s more work to do, and I’m up for the fight.

Two weeks ago, I was proud to endorse Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger’s campaign for Virginia Governor. She’s proven she can bring people together to get results for Virginia, which she will do for us as our next Governor. With her in the Governor’s Office, we’ll get to work preventing gun violence, protecting access to reproductive health care, and delivering on the promise of equality for all Virginians.

​Lastly, I would like to give special thanks to Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson, who has served Alexandria for years as an unqualified progressive champion, councilman and mayor. His tireless work has made the city a better place to live, work, and enjoy life. I wish him all of the best in his future professional endeavors.

​In addition to being elected Vice Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, I was pleased to be selected by my colleagues to continue my service as Chairman of the influential Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology. I look forward to continuing my work pursuing solutions for all Virginians, particularly in the areas of affordable housing, renter’s rights, consumer protection and emerging technologies.

Last month, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee held its annual meeting - located this year in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Every mid-November, the committee holds an annual meeting outside of Richmond, where committee staff and economists provide presentations to committee members on the budget process, Virginia's economic outlook, and the major issues that are expected to demand much of the committee’s time in the coming legislative session.

To mitigate the risk of an unanticipated revenue loss, the staff of the Senate Finance Committee – like the Governor’s Joint Advisory Board of Economists – recommend that the next state budget assume a mild recession over the next year. A soft landing may be possible, however. Recent economic performance continues to push any slowdown further out in the calendar.

An economic slowdown could create a tenuous situation for Virginia’s budget, and would be exacerbated by the additional proposals for tax cuts expected from Governor Youngkin and Republicans. As the nonpartisan staff director of Senate Finance told members, including myself, last month: “Recent increases to the standard deduction have reduced individual income tax revenue, the primary GF [general fund revenue] source, and staff would caution against further changes without adjusting spending or increasing other revenue sources.”

Unfortunately, what this means is – if the economy turns bad – the General Assembly may be forced to cut spending just to afford certain ongoing programs that we have previously funded. To establish significant – and new – programs, or to further reduce revenues, the General Assembly would be forced to make even deeper budget cuts, or raise revenue.

For the reasons outlined, the upcoming budget is not the time to pursue additional tax cuts that would further erode revenue for public safety, public education, health programs, and much more.

Governor Youngkin has directed state agencies to propose budget cuts, which will likely be included in the governor's budget that he proposes to legislators on December 20th.

​As a returning member of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, I will scrutinize the Youngkin Budget and do everything I can to protect investments in Virginia’s people. In particular, I will look to defend – and increase where possible – Virginia’s investments in affordable housing, Metro, mental health, and public education.

In preparing for the coming legislative session, Senate Democrats have coalesced around several major priorities, including:

• Enshrining reproductive rights in the Constitution (Senator Boysko – SJ1);
  
• Codifying restoration of civil rights in the Constitution (Senator Locke – SJ2);
  
• Increasing the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour (Senator Lucas – SB1);
  
• Banning AR-15-style assault weapons (Senator Deeds – SB2);

And finally, stripping the discriminatory ban on marriage equality from the Virginia Constitution, and enshrining an affirmative right to marry – which I will be proud to carry in the Senate, and Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax) will carry in the House.

​In addition, I will continue to fight for common-sense gun safety reforms, and push forward on establishing the adult use cannabis recreational market. I will also keep up the fight for more affordable housing and renter’s rights, as well as looking out for the rights of Virginia consumers, particularly in emerging technological fields.

​I have represented portions of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax in the Virginia Senate since 2011, and for eight years in the House of Delegates before that. With unprecedented turnover in the General Assembly as a result of retirements and redistricting, I look forward to continuing my service as an experienced progressive leader for Northern Virginia.

Both houses of the General Assembly reported a proposed budget a few days after the halfway point of our 46-day legislative session. While both budgets use the Governor’s proposal as a jumping off point, often the outcomes are drastically different – especially in years of split government. A budget is a list of priorities, and it can tell a great deal about the values and priorities of its authors. Reviewing the proposed budgets from the House of Delegates, and State Senate, it is evident that these bodies have differing sets of priorities based around a central fundamental of governing: should we invest in core public services or cut revenues?  

From a 10,000-foot view, the difference between our two proposed budgets comes down to that – the House has chosen to align with the Governor’s proposal of cutting more than $1 billion in taxes, mainly for large corporations and Virginia’s highest earners. The Senate proposal retains existing, already comparatively low, tax rates on those individuals and entities, and chooses instead to inject most of that $1 billion into public education. 

Still, there are some areas of agreement. 

The two bodies are mostly in accord on pay for state employees. Both amended budgets include an additional two percent raise for state employees. This raise will be on top of a five percent raise that was approved last year, in an attempt to better keep up with inflation. However, there is disagreement on how to allocate bonuses to qualified public servants. The Senate’s proposal is to send a $1,000 dollar bonus to all state employees on December 1st 2023, while the House’s proposal is to give targeted bonuses to the state employees who work in departments and agencies with the highest employment vacancies. I believe it is important to give these bonuses to the broadest possible swath of public servants, and I will be advocating for this measure in the final budget.

The largest difference between the two proposed budgets is the total allocation for public education. In recent weeks it was uncovered that the Youngkin administration had miscalculated the amount of funds that it would be able to allocate to local school divisions because their calculations did not take into account the elimination of the state portion of the grocery tax, an action we took last year.

The miscalculations shorted Virginia school districts approximately 220 million dollars. Both houses of the General Assembly sought to replace these finds. The House of Delegates has set aside just 4.9 million dollars to make up this funding. The Senate on the other hand, proposes 58.1 million dollars to help address the shortfall. This 58.1 million dollars would be enough to help school districts complete this fiscal year. Another component of the Senate’s budget that is not in the House Budget is the removal of the cap on state funding of school support positions. This cap, put in place during the great recession, limits the amount of funding available for positions such as custodians, assistant Superintendents, school nurses, and other support positions. By removing it, our school districts will be able to attract and retain critical staff who make our schools run better and improve our students' daily lives. The proposed Senate Budget includes over one billion dollars in direct aid to school divisions, over seven hundred million more than the amount set aside by the House of Delegates. This critical investment in our children’s education is a strong reminder of our commitment to ensuring a better future for all Virginians. In addition to our K-12 schools, the Senate Budget includes an additional twenty million dollar increase in funding for Pre-K, ensuring access to affordable early education – a key indicator of long term educational success. Finally, the Senate budget diverts all proposed additional funding from Governor Youngkin’s “lab school” proposals, which have come to be seen by many as a backdoor to publicly funded charter schools. I am a firm believer that public funds should be spent on public education. 

Additionally, the proposed Senate Budget includes an increase in funding for mental and behavioral health services. Our budget sets aside an additional eight million dollars on top of what was introduced by the Governor to address the mental health crisis that is plaguing Virginia. Providing greater access to mental healthcare, particularly for our youth, will help increase the quality of life for Virginians. Additionally, providing more funding for mental health professionals will ultimately take pressure off of law enforcement as police officers will not be in the position to be responding to mental health calls.

There are major differences between the two budgets both in terms of what is in the budget and on how much money should be dedicated to particular projects. In the coming weeks, members of the House and Senate money committees will work to alleviate the discrepancies and create a conference budget that can pass in the coming weeks.

While the 2023 Legislative Session is only halfway over, the last few days leading up to “crossover” were a whirlwind. Each body of the General Assembly has now completed action on its own legislation and has transferred what passed to the other. The last few days prior to crossover were intense and drawn out. Committee meetings, budget meetings, and floor sessions felt like marathons. Similar to a marathon, which takes months of preparation, many of the decisions that were facing the General Assembly this session took months of preparation and deliberation leading up to final votes being cast. 

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade this past June by the U.S. Supreme Court, it became evident that the issue of reproductive freedom would be a dominant theme of session. Without the Supreme Court precedent, both anti-choice and pro-choice advocates are seeking legislative action, rallying at the Capitol and gathering in the halls of legislative offices. On the anti-choice side, legislation has been introduced to ban abortion totally, implement unnecessary, onerous barriers to accessing abortion, and ban abortion after fifteen weeks. The final bill, which has staunch support from Governor Glenn Youngkin, was introduced by Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Bedford). This bill was not docketed in the House and the Senate version introduced by Senator Steve Newman (R-Bedford) was defeated in committee. While on the pro-choice side, Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) and Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) introduced a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to reproductive healthcare into our state constitution. I was proud to vote for the Constitutional amendment in the Senate. 

Governor Youngkin attended a “March for Life '' on Capitol Square last Wednesday, rallying with the religious school groups and activists to show his support for their cause and Delegate Byron’s bill, which he has listed as one of his top legislative priorities. Two days later the bill’s committee of origin – the House Judiciary Committee – held their final meeting without giving the bill a hearing. As such, it is dead for this session without a single vote being cast. 

Another issue that has been in the headlines is the role of the State Corporation Commission in regulating utilities like Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power. There have been two proposed legislative changes on the Senate side to address this issue. SB1265 introduced by Senator Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) would establish a bi-annual review of rates that a utility would be able to charge for electricity, and change the way the State Corporation Commission, which regulates energy utilities, calculates allowed return on investment for the company. The calculation would change the minimum return on equity based on a peer group of other electric utilities in the south. The average return of this peer group is 10.07%, over 1% higher than what Dominion currently receives, which could potentially increase your monthly electric bill. Despite my vote against the legislation, it did pass. This bill will continue to be amended as it proceeds through the House of Delegates. A different proposal by Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) and Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville) would install more parameters to protect consumers from rate hikes including restoring the State Corporation Commission’s authority to lower electric utility rates when the agency determines that customers will be overcharged. I voted for this bill in committee and was pleased to see it pass the Senate.

As we begin the second half of the session, all but one of the bills that I introduced have reported positively and await hearings in the House. My SB1133 which would create a regulated cannabis retail market for adults. Another of my bills that I am pleased to see in good posture is my legislation to allow condominium owners to apply as a group to a locality’s Stormwater Management Grant Program for joint projects. Previous state law did not specify that condominium owners could apply for these items jointly. This bill would allow more Virginians access to funds to help protect their property from flooding. My SB1085 which would establish a work group to research and propose solutions to reduce excessive vehicle noise passed. SB1087 which stipulates that companies like ancestry.com and 23andme cannot sell your genetic information without your consent, passed unanimously. Additionally, I have two bills designed to improve our elections, one to allow additional protections for election workers and another to provide more funds for election administration have passed the Senate as well. You can read more about my full legislative agenda here.

After crossover, we are officially in the second half of the session and the process in a way has started all over again. All of my bills that passed in the Senate will be put to the test in the House of Delegates, and my fellow Senators and I will begin the process of vetting all the bills that passed the House. While it may feel a bit like the movie Groundhog Day having to foster bills through a second time, the process is important to promote thoughtful legislation.

I look forward to the challenge, and it is my continued honor to serve the 30th District.

As the General Assembly nears the midway point of the Legislative Session, committee dockets balloon with oft-amended bills on some of the more substantial and complicated issues of the session. Members and interest groups, searching for consensus, known as “peace in the valley” in General Assembly parlance, are coming to final agreements, or pushing forward against opposition in committee. As the Chairman of the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee, I have the opportunity to set committee dockets and work with stakeholders on varied issues before they come before the committee as a whole. This week has been especially interesting as we tackle the issues of Virginia’s gaming industry, affordable housing access, workforce development, and even the naming of an official Virginia State pony (the proposed icon is the Chincoteague pony). 

Since Virginia made its first foray into expanded options for gaming several years ago, we have seen a drastic increase in the size and diversity of our gaming industry. While these forms of gaming have already generated a great deal of economic development and revenue for the state, there have been concerning trends in increased gambling addiction, and unclear effects on lower income and young Virginians. While there are some benefits to the gaming industry, I do not believe that we should view it as a panacea. I was glad to see two proposals which would have dramatically expanded the industry – one to place a casino in northern Virginia, and one to permanently authorize and allow the expanded placement of slot machines in restaurants and convenience stores – struck from the committee docket. 

Over the course of the session the committee has taken up proposals to alter the state’s regulations on our building code inspectors, and removing licensing requirements for landscape architects, geologists, interior designers, and auctioneers, among others – part of a push by the Governor to arbitrarily reduce regulations by 25% over his term. We have tackled a number of proposals to further reduce the likelihood of Virginians being evicted or denied housing, a long-time priority of mine. The committee has also reviewed a proposal to create television production grant funds to incentivize more production of streaming and cable shows like Dopesick. There has also been a significant focus on the treatment of our veterans, and creating pathways for novel treatments of PTSD such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. During the first week of session, we passed legislation to require the Department of Emergency Management to stand up a comprehensive emergency heat response plan in order to more adequately protect Virginians most vulnerable residents – the infirmed, elderly, and homeless, from major heat events, and more recently, passed legislation expanding our local government advisory boards to meet virtually, improving citizen participation and diversity in membership by lowering the barriers to attend and be a member of these committees. 

In the coming week we will complete our work on these diverse topics, as well as delving into state procurement, regulations for construction contracts, and even proposals from Governor Youngkin to ban the use of TikTok on state devices – truly putting the “general” in General Laws. I look forward to finishing the work of the Senate, and welcoming a new and equally diverse set of bills to my committee from my House colleagues in the coming weeks. 

Despite the season, it has been a balmy fifty degrees most days here in Richmond. The usually sagging coat racks have remained empty, Capitol Square has been bustling with government employees and medical professionals from the nearby VCU Hospital enjoying their lunch breaks, and the usually high-in-demand cold-weather shuttle to parking decks has been shirked by legislators in favor of pleasant strolls to their rental units. While this unseasonable warm snap is not, in and of itself, proof of a changing climate, it is an indicator of a well accepted scientific fact: our earth is warming, altering, due to human activity. 

Unfortunately, neither the gentle reminder brought on by the warmer days or the rather stark realities of our rapidly declining environment have convinced our current gubernatorial administration or my Republican colleagues that we must take meaningful action to transition to a renewable energy future. In fact, GOP legislators have introduced a wide swath of bills to roll back our progress on clean energy and climate action laws. 

The three central tenets of Virginia’s clean energy transition — Virginia’s Clean Car standards, our participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) – face legislative challenges in both chambers and, in RGGI’s case, through the regulatory process. If repealed, the brighter future created by the past administrations will grow dim, and our existing investment and progress would be wasted. 

RGGI is a regional cap and trade program which provides hundreds of millions of dollars in flood mitigation and energy efficiency investments for low income Virginians. The state’s participation in the program currently faces multiple obstacles. Despite GOP talking points, the facts are clear: RGGI is an effective program to help individual states and our nation transition away from carbon polluting energy. 

RGGI states had far surpassed Virginia with emissions reductions before we entered the compact in 2021. From 2005 to 2020, RGGI states saw their emissions drop by twice as much as Virginia—59-percent in RGGI states compared to 30-percent in Virginia. In RGGI’s first year alone in Virginia (2021), our statewide pollution decreased by 13 percent.

My 21 Democratic senate colleagues and I are prepared to defeat any legislation attempting to withdraw us from the compact. We are equally prepared to combat current attempts by Governor Glenn Youngkin to withdraw Virginia from RGGI through the administrative rule making process. Former Attorney General Mark Herring ruled this kind of act would be unlawful. Without statutory authority, it is likely the Governor’s ploy to remove us from RGGI will soon be tied up in litigation, further delaying clean energy goals and wasting your tax dollars. 

House and Senate Republicans have also attempted to repeal our adoption of the 15-state Clean Car standards, which set stricter vehicle emissions limits than the federal government imposes and gradually increase the availability of EVs on car lots across the Commonwealth, in line with automakers’ own goals of going all-electric. Federal law prohibits Virginia from enacting our own regulations on tailpipe emissions. Under the federal Clean Air Act, we are required to adopt emissions standards set by either the EPA or the Clean Cars standard. The GOP proposals would kneecap our ability to reduce personal vehicle emissions, which make up 70% of all carbon pollution in our largest pollution source: transportation. I am glad to report that the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee defeated these proposals. 

It is critical to play effective defense on our environmental goals, at least long enough to provide time for Virginia’s utilities to make long term investment in renewables. This strategy is already succeeding – earlier this month Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest regulated utility, announced a slate of projects in their Climate Report 2022 which will make solar energy our main power generator by 2040, phasing out coal by 2030, and steadily reducing the use of fracked gas over a 20-year period. These projects go a long way towards combating global warming and increasing air and water quality across our state.

I’ll continue fighting to defend that progress in Richmond and will fight to make even more in the years ahead.