Kiggans pushes legislation, Carroll Foy releases internal poll, and lawmakers kill a bill that would have minimized police misconduct
Plus more from statewide candidates
Welcome to Wednesday! Here are the latest stories in Virginia politics
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Kiggans Aims to Mitigate Nursing Shortage - Virginia Scope
There are 41,000 Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) currently working in Virginia. And it’s not enough.
Virginia was already dealing with a fairly severe nursing shortage prior to the pandemic. A 2010 study by the Virginia Nurses Association predicted that by 2020, one in three Virginians would not be able to access the healthcare they needed because of nursing shortages. And in a recent report, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing pointed out that given the United States’ aging population, the demand for healthcare workers will only increase in coming years.
Long hours and stressful working conditions during this public health crisis have made nursing an even less attractive field. Virginia Sen. Jennifer Kiggans (R-Virginia Beach) has proposed legislation she thinks will help mitigate the shortage. Kiggans is the chief patron of Senate Bill 1147, which would expand eligibility for the Virginia Department of Health’s Mary Marshall Scholarship.
Lawmakers kill bill requiring officers render aid, report wrongdoing
By Sarah Elson
Capital News Service
RICHMOND, Va. — A Senate committee recently killed a bill intended to minimize police misconduct and incentivize accountability among law enforcement.
House Bill 1948, introduced by Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, required law enforcement officers to report misconduct by fellow officers. Another part of the measure, which some opponents called too subjective, was that on-duty officers provide aid as circumstances objectively permitted to someone suffering a life-threatening condition, or serious bodily injury.
The bill also expanded the current definition of bias-based profiling, which is prohibited in Virginia, to include gender identity and sexual orientation. Bias-based profiling is when a police officer takes action solely based on an individual’s real or perceived race, age, ethnicity or gender.
Kirk Cox urges General Assembly to use additional projected revenues for one-time taxpayer rebate checks
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Cox (Colonial Heights) is calling on Virginia Democrats to give the Commonwealth’s surplus revenue back to Virginia taxpayers.
According to Northam’s office, A new revenue analysis shows that in total, the Commonwealth expects an additional $730.2 million from tax revenue. “These revised budget numbers tell us that Virginia’s economy continues to thrive, in spite of the pandemic,” said Governor Northam.
The additional data means total revenues and transfers for fiscal year 2021 will be revised upwards by an additional $410.1 million and fiscal year 2022 will be revised upward by an additional $320.1 million.
Governor Northam wants to use the money to invest in public schools and public employees. “Before the pandemic, we had passed the most progressive budget in Virginia history. These additional dollars help us get back to that historic budget and allow us to move forward with our shared priorities—providing Virginia families and businesses the relief they need to get back on their feet, supporting public schools, and giving our public workers a pay raise.”
Cox wants the Democrats to take a different approach by providing a smaller form of a stimulus check to Virginians. His plan would provide approximately two million single filers that make up to $75,000 with $190 checks, and 987,000 married filers that make up to $100,000 with $380 checks. “Virginia families have been through a lot, but they’ve weathered the storms of the last year with amazing resilience. Through small business shutdowns, forced virtual learning, and repeated failed leadership, they persevered,” said Cox. “Because our families and small business owners found a way to keep working and keep succeeding in spite of the challenges, the Commonwealth has almost $730 million in anticipated revenue for the next two years. That’s certainly good news.”
The Carroll Foy for Governor campaign released an internal poll - Blue Virginia
by Lowell Feld
McAuliffe starts out essentially the same as in the YouGov poll (42% in the “internal” vs. 43% in YouGov), while Fairfax is higher (14% in the “internal” vs. 6% in YouGov), Carroll Foy is the same (7% in each) and McClellan is a bit lower (6% in the “internal” vs. 8% in YouGov).
According to the polling memo for the Carroll Foy “internal” poll: “After a balanced introduction of all the candidates, the race becomes a two-person contest between Jennifer Carroll Foy and Terry McAuliffe…Carroll Foy’s vote share swells by 20 percentage points (27% Carroll Foy/37% McAuliffe/14% Fairfax/11% McClellan). Notably, there is no other significant movement among the other candidates after a neutral presentation of each their biographies, and McAuliffe loses ground.”
Jennifer Carroll Foy Almost Died After Childbirth Because—Like Many Black Women—Her Pain Was Dismissed - Elle
Jennifer Carroll Foy, a public defender and mother of twins who’s running for governor of Virginia this year, was trying to deliver a stump speech via Zoom from her home on Thursday night when one of her 3-year-old sons burst into the room, flicked off the lights and ran off cackling. “It’s 8 o'clock, I’m trying to get the crowd riled up virtually, and suddenly the whole room is dark,” she tells me in a Zoom interview the next morning. “I jumped up from the table trying not to fuss, trying to find the light switch. This is my life.”
She isn’t complaining, though—the fact that she and the twins all even survived to get to this point is a small miracle. She is sharing with ELLE for the first time her harrowing pregnancy story, in which she almost died after giving birth because, as is the case for many Black women, white doctors and nurses downplayed and dismissed her excruciating postpartum pain. That, combined with her experience growing up poor and without health care in rural Virginia, has motivated her run to be the first Black woman governor in American history. “When people say identity politics don’t matter, what they’re also saying is that other people’s lived experiences don’t matter,” she says.
Congressman Donald Beyer (VA-08) released a new video endorsing Attorney General Mark R. Herring in his re-election bid.
Delegate Elizabeth Guzman Again Calls On Virginia Dept. of Health to Stop Relying on Google Translate for Sharing COVID Vaccine Information
On Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor candidate Delegate Guzman (D-Prince William) reiterated her call for the Virginia Department of Health to stop relying on Google Translate to convey information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Spanish after the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Mel Leonor reported that the state had used Google Translate to create a form for Spanish speakers to register to receive the vaccine.
“The Virginia Department of Health needs to work for all Virginians,” said Delegate Guzman. “Relying on Google Translate to connect Spanish-speaking Virginians with a life-saving vaccine reflects either an abject cultural incompetence or a blatant disregard for the lives of our community. Please diversify your workforce and start tracking how many of your 5,231 employees speak Spanish. In the meantime, either hire a professional translation service (monolingual Spanish speakers pay taxes, too!) or send an all-staff email to see if you can identify one or two of your 5000+ employees who speak Spanish!”
Del. Hala Ayala’s bill to create outdoor refreshments areas in the Commonwealth passed in the Senate.
Ayala, also a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor was able to champion a piece of legislation that could potentially help small businesses during the pandemic. HB 2266 will allow localities to create outdoor refreshments areas that will permit open-carry of alcoholic beverages in authorized areas, which will help small businesses, restaurants, and our tourism industry recover from the pandemic.
“More than 1 in 4 small businesses have closed in our Commonwealth during COVID-19, and many more are struggling,” said Ayala. “HB 2266 will help our small businesses and localities recover from COVID-19 and come out of this crisis even stronger. Thank you to my colleagues--Delegate Lamont Bagby, Delegate Jeff Bourne, Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler, and Delegate Martha Mugler--for working with me to pass this important legislation.”
Va. House panel rejects bill to require more precise absentee voting data - Virginia Mercury
by Graham Moomaw
After more than half of Virginians cast absentee ballots last year, officials won’t be required to change their vote-counting procedures this year to make sure those ballots are reflected in neighborhood-level election data.
On Tuesday, a Democratic-led House of Delegates subcommittee rejected a bill that would have instructed local registrars to count absentee ballots by the voter’s home precinct rather than grouping them together in one county-level tally. The bill had passed the state Senate with bipartisan support, but House Democrats said they wanted to take more time on the issue to make sure election officials are equipped to carry out what’s being asked of them.
Census data delay could freeze Virginia House districts, raises prospect of elections for three straight years - Washington Post
by Greg Schneider
Delays in U.S. census data have disrupted plans to draw new districts for this year's elections of all 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, raising the possibility that the races will be run under the old political map.
On top of that uncertainty, the General Assembly has passed legislation to move all local and municipal elections to November, which could force more than a dozen cities and more than 100 towns around the state to reschedule council and school board elections that usually take place in May.
Virginia Voters May Weigh in on Legalization - VPM News
by Ben Paviour
Legal marijuana could be coming to Virginia as early as July 1 under legislation approved Tuesday by both chambers of the General Assembly.
But the bill crafted by Democrats in the state Senate would also put the issue to voters in a move critics say is designed to simply boost Democrat voter turnout this November.
Northam announces additional federal funding to help Virginians with rent payments
Governor Ralph Northam announced on Tuesday that $524 million in new federal funding will help provide relief to renters in Virginia amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Virginia Rent Relief Program (RRP) is funded through the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program that was included in the recent federal stimulus package and will assist households and landlords with rent payments to avoid eviction.
Will the House put the brakes on the electric school bus bill again?
Retirement savings bill passes Senate panel with reduced scope
Virginia lawmakers weigh bill to forgive overpayments by state’s unemployment insurance program
Virginia General Assembly close to passing major consumer data privacy legislation