Downtown
Stats from General Assembly midpoint and what issues are ahead
The General Assembly crossed over to the midpoint of the session recently with almost 600 bills advancing from the House and just over 500 clearing the Senate.
By Anna Chen
Lawmakers crossed the midpoint of the General Assembly session last week.
Almost 600 bills in the House and over 500 in the Senate advanced, and only one bill passed both chambers by Feb. 7. General Assembly Midpoint may consider forming an LLC in Texas to protect its owners’ personal assets and enjoy tax benefits.
Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington Center for Leadership and Media Studies, said there will be a delay in the passage of controversial measures.
“Even things that passed in one house that are contentious will face problems in the other house, given divided government,” Farnsworth said.
“Hot-button issues” are unlikely to reach the governor’s desk, Farnsworth said, due to the Democratic-majority Senate and Republican-majority House.
“The Senate won’t accept abortion restrictions and the House won’t accept gun control,” Farnsworth said. “Key issues are going to be delayed until one party ends up controlling both chambers and the governor’s office.”
The Senate passed a higher percentage of bills than the House. Almost 52% of proposed House bills advanced, and the Senate had an almost 66% success rate. The statistics don’t reflect resolutions, or bills carried over from last session.
Gianni Snidle, communications director for the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus, said he thinks a lot less legislation will advance this session.
“If they’re [House of Delegates] sending bills over that’s ripping freedoms away from LGBTQ people, from women, from Virginians, we’re going to kill those bills here,” Snidle said.
Lawmakers are debating key issues such as reproductive freedoms, gun control, rate regulation and more, Snidle said.
“It’s just a flurry of common sense gun control legislation that has gotten out of the Senate and other bills helping Virginia families be able to craft and achieve their American Dream,” Snidle said.
Jeff Ryer, press secretary for the Senate Republican Caucus, said top issues in the second half of the session include crime—courts and penalties—as well as consolidation of workforce development programs. A high profile crime bill addresses organized retail theft, with versions in the House and Senate, Ryer said.
“There’s been a lot of agency bills that have passed out of both chambers, meaning things that that individual government agencies have requested to have passed,” Ryer said.
Lawmakers amend the state budget in odd numbered years. The budget is a top priority, including tax cuts and spending initiatives, according to Ryer.
The two chambers will have more time to work on the budget now, as there are fewer bills to pick up after crossover day, Farnsworth said.
“That may involve tax cuts, it may involve additional resources devoted to schools,” Farnsworth said. “We’ll have to see where there’s going to be areas of agreement.”
General Assembly 2023 stats
The legislative scorecard of bills passed is not the only measure of a lawmaker’s effectiveness, according to Farnsworth.
“The contents of the legislation usually matter more than the won-loss ranking,” he stated. “A bill that has a tangible, direct benefit to the district or is strongly desired by a key segment of the electorate in the district is the gold standard of legislative effectiveness.”
Capital News Service analyzed some bill stats from the midpoint, using the Legislative Information System spreadsheet.
In the House, 31 legislators introduced 15 bills—the most allowed.
Del. Robert Bloxom Jr., R-Accomack, advanced the most bills in the House—with 14 of his 15 bills moving to the Senate.
Del. Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania, had all of his 13 measures move to the other chamber.
Nine delegates were unable to advance any measures, including Dels. Marie March, R-Floyd, and Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, who each introduced 15 bills and saw none advance.
Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, introduced 32 bills, with an 84% pass rate. Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, had the most bills pass out of the Senate; he advanced 28 of his 30 bills.
The newly-elected Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, was the only senator with a 100% passage rate. He advanced all six bills to the House. Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, passed 18 of her 19 bills.
Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, was the only senator who advanced no bills. She introduced 17 bills.
The session is slated to adjourn on Feb. 25 and reconvene for unfinished business on April 12. After that, election season begins in earnest. All 140 General Assembly seats will be up for grabs in November.
Downtown
Feds identify ‘significant’ ongoing concerns with Virginia special education
After failing to meet federal requirements to support students with disabilities in 2020, the Virginia Department of Education will remain under further review by the federal government after continuing to fall short in monitoring and responding to complaints against school districts, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Education.
By Nathaniel Cline
After failing to meet federal requirements to support students with disabilities in 2020, the Virginia Department of Education will remain under further review by the federal government after continuing to fall short in monitoring and responding to complaints against school districts, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Education.
“We have significant new or continued areas of concerns with the State’s implementation of general supervision, dispute resolution, and confidentiality requirements” of IDEA, stated the Feb. 17 letter from the Office of Special Education Programs.
The U.S. Department of Education first flagged its concerns in a June 2020 “Differentiated Monitoring and Support Report” on how Virginia was complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, following a 2019 visit by the Office of Special Education Programs.
IDEA, passed in 1975, requires all students with disabilities to receive a “free appropriate public education.”
The Virginia Department of Education disputed some of the federal government’s findings in a June 19, 2020 letter.
Samantha Hollins, assistant superintendent of special education and student services, wrote that verbal complaints “are addressed via technical assistance phone calls to school divisions” and staff members “regularly work to resolve parent concerns” by providing “guidance documentation” and acting as intermediaries between school employees and parents.
However, some parents and advocates say systemic problems in how the state supports families of children with disabilities persist. At the same time, a June 15, 2022 state report found one of Virginia’s most critical teacher shortage areas is in special education.
“Appropriate policies and procedures for both oversight and compliance, and their implementation, are crucial to ensuring that children with disabilities and their families are afforded their rights under IDEA and that a free appropriate public education (FAPE) is provided,” said the Feb. 17 letter from the Office of Special Education Programs.
While the U.S. Department of Education wrote that it believes the Virginia Department of Education has resolved some of the problems identified in 2020, including resolving complaints filed by parents and creating a mediation plan, it said it has identified “new and continued areas of concern” and intends to continue monitoring Virginia’s provision of services for students with disabilities.
Among those are ongoing concerns over the state’s complaint and due process systems that “go beyond the originally identified concerns” originally found. The Office of Special Education Programs writes it has concluded Virginia “does not have procedures and practices that are reasonably designed to ensure a timely resolution process” for due process complaints.
The department also said it has concerns over the practices of at least five school districts that are inconsistent with IDEA’s regulations.
The decision comes after the U.S. Department of Education announced in November that Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia’s largest school district, failed to provide thousands of students with disabilities with the educational services they were entitled to during remote learning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virginia is also facing a federal class-action lawsuit over claims that its Department of Education and Fairfax County Public Schools violated the rights of disabled students under IDEA.
Parents involved in the case said the Virginia Department of Education and Fairfax school board “have actively cultivated an unfair and biased” hearing system to oversee challenges to local decisions about disabled students, according to the suit.
Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, said in an email that “VDOE continues to work with our federal partners to ensure Virginia’s compliance with all federal requirements, as we have since the ‘Differentiated Monitoring and Support Report’ was issued in June 2020.”
The federal government said if Virginia could not demonstrate full compliance with IDEA requirements, it could impose conditions on grant funds the state receives to support early intervention and special education services for children with disabilities and their families.
Last year, Virginia received almost $13.5 billion in various grants linked to IDEA, according to a July 1, 2022 letter to former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, who resigned on March 9.
James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, blasted Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration after the findings were released.
“While the Youngkin administration has been busy waging culture wars in schools, his administration has failed to meet basic compliance requirements with the U.S. Department of Education for students with disabilities,” Fedderman said. “This failure threatens our federal funding for students with disabilities and is a disservice to Virginia families who need critical special needs support.”
Downtown
Richmond 911 callers can soon provide feedback on calls for service via text message
Beginning March 20, those who call 911 with some types of non-life-threatening emergencies will receive a text message within hours or a day after the call with a short survey about the service they received on the call.
Some 911 callers in Richmond will begin to receive follow-up text messages next week asking for their ranking of the service they received and additional information.
Beginning March 20, those who call 911 with some types of non-life-threatening emergencies will receive a text message within hours or a day after the call with a short survey about the service they received on the call.
The Richmond Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response is using the feedback from callers as another way to ensure that it is continuing to deliver excellent emergency services to Richmond.
“It is very important that those who receive the text message answer the questions as accurately as possible, based on the service they received on the call, not on the response from first responders with different agencies,” said Director Stephen Willoughby. “We use the feedback that callers provide to monitor and improve our 911 services to Richmond residents and visitors, as well as the other measurements of service that we have in place.”
Those who would like to offer feedback, but do not receive a text message, are encouraged to email [email protected] or call 804-646-5911. More information about offering commendations or filing a complaint is on the department’s website athttps://www.rva.gov/911/comments. In addition, the department conducts a full survey of adults who live, work and study in Richmond every two years. More information about those surveys and results are at https://www.rva.gov/911/community-outreach.
The Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response is using a third-party vendor, PowerEngage, to send the text-message surveys and report the results. Text messages may be sent for other uses in the future.
More information about the text-message surveys, from the news release:
- The answers that callers provide in the text message have no effect on the service provided to that caller.
- Callers who do not want to participate in the text-message survey would simply not respond to the text message. They also may reply STOP to opt out of future text surveys from DECPR.
- Callers should not use the surveys to report any other emergency or request help. They would need to call or text 911 for immediate help. To file a police report or request nonemergency public safety help, call 804-646-5100. For other city services, call 311, visit rva311.com or use the RVA311 app.
- Those who have further questions or would like to request a call-back from a staff member about the survey or their experiences, may email [email protected].
- More information about the after-call survey is at https://www.rva.gov/911/survey.
Students in 9th-11th grade can apply to join the next cohort of this summer’s Atlas Artist Residency—an 8-week art intensive giving teens the opportunity to develop artistic skills while working alongside professional artists in a creative and collaborative environment. 10 teens will be selected to participate and awarded personal art-studio space, a program stipend of $1350, materials, and the opportunity to expand their portfolio of work and bolster their resume for college applications.
Applications are open through March 16, 2023.
Head to https://www.art180.org/student-artist-residency for the details and to submit your application!
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