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Greetings from your State Capital!

We will be ending our 2025 session tomorrow.  Therefore, all legislation will be either before the Governor for his consideration or dead for this year.  As we end our 2025 short session, my focus in this report will be on the overarching theme of this years’ session.

During my tenure in the assembly, there was always an acknowledgement that almost all bills have a constituent behind them. In the past, regardless of the majority party, almost all bills received a hearing before a committee or subcommittee so that the citizens voices may be heard.  This session we saw roughly 150 Republican bills never placed on a docket.  When the issue was raised on the floor, the explanation given by one of the Democrats was that there were groups who got their ideas heard and groups that didn’t.  I have always known that I was supposed to consider the perspective of all my constituents, not just those that agree with me.

My pledge to you all has always been, and always will be, being open, honest and accessible.  From my first year in office, I have always had a non-partisan advisory committee that meets at least 3 times a year to hear a detailed explanation of legislative actions, ask me questions, and voice their concerns.  Democracy can only exist when all sides of the issues are considered.  Anything else is autocracy, one sided governance.

This session we saw efforts to protect kids from dangerous social media addiction, punish drug dealers who kill with their drugs and other efforts to make our communities safer summarily dismissed.  After all of this, they did pass legislation to lessen the penalties for convicted felons, increase the costs of a new home and increase electrical costs.  Much of the legislation they passed was the same as bills vetoed by the Governor last year.

We will vote on the budget tomorrow, after which it will go to the Governor, with consideration of his amendments when we return for veto session in April.  I will share the details of the final budget and specific major policy changes at that time.

I welcome the opportunity to visit with constituents or groups to explain any of our legislative action, hear your concerns or attempt to assist with issues you may have with our state government.  As of Monday, 2/24/25, my local office will reopen with our regular hours, Monday/Wednesday/Friday 9-12, Tuesday/Thursday 9-5.  Phone (540)891-1322, email [email protected].

As always, I’m humbled for the honor of representing you in our state legislature!

Greetings from your state capital.

My update this week will be very brief.  Given where we are in the legislative process, there was truly little “new” legislation considered.  We could only consider Senate bills, most of which were the same as house bills.

The unwillingness of the Democrats to consider amendments that would moderate some of the major policy issues continued.  One of the most egregious was forcing action on the abortion constitutional amendment before we were even given the opportunity to propose floor amendments that would have made the policy far more consistent with our current law.

We are scheduled to conclude this year’s session on Saturday February 22, therefore, next week we will focus on addressing differences between house and Senate bills, most importantly, the budget.

My update next week will focus on some of the most important legislation that was acted on this year.  During this coming final week, my schedule will be far more erratic, but I will always try to meet with visitors.

As always, thank you for the opportunity to represent you and our community.  I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions.  I can be reached at (804)698-1066 or [email protected].

Greetings from your State Capitol.

We have reached that stage of our process where we will only begin considering bills that have come over from the senate. That means that our days will be much shorter, given many of these measures have already been heard in house bills or much of any controversy will have already been addressed.

The legislation that we have seen has been the most partisan during my tenure. A higher percentage of votes on legislation has been on party lines than ever before. Beginning last session and even more this session, suggestions to amend bills to address other members’ concerns or to moderate the language have mostly been universally rebuffed. In any past session, I always observed a greater willingness to consider differing opinions and to consider amendments.

We have seen the major policy agenda items of the house Democrats go over to the senate. Policies that take away local control on many issues, further increase the cost of electricity, mandates that will increase the cost of buying a home, creating new entitlement programs and further mandates on what our schools must teach within their existing curriculum, just to name a few. During the coming weeks, we will see how these measures fare in the senate and then if the Governor amends or vetoes any of them.

In budget action, we saw amendments that were totally focused on giving more money to specific localities, thereby reducing the money available for the rest of the state. These self-serving “pork” allocations are not what our budget is supposed to include. Absent a specific reason that a locality has a unique need, these allocations are robbing from the rest of the state. When questioned about one of them specifically, the response was “I’m looking out for my district.” This kind of mentality does a disservice to our purpose. I was elected to represent my district, but NOT at the expense of the rest of the citizens of our state.

I will continue to work for open dialogue on all issues, greater local control of community matters, fiscal restraint, holding criminals responsible for their actions, and ensuring quality education opportunities for all our youth.

Our daily schedule will be far less hectic in the coming weeks. With so few of my bills going before the senate and with our committees now hearing many issues we have already addressed; I will have more time to meet with constituents.

I welcome your emails, calls and visits. My email is [email protected], my phone is (804) 698-1066 and my office is 1107 in the General Assembly Building. You can follow all legislative action and access other information by going to VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov.

Greetings from your state capitol. It’s been a true joy to have so many local visitors this past week. I always welcome your visits and the opportunity to discuss the bills before us as well as the legislative process. This is your capitol and I encourage you to visit this beautiful and historic site.

The past two weeks have had all measures considered that will be voted on. Unfortunately, I have seen more bills than ever not heard in committee, they have just been killed without any explanation or public comment. This action has been on a totally partisan basis. For this week’s update, I’ll focus on the status of my introduced legislation.

• HB1783 – To clarify that non-career and technical students may participate in the affiliated student organization consistent with organizational criteria. This measure has been amended and should pass the chamber on Tuesday.

• HB1784 – Increase the penalty for car owners who allow their vehicle registration to expire for more than a year. This bill was never taken up.

• HB1785 – Exempt church-run child day care programs for 3-year-olds from state oversight the same as are currently exempt for 4-year-old and older programs. HB1786 – Make inspections of church-run day care programs to be complaint driven. Evidence has proven that the incidence of problems in these facilities is extremely low. This would allow our Dept. of Education inspectors to have more time to inspect those facilities with a history of problems. These two bills were heard briefly and had significant testimony in support but were killed on a party line vote.

• Hb1787 – Require the Sec. of Health ensure the adequacy of surgical consent documents to ensure patient understanding and patient safety. This bill was heard briefly and then passed by for the day without a recorded vote. I found this to be especially ironic given the many remarks about reproductive freedom we have heard, and that this bill would try to ensure that a woman could not have here ability to conceive taken from her while undergoing an unrelated surgical procedure.

• HB1788 – Require the Dept. of Education to modify the absentee reporting requirement to accurately address the issue of chronic student absenteeism. This bill was incorporated into HB1769 and should pass the chamber on Tuesday.

• HB1789 – Allow local government a means to ensure that public work contracts are more in line with construction costs for the private sector. The intent of this bill was to make government project costs have to closely align with costs in the private sector. This bill was heard and then passed by without any recorded vote.

• HB1790 – Allow local government a means to modify existing zoning statutes to facilitate more affordable housing. This bill was heard and then referred to the Affordable Housing Commission, which has heard it before.

• HB1792 – Allow local government a more efficient means of disposing of tax delinquent property. This bill passed the house on Monday, 1/27/25.

• HB1825 – Include our State Park police officers in the same retirement program as other State police officers. This bill was never taken up and I was never allowed to explain. This is the same measure that I carried last session that had a re-enactment clause on it. Given that funding for this is in the Governor’s budget, I’m at a loss as to why it wasn’t taken up.

• HB2031 – Remove the $1 fee for the filing of certification of a working alternative sewage system. This fee is costing the Department of Health more money to collect it than it generates, thereby it’s removal will save the State and taxpayers money. It was heard with testimony of support, no comments in opposition and then killed on a party line vote.

• HB2181 – Place a bond issue on the 2025 election ballot authorizing $80 million for our state park system to address a lengthy list of current major maintenance needs. At the request of the leadership of the state park system, I had this bill stricken.

• HJ442 – Require a study by our state tax department on the effect of local government tax policies on making affordable housing more difficult. This measure was also never taken up in any committee.

During my tenure, this has been the most partisan session I’ve ever observed. While partisanship has always been a factor, this session there have been many Republican sponsored bills that are good public policy and shouldn’t have been controversial, killed without negative comment strictly on party lines.

I welcome your inquiries on these or any other issues before us this session. Given that all house bills will have to be acted on by next Tuesday, I will update you on some of the more significant actions next week. All legislative work may be watched live on-line at virginiageneralassembly.gov and going to the proper link. All committee and floor sessions are also archived and accessible. Further, I welcome your phone calls to (804)698-1066 and your emails to [email protected] to share your views, answer questions, or schedule a visit.

Thank you again for the opportunity to represent you and I’ll continue to keep you updated.

As we end the second full week of our short session, the focus is on hearing legislation.  Members had until last Friday to introduce bills, so now all measures have entered the mix. All my legislation will have been heard by the end of next week, so I will give a specific update on their status at that time.

I will be engaged in numerous meetings each day as well as our floor session at noon.  My usual schedule has me in my office by 7 a.m., or before, and will keep me busy until well after 5 p.m.  My staff will be glad to schedule an appointment for you to visit me and, if I am in committee, I will be happy to step out and visit.

I encourage you to monitor our progress either by a personal visit or viewing committee work and sessions on-line.  You can also speak in committee meetings remotely by signing up in advance.

I will focus this update on the status of the three constitutional amendments that have been proposed.  All three have passed the House and Senate on a nearly straight party line vote.  I did not support any of the proposals as they all went too far in trying to achieve their stated objective.

One of the measures was to automatically restore the rights of all convicted felons, regardless of the crime once they had served their time.  While I agree that we need to reform the current process of restoring the rights to convicted felons, this was not something that needed to be added to our constitution but rather through changes to our current law.

Another proposal was to add to our constitution an abortion rights amendment.  The language of the amendment would make us the most liberal state in the Union on this issue, and among other provisions, it would allow an abortion up to the time of natural birth.  I have stated that I currently support our existing abortion laws which allow abortions through the second trimester, with protections for the life of the mother and other stated exceptions.  Further, I do not think this is an issue that should be enshrined in our constitution given that medical progress has made fetal survival possible at a much earlier stage.

The third measure concerned the same-sex marriage amendment.  While the language was presented as just making Virginia follow the Federal constitution, it went much further.  The language, for example, would have required a minister to marry a couple who he felt were not ready to wed or were getting married for the wrong reason. It also would have forced a minister to marry a couple against the minister’s religious beliefs.

I appreciate the honor of representing our area.  I welcome your comments and hearing your concerns.  You may contact me at [email protected] or by calling (804)698-1054.

Greetings from your state Capitol!  It’s been a true joy to have had so many local visitors this week.  I always welcome your visits and the opportunity to discuss the bills before us as well as the legislative process.  This is your Capitol, and I encourage you to visit this beautiful and historic site.

It’s been a slow start, complicated by the water issues in the city of Richmond last week, but we are finally getting up to speed.  Committees and Sub-committees are meeting, but very few measures have been heard.

I have introduced 14 measures this session which are as follow:

• HB1783 – To clarify that non-career and technical students may participate in the affiliated student organization consistent with organizational criteria.
• HB1784 – Increase the penalty for car owners who allow their vehicle registration to lapse for more than a year.
• HB1785 – Exempt church-run child day care programs for 3 year olds from state oversight the same as are currently exempt for 4 year olds and older programs.
• HB1786 – Make inspections of church-run day care programs be complaint driven
• Hb1787 – Require the Secretary of Health ensure the adequacy of surgical consent documents to ensure patient understanding and patient safety.
• HB1788 – Require the Dept. of Education to modify the absentee reporting requirement to accurately address the issue of chronic student absenteeism
• HB1789 – Allow local government a means to ensure that public work contracts are more in line with construction costs for the private sector.
• Hb1790 – Allow local government a means to modify existing zoning statutes to facilitate more affordable housing.
• HB1792 – Allow local government a more efficient means of disposing of tax delinquent property.
• HB1825 – Include our State Park police officers in the same retirement program as other State police officers.
• HB2031 – Remove the $1 fee for the filing of certification of a working alternative sewage system.
• HB2181 – Place a bond issue on the 2025 election ballot authorizing $80 million for our state park system to address a long list of current major maintenance needs.
• HJ442 – Require a study by our state tax department on the effect of local government tax policies on making affordable housing more difficult.

I welcome your inquiries on these or any other issues before us this session.  I will keep you updated on the status of these measures and other issues of importance as we continue through the legislative process.  All legislative work may be watched live on-line at virginiageneralassembly.gov and going to the proper link.  All committee and floor sessions are also archived and accessible.  Further, I welcome your phone calls to (804)698-1066 and your emails to [email protected] to share your views, answer questions, or schedule a visit.

Thank you again for the opportunity to represent you and I’ll continue to keep you updated.

Greetings from your State Capitol. I am again incredibly humbled to represent you in our 2024 General Assembly. Thank you for this high honor.

The 2024 session has concluded, and it has been different from any other I’ve experienced.  The level of partisanship and the lack of consideration of certain issues was unprecedented. The over arching themes have been more gun restrictions, relaxing criminal penalties, increased school mandates, and increased mandates on local governments. Many of these measures will be either amended or vetoed by the Governor, so the final outcome of these policy changes won’t be known until our veto session in six weeks.  I’ll give a more comprehensive update on all actions and the budget at that time.

Below are the measures that I introduced for consideration this session and the outcome of each. As every year, almost all of these measures are at the request of individuals in our area or a result of problems that constituents have experienced.

– HB216 To give the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation more flexibility in working with property owners as they ensure that privately owned dams are safe.  Unfortunately, after passing out of the committee and full public discussion with no opposition, this bill was sent back to committee to die on a party line vote.  I will attempt to have the issue addressed by requesting the Governor to intervene.

– HB217 Require a review of the current medical informed consent form to ensure that certain gynecological procedures are adequately explained.  This bill also, after being fully heard and reported to the floor was sent back to the committee to die on a party line vote.  This was especially disturbing because this measure was totally to ensure that a woman’s reproductive rights would be fully considered.  Since this action, I have requested the Board of Medicine to undertake a review of the current standards.

– HB218 Make certain changes to legislation from last year to ensure that patients will continue to receive necessary medical care when their insurance carrier and the provider are in a contract dispute.  This bill is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

– HB219 Consider making changes to the current penalty for driving on an expired registration.  The intent would be to allow a grace period with no penalty and an enhanced penalty the longer one goes without renewing their tags.  At my request, the bill was carried over so that the DMV and State Police can review the policy and enact the measure next year.

– HB220 Makes certain adjustments to requirements that will allow remote monitoring of water and sewage treatment facilities when there are no licensed operators available for on-site supervision.  This bill was at the request of local governments to ensure compliance with EPA requirements.  This bill is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

– HB221 Charge the Va. Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services to begin the process of developing a model guidance document to assist county governments if they choose to enact an ordinance addressing the problem of free-roaming cats.  This bill was at the request of many animal welfare advocates as a result of a two-year study.  Unfortunately, the bill was never scheduled for a hearing.

– HB222 Exempt church run child day care centers from state regulations except for those involving safety and health standards.  Even with overwhelming testimony in support, the bill was killed in subcommittee on a party line vote.

– HB223 Would give the court added discretion in banning pet ownership in felony convictions of animal abuse.  This bill is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

– HB259  Allows the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation greater flexibility in awarding grant funds to assist property owners with dam maintenance costs.

– HB330  Allow local Commonwealth Attorneys to enforce federal statutes if a pet shop violates the lending disclosure requirements.  This bill is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

– HB628  Make it easier for a hospital to add additional beds for the treatment of patients in mental crisis.  This bill was killed in subcommittee on a party line vote.

– HB1306  Make it easier for veterinary practices to administer necessary pet medications in off-site settings.  This bill passed out of committee unanimously but was voted back to committee to kill it.  This was a personal spite move, fortunately a Senate bill to achieve the same effect is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

– HB1312  Add our State Park law enforcement officers to the same retirement system the same as most of our other state law enforcement officers.  This bill is awaiting the Governor’s signature.

– HJR12 Require the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to determine the long-term impact of our current solar panel mandate on our farm and forest lands.  At my request, this bill was referred to JLARC for them to incorporate in their future workload if possible.

I will provide a comprehensive update on the major policy actions of this session, through legislation and the budget, after our veto session.

I welcome your emails, telephone calls and visits. My email is [email protected], my local office phone is (540) 891-1322 and is usually open MWF 9-12, T Th 9-5.

Greetings from your State Capitol.

As we conclude this week, we have had a far less hectic work schedule, but we have acted on the single most important measure of the session, the House budget.

The $175 billion dollar two year budget introduced by the Governor was drastically changed.  Almost all of the proposed tax cuts were eliminated and replaced with new spending.  While some of the increased spending initiatives proposed by the Governor were maintained, such as increased spending for education, teacher pay raises, more money for mental health services, and public safety, there were major cuts to other important initiatives.  Funds were reduced for school resource officers to make our schools safer, Project Ceasefire to make our communities safer, and language was inserted to reduce penalties against some of most violent criminals, to name a few.

As the process played out, I first voted for those parts of the budget that I supported, then I supported removing provisions that were bad public policy, but ultimately voted against the final bill.   For the first time in history, the budget bill included an unconstitutional provision that if the Governor didn’t re-enter us in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (a program that requires Virginia to comply with energy mandates established by our northern neighbor states) then the entire budget is invalid.  With this provision in the bill, it makes ALL state funding for the next two years held hostage to this requirement.

The Senate has adopted a different budget and the two budgets will be reconciled, hopefully, within the next two weeks.  The Governor will then have until our veto session in April to offer his amendments.

As I continue to work to get my legislation passed in the Senate and to fight in the House for our shared priorities, I will focus on reporting those actions next week.

I welcome your emails, calls and visits.  My email is [email protected], my phone is (804) 698-1066 and my office is 1107 in the General Assembly Building.  You can follow all legislative action and access other information by going to VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov.

Greetings from your State Capitol.

This has been a very “interesting” week.  On Monday we saw a ploy by the Democrats to force a vote on an abortion bill that even the patron stated was not the language he wanted considered.  It began with the Rules Committee sending the bill to the floor without allowing the patron to offer amendments or even explain the bill and not allowing any public testimony.  Once on the floor, the patron offered amendments to accurately reflect his intention, to codify language that has been in the budget for many years, of not using tax dollars to pay for abortions except in certain circumstances.  This language has been in the federal budget for 50 years and has been the policy of Virginia for a like period.  The speaker made an incorrect ruling that the amendments were “not germane”, meaning they could not be considered. This resulted in a motion to override the speaker’s ruling which failed.  After this action, the patron asked to strike his bill, which was refused.  A vote on the bill was forced and the bill failed 1-96.

The action of not allowing a member to strike their own bill was something I have only seen once before in all of my years of service, and it was wrong that time too.  It has been the long-standing custom and practice that the patron of their bill should always have the ability to strike their own bill rather than let it be used as a political ploy.

On Tuesday we saw vindictive retribution on Republican member’s bills.  There were over ten bills carried by Republicans that had received little or no opposition that were killed on a party line vote without any rationale given.  One of those was my HB1306, allowing veterinarians to keep necessary medications on their trucks to allow them the ability to treat animals in need more quickly.

On Wednesday, I made a floor speech citing the biblical reference to love in 1 Corinthians 13.  It was an attempt to refocus our attention on trying to work together and to address matters based on policy, not political or personal.  Unfortunately, within 5 minutes of my comments we saw the most senior Republican, and former chair, of the Appropriations Committee removed.  This type of action has never occurred in anyone’s memory.

We have seen the major policy agenda items of the house Democrats go over to the senate.  Policies that put restrictions on legal gun owners, reduce penalties on felons, mandates that will increase the cost of buying a home, creating new entitlement programs and further mandates on what our schools must teach within their existing curriculum, just to name a few.

I will continue to work for open dialogue on all issues, greater local control of community matters, fiscal restraint, holding criminals responsible for their actions, and ensuring quality education opportunities for all of our youth.

Our daily schedule will be far less hectic in the coming weeks.  With so few of my bills going before the senate and with our committees now hearing many issues we have already addressed; I will have more time to meet with constituents.

I welcome your emails, calls and visits.  My email is [email protected], my phone is (804) 698-1066 and my office is 1107 in the General Assembly Building.  You can follow all legislative action and access other information by going to VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov.

Greetings from your State Capitol.

We have just ended the last full week for all House bills to be considered and referred to the Senate if approved.  It has been a very different atmosphere this session than any previous that I’ve experienced.  The degree of partisan divide has never been greater.  We have seen many non-controversial bills introduced by Republicans summarily killed with a duplicate Democrat bill then being introduced.  Also, we’ve seen many Republican bills never being put on a committee docket to allow it to be heard.  I’ve always considered a bill based on its merit, not its patron or their party.  Further, given that the vast majority of legislation is introduced to address citizen concerns or needs, I’ve always felt that every bill deserves a full hearing and the opportunity for public input.

Below are the measures that I have introduced for consideration this session and the current status of each.

• HB216 Gives the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation more flexibility in working with property owners as they ensure that privately owned dams are safe.  This measure passed out of committee and then was rereferred back to the same committee from the floor to die.
• HB217 Requires a review of the current medical informed consent form to ensure that certain gynecological procedures are adequately explained.  This measure was an effort to ensure adequate health care for women.  This bill was also referred back to  the same committee from the floor to die.
• HB218 Makes certain changes to legislation from last year to ensure that patients will continue to receive necessary medical care when their insurance carrier and the provider are in a contract dispute.  The bill was amended at the suggestion of the health care providers and insurance carriers and reported out of the Labor and Commerce Committee after which it was referred to the Appropriations Committee which reported the bill and it should pass on the floor today.
• HB219 Makes changes to the current penalty for driving on an expired vehicle registration.  The intent would be to allow a grace period with no penalty and an enhanced penalty the longer one goes without renewing their tags.  This bill will require DMV and State Police to consider how to address the issue.  At my request, the bill was carried over until next year to allow all parties the necessary time for it to be considered.
• HB220 Makes certain adjustments to requirements that will allow for remote monitoring of water and sewage treatment facilities when there are no licensed operators available for on-site supervision.  This bill has passed and been communicated to the Senate.
• HB221 Instructs the Va. Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services to begin the process of developing a model guidance document to assist county governments if they choose to enact an ordinance to address the problem of free-roaming cats.  There has been considerable misinformation distributed about this bill.  However, I was never given the opportunity to address the issue as the committee chairman never allowed the bill to come up.
• HB222 Exempts church run child day care centers from state regulations except for those involving safety and health standards.  After overwhelming testimony of problems with the current regulations and with over 50 different religious facilities appearing in support the bill was killed in subcommittee without debate.
• HB223 Gives the court added discretion in banning pet ownership in egregious cases of animal abuse.  This bill has been amended to ensure it won’t affect the livestock industry and has been approved by the Agriculture Committee and the Courts subcommittee.  The Courts Committee voted it out and it should pass on the floor today.
• HB259 Allows the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation greater flexibility in awarding grant funds to assist property owners with dam maintenance costs.  This bill was never heard but an identical bill was introduced by a Democrat and passed the house.
• HB330 Allows local commonwealth attorneys to enforce federal statutes if a pet shop violates the lending disclosure requirements.  This bill has passed and is now in the senate.
• HB628 Makes it easier for a hospital to add additional beds for the treatment of patients in mental crisis.  In spite of the critical need for more treatment options, this bill was carried over with very little discussion.
• HB1306 Makes it easier for veterinary practices to administer necessary pet medications in off-site settings.  This bill has passed the committee and should pass the house on Monday.
• HB1312 Adds our State Park law enforcement officers to the same retirement system as most of our other state law enforcement officers.  This bill has passed the house and is now in the senate.
• HJR12 Requires the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to determine the long-term impact of our current solar panel mandate on our farm and forest lands.  This bill was tabled by the Rules Committee but a letter will be sent to JLARC asking that they consider the study, if their workload will allow.

As you can see, my legislative objectives have had a mixed level of consideration.  This is consistent with how most of the bills from Republicans have been heard this session.

My update next week will give a more comprehensive description of the action on many of the policies we addressed.

I welcome your emails, calls and visits.  My email is [email protected], my phone is (804)698-1066 and my office is 1107 in the General Assembly Building.  You can follow all legislative action and access other information by going to VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov.