December 29, 2021
Neighbors,
I hope you and your loved ones are enjoying the holiday season! As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly across the United States, including in Virginia, I hope you stay healthy and safe. If you haven’t yet, please consider getting the vaccine or a booster.
In this newsletter, I’ve included information about:
Upcoming Town Halls
Redistricting Update
New Laws Taking Effect January 1
Comments - Northern Virginia Joint Transportation Projects
Virginia Named “Overall Best Business Climate”
As always, let me know if you have questions or need assistance by calling my office at (804) 698-1042 or emailing me at DelKTran@house.virginia.gov.
Best, Kathy
Kathy KL Tran
Delegate, 42nd District
Upcoming Town Halls
As I am preparing for the 2022 Legislative Session, I am hosting or participating in several Town Halls. I hope you will join us to share your priorities for our community!
Saturday, January 8 at 9am
I will be participating in the annual Fairfax Delegation Public Hearing. It will be held in person at the Fairfax County Government Center. You must register by January 6 at Noon in order to provide comments. Register here!
Monday, January 10 at 6pm
I will be hosting a virtual town hall with Senator George Barker and Senator Dave Marsden. Registration is open — Sign up here!
Redistricting Update
Yesterday, the Virginia Supreme Court released their final redistricting maps. These maps will determine who represents you for the next decade in the Virginia House of Delegates, State Senate, and US House of Representatives.
To see what district you will be in for the next elections, open one of the interactive maps in the link above and enter your address in the “Search Address” bar.
New Laws Taking Effect January 1
For the most part, new laws take effect on July 1 every year, but some new laws will take effect on January 1, 2022. I want to highlight two that will affect our community:
Virginia’s minimum wage will increase to $11/hour. In 2020, we passed a law that put us on a pathway to a $15/hour minimum wage. This is the second periodic increase of our state minimum wage; the first took effect on May 1, 2021 when the minimum wage increased to $9.50/hour.
The minimum car insurance coverage will increase from $25,000 to $30,000 for injury or death of one person and $60,000 for two or more persons. I encourage you to check with your insurance company to confirm that your vehicle is properly insured.
Comments - Northern Virginia Joint Transportation Projects
As I covered in my last newsletter, my team and I attended a recent Northern Virginia Joint Transportation public meeting about joint projects between various state, county, and regional and other transportation authorities.
If you missed the meeting, VDOT posted a recording of the video you can watch online.
VDOT is accepting comments through January 7 about planned projects. You can submit comments via this online form or by leaving a voicemail at 703-721-8270, sending an email to meetingcomments@vdot.virginia.gov (please reference “Northern Virginia Joint Transportation Meeting” in the subject line), or mailing Ms. Maria Sinner at VDOT, 4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030.
Virginia Named “Overall Best Business Climate”
Business Facilities named Virginia the state with the “Overall Best Business Climate” recently. The publication pointed to the steps Virginia has taken to increase economic development, our strong workforce, and our educational systems.
This designation comes in addition to CNBC earlier this year naming Virginia their best state for business for an unprecedented second year in a row, and Oxfam ranking Virginia 23rd for best state for workers, an accomplishment compared to 2019 when we ranked as the very worst state for workers.