February 20, 2023

Neighbors, 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to attend my Crossover Town Hall and my Veterans and Military Families Town Hall this week. I really appreciate our community’s engagement in my work and our state government!

In this newsletter, I’ve included information about the following:

  • Town Halls

  • Community Updates

    • Community Meetings

    • Supervisor Walkinshaw’s Community Spotlight

  • Legislative Updates

    • My Legislative Agenda 

    • Budget Reminder

    • Constitutional Amendments

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

Town Halls

Virtual Transportation and Winter Weather Safety Town Hall

Thursday, February 23 at 6:30pm

Register here: https://bit.ly/TranVDOTupdate

Join me for an annual update on major infrastructure projects in our community and winter weather safety tips - We will be joined by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation!

Community Updates

Community Meetings

I enjoyed meeting with New Virginia Majority organizers from northern Virginia this week and to talk about our partnership on legislation to build a more racially and economically just Commonwealth.

Thank you also to the constituents and activists from Virginia Commonwealth University Student Government Association, Virginia Farm Bureau, and Virginia Christmas Tree Growers Association for coming to visit my office this week!

Supervisor Walkinshaw’s Community Spotlight

I was so pleased to see a member of our community, Ms. Edie Smith, recognized by Supervisor James Walkinshaw’s February Citizen of the Month, here. Edie is a tireless advocate for military families and surviving spouses, and together, we successfully passed House Bill 957 in 2022, which gave local governments the option to give property tax relief to surviving spouses of servicemembers who died in the line of duty. This year, we worked together on a constitutional amendment to enshrine this into the Virginia Constitution. Thank you for your advocacy, Edie!

Legislative Updates

The 2023 regular legislative session of the General Assembly ends on Saturday, February 25. During this week, we will be debating and voting on hundreds of bills, including the budget, before we adjourn. 

My Legislative Agenda

House Bill 2211 was heard by the Senate Education and Health Committee, where it passed unanimously. This bill will help fill our critical nursing workforce needs while tapping into the skills of immigrants and refugees by clarifying the process by which internationally trained nurses are tested and certified for work in Virginia. I’m so appreciative to have the support of Church World Services, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, Inova, HCA Hospitals, and Virginia Health Care Association.

Budget Reminder

As I mentioned previously, Virginia has a $4.5 billion budget surplus and the House of Delegates and state Senate continue to negotiate a final budget proposal.

In December,  the Governor introduced his budget, proposing how to  allocate this additional revenue, and recently, the House of Delegates and the state Senate released their own proposals. The House of Delegates and state Senate are now negotiating a final compromise budget. (Note, Virginia’s state constitution requires us to have a balanced budget.) 

You can read my summary of key differences in the House and state Senate proposals in my last newsletter here. Also, I recommend you check out The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis’s comprehensive breakdown of the proposed budgets.

Constitutional Amendments

Earlier in session, the House Speaker made the unusual decision to not schedule hearings for 20 constitutional amendments that were proposed by members of the House of Delegates (see more information here).  This decision effectively prevented the House of Delegates from considering these proposals.

My House Joint Resolution 533 which would give voters the choice to amend the Constitution of Virginia to provide surviving spouses of service members who were killed in the line of duty with equitable tax relief. These families were unfortunately left out of previous exemptions that Virginians approved for other eligible surviving military spouses.

Other constitutional amendments proposed by Delegates would have repealed Virginia’s defunct same-sex marriage prohibition, disbanded the state Board of Education, overturned Virginia’s Jim Crow-era restoration of rights process, and protected reproductive rights. 

I have highlighted constitutional amendments that passed the state Senate and were considered by the House of Delegates below:

Senate Joint Resolution 231 is the same as my House Joint Resolution 533 that I highlighted above. I am proud that it passed out of the House Rules Committee and will be considered by the full House of Delegates. 

Senate Joint Resolution 223 would have amended the Virginia Constitution to allow returning citizens the right to vote after their incarceration. Currently, in order for a person who was convicted of a felony to be allowed to vote, they must be individually granted that right by the Governor. This process was originally put into place to disenfranchise Black voters in Virginia. During the 1901-1902 Virginia Constitutional Convention, then-Delegate Carter Glass said the process was to “eliminate the darkey as a political factor in this state in less than 5 years, so that in no single county…will there be the least concern felt for the complete supremacy of the white race in the affairs of government.” The resolution failed in the House Rules Committee on a party-line vote.

Senate Joint Resolution 242 would have amended the constitution to remove the defunct portion that defines marriage as "only a union between one man and one woman" and outlaws same-sex marriage in Virginia. The Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges made this section of the Constitutional unenforceable, making same-sex marriage legal in Virginia despite this section. This resolution passed the state Senate on a bipartisan vote, but it failed in the House Rules Committee on a party-line vote.

Senate Joint Resolution 247 would have allowed the General Assembly to authorize local governments to exempt low-income or low-wealth individuals from property taxes, if those people have lived in and continuously occupied their home for a minimum number of years and the cost of that house has risen by a prescribed amount. This is particularly helpful for low-income seniors for whom aging in place in their home has become unaffordable due to property taxes. This amendment was voted down by the House Rules Committee on a party-line vote.

Senate Joint Resolution 255 would have amended the Virginia Constitution to clarify that Virginians have a fundamental right to reproductive freedom and that the state cannot abridge Virginians’ choices about their pregnancy, unless justified by a compelling state interest and achieved by the least restrictive means. The House Rules Committee voted to stop the amendment on a party-line vote.