February 25, 2024

Neighbors, 


It was wonderful to celebrate Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton’s leadership, public service, and resilience during her visit to Richmond. I am a co-sponsor of House Joint Resolution 13, which designates May 2024 and each succeeding month of May, as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) Month of Awareness in Virginia. Congresswoman Wexton has courageously shared her journey with PSP, which she has described as “Parkinson’s on steroids,” in order to bring public awareness, compassion, and push for a cure.

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

  • Early Voting Reminder

  • Constituent Meetings and Legislative Briefings

  • Legislative Updates

    • VAAPIC Visit to the House Page Room

    • Budget Update

As always, let me know if you have questions or need assistance by calling my office at (804) 698-1018 or emailing me at DelKTran@house.virginia.gov. 

Best, Kathy

Kathy KL Tran

Delegate

Early Voting Reminder

As a reminder, the Virginia Presidential Primary Election Day is March 5 and early voting is available through March 2. You may vote in either the Democratic primary or the Republican primary, but not in both. 

Fairfax recently expanded the number of locations you may vote early. You can now vote early at any of the following locations in or near the 18th district:

Fairfax County Government Center

12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax 22035

Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Mt. Vernon Governmental Center

2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria, 22306

Monday-Friday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m

Franconia Governmental Center

6121 Franconia Rd, Alexandria 22310

Monday-Friday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lorton Community Center

9520 Richmond Highway, Lorton 22079

Monday-Friday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Mason Governmental Center

6507 Columbia Pike, Annandale 22003

Monday-Friday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

West Springfield Governmental Center

6140 Rolling Road, Springfield 22152

Monday-Friday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For a full list of early voting locations or to find more information about in-person early voting, visit the Fairfax County’s Department of Elections’ website.

Need to register to vote, check your registration status, or request your absentee ballot? You can do that on the Virginia Department of Elections’ website.

Constituent Meetings and Legislative Briefings

I enjoyed meeting with Fund Our Schools coalition members, including Fairfax Education Association President Leslie Houston, my constituent Emily and members of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, and students from Hispanics Against Child Abuse and Neglect (HACAN).

I appreciated the opportunity to update Edu-Futuro about my efforts to build a more welcoming Virginia and support our immigrants and refugees. 

Thank you to advocates with the Virginia Governmental Employees Association for sharing their work to support our state government employees. 

I had a chance to catch up with my constituent Michelle and her colleagues with the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance about strategies to improve pedestrian and road safety. 

It was wonderful to hear from New Virginia Majority canvassers about their work to improve economic security for vulnerable Virginian communities.

Thank you to Refugee Physicians Advocacy (RPA) Coalition and NOVA Friends of Refugees for testifying in support of my House Bill 995, which addresses our healthcare shortage by creating a pathway for immigrants and refugees living in Virginia who are internationally-trained physicians to obtain their medical licenses here. 

I was proud to introduce them on the House floor on Friday. You can see my introduction on the House of Delegates’ website.

My staff and I also enjoyed meeting with the Old Dominion Chapter of The Links, Inc., Virginia Education Association, and advocates from Virginia Pro-Life Lobby Day.


Legislative Updates


VAAPIC Visit to the House Page Room

One of my favorite traditions is the annual visit of the Virginia Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus (VAAPIC) with the House Pages – we have a lot of fun bringing snacks and sharing our work lifting up Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the General Assembly.


Budget Update

 

This week, the House of Delegates and state Senate each debated and voted on our respective Chamber’s budget proposals. I voted in favor of the House budget proposal because it prioritizes our public schools and improves teacher pay, improves college affordability, expands health care, increases affordable childcare, and protects our environment.

As I have discussed in previous newsletters, the Virginia Constitution requires the General Assembly and Governor to pass a balanced biennial budget by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The next step is for the House of Delegates and state Senate to negotiate a final budget proposal for consideration by the General Assembly.

You can see the Governor, Senate, and House’s proposed budgets on the legislature’s website. For a summary of all of the proposals, I would recommend the analysis completed by The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

I have outlined some of the major investments in the budget proposal from the House of Delegates below:

Public Education

  • 6.75% pay increase for our public school teachers over the biennium. These increases represent the first half of our four-year plan to increase the Virginia average teacher pay to the national average.

  • Approx. $1 billion to public K-12 schools so that our local school districts are able to hire teachers and staff, and provide resources to provide a world class education to all of our kids.

  • More than $500 million to provide much-needed support to our most vulnerable students.

  • $205 million to public colleges and universities. This will limit tuition increases for in-state undergraduate students and strengthen the degree pipeline to high-demand job fields.

Expanding Health Care

  • Includes an additional 3,440 Priority One developmental disability waivers to address the over 15,000 person waiver backlog. It also increases the waiver reimbursement, giving care workers a needed three percent wage increase.

  • $457 million for mental health and substance abuse services.

  • $1.3 million for a new Prescription Drug Affordability Board to keep the costs of medications low.

  • More than $30 million in funding to the Opioid Abatement Authority to combat the opioid epidemic.

Lifting Up Working Families, Childcare Access, Affordable Housing

  • 6% raise for state and state-supported local employees.

  • More than $80 million over the biennium to increase the State Minimum Wage.

  • $15 million to expand the availability of early childcare centers across Virginia.

  • An additional $37.5 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund

  • $1.4 million for the Virginia Eviction Reduction program

Environmental Protections

  • According to Virginia law, Virginia must participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The House budget reinforces our participation in RGGI and projects revenue from the program would provide $100 million to the Community Flood Prevention Fund.

  • $138 million to the Water Quality Improvement Fund.

  • $800,000 to monitor PFAS “forever chemicals” in public water systems.

Tax Policy

  • Virginia does not currently charge sales tax on digital goods like software, digital downloads, and streaming services. The budget maintains the Governor’s proposed sales tax on these goods. 

Transportation

  • $149.5 million for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to address their budget gap.

  • $70M dedicated to improving Interstate 81. 

Other

  • The House budget includes funding to create a Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority, which would finance the Potomac Yard stadium that Governor Youngkin proposed to entice the Washington Wizards and Capitals to move to the location. There is an accompanying piece of legislation with this proposal, and I opposed that bill in the House.

My Funding Requests

I submitted a range of funding requests this year, from a new traffic light near West Springfield High School to expanding opportunities for nursing licensure. You can view all of my legislative and budget requests here. 

I am excited to share that three of my requests were included in the House budget:

  • Item 331 #3h —  $5 million to improve language access equity and ensure that our state government resources are available to every Virginian, including those who do not speak English, speak limited English, or have a disability affecting communication abilities. I appreciate working with a range of stakeholders on this issue including Virginia Poverty Law Center, The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, New Virginia Majority, and Hamke Center.

  • Item 140 #3h — Over $1 million to the Troops to Teachers program at the College of William and Mary, which helps veterans successfully transition to the civilian workforce by preparing them to teach in K-12 schools and helping fill our teacher gaps. This idea came from a discussion with my constituent Dave about ways we can support our veterans.

  • Item 117 #3h — $100,000 to create model curriculum, tools, and resources to teach Asian American and Pacific Islander history as part of the History and Social Science Standards of Learning and support programing for Asian American and Pacific Islander History Month. This is one of the top priorities for the Virginia Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus.