NEWSLETTER 

January 23, 2023

Neighbors, 

Across Virginia and the world, people are celebrating the beginning of the Lunar New Year, and I extend my warmest wishes for a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.

However, yesterday was also a difficult day as we grieved for the victims of a mass shooting which took place in Monterey Park, California. For many Asian Americans, the shooting after a Lunar New Year celebration in a predominantly Asian American community was heart wrenching. I share my deep condolences with the victims’ families and communities.

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

  • Upcoming Town Halls

  • Community Meetings

  • Legislative Updates

    • My Legislative Agenda

    • My Budget Amendments

  • Transportation Updates

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


Upcoming Town Halls

In response to the recent tragic accident on Lee Chapel Road and the outpouring of concern from constituents, I am hosting a Town Hall to discuss safety on this stretch of road. I will be joined by the Virginia Department of Transportation, Fairfax County Department of Transportation, Fairfax County Police Department, Senator George Barker, Chairman Jeff McKay, Supervisor Pat Herrity, Supervisor Dan Storck, School Board Member Laura Jane Cohen, and School Board Member Karen Corbett Sanders.

Virtual Town Hall to Address Safety on Lee Chapel Road

Monday, January 30 at 7:00pm

Register here

Senator Scott Surovell and I will be holding a legislative town hall on February 4 at South County High School.

Town Hall with Delegate Kathy Tran & Senator Scott Surovell 

February 4 at 10:00am

South County High School

8501 Silverbrook Rd, Lorton, VA 22079

Community Meetings

It was a pleasure welcoming CASA to the House of Delegates and speaking at their rally to call for increased support for English language learners, funding for affordable housing, and passage of my bill to expand health care to all kids.

I joined the Hamke Center for a meet and greet with their volunteers. We discussed issues facing Asian Americans and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and how to be an effective advocate during the legislative session.

I saw my constituent Emily and other teachers who came to advocate on “Wear Red for Ed” Day. We discussed the need to fully fund our public schools, increase teacher pay, and support our students.

It was good to talk with my constituent Jamie, who came to our Capitol to advocate for reproductive care and animal rights.

I welcomed my constituent Irene, who joined the American Association of University Women in advocating for the rights of women and girls in Virginia.

I met with members of the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) about my House Bill 22017. NFB, the Virginia Higher Education Accessibility Partnership and I are working to update Virginia’s Information Technology Access Act by requiring state agencies, local governments, institutions of higher education, and local school districts to ensure their information and communication technologies are accessible to all persons with a disability.

This is the second year that I have partnered with NFB on increasing accessible technology; we first worked together last session when my constituent Donna brought this issue to my attention.

I spoke with Church World Services and several of their refugee clients. We are partnering on House Bill 2211 to clarify the process by which internationally trained nurses are assessed to work in Virginia. This will help fill our critical nursing workforce needs while tapping into the skills of immigrants and refugees and empowering them to better provide for their families and fulfill their career potential.

Additionally, my staff and I met with constituents and advocates from New Virginia Majority, Virginia Nurses Association, Physician Assistants with the Medical Society of Virginia, Citizens Defense League, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Virginia Professional Fire Fighters, Virginia Humane Society, Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Healthy Families of Fairfax, and Appalachian Voices.

Legislative Updates

My Legislative Agenda

I introduced the following legislation last Friday, which was the final deadline for new bills:

  • House Bill 2453 — From the Blue Ridge to Mason Neck State Park, Virginia’s state parks display the beauty and diversity of our natural wildlife. Every Virginian deserves access to our state parks, and this bill creates a pilot program for all-terrain power wheelchairs to increase accessibility at our state parks. You can read more about their use in state and national parks across the country in this Washington Post piece.

  • House Bill 2472 — The federal “340B” program allows non-profit hospitals serving low-income communities to significantly save on prescription drugs with the aim to reinvest these savings into the community that is being served. A New York Times article about one hospital in Virginia shows the detrimental impacts to public health when savings are not put back into the community. This bill increases transparency to better our understanding of how communities in Virginia benefit from this program.  

I also presented two bills before subcommittees:

  • House Bill 2213 requires electric utilities to notify affected customers at least 24 hours before a planned blackout. Electricity is essential to running a business, working and learning remotely, and powering medical devices, and Virginians deserve reliable electric service and clear and timely communication if there is a scheduled blackout. This issue was raised by my constituents, John and Annie, and my bill was supported by the Virginia Poverty Law Center and Dominion Electric. While I had bipartisan support, unfortunately, the bill failed by a 4-3 vote.

  • House Bill 2214 requires disclosure during real estate sales if a property is in a resource protection area (RPA) and notification by localities to property owners so they can comply with preservation policies aimed at protecting the Chesapeake Bay. My constituents Joe and Ken brought this issue to my attention after they and several neighbors faced civil and possible criminal penalties for unknowingly violating their RPAs. This bill was unfortunately defeated by a party-line vote of 5-3.

A couple of my bills have made news this week: 

  • House Bill 2205 was the subject of a guest column in PW Perspective. This bill creates a $500 tax credit per child for families making under $100,000 per year, helping to lift children out of poverty and providing needed tax relief to Virginia’s working families.

  • House Bill 2210 was covered by Univision Washington DC. Health care is a human right, and this legislation expands coverage by creating a Medicaid-like program for about 13,000 undocumented immigrant children in Virginia. 

You can see my full legislative agenda on my website.

My Budget Amendments

Virginia has a $3.6 billion surplus this year, and updating our budget is one of the top priorities for the General Assembly. Below is a highlight of my budget requests and you can see all of them on my website: 

Expanding Health Care

  • Item 304 #7h Personal Care Services for Hospitalized Medicaid HCBS Recipients  — I am partnering with my constituent Teresa and The Arc of Virginia on this request to allow personal care attendants for Medicaid waiver recipients to be paid for their services to their client if their client is hospitalized. Personal attendants deeply understand their clients’ needs and can be important resources for their clients in these acute care situations.

Better Public K-12 Schools

  • Item 129 #4h Asian American History Model Curriculum and Resources — Our children deserve to learn our full history, but too often AAPI contributions to our nation have not been taught in K-12. This request provides resources to the Virginia Department of Education to create a model curriculum, tools, and resources to teach AAPI history as part of the 2023 Standards of Learning curriculum review.

  • Item 137 #4h Additional English Learner Teachers — Every student deserves the tools and attention they need to succeed. This request, which I made in partnership with Fairfax County Public Schools, increases the minimum number of English Language Learner (ELL) teachers from 20 for every 1,000 students to 22 for every 1,000 students.

Lifting Up Working Families

  • Item 271 #1h Increase State Assistance with Personal Property Taxes — I heard from constituents who did a double take upon receiving their car tax bill and asked that I seek additional relief. This budget request provides a one-time increase in the state portion of the car tax relief fund to address increased vehicle values due to inflation and supply chain delays.

Building A More Welcoming And Inclusive Virginia

  • Item 123 #2h Create the New Americans Navigator Program — Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and this request is to help immigrant entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, including by providing assistance in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic and Korean.

  • Item 144 #1h Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Support — At a time when AAPI hate incidents are on a rise, this request provides resources for Virginia colleges and universities determined by the US Department of Education to be Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander-serving institutions to strengthen culturally-competent services, contribute to a sense of belonging, and offer learning opportunities for all students to engage with our communities.

Honoring Our Veterans and Military Families

  • Item 470 #4h Veteran Entrepreneurship Program — This request establishes two pilot veteran entrepreneur development programs aimed at helping veterans take the skills they learned in the military to start and grow their own business. Thanks to my constituent Burt for sharing this idea.

Building A Competitive Workforce

  • Item 287 #4h Mary Marshall Scholarship Program — This budget amendment helps address our significant nursing shortage by opening up the Mary Marshall Scholarship Program for nursing students to humanitarian parolees and to help pay for necessary exams and credentialing.

  • Item 329 #1h Set Salaries at 50th Percentile — In the biennial budget, the General Assembly included raises for many employees at mental health care facilities across Virginia. This amendment would provide increased compensation to the hard working employees who did not receive that raise, an issue my constituent Edna flagged for my attention.

Supporting Our Community

  • Item 347 #9h Lorton Community Action Center — LCAC provides critical assistance to low-income families in Fort Belvoir, Lorton, Newington and other portions of southeast Fairfax County. This request would help LCAC provide food, housing, child care and education, workforce training and mental health services and supports to vulnerable community members.

  • Item 347 #10h Ecumenical Community Helping Others — ECHO helps low-income families in Burke and Springfield. This request would help ECHO provide much-needed services to these families, including assistance with food, housing, child care, and transportation.

Transportation Updates

VDOT Studies

I continue to be concerned about the rise in aggressive driving and traffic accidents across our community, and I have asked VDOT to assess road safety improvement at:

  • Rolling Road and Grigsby Drive — In response to constituents reaching out about speeding on Rolling Road in front of West Springfield High School — or “the West Springfield Racetrack,” as some call it — I asked VDOT to assess whether a High-Intensity Activated crossWalK (HAWK) beacon would help with pedestrian safety. VDOT has been studying this issue since October and just gave me an update that they expect the results by the end of February. 

  • Baker’s Crossroads at the intersection of Rolling Road and Fairfax County Parkway — In just a little over a week, I have been aware of three crashes at this area and have requested that VDOT assess the safety of this intersection.

Save the Date for Supervisor Walkinshaw’s Community Discussion About Safety Proposals at Old Keene Mill Road / Washington Irving Middle School 

I asked VDOT to assess a HAWK signal at this location based on concerns constituents raised about pedestrian safety on Old Keene Mill Road in front of Washington Irving Middle School. While VDOT determined that this was not necessary, they are studying implementing Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons at the crossing.

Additionally, VDOT is working with Supervisor Walkinshaw and Fairfax County Department of Transportation on additional safety proposals that require the approval of the County. Supervisor Walkinshaw is hosting a virtual community meeting on February 13 at 7:00pm  to review improvements. For more information, visit Supervisor Walkinshaw’s website.