9/13/2018
Prep for the 2019 General Assembly Session Jeremy R. Bennett, VSBA Government Relations Specialist
Stacy L. Haney, Partner, Reed Smith & VSBA Lobbyist
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The Virginia General Assembly 101
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Membership
• Virginia has bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate of Virginia and the Virginia House of Delegates. • The Senate is composed of 40 members and the House of Delegates is composed of 100 members. • All members of the General Assembly are elected. The terms of office are four years for Senators and two years for Delegates. Members of the General Assembly may not hold any other elected public office during their term of office. • Virginia is one of the few states with “off-year elections.” Elections occur on non-presidential and non-midterm years.
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Meetings
• The General Assembly convenes in annual Regular Session on the second Wednesday of January. In an even-numbered year, the legislature meets for 60 calendar days and in an odd-numbered year meets for 30 calendar days. • This year, the General Assembly will convene on Wednesday, January 9th, 2019.
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House Leadership
Speaker of the House Kirk Majority Leader Minority Leader Cox(R) Todd Gilbert (R) David Toscano (D)
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Senate Leadership
President of the Senate Majority Leader Minority Leader Lieutenant Governor Tommy Norment (R) Richard Saslaw (D) Justin Fairfax (D)
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Finance & Appropriations Committee Leadership
Chris Jones (R) Emmett Hanger (R) Tommy Norment (R) Chairman, House Co‐Chairman, Senate Finance Co‐Chairman, Senate Finance Appropriations Committee Committee Committee
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Education Committee Leadership
Steve Landes (R) Chairman, Steve Newman (R) Chairman, House Education Committee Senate Education & Health Committee
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Tracking the Action
• You can follow the path of legislation through the Virginia Legislative Information System – Bill Number – Subject – Legislator • VSBA Legislative Update Blog • VSBA Video Updates
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Additional Resources
• VSBA Government Relations Website: – http://www.vsba.org/advocacy_government _relations/resource_info/ • One stop Advocacy shop that Contains VSBA Legislative Positions, Who is My Legislator Tool, a List Legislators by VSBA Region, Advocacy Tools, and much more!
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Overview of Changes since 2017
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Nov. 2017 Election
• Governor Ralph Northam Elected – Democratic Control of the Governor’s Mansion continues • House of Delegates – Prior to the election, Republicans control 66-34 majority – Election results in 15 seats flipping to Democratic control for 50-49 majority – Tie breaker drawing in the 94th District results in final, 51-49 majority. • Narrow Balance of Power
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Key Issues Likely to be Debated at the 2019 General Assembly
• School Safety • School Modernization • Tax Conformity • School Calendar Start Dates
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School Safety
• On February 14th, 2018, a gunman opens fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in parkland Florida. 17 students and staff members are murdered and another 17 are injured. To date, this is the deadliest shooting at a high school in U.S. history. • In response, on March 8th, 2018 – Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox announces the formation of the House Select Committee on School Safety to review state and local policy on school safety and make recommendations for consideration by the 2019 General Assembly. • The Committee is comprised of 22 members of the House of Delegates, consisting of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
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School Safety (cont.)
• On April 26th, 2018, the Full Committee meets for the first time. – The Committee debuts its website soliciting public comment. – The Committee announced the creation of three subcommittees to meet over the summer to examine school safety from multiple angles. The Subcommittees are: • Infrastructure and Security Subcommittee • Prevention and Response Protocol Subcommittee • Student Behavior and Intervention Subcommittee – The Full Committee agrees to reconvene in September to review recommendations from the Subcommittees.
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School Safety (cont.)
• Potential topics of Legislation resultant from the House Select Committee – Additional resources for School Resource Officer and School Security Officer (SRO/SSO) programs. Virginia has an existing state grant program that ca be used as a model. – Promulgation of standardized best practices (MOUs with local law enforcement, raising awareness of threat assessment teams, etc.) – Increased staff to student ratios for School Counselors • Mandatory limits on the time School Counselors must devote towards addressing mental health issues – Discussion of fixing sections of the Support Position Cap (SROs an School Counselors) – Investigation into technology that would allow for the creation of a crisis intervention threat tip line • Safe UT
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School Modernization
• Senator Bill Stanley through the Senate Committee on Local Government created the School Facility Modernization Subcommittee with goal of finding funding for modernize schools across the Commonwealth. • Three grand tours of schools and committee meetings locations in Southwest, NoVA, and Hampton Roads. • In 2013, the last time an inventory of schools in Virginia was completed, more than 60 percent of 2,030 schools were more than 40 years old. • Estimated cost of modernization of schools in Virginia: $3 billion to $4 billion. • Possible recommendations: dedicated funding through collection o sales tax from internet retailers, bond financing, additional lottery funds, grant counties the authority to raise dedicated sales tax • The Committee will make recommendations to the General Assembly at the completion of their tour.
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Tax Conformity
• Virginia Conforms its tax code to the Federal Government through action in the Virginia General Assembly. – Common definitions of income, status, etc. • Congress passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, which impacts the current tax year of 2018. • If Virginia fails to act to conform its tax code to the Federal Government, the Secretary of Finance estimates a potential increase in state revenues of approximately $600 million. • The Governor has discussed using any additional revenue funds from this source to relieve some of the tax-burden on low-income families, increase teacher salaries, and invest in broadband infrastructure. • The Majority’s Leadership in the General Assembly would like to see any potential additional revenue funds returned entirely in tax cuts.
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School Calendar
• The 1986 “Kings Dominion” law bars schools in Virginia from opening before Labor Day without a legislative waiver or if they have been closed an average of eight or more days during any five of the last 10 years due to snow, power failures, or other emergencies. • Three bills last session (HB372 (Robinson)/ HB1020 (Adams, L.R.)/ SB914 (Chase)) would have made local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening day of the school year and would have eliminated the post-Labor Day opening requirement and "good cause" scenarios for which the Board of Education may grant waivers of this requirement. • Issue of local control, ability to address “summer slide”, adequately prepare for AP tests, etc. • We need your assistance, if any of the following State Senators represents your division, please contact them to express support for local flexibility on School Start times: – Senators Newman, Saslaw, Lucas, Howell, Locke, Barker, Black Carrico, Petersen, Cosgrove, Lewis, Dunnavant, Chase, Suetterlein, Peake
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Questions?
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