February 18th Newsletter

As part of the ongoing celebration of Black History Month, I spoke on the floor earlier this week to share my experience as a school-aged child growing up in Prince Edward County. I lived in Farmville starting in the late 60’s, the time when the public schools had just reopened after having been closed for almost five years during the desegregation battles there. Those were formative years for me in so many ways, particularly as I learned about the great civil rights leaders of the day, some of whom I met when I was a student at Prince Edward County High School.  

My floor remarks followed a long and contentious debate the evening before as we considered a bill that prohibits the teaching of certain content including ideas and beliefs about racial and sexual discrimination that may be offensive to some. Given the significant influence that Prince Edward County’s history had on me and my career, I posed the question to my fellow House members whether we should exclude our children from having a similar opportunity to learn those important lessons? The bill, HB 787, later passed the House on a party-line vote, but the Senate already has killed a similar bill in their chamber before crossover. The Senate will take up the House bill in the coming weeks.

You can view my remarks online here. 

If you have any questions or need assistance with a state agency, please contact my office at delrwillett@house.virginia.gov or phone at 804-698-1073, and a member of my staff will be happy to assist you. I also will continue to keep you informed with relevant, accurate information via Twitter, Facebook, and my website. Please stay well and stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Rodney

New Information

2022 Legislative Session Week 6

After an almost 12 hour Floor Session on Monday with over 200 bills up for debate, we are officially in crossover! The House and Senate both completed work on all of their bills on Tuesday night, and starting Wednesday morning we are only considering legislation that has been passed by the opposite chamber.

I am proud to have three of my bills, HB388, HB400, and HB402, pass the House and advance to the Senate. I am also proud of a number of bipartisan measures that I have worked on with my Republican colleagues, including:

• HB270 — Makes several administrative reforms to the Virginia Employment Commission, establishes an Unemployment Insurance Ombudsman to assist claimants, and creates the Commission on Unemployment Compensation, a subcommittee that is responsible for monitoring the management of the unemployment insurance program. Unemployment insurance claims were the most common issues I heard about from constituents over the past two years, and I believe that this legislation will greatly improve the operations of the agency.

• HB191 — Establishes a new position of Special Advisor to the Governor for Health Workforce Development and creates the Virginia Health Workforce Development Fund to grow our healthcare workforce in Virginia. We are facing a nationwide shortage of healthcare professionals, and this legislation will ensure that Virginia is actively working to recruit and retain more providers in the Commonwealth.

• HB1203 — Establishes the position of Suicide Prevention Coordinator in the Department of Veterans Services to support and closely coordinate effective mental health care services for military service members and veterans and their families. Veterans suffer from a disproportionately high rate of death by suicide. 

See the below bill matrix for an update on my proposed legislation. You can see the full version of all of my bills online here, and my budget amendments online here.

Governor Youngkin Signs Emergency Legislation Barring School Mask Mandates Effective March 1

On Wednesday afternoon Governor Youngkin signed SB739, a bill that allows parents to elect for their children to not wear masks on public school property, effectively barring all masks mandates in public school.  The bill was sent to the Governor’s desk on Monday afternoon and was then sent back to the General Assembly with 4 recommendations that added an emergency clause requiring schools to comply by March 1, and clarified that the legislation does not interfere with the Governor’s authority during a public health emergency.

Legislation passed with an emergency clause typically requires four-fifths of the vote from each chamber. However, because the emergency clause was added as a recommendation of the Governor, only a simple majority of votes was required. The vast majority of our legislation passed during this session will go into effect on July 1 of this year, but an emergency clause allows a bill to become effective immediately upon the signature of the Governor. SB739 will go into effect immediately, but one of the Governor’s recommendations gives school districts until March 1st to comply with the new law.

I recommend that parents of children in public school look to guidance from their school division and school principals until school divisions are mandated to comply on March 1st. Some school districts, such as Loudoun County, have chosen to do away with their mask requirements as early as Tuesday of next week, while others will likely wait until March 1st to comply.

VCU Rams and Richmond Spiders Basketball Partner for School Supply Drive for Fox Elementary at Capital City Classic

Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Richmond basketball teams will collect school supplies at this Friday’s Capital City Classic to support those impacted by the terrible fire at Fox Elementary School last week. The items can be dropped off at the Siegel center Friday night. The items can also be dropped off anytime at either the Siegel Center or the University of Richmond Robins Center ticket office over the next two weeks.

VCU and Richmond are only collecting school supplies, as they are not able to accept financial contributions at Friday night's game. Fans wishing to make a financial contribution can do so directly to Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation at rpseducationfoundation.org. Funds can be designated for Fox Elementary Fire Response. See below for a list of desired supplies:

• New and gently used K - 5th Grade Level Books (There is a particular need for books featuring diverse characters and experiences. Fox Elementary is a majority-minority school.)

• Clorox Wipes & Hand Sanitizer (unopened)

• Crayola Crayons or Colored Pencils

• Packs of Washable Markers

• Composition or Spiral Notebooks

• Index Cards

• Dry-Erase Markers

• #2 Pencils

• Pocket Folders

• Wide-ruled Loose-leaf paper

• Boxes of tissues

• Highlighters

• Black, blue or red ink pens

• Reusable water bottles

• Glue Sticks

Applications open for Henrico Schools’ 2022-23 preschool program

Henrico County Public Schools is now accepting applications for its 2022-23 Early Learning Preschool program. HCPS Early Learning Preschool is designed to provide a high-quality preschool environment for children who live in Henrico County and who will be 4 years old by Sept. 30, 2022.

HCPS preschool students gain literacy and other skills using a developmentally appropriate, hands-on curriculum, including a focus on phonemic awareness; language enrichment; letters and sounds; decoding and beginning reading and writing; numeracy with a focus on numbers and number sense; and social and emotional development.

Interested parents and guardians should apply and submit required documents online at HCPS’ preschool page. Applicants may also hand-deliver their documents by appointment. After applying and submitting documents, applicants will be contacted by the school division’s pre-K family liaison staff to complete the process. For questions, email preschool@henrico.k12.va.us or call 804-328-8104. 

Acceptance to an HCPS Early Learning Preschool classroom is granted as slots are available after a complete application has been submitted and reviewed. Invitations for enrollment are based on specific criteria and are not granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Eligible students who live within the attendance zone of a school with an HCPS preschool classroom are considered first. 

Henrico County Public Schools encourages families of children with special needs to apply. There are no exceptions to age and residency requirements. There is no cost to families for the program and transportation will be provided for preschool students in accordance with HCPS transportation guidelines. HCPS does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities.

Visiting the General Assembly — House Gallery Passes and Capitol Tours

There are just over 20 days left of the 2022 General Assembly session, and while the Capitol and General Assembly buildings are open year round, the best time to tour is during the legislative session.  If you are interested in taking a tour or watching a Floor Session in the galley please contact a member of my staff at DelRWillett@house.virginia.gov.

The Capitol building is open for Guided Tours 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with the last tour commencing at 4:00 p.m. On Sunday, guided tours are available from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with the last tour commencing at 4:00 p.m. Tours last approximately one hour and are free.

We can also assist you with obtaining House gallery passes to view one of our floor sessions. If you have any questions about visiting the Capitol please email my office, and a member of my team will be happy to assist you.