January 21st Newsletter
I very much enjoyed meeting with those of you who attended the legislative town hall that Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg and I held this past weekend. We shared our legislative agendas and an overview of the scope and priorities of this year’s “long session” (we pass the biennium budget during our longer, 60-day sessions). The attendees had many questions related to the change in leadership under Governor Youngkin and the potential impact of the new administration on education, healthcare, and the environment. The Governor has indicated several of his priorities for the Commonwealth through his first set of executive orders and directives. Several of those directives related to mask mandates and school curriculum are already under much discussion and debate.
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 2
Today we finished our first full week of the 2022 General Assembly Session. The Speaker of the House has been referring legislation to committees based on their subject area, and we began to vote on the first few pieces of legislation this week. None of my bills were heard in a subcommittee this week, so I am expecting a busy week next week! I hope you can follow along with our calendar at bit.ly/vahousecalendar. All meetings are live-streamed to the public. You can see all of my introduced legislation online here.
This week, members’ requests for amendments to the budget were published. You can see all of my budget requests online here. Some amendments are intended to provide funding for a piece of legislation, while others are stand-alone amendments. See below for a brief description of the amendments that I would like to highlight:
Item 129 #1h — Language only amendment to extend expanded eligibility for Child Care Subsidy Program created by HB2206 in 2021.
Item 304 #26h — This amendment adds funding and language to extend the fiscal year 2021 rate increase that was provided to most Medicaid home and community-based providers with exceptions for personal care, respite, and companion care providers through the fiscal year 2023.
Item 312 #12h — Community-Based Behavioral Health Service Gap Innovation Grant Fund. This amendment creates a $50 million fund to provide grants to community providers to enable adults, adolescents, and/or children with a diagnosis of serious mental illness (SMI), Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED), and/or substance use disorder (SUD), who are either Medicaid members or are uninsured/underinsured, to receive the behavioral health supports they need that are not otherwise available to them through the current continuum of community-based Medicaid services.
Item 370 #1h — Language only amendment directing the Virginia Employment Commission to begin scheduling in-person appointments with members of the public to receive support on issues related to UI claims.
Item 470 #2h — This amendment provides funding for a new position of Suicide Prevention at the Department of Veterans Services, created by my bill HB403
Please reach out to my office at DelRWillett@house.virginia.gov to share your thoughts on any of the proposed legislation for the 2022 session. I truly value feedback from residents of the 73rd district and consider your comments carefully before I vote on any piece of legislation.
Free At-Home COVID Tests Available from the Federal Government
President Biden announced this week that the federal government has created a website for Americans to order free COVID-19 tests for delivery directly to their homes. To promote broad access, the initial program will only allow four free individual tests per residential address. You can order the tests online at https://www.covidtests.gov/. Tests are expected to begin shipping on January 24th and are expected to ship within seven to 12 days of your request.
Additionally, starting January 15, most people with a health plan can go online, or to a pharmacy or store to purchase an at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic test authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at no cost, either through reimbursement or free of charge through their insurance. This applies whether you purchased your health plan on your own or whether you get health insurance through your job. The test will either be free directly at the point of sale if your health plan provides for direct coverage, or by reimbursement if you are charged for your test. Be sure to keep your receipt if you need to submit a claim to your insurance company for reimbursement. See more information on how to get your at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 test for free online here.
Weekly COVID-19 testing at Richmond Raceway
The COVID-19 community testing center at Richmond Raceway will expand its operations to add one more day of testing each week and now will operate Saturday through Wednesday, Richmond and Henrico Health Districts officials announced Tuesday. Adding Wednesday testing opportunities will increase the total testing capacity at the site by about 500 tests weekly, officials said.
Testing at the raceway is available by reservation only; appointments may be made online here. Because of the continued short supply of at-home COVID-19 tests, RHHD will not offer at-home tests for pick up at any of the testing or vaccination events this week. Pharmacies, urgent care facilities, and private providers may also have COVID-19 tests available to the public.
Governor Youngkin Releases COVID-19 Action Plan
Yesterday, Governor Youngkin released his COVID-19 Action Plan to combat the spread of the Omicron variant. While the variant often results in less severe illness, its preponderance and rapid spread - combined with severe staffing shortages and test shortages - is straining our health care system. The Governor’s plan, which you can read online here, focuses on three key goals — expand access to vaccines, alleviate the strain on hospitals and healthcare workers and prioritize testing in accordance with CDC Guidelines.
Expand Access to Vaccinations
Directing the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to re-prioritize resources toward vaccine education and outreach, including expanded efforts in disproportionately unvaccinated communities
Plans to host 120 COVID-19 vaccine events across the Commonwealth and Direct the Secretary of Health and Human Resources to devote additional resources to future events
Deploying additional Mobile Vaccine Units to rural communities
Alleviate Strain on Healthcare
Governor Youngkin signed Executive Order #11 which expands hospital flexibility for adding new beds, waives restrictions on some providers making it easier for out-of-state health care workers to practice in Virginia, and directs emergency responders to coordinate with hospitals as both experience “overwhelming demands and capacity shortages.”
Prioritizing Testing
Governor Glenn Youngkin will prioritize testing guidelines to mitigate supply-chain shortages for COVID-19 tests. The Governor will discourage mass testing for the purposes of pre-screening, discourage asymptomatic individuals from testing, and urge healthy individuals with mild symptoms to stay home and use discretion on testing. The Governor will also direct the State Health Commissioner to issue new guidelines prioritizing rapid tests for: students potentially exposed to COVID-19 who need to test to remain in school; essential health care professionals and other essential workers who need to be tested to return to work; vulnerable citizens including those in nursing facilities and over the age of 65; those with serious medical conditions and their caregivers; and those who need to be tested after consultation with a healthcare provider.
GRASP Offering Free Financial Aid Advisory Services Available to Students and Families
Public high school students in Henrico can receive free professional advice on how to pay for college, a career certificate, or other technical training after high school. My goal, as your representative in the General Assembly, is to ensure that all students can further their education regardless of financial circumstances. No one should be denied the opportunity to learn due to the inability to pay.
Here is how it works: students or parents can arrange for a private one-on-one session with a GRASP Advisor through the high school counseling office. GRASP Advisors are knowledgeable about funding a college or career education after high school. They help students prepare and submit the FAFSA (the required application to be awarded financial aid), compare financial aid offer letters, apply for scholarships, and fulfill admission requirements in order to make higher education an achievable and affordable goal.
The Virginia General Assembly has supported this free service by creating the Neighborhood Assistance Act, which provides tax incentives for private donors who, along with foundations and school divisions, provide the funding for GRASP and similar programs. As a result, every year GRASP advisors are able to help thousands of Virginia students access higher education.
In the past two school years, over 1,700 students from high schools in the 73rd District benefited from GRASP’s individual financial aid advising and received an estimated average of $9,700 in financial aid. Thanks to the Neighborhood Assistance Act and the generosity of individual and corporate donors GRASP also awarded over $89,000 in direct scholarships to students from these schools.
To learn more about these services or find an upcoming financial aid event in your area, visit the GRASP website at www.grasp4va.org or contact info@grasp4va.org.
Henrico seeks input about planned Bremo Road improvements
Henrico County officials are seeking the public’s input about planned improvements on Bremo Road in the near west end. The county intends to widen the pavement on Bremo Road to improve pedestrian accessibility and connectivity. Among the improvements that are possible:
Approximately 1,720 feet of three-foot-wide pavement widening on the eastern side of Bremo Road between Old Richmond Road and Morningside Drive;
Approximately 115 feet of five-foot-wide concrete sidewalk with ADA ramps on both sides of Bremo Road between Morningside Drive and Monument Avenue;
Restriping of Bremo Road between Old Richmond Road and Morningside Drive.
To submit comments (due by Jan. 31), visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/GPMWXJK. Construction is anticipated to begin in September 2022. To learn more about the project, visit henrico.us/projects/bremo-road-improvements.
