Newsletter: General Assembly 2020 Special Session
Gathering on a basketball court and meeting by Zoom may seem more like the venues of choice for college or k-12 students going back to school. Those socially distant or virtual meeting sites actually also became the temporary chambers of the House of Delegates beginning this week as we returned to special session to address budget shortfalls created by the COVID pandemic and long needed criminal justice reforms.
Yes, there were a few technical interruptions here and there but we have been able to conduct our business effectively while staying safe. Many thanks to Virginia Commonwealth University for hosting us on Monday at the Siegel Center in Richmond. And kudos to the House staff who have worked around the clock for weeks to ensure that we have the technology to meet and vote virtually now and for the coming weeks.
I will continue to keep you informed with relevant, accurate information via Twitter, Facebook, and my website. Please email my office at delrwillett@house.virginia.gov or call us at 804-698-1173 if you have any questions or need assistance.
Sincerely,
Rodney
New Information
General Assembly Special Session
On Tuesday, the House of Delegates reconvened for a socially distant special session at VCU’s Siegel Center. Governor Northam called the session to allow the legislature to examine the budgetary effects of the COVID-19 on our state’s revenue and pass long overdue criminal justice reforms.
In April, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor worked with the legislature to freeze over $2 billion in new spending to ensure that we would have the necessary resources to combat the spread of the virus and mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic. The session began with a joint meeting of the House and Senate Money Committees, where Governor Northam presented updated revenue projections and his proposed amendments to the biennium budget the legislature passed during the 2020 regular session.
Although the Governor is still committed to the budget priorities of the pre-COVID 2020 session, the pandemic has caused our expected revenues to fall by $2.7 billion due to the strains on our state’s economy and drained tax revenues. As a result of this significant reduction in expected revenues, the Governor has chosen to put some of our core spending priorities on hold to prioritize COVID-19 relief.
I was disappointed to see that funding was not restored for the historic investments that we made in the original biennium budget for early childhood education for at-risk 3 and 4 year old’s and increasing access to mental health care through the Virginia Mental Health Access Program. Last week I wrote a letter to Governor Northam urging him to include funding for these programs. Although I am saddened to see these programs not funded in this biennium budget, I am thankful that Governor Northam expressed his commitment to early childhood education (and he did add funding for training of early childhood educator) and increased access to mental health care, and I am ready to work with him in the 2021 legislative session this January to address these issues.
His proposed amendments include:
Affordable Housing — $88 million to the Housing Trust Fund to support loans for projects to expand Virginia’s portfolio of affordable rental housing, or to reduce the cost of homeownership or rental housing, and targeted efforts to reduce homelessness.
Broadband Funding — $85 million to the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI). The VATI provides cash grants via a public-private partnership model for private sector companies or electric cooperatives to build broadband infrastructure in unserved areas of the Commonwealth.
Childcare —$16.6 million to the Department of Social Services to contract with local partners to provide support to school divisions and local governments in leasing space to increase their capacity to provide care for school-age children, as well as for the purchase of PPE and cleaning supplies.
Voter protections – $2 million to fund pre-paid postage for absentee ballots, expansion of ballot drop off locations and ballot drop boxes, and a ballot cure process, which will alert individuals if their mailed in absentee ballot has errors rendering it invalid so that they can correct those errors.
Criminal Justice Reform — $3.6 million, including $2.1 million for statewide mandatory minimum police training standards.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities— $15 million investment in Virginia’s public HBCUs. This funding will increase support for underserved students and will fund needed technology upgrades.
Utility Shut-Off Moratorium — prohibits utilities (electric companies, natural gas suppliers, and water service providers) from disconnecting services for non-payment of fees or bills until 60 days after the public health state of emergency ends.
Eviction Moratorium— Moratorium on evictions until April 2021; $3.3 million to fund an eviction prevention and diversion pilot program.
Food Security — $3.6 million from the TANF block grant in FY 2021 to fund a one-time benefit payment to families with children enrolled in Head Start; $650,000 from the TANF block grant for food banks for the emergency food supply package program for fall 2020 and winter 2021 if no other federal funding source is available for this purpose.
Department of Motor Vehicles — Grants the Commissioner the authority to extend deadlines related to the issuance and renewals of DMV licenses and registrations during the pandemic.
See more information on the Governor’s proposed budget amendments online here. You can watch briefings from our committee meetings online here.
New Legislation
The House of Delegates will meet virtually throughout the rest of the special session to follow best practices of social distancing. Committee meetings will begin next week, where we will begin hearing new legislation on COVID-19 relief and criminal justice reforms. I encourage you to follow along with our meetings through the House Calendar, where you can see an updated schedule, live streams, and recorded meetings.
You can see all proposed legislation online here, and view the House Democrats special session priorities on COVID-19 relief and criminal justice reforms online here.
Here are a few pieces of legislation I am working on this session so far:
HB 5059 (Patron) — Provides liability protections during the COVID-19 pandemic as declared by the Governor for assisted living facilities, home health, hospice, and private providers of mental health or adult day care. The bill is limited in scope to COVID-19 as declared by the Governor in Executive Order 51, not all disasters and emergencies. The bill provides the protections when a lack of resources caused by COVID-19 results in care needing to be provided in a manner other than would normally have been required. In 2003 and 2008 the General Assembly passed liability protections for “health care providers” during disasters and emergencies, however that legislation did not include assisted living facilities, home health, hospice, private providers of mental health or adult day care. These health care providers have been crucial to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and this legislation will give them the protection they need to continue to serve their patients during this unprecedented public health challenge.
HB 5069 (Chief Co-Patron) — Makes it a Class 6 felony for a law-enforcement officer to use a neck restraint in the performance of his official duties. This legislation will help to provide protections against excessive use of force in arrests.
HB 5074 (Chief Co-Patron) — Provides immunity from liability arising from COVID-19 exposure to a broad spectrum of entities, including individuals, non-profit corporations, educational institutions, corporations, and state and local government. The immunity is only available if the entity complied with applicable and the most recent federal, state, and local laws, policies, procedures, and guidance regarding COVID-19. The immunity is for a limited time and is only available for claims arising no later than 180 days after the expiration or revocation of all states of emergency declared by the Governor related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
HB5052 (Chief Co-Patron) — Establishes June 19 “Juneteenth” to commemorate the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas, the last of the former Confederate States of America to abolish slavery, and to recognize the significant roles and many contributions of African Americans to the Commonwealth and the nation.
Internet Program for Low-Income Students
In response to COVID-19 pandemic, Comcast has created an Internet Essentials program for low income students for $9.95/month. Internet Essentials is offering 60 days free service to new customers through the end of the year. See more information and apply online at internetessentials.com. Comcast is also offering FREE access to 1.5 million public Wi-Fi hotspots to anyone who needs them, including non-customers. A map of public hotspots can be found online at www.xfinity.com/wifi.
Verizon’s Lifeline program is a government assistance program that offers discounts to qualified low-income customers to help Americans stay connected during the coronavirus pandemic. New Fios customers who qualify for the low-income Lifeline discount program will receive the $20 per month discount on their home Internet service for as long as they remain eligible for the program, bringing the cost to as low as $19.99 per month for 200/200 Mbps internet with no data caps. Check your eligibility and see more information online here.
Henrico County Public Schools has stationed vans at four HCPS high schools to act as mobile technology hubs for students and school division staff at the middle and high school levels. The hubs are designed to support virtual learning in two ways: provide Wi-Fi hot-spot devices, as available, to families who do not have internet service, and provide a way for HCPS-issued laptops to be repaired and exchanged.
HCPS also has purchased additional hot-spot devices which are available for pick-up at the four tech hubs for students who have been approved by their schools as needing internet. If you are not sure if your student is on the approved distribution list, contact your school for more information. The devices will be available while supplies last and will connect laptops to the internet at home using cellular service. See more information on mobile technology hub locations and hours online here.
School Re-Opening
Henrico County Public Schools will begin the 2020-21 school year virtually on Tuesday September 8th. Please visit https://henricoschools.us/returntoschool/ to view the new “2020-21 Learning Plan: A Handbook for Families and Students” and to read HCPS plans to make the school year as effective and healthy as possible for all HCPS students. You also will see the HCPS COVID-19 Health Plan, which outlines the strategies HCPS will use to reduce the health risks of coronavirus in our schools.
You can also see sample schedules for the virtual curriculum and frequently asked questions regarding the virtual start of the school year.
Economic Assistance
More than $6.2 Billion in unemployment benefits have been paid since March 15th. Over 1 million initial unemployment claims have been filed in Virginia this year.
If you have had difficulty receiving unemployment benefits, please contact my office at DelRwillett@house.virginia.gov, and we can assist you in filing your unemployment claim.
Additional Resources:
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — Provides monetary support for eligible food items through an EBT Card. See more information and apply online here.
Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program (RMRP) — May provide financial assistance for rent or mortgage payments for eligible households. Check your eligibility and apply online here.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) — Provides economic assistance for eligible families with children. Participants may be provided with services such as job skills training, work experience, job readiness training, childcare assistance, transportation, and other work related expenses. Check your eligibility and apply online here.
Energy Assistance (EA) — Helps low-income households offset expenses associated with heating and/or cooling their home. Check your eligibility and apply online here.
