Newsletter: General Assembly 2020 Special Session

Sep 18

Yesterday was Constitution Day and Citizenship Day which commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17th, 1787, and recognizes everyone who has become a U.S. citizen. Today, September 18th is the first day that the polls are open for voting in Virginia. The coinciding of these dates should remind us that, arguably, the most important right granted to citizens under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the right to vote. Please keep this mind as you make your plan for how you will vote this year. As the newsletter explains below, Virginians now have additional early voting options including no-excuse in-person absentee voting and vote by mail.

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

Voting Information

Polls are open in Virginia! Starting today, Friday September 18th through Saturday October 31st, you can vote in-person absentee at your local government office. If you or someone you know is not yet registered to vote, the deadline to do so for the November election is Tuesday, October 13 at 5:00 pm. You can check your registration status and polling location online via the Department of Elections Citizen Portal. Here are the times and locations for in-person absentee voting for Henrico County:

Western Government Center
4301 E Parham Rd
Richmond, VA 23228
Monday - Friday — 8:00 am - 4:30pm

Eastern Government Center
3820 Nine Mile Rd
Richmond, VA 23223
Monday - Friday — 8:00 am - 4:30pm

You do not need an excuse to vote in-person absentee instead of on election day. To vote, simply visit one of the above locations during the early voting period with a valid form of photo I.D. See a list of acceptable forms of I.D. online here.

Vote By Mail

You also may vote absentee by mail without an excuse. You must first submit an application for an absentee ballot by applying online on the Virginia Department of Elections website or by mail by filling out this form and mailing it to your local registrar. For Henrico County, the address is P.O. Box 90775 Henrico, VA 23273-0775. You do not need an excuse to vote absentee by mail. The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Friday, October 23rd. If you plan to vote by absentee by-mail, I encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible. If you have already submitted an application, you can check the status of your ballot online via the Department of Elections Citizen Portal.

If you have already requested a by-mail ballot but would like to vote early in person at your registrar’s office, or vote in person on election day at your regular precinct, you may bring your by-mail ballot unopened to the registrar’s office or your regular precinct to swap it for an in-person ballot.

As always, you can vote in person on election day, November 3rd, at your normal polling location from 6:00 am - 7:00 pm. If you have any additional questions about your voting options this year, please reach out to my office at delrwillett@house.virginia.gov

General Assembly Special Session

The General Assembly continued our work on our special session for COVID-19 relief and criminal justice reforms this week. We are currently in the “crossover” period were bills passed by either the House or Senate will be heard by committees of the opposite chamber.

I am pleased to report that my bill HB5059 was unanimously reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee this Wednesday. The bill provides civil liability protections during the COVID-19 pandemic for assisted living facilities, home health, hospice, private providers of mental health or adult day care, when a lack of resources caused by COVID-19 results in care needing to be provided in a manner other than what would normally have been required. These health care providers have been crucial in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and this legislation will give them the protections they need to continue to serve their patients during this unprecedented public health challenge.

The House Health Welfare and Institutions Committee on which I serve met this Thursday to hear bills passed by the Senate earlier this session. Here are a few pieces of legislation that we passed out of our committee:

SB5042 — Requires nursing homes, certified living facilities, and hospice facilities to establish protocols to allow patients to receive visits during a public health emergency, consistent with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control. The bill also requires these providers to establish protocols to allow for virtual visits through audio or video technology.
SB5080 — Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance services to provide for payment of medically necessary health care services provided through telemedicine services, regardless of the originating site or whether the patient is accompanied by a health care provider at the time such services are provided. The bill also extends the same requirements to private insurers, corporations, and health maintenance organizations. This legislation will ensure equivalent coverage for telemedicine. services and increase flexibility for patients and providers.
SB5081 — Requires the Department of health to provide information on its website about the outbreaks of communicable diseases as a public health threat at any medical care facility, residential or day program, service, or facility licensed or operated by any agency of the Commonwealth, school, or summer camp.
SB5083 — Requires each school board to post information on its website outlining its strategies for mitigating the spread and public health risk of the COVID-19 virus, consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and the Virginia Department of Health mitigation recommendations.
SB5090 — Requires the Commissioner of Health to post weekly updates on the Department of Health website with information on the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 per week at the health district level, with additional information on age and racial/ethnic background, as well as the percentage of cases by week that are known to be associated with a nursing home, assisted living facility, or correctional facility at the health district level.

You can follow along with the General Assembly online at https://lis.virginia.gov/ where you can see our meeting schedules and the status of all bills introduced for the special session.

Small Business Support

So many of our small businesses are struggling to stay in business throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are a few resources available that may be helpful to businesses struggling during this time:

Rebuild VA Grant Program

Earlier this summer, Governor Northam announced a $70 million funding program for small businesses and nonprofit organizations whose normal operations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will be made available through Rebuild VA a new economic recovery fund, and grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to approximately 7,000 applicants to cover eligible expenses. Check your eligibility and see more application resources online here.

Facebook Data Center Grants

Facebook recently opened a new data center in Henrico County. The company has announced a new cycle of its Community Actions Grants program, which benefits nonprofits and schools in localities with Facebook data centers. Grants are available to projects in Henrico that meet one or more of the following criteria:

Address critical community needs by putting the power of technology to use for community benefit;
Connect people online or off;
Improve local Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

Applications are open and will be accepted through October 16th. You can see more information and apply online at the Henrico Data Center Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HenricoDataCenter/

Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15th through October 15th. Virginia is proud to be home to the 15th largest Hispanic and Latino population in the country. Hispanic and Latino Virginians have made our Commonwealth stronger thanks to their culture, traditions, and contributions to our communities.

While we celebrate the wonderful achievements and contributions of this community, it is also important to acknowledge that the Hispanic and Latino communities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 virus, particularly in our Commonwealth. As we work through the effects of the pandemic, we must take action to mitigate the disparities in access to health care that were already present before the pandemic and only have been exacerbated in the past few months.

I wish that we could all meet in person to celebrate the diversity and richness that the Hispanic and Latino communities bring to Henrico County but, instead, I would like to highlight some local organizations that are working to assist the Hispanic community during this difficult time:

Sacred Heart — Non-profit organization that offers a variety of services for the Hispanic community including adult education classes, youth and children’s programs, and assistance with food and health services. They are always in need of more resources and volunteers!
Cross Over Healthcare Ministry — Non-profit organization that operates two healthcare clinics providing low-income, uninsured, and medically underserved residents of the Metro Richmond area with high quality, compassionate healthcare services. Although they offer services, including COVID-19 testing, to people of all different backgrounds, they have seen firsthand how the pandemic has affected our Hispanic community.

Rodney Willett