SSV: Virginia General Assembly Legislative Report (2021)

Senator Creigh Deeds (top left), Delegate Chris Runion, Sue Friedman (moderator), Delegate Rob Bell (bottom left), Delegate Sally Hudson. Not pictured: Matt Fariss

The Senior Statesmen of Virginia presented their annual recap of the recently concluded session of the Virginia State General Assembly with reports from local legislators Senator Creigh Deeds and Delegates Rob Bell, Matt Fariss, Sally Hudson and Chris Runion. Topics included: Criminal justice reform, broadband access, the pros and cons of Zoom including changing role of lobbyists, the death penalty, redistricting, and passenger rail.

The legislators spoke at the Wednesday May 12, 2021 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held on Zoom. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV Vice President Sue Friedman.

SSV: Virginia General Assembly Legislative Report (2020)

The June Senior Statesmen of Virginia program recaps the recently concluded session of the Virginia General Assembly with reports by our local legislators. Present at the meeting were Del. Sally Hudson (D) of the 57th District, Del. Chris Runion (R) of the 25th District and Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) of the 25th Senatorial District.

The two delegates are both first session members of the General Assembly and Sen. Deeds is completing his 29th year in office. The members spoke about the successes and disappointments of the session. All three were pleased with the passage of the budget on March 12,2020 and concerned about the anticipated $2.2-3 billion deficit (2% of total budget) anticipated because of the COVID virus. The unknown effect of COVID-19 was an overriding concern of all three.

The members were asked questions on their primary goals. Deeds said education, healthcare and safety, Hudson replied budget with both more equitable taxation and less spending, and Runion listed non-partisanship, redistricting, agriculture, clean energy, and broadband to rural areas. All three agreed on the concern and responses of government to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

Deeds emphasized the need to reform policing and stressed importance of training for de-escalation skills and implicit bias training. Hudson said racism should not be a separate issue, but a consideration in every decision made. Runion agreed with his colleague’s goals but said the conversations on the topic were important though the solutions each have may differ.

Asked about the Confederate statues Deeds replied that local government control made sense and Hudson pointed out that the legal aspect of removing statues is determined by different laws in different locations. Other topics of conversation centered around redistricting, on-line v. mail voting, clean energy, gun control. and the agenda for the August session.

The delegates spoke at the Wednesday June 10, 2020 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held on Zoom. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by Meg Heubeck, Director of Instruction for the Youth Leadership Initiative, UVA Center for Politics.

SSV: Candidates for Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney and Virginia Senate Districts 17 and 25

Candidates for Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney and Virginia Senate Districts 17 and 25 faced off at this Senior Statesmen of Virginia Candidates Forum. For Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney: Jim M. Hingeley (D) and Robert N. Tracci (R). For Virginia State Senate District 17; Amy J. Laufer (D) and Virginia State Senate District 25; Elliott M. Harding (I) and R. Creigh Deeds (D).

The candidates spoke at the Wednesday October 9, 2019 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held at The Center in Charlottesville. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV president Rich DeMong and Daily Progress editorial page editor Anita Shelburne.

SSV: Virginia General Assembly Legislative Report (2019)

Creigh Deeds (left), Steve Landes and David Toscano speaking at The Center in Charlottesville.

The Senior Statesmen of Virginia presented their annual recap of the recently concluded Session of the Virginia General Assembly with reports by our local legislators. Senator Creigh Deeds (D) and Delegates Steve Landes (R) and David Toscano (D) spoke at the meeting. Delegates Bell and Fariss and Senator Reeves declined to participate.

The three spoke at the Wednesday May 8, 2019 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held at The Center in Charlottesville. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV vice president and program committee chair Bonnie Brewer.

Virginia General Assembly Legislative Report

The 2018 Session was very different from other recent Sessions. Topics include the impact of the 2016 Presidential election of Donald Trump on the 2017 legislative elections, in which Democrats came within a hair’s breadth of capturing control of the House of Delegates, and on the 2018 General Assembly Session. Also discussed are the 2018 federal elections, the 2019 General Assembly Session and the 2019 legislative elections.

In this podcast you will learn about issues that came before the 2018 General Assembly including: Medicaid expansion and the proposed work requirement for able-bodied Medicaid recipients; the proposed hospital tax to help pay for Virginia’s share of the cost of expanding Medicaid; efforts to reform the redistricting process and end gerrymandering; bills to protect the integrity of our elections; measures to make the criminal-justice system fairer; and, locally, legislation affecting the City-County Revenue-Sharing Agreement and the relocation of the County’s courthouses.

Senator Creigh Deeds and Delegate David Toscano speaking at the Senior Center in Charlottesville.

 

Senator Creigh Deeds (D) represents the 25th Senate District which includes the cities of Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Covington and Lexington, and the counties of Albemarle (part), Alleghany, Bath, Highland, Nelson and Rockbridge.
Delegate David Toscano (D) represents the 57th House of Delegates District which includes Charlottesville and part of Albemarle County.

The delegates at the Wednesday May 9, 2018 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held at the Senior Center in Charlottesville. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV board member Terry Cooper.

General Assembly Legislative Report

Area legislators reported on the 2017 Session of the Virginia General Assembly. This was the biennial “short” session when the focus is normally on amending Virginia’s two-year budget. Because revenues were greater than expected, the budget amendments were adopted with little strife. The record on other issues was mixed. For example, bills to reform the redistricting process and end gerrymandering, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly, were killed in an early-morning House subcommittee meeting.

SSV Board Member Terry Cooper (left), State Senator Creigh Deeds, Delegate Steve Landes and Delegate David Toscano speaking at the Senior Center in Charlottesville.

 

Senator Creigh Deeds (D) represents the 25th Senate District which includes the cities of Buena Vista, Charlottesville, Covington and Lexington, and the counties of Albemarle (part), Alleghany, Bath, Highland, Nelson and Rockbridge.
Delegate Steve Landes (R) represents the 25th House of Delegates District which includes portions of Albemarle, Augusta and Rockingham Counties.
Delegate David Toscano (D) represents the 57th House of Delegates District which includes Charlottesville and part of Albemarle County.

 

The three spoke at the Wednesday May 10, 2017 meeting of the Senior Statesmen of Virginia. The meeting was held at the Senior Center in Charlottesville. Following the presentation, questions were taken from the audience. The program was moderated by SSV board member Terry Cooper.

Senator Deeds addresses Charlottesville Democrats

On Saturday, April 19th, Senator Creigh Deeds addressed a small crowd at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Democratic Breakfast, and reviewed the recent General Assembly, the one-day veto session scheduled for April 23rd, as well as a possible special session on transportation. Deeds is in his 17th year in the legislature, and has announced he will seek the Democratic nomination in next year’s race to succeed Tim Kaine as Virginia’s Governor. Deeds began his talk by saying that the legislative process can be frustrating.