Legislative Review Highlights Successes, Challenges, Funding Unknowns
The event, held Tuesday evening, brought area state legislators together to discussion bipartisanship, concerns over federal funding, and the likelihood of a fall session.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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A common complaint of those who’ve long covered politics in D.C. is that Republicans and Democrats rarely ever drink together in the same bars, or dine in the same restaurants, when the day’s work is done. A sign of growing partisanship in our national politics.
At least for one evening, the same couldn’t be said of the state legislators who represent the greater Fredericksburg area.
In a roughly 45-minute discussion hosted by Curry Roberts, president of the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, each of the seven members in attendance spoke about their accomplishments this past legislative session.
Education Advances Celebrated
There were common wins that most of the legislators were eager to highlight.
“Increased funding for education,” said Del. Bobby Orrock to kick off the evening panel. Del. Paul Milde and Del. Phil Scott offered seconds and thirds to that, with Milde noting the “historical raises for education; couldn’t have asked for more.” Scott echoed these words.
Sen. Tara Durant talked about the increases in support caps for districts. It has moved, she said, from the low $20 million range to $222 million. This increase, according to Durant, will significantly help with staffing and workforce development and retention. “This governor, this administration … this General Assembly has made really significant investments in K-12 education.”
She also pointed to Virginia’s adopting licensure by endorsement. This means that so long as a teacher has a credential in another state, Virginia will recognize it — even if there isn’t a reciprocity agreement — so that that person can work in the commonwealth.
Sen. Bryce Reeves celebrated the $65 million that was allocated for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, “so if there are any veterans’ families that are going to college, we finally righted the ship on that.” This issue became a flashpoint in 2024.
Del. Josh Cole also discussed the support caps, which he said is “really important to all our school divisions.” He also called out the Virginia Step-up program, a legislation he carried, “which would allow school divisions to partner with government contractors to get graduating seniors a secret clearance, top secret clearance, or public trust right out of high school.”
Sen. Jeremy McPike also celebrated the improvement in K-12 funding, but said that there is still more work to do. “Our teacher pay is behind West Virginia,” he said. “We have a long way to go.”
On Other Fronts
While issues around education dominated the discussion early on, the legislators had other victories to celebrate.
Reeves pointed to some $25 million from the budget directed “to help … [localities] solve their water problems.” Both Bowling Green and Greene received earmarks for a part of these funds.
Milde had a number of bills killed, but he said he’s making good progress across the aisle on the issue of expediting the occupancy permitting process.
Scott highlighted his portable benefits account bill. Though it died, the conversation has been started, he said, and he looks forward to seeing it move forward. The bill is a way for gig economy workers to get the benefits they need to live healthy lives.
Land use is an important issue for McPike, especially as it relates to the critical shortage of affordable housing. Virginia has a shortage of more than 200,000 affordable units, he noted. The net effect is a drain on economic vitality.
To make this case, McPike compared the commonwealth to Dallas, where growth over the past 15 years has exploded, while here it’s stayed on a steady trajectory. The reason is housing stock and availability of affordable housing. Virginia’s lack of both is “impacting our long-term economic vitality as a region.”
Fall Session
Though it should not have surprised, Pike also discussed the real possibility that the General Assembly will be back in session this fall to address the federal cuts that are coming down the road.
“I suspect we’ll be back in session in the fall,” McPike said. Everyone is looking at the skinny budget in D.C., “and there’s significant cuts all across the board. All those trickle down to our community.” That affects schools, clean water, and more.
The depth of these cuts, should they go through, would make the budget that Virginia has put together something that will have to be reworked.
“We’re all very much attuned … and paying attention,” McPike said.
Bipartisanship
While the meeting was mostly upbeat, some lingering tensions did show.
During the Q&A session, one individual in the audience asked about bipartisanship, and what these members do to work across the aisle.
Orrock said that “this session was the most disturbing” on this issue, “because it was the most partisan I’ve ever been a part of.” He noted that over 100 Republican bills were never even docketed. Every one of those bills, he noted, “had a local face behind it,” and people have a right to be heard in Richmond.
McPike, Reeves, and Durant spoke as a group to say that on the Senate side the story is quite different.
They said that the Senate hears every bill, and a great deal of trust has been built up between the members.
As such, Reeves said that he trusts his colleagues to cast proxy votes for them. A sentiment echoed by Durant and McPike.
“We … try to [identify the] partisan issues, and take them out of the bill, Reeves said. “I always view partisan issues as mold.” If you “don’t kill it with bleach,” it’ll kill everything.
This article was updated at 8:08 a.m. on May 7.
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Always amazing to see how so many, from Republican state legislators to ahem, some editors, want to focus on the happy, happy, happy facade while ignoring the elephant in the room. That these same legislators willingly belong to a party that has attempted to overthrow the government, pardoned those who attacked the government, and is currently looking to destroy the parts of the government that most directly serves the people at the federal level.
That it happens in a state and region so dependent on that structure makes it more ironic. 90% of VA housing support comes from federal, and these folks support its destruction. A nurse like Tara Durant, and she has nothing to say about her party's chosen health leader saying to take castor oil and vitamins for the measles instead of a MMR vaccine?
I'm sure some wittier person could come up with some apt bon mot, about the band on the Titanic playing as the ship goes down, or Nero fiddling, but honestly - it's just ringing a bit hollow. Why not, next time, bring in some of those homeless families from out of their cars, vets who can't get in the VA, or elderly who can't get thru to Social Security or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and let them ask how things are going?
Might not have such a pollyanna story to write then, but it'd be a lot more interesting....