By Olivia Anderson | oanderson@alextimes.com
Several state officials were in attendance at City Council’s Saturday public hearing, where they weighed in on the 2022 draft legislative package for January’s Virginia General Assembly session.
State Senators Dick Saslaw, Adam Ebbin and George Barker and District 46 Del. Charniele Herring shared insight and predictions about what council should expect next year both locally and in Richmond after control of Virginia’s state government switched parties with the election of Republican Glenn Youngkin as the Commonwealth’s next governor, and a Republican majority in the House of Delegates.
Legislative Director Sarah Taylor outlined the main goals of the legislative package at the meeting. Broadly speaking, the city’s goals are to maintain vibrant neighborhoods; create a safe and resilient city; achieve a community with flourishing arts and strong economy; ensure youth are thriving; create an environmentally sustainable city; and end racial injustices and structural inequities in the community.
More specifically, some examples of the city’s policy goals include improving the marijuana legalization bill, electricity reliability, transportation funding, eviction protections and inland flooding issues.
“[We’re looking at] the big, holistic issues related to inland flooding, but also some specific issues that the city is concerned about, including the ability to regulate the stormwater impacts of land disturbance under 2,500 square feet,” Taylor said, adding that staff is working with Ebbin and looking into work group opportunities to address issues that require more socialization and education.
Mayor Justin Wilson kicked off the discussion by acknowledging the change in leadership at the state level.
“One of the consequences of the geographic balkanization in the state right now is that the leadership is going to be shifting to another section of the commonwealth,” Wilson said.
Regarding transportation infrastructure funding and education facility funding, from which the city has benefited during the last two gubernatorial administrations, Saslaw said there probably would not be much of a change.
“I’ve talked to several Republicans, and they realize that any time we’ve cut transportation funding, rural areas get clobbered more than the urban areas because they have no other way to fund. They don’t have a commercial base or an industrial base,” Saslaw said.
With respect to educational funding, Saslaw said he does not anticipate any cuts either, as it was a campaign issue on both sides. Herring, however, expressed that while she spoke with Youngkin and found some common ground, she was also worried about cuts to education.
“The gains we’ve made on voting rights, on criminal justice reform, and also for public schools [are where] we can’t lose ground. I am concerned about the tax proposal and charter school initiatives that will cut into the funding for public schools,” Herring said.
Barker agreed with Saslaw that there would not be major changes in those two areas, adding that he is faithful both sides will be able to successfully problem solve.
“Democrats are still in control of the senate and we still have to get through the senate in order to do things,” Barker said. “We’ve been in this position before, when governor [Bob] McDonnell was there and there was an overwhelming majority of Republicans in the house and we were able to work through most of these things and still get a lot of our priorities addressed.”
As chairman of the transportation subcommittee and the senate finance committee, Barker said he would make sure to “not let things slide through that are going to be damaging to us here in Northern Virginia.”
Additionally, the city recently approved a grant application to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation for the 2022 Transit Ridership Incentive Program, following the passage of House Bill 1414 by the General Assembly.
Currently, the allocation of TRIP funding is split so that 75% goes to regional transit initiatives and 25% goes to no fare service. Alexandria recently eliminated fares for the DASH bus system and will receive up to $7.2 million over three years from the state to help minimize the financial impact. Taylor encouraged looking at ways to alter that split to increase the amount that supports the latter, as well as prioritizing transportation funding in general.
“While our commitment to Metro may seem like something that is only beneficial to Northern Virginia, I think we know that the economic impact of Metro as a driver and VRE as a driver of economic outputs is something we need to be very thoughtful and deliberate and communicating in this new environment that this is something that benefits the commonwealth as a whole,” Taylor said.
Councilor Mo Seifeldein asked about the impact of the recently passed federal infrastructure bill, which Barker said he wished had been signed slightly earlier.
Virginia’s congressional delegation got several individual projects built into the bill, and Barker said the funds will support other unspecified projects over the next few years.
The state also passed the Community Policing Act in March 2020, aimed at prohibiting police from engaging in racial profiling by collecting racial background data pertaining to investigatory stops. That data is now compiled in a statewide database.
According to Ebbin at Saturday’s meeting, the Arlington Board introduced the idea of potentially adding race and ethnicity to drivers’ licenses to help with profiling statistics during an incident.
“Rather than asking members of the public, during what could be a tense time, for their racial background, it would already be available to them,” Ebbin said.
Aguirre said that he is “conflicted” but “definitely interested” in learning more about placing ethnicity and race on drivers’ licenses. Council generally agreed that the concept is promising but requires further dialogue.
Not all the city’s goals will be considered high priorities, though. Ebbin said that next year might not be the best year to break ground on certain city wish list items, such as limitations on children’s menus at restaurants and regulating leaf blowers.
Finally, Wilson expressed concern about rumored desires of the new house majority to possibly gut recently enacted climate legislation, on which certain city climate plans heavily rely.
Herring said this would be an “area of defense” for the delegation. Herring sponsored the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that passed last year, a bill that helps with flooding and supporting low-income Virginia residents with energy needs.
“We’ll certainly be on the defensive there in the house, but if it dare slip over and go to the senate, we’ll rely on our senate colleagues to make sure that’s protected,” Herring said.
Barker corroborated this statement, predicting that the senate would take care of any issues in the commerce and labor committee. He also said that certain Republican senators understand the importance of climate change legislation.
“When you talk privately with some of the Republican senators, they actually understand this issue and understand that they need to be doing things too, so I think there is opportunity both to get some converts on some of these issues as well as to stand fast if the Republican votes aren’t there at a particular time,” Barker said.
The General Assembly session begins on Jan. 12, 2022.
