I have been working with the Mason District Council (of Civic Associations) to set up a district-wide town hall focused on the AirBnB/short-term lodging rentals issue. The town hall has been set for Wednesday, Oct 5 from 7 – 9 p.m. at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School. I invite you to […]

The summer of 2016 is emerging as a disappointment for Republican legislatures that have passed legislation restricting their constituents’ right to vote. With jaw-dropping consistency, Courts composed of both moderate and conservative jurists across the country have concluded that the argument that widespread voter fraud necessitates enacting voting restrictions is […]

In the recently adjourned 2016 General Assembly session, I filed HB478 which adds language to Subsection H of Section 22.1-253.13:4 of the Code of Virginia (relating to the high school graduation and dropout data; formula; on-time graduation) to read: “H. (Effective July 1, 2016) The Board shall also collect, analyze, […]

One of the more rewarding compensations of arriving at late-middle age is an increased appreciation of the inevitability of certain historical trends. I’m not talking cosmic, here, or millennia, but certainly decades, even centuries. Say, from the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In this case, the trend I’m thinking […]

The 2016 legislative calendar came to an end with the closing of the Veto Session on April 20. Fortunately, Democrats were able to uphold all but one of the Governor’s vetoes of various regressive pieces of social legislation passed by Republican majorities. Few legislative sponsors were surprised by these vetoes, […]

On Wednesday next week, the Virginia General Assembly will meet as the 2016 Reconvened Session. The purpose of the “Veto Session,” as it is called, is to reconsider bills the Governor has vetoed or for which he has recommended changes before signing into law. In its news story on the […]

On Wednesday, March 2, the Virginia House Republicans voted to reject the confirmation of Justice Jane Roush to the Virginia Supreme Court, despite the fact that she has served in that position for seven months, and was unanimously qualified by the House Courts of Justice Committee as well. She was […]

Throughout this session to date, the House of Delegates continues to attempt to erode local control of public education – not only local control of the establishment of charter schools, but to usurp local control of both state and local money dedicated to local public education as well. As you […]

Poised to begin my seventh year in the House of Delegates, I am optimistic for working Virginians. The Obama-McConnell-Ryan budget deal signed last year ends sequestration and will definitely boost the economy. One fact that we politicians in Richmond often ignore is that Virginia’s prosperity has been more attributable to […]

My November column focused on immigrant issues I expect to be working on in the upcoming session of the General Assembly. The column was motivated, in part, by the corrosive immigrant-bashing emanating from Republican presidential candidates. This month I want to focus on another issue I will be addressing in […]