January 20, 2025 

Neighbors, 

 

I’m excited to share with you updates from our first full week of session. This year, the General Assembly will meet for just 45 days and will consider nearly 2,000 bills. 

In this newsletter, I’ve included information about my legislative agenda and reminders on how to stay engaged during the legislative session.

As we anticipate more winter weather, I hope you will review the winter weather preparedness tips below. Stay safe and warm!

Thanks for taking the time to read my newsletter — I’ve included the following updates:

  • Upcoming Town Halls

    • South County Town Hall

  • Community Updates

    • West Springfield High School PTSA

    • John Lewis High School - Students Demand Action

    • The Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia

    • Chesapeake Climate Action Network

    • Dreamers Mothers in Action

    • Church World Services

    • Justice Forward Virginia

    • Other community and legislative meetings

  • Legislative Update

    • Virginia House Democratic Caucus Press Conference

    • My Legislative Agenda

    • Constitutional Amendments

    • Staying Engaged During Session

  • Preparing for Winter Weather

As always, let me know if you have questions or need assistance by calling my office at (804) 698-1018 or emailing me at DelKTran@house.virginia.gov. 

Best, Kathy

 

Kathy KL Tran

Delegate

South County Town Hall

Saturday, January 25 at 9:00am

South County Middle School

8700 Laurel Crest Drive, Lorton 22079

I hope you will join me, Senator Scott Surovell, and Delegate Rozia Henson for an in-person town hall on Saturday, January 25 at 9am!

Community Updates

West Springfield High School PTSA

Thank you to the West Springfield High School Parent Teacher Student Association for having me at your monthly meeting. It was so great to share legislative updates and education news from Richmond!

John Lewis High School - Students Demand Action

I had a wonderful time hearing from students from Lewis High School - Students Demand Action Chapter. I introduced these students on the floor of the General Assembly; you can watch that introduction here. Thank you to my constituents Daniel and Mary for coordinating their visit!

The Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia

I enjoyed speaking with President Hinton from Hollins College about college affordability during her visit with the Council of Independent Colleges of Virginia.

Chesapeake Climate Action Network

It was great to see my constituents Ting, James, and Danny, who are volunteers with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and to discuss the need to protect our environment.

Dreamers Mothers in Action

It was good to connect with the Dreamers Mothers in Action about our shared values of standing up for immigrant rights and a better future for New Americans and their families.

Church World Services

Thank you to the advocates with Church World Service for all you do to welcome New Americans to Virginia! 

Justice Forward Virginia

I appreciated the opportunity to speak about criminal justice reform with members of Justice Forward and Rise for Youth.

My staff and I also met with advocates from:

  • The Conservation Fund

  • The Humanization Project

  • Medical Society of Virginia

  • Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce

  • Omega Protein

  • Safe Spot Children's Advocacy Center

  • United Campus Worker of Virginia

  • Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys

  • Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

  • Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts

  • Virginia Chamber of Commerce 

  • Virginia Dental Association

  • Virginia Humanities

  • Virginia Oil & Gas Association

  • Virginia Optometric Association

  • Virginia Petroleum and Convenience Marketers Association

  • Virginia Physical Therapy Association

Legislative Update

Virginia House Democratic Caucus Press Conference

Last Tuesday, I joined my fellow members of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus at a press conference to unveil our 2025 legislative agenda. 

As Chair of the Caucus, I’m proud that we are ready and committed to continue unleashing Virginia’s potential by creating a family first economy, ensuring every child has a world-class education, and building strong communities in every corner of the Commonwealth.

My Legislative Agenda

I am proud to work with constituents, advocates, and stakeholders to introduce legislation and budget requests to build a more just, equitable, and welcoming Virginia. I’ve summarized my legislative agenda for 2025 and I hope you click through to learn more about each one:

EXPANDING HEALTH CARE 

I have introduced the following to expand high-quality affordable health care:

House Bill 2269 Reporting Threats and Violence Against Health Care Providers — Violence against health care providers has experienced a dramatic increase, and it is important to ensure safety for all providers and their patients. This bill requires hospitals to report threats and violence against health care providers to the Virginia Department of Health.

Budget Amendment Item Item 289 #2h Cover All Kids — This program provides health care to vulnerable kids by creating a Medicaid-like program for about 13,000 children in Virginia, regardless of their immigration status. 

STRENGTHENING PUBLIC SCHOOLS

To ensure that each student in Virginia gets a world-class education, I sponsored: 

House Bill 2219 Augmentative and Alternative Communication — This bill requires schools to provide teachers and staff with training on using augmentative and alternative communication before classroom instruction begins so they can communicate and fully engage with each of their students.

House Bill 2265 Special Education Licensure — We face a shortage of teachers across Virginia, including needing to fill nearly 600 vacancies in Fairfax County. This bill allows the Department of Education to license teachers with over 15 years of experience teaching preschool special education so that they can remain in their classroom without needing extra training, if their superintendent recommends it.

House Bill 2541 Accessible Tech — Technology is ubiquitous in how we perform our jobs, access government services, and learn in school. This bill aligns Virginia’s Information Technology Access Act to federal accessibility standards by requiring state agencies, local governments, institutions of higher education, and local school districts to ensure their information and communication technologies are accessible to all persons with a disability.

PROTECTING VIRGINIANS FROM GUN VIOLENCE

To help reduce gun violence, I introduced:

House Bill 2241 Preventing Perpetrators of Hate Crimes from Accessing Firearms — America has experienced a sharp rise in hate crimes. Unfortunately, more than 25,000 hate crimes involve a firearm each year. This bill bans people convicted of misdemeanor assault from possessing a firearm, ammunition, or explosives if they intentionally selected their victim because of their race, religious conviction, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or ethnic or national origin.

LIFTING UP WORKING FAMILIES 

I am committed to lifting up working families and I’m proud to have introduced:

House Bill 2180 Child Tax Credit — This bill provides targeted relief to working families and addresses child poverty for nearly 800,000 Virginian kids by establishing a one time, refundable state child tax credit.

House Bill 2264 Establishing Virginia Direct File — This bill re-establishes Virginia’s free system to file our state taxes and requires Virginia to join the IRS’s Direct File program so that no one has to pay in order to file their taxes.

House Bill 2218 Banning Fees to Pay Your Rent — Renters should be able to pay for their housing in the manner that makes the most sense for their financial situation to do so. This bill requires landlords to accept all lawful forms of payment for rent and security deposits, and it prohibits them from charging tenants a fee when they pay their rent. 

HONORING OUR VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES

To honor our veterans and military families, I have introduced: 

Budget Amendment Item 456 #5h Hope for the Warriors — This amendment provides funds to expand the capacity of Hope for the Warriors to further their mission to provide  comprehensive mental health and supportive services to post-9/11 service members, veterans, reservists, military spouses and their families in Northern Virginia.

Budget Amendment Item 140 #6h Troops to Teachers Budget Amendment — This budget amendment funds the Troops to Teachers program at the College of William and Mary, which prepares veterans to teach in K-12 schools, thereby helping veterans transition successfully to the civilian workforce while filling our teacher gaps.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT 

To ensure that Virginia meets our clean energy demands, I introduced:

House Bill 2266 Cost Sharing Small Generating Facility System Upgrades — Costly infrastructure upgrades are barriers to installing solar panels on our schools, government buildings, and parking lots. This bill spreads these costs among users on a transmission line, which will allow us to break through bottlenecks and build more clear solar energy.

House Bill 2604 Competitive Procurement of Fossil Fuel Infrastructure — When electric utilities need to provide extra power to meet demand, they should be required to conduct a competitive process to ensure that

  reduce cost for customers. This bill requires electric utilities to consider all types of power resources, including clean energy resources, to meet energy demands and keep our costs low.

Constitutional Amendments

This week, the House of Delegates passed constitutional amendments to protect three key freedoms for every single Virginian:

House Joint Resolution 1 — This amendment protects the right to reproductive freedom, including access to contraception, abortion care, and fertility treatments. As states across the South have passed draconian abortion bans, millions of people depend on Virginia for abortion care.

House Joint Resolution 2 — The right to vote for all eligible Virginians, including automatically restoring these rights for returning citizens. We must protect our sacred ability to vote for every eligible Virginian.

House Joint Resolution 9 — The right to marry whom you love and protect marriage equality for LGBTQ+ people. We must uplift the dignity, equality, and respect for all families in our Commonwealth, especially in light of recent United States Supreme Court opinions casting doubt on Obergefell v. Hodges. 

For the Virginia Constitution to be amended, the General Assembly must pass identical resolutions in two successive legislative sessions with an intervening election, and then the Virginia public must pass those amendments on the ballot. 

These amendments will now go before the Virginia state Senate for a vote. If they pass the Senate, the House and Senate may take them up in 2026, after this fall’s elections.

Staying Engaged During Session

My staff and I would love to welcome you to the Capitol! 

However, if you are unable to visit in person, there are numerous ways that you can stay informed and engaged during session. I’ve highlighted some tips and resources below as well as on my website. 

My Newsletter and Town Halls

During session, I send a weekly electronic newsletter to provide updates about my work in Richmond on behalf of our community and to share key issues that are being considered in the General Assembly. 

I also host or participate in town halls and hope you will be able to join us. You can learn about my town halls through my newsletter or via my social media.

If you aren’t already subscribed to my newsletter, you can do so here.

Providing Input to Legislation

Your input is important to me - the best way to provide your feedback on legislation or to schedule with me and my team is to email me at DelKTran@house.virginia.gov or call my office at 804-698-1018.

Tracking Legislation

If you have followed legislation in previous years, you may notice the legislature’s website had an update this year. I hope you enjoy the changes! You can follow the legislative session using the resources below:

  • View all of the bills that have been introduced for the 2024 General Assembly Session on the Legislative Information Services homepage.

  • Watch the live floor session, live committee meetings, and archives of previous meetings.

  • Find the agenda for each committee meeting on the committee’s homepage.

  • Each agenda will identify the bills that have been “docketed” or will be heard during the committee meeting.

  • Sign-up to provide public comments or submit written comments for committee hearings.

Preparing for Winter Weather

With extreme cold and winter weather in the forecast, I encourage you to review inclement weather resources on my website. 

Please avoid travelling on the roads during snowstorms. If you must drive, please get updates about the weather forecast and plan your route ahead of time. 

If you lose power or notice a tree or other obstruction on a power line, you must report the issue to Dominion Energy. Dominion Energy relies on the public to report outages to them in order to address the issue. You can report outages on their website.