Last week was perhaps the busiest few days of this year’s General Assembly session. Tuesday we worked a marathon floor session to make it through “crossover” — the date by which a bill must have passed either the House or the Senate before it can move to the other chamber for consideration. Wednesday, after the Republican majority sprung on us a last minute, 91-page substitute to the transportation proposal, we spent hours analyzing the package before we finally had a chance to take our first floor vote on the plan. Thursday, we voted on updates to the 2006 to 2008 biennial budget, with House Democrats fighting hard to defend key provisions on early childhood education, economic development, and environmental protection.
The good news is that, after all of that action, the following seven of my bills passed the House and are now in the Senate for consideration:
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House Bill 2730 to protect equal rights in hospital visitation passed the House 97 to zero. With the unfortunate passage of the so-called “marriage amendment” last year, I sponsored this bill protect the right of hospital patients to allow anyone they choose to visit them, without regard to family status, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. There have been far too many cases in Virginia where parents refuse to let their gay son or daughter’s partner visit, or where the grown children of a divorced or widowed patient refuse to let the patient’s new significant other visit. This bill will prevent those kinds of tragedies in the future.
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House Bill 2727 provides a much-needed tool to preserve affordable housing for elderly and disabled renters. Current Virginia law gives certain elderly or disabled renters the right of first refusal to purchase their apartments during condominium conversions, but the vast majority of them cannot afford to take advantage of that right. This bill allows those renters to assign that purchasing right to an outside agency, which must rent the unit back to the individual at an affordable rate. After being endorsed by the Virginia Housing Commission last summer, the House passed the bill 99 to zero.
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House Bill 2735 authorizes local governments to participate in all programs offered by the National Association of Counties, including a prescription drug discount program that will deliver significant savings on prescription drugs to all residents of participating localities. This bill is part of my ongoing effort to find immediate, practical ways reduce the cost of health care. It narrowly passed the House by a vote of 51 to 47.
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House Bill 2729 requires the government to notify property owners when the Federal Emergency Management Agency changes floodplain maps in ways that affect their property, empowering those owners to make informed decisions about flood insurance. I sponsored this legislation in response to the June flooding that devastated the Huntington neighborhood, where we found that some homeowners did not have required flood insurance because FEMA changed the floodplain maps without telling them. The House approved this bill 93 to five.
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House Bill 2738 repeals the provision of Virginia law that allows employers to pay people aged 65 years and older less than the minimum wage. While House Republicans have so far killed every attempt to increase the minimum wage, this bill to expand who may receive the minimum wage passed 100 to zero.
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House Bill 2732 strengthens a key program for Virginians with disabilities caused by brain and spinal cord injuries. The bill enhances the Virginia Central Registry for Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury by including all brain and spinal cord injuries, regardless of severity, and it makes a variety of technical improvements to the program. The House approved this bill 99 to zero.
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House Bill 2740 closes a campaign finance disclosure loophole that in May allowed a political action committee to spend money to influence Alexandria’s city elections without disclosing the identity of the group’s officers or backers. This legislation will help voters to have all of the information they need to make informed decisions on Election Day. It passed the House 99 to zero.
These are the bills that have passed the House for which I am the chief patron, but this is really just a taste of the wide range of bills I have enjoyed working on throughout this session. You can learn more about my efforts and share your views on these and other issues at www.DavidEnglin.org. As always, if I can ever be of service, please call me in Richmond at 804-698-1045 or e-mail su.av.etats.esuohnull@nilgnEDleD.