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"Welcome to my online office. It's an honor to represent the people of the 45th District. My goal is to provide open, responsive, energetic leadership that makes government work for you. My staff and I are here to help, so please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve."
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Archive for March, 2008
David has always considered the fight against bigotry and for equal rights to be his own fight as well, so he was especially pleased to share his strong progressive voice at this evening’s candidates forum hosted by the Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club. David made it clear that he will fight for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Virginians at every opportunity. When the moderator, Joe Crea, formerly of the Washington Blade, asked whether the candidates support marriage equality, David was the only candidate to state his absolute and complete support for the right of gay and lesbian Virginians to marry.
While his opponents either equivocated or expressed support for something short of complete marriage equality, David was strong and clear: “Calling it ‘marriage’ does make a difference.”
David also noted that he is the only candidate who has faced personal risk — not merely political risk — to defend gay and lesbian rights. As a military officer stationed at George Bush’s Pentagon and while deployed to combat zones overseas, David spoke out for gay rights to both peers and far more senior officers.
David was also clear that the only way to see real progress on a range of Democratic issues will be to build a new Democratic majority in Virginia.
“I’m doing that every day through my campaign. This is a grassroots movement, not just a campaign for the House of Delegates,” said David. “My son, Caleb, is in kindergarten, and my ambition is to make sure that when he graduates from high school, he graduates into a Democratic Virginia.”
 Caleb joined David on the House floor yesterday evening to help him cast his vote on the budget. |
Late yesterday evening, the 2008 session of the General Assembly officially adjourned. While it took a few extra days to hammer out the details, we made some tough choices in the face of a $2-billion revenue shortfall driven by the national economic downturn, and we ultimately passed a two-year $77-billion budget that will: protect public education; reign in college tuition; make significant investments in the mental health system and in community-based services for the intellectually disabled; fund “Alicia’s Law” to crack down on internet predators targeting children; overturn an effort to deny state money to Planned Parenthood; expand prenatal care for poor women; and support a modest expansion of pre-kindergarten for poor children.
We will return to Richmond on April 23 to consider the Governor’s vetoes and amendments and for (hopefully brief) special sessions to address the transportation plan that was invalidated by the recent Virginia Supreme Court decision and to finalize the $1.2-billion bond package I am co-sponsoring to fund higher education construction projects, mental health facilities, and parks projects. However, now that the regular session is over, here is a summary of my work on your behalf during the first couple of months of my second term serving the people of the 45th District:
Continue reading ‘General Assembly approves budget, David summarizes session’
The General Assembly voted Saturday to extend the legislative session, which was scheduled to end Saturday night, for a few more days so House and Senate conferees can work out the final details of the state’s $77-billion two-year budget.
“The big sticking point for me was the House Republican plan to restructure future funding for public education to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in state money and effectively force local governments either to lower the quality of our schools or massively hike property taxes,” said David. “Now that House Republicans have backed off of that plan, I’m hopeful that the budget will be resolved within the week.”
RICHMOND - The General Assembly today passed House Bill 1084, sponsored by Del. David Englin (D-45), to improve pedestrian-friendly development in communities all across Virginia. The legislation strengthens the ability of communities and local governments to negotiate proffered pedestrian improvements from developers by preventing the Virginia Department of Transportation from blocking those improvements after the fact.
Continue reading ‘General Assembly passes Englin bill to improve pedestrian-friendly development’
With just a few days left of this year’s regular session of the General Assembly, two big issues are still up in the air. First and foremost is the state’s $78-billion biennial budget, which we are crafting in the face of a $2-billion revenue shortfall. The good news is that the budget proposals from the Governor, the Senate, and the House are not all that far apart, and I am optimistic that the final budget will include a serious investment in mental health funding, some expansion a of pre-kindergarten (albeit more modest than I would prefer), and steps to reign in growing college tuition.
