By Janae Blakeney, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- A bill to help remove licensing requirements for eyebrow threading technicians failed to pass a House committee during the recent General Assembly session. 

Eyebrow threading is a method to remove facial hair and eyebrows that began millenniums ago in Asia, and gained popularity in Western culture. 

People interested in pursuing eyebrow threading must obtain certification through wax technician courses overseen by the Board of Barbers and Cosmetology under the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. The curriculum requires individuals to complete a minimum of 115 hours of training and to pass a written exam and practical exam, according to state licensing requirements.

The Board of Barbers and Cosmetology syllabus mentions waxing and temporary hair removal, but not threading specifically, according to LaFarn Burton, founder of LB Beauty Academy in Richmond. The state curriculum needs to delve into threading education more thoroughly, Burton said. 

"It's like it was just stuck in there, but no meat to the threading," Burton said. 

Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler, D-Virginia Beach, introduced House Bill 1498 to remove the requirement that an eyebrow threader must obtain an occupational license. The bill failed to advance out of a House subcommittee by a 3-5 vote. 

Fowler introduced a similar bill in 2019, and Del. Kaye Kory, D-Falls Church, introduced a similar bill in 2015.

Convirs-Fowler did not return multiple calls and emails for a statement about the bill. 

DPOR did not bring the bill to the General Assembly, and declined to comment on the legislation when contacted.

Meagan Forbes, director of legislation and senior legislative counsel for the Arlington-based Institute for Justice, testified to the subcommittee panel on behalf of the bill. 

 "Threading is a safe hair removal technique," Forbes said. "It does not involve chemicals or dangerous devices, threaders simply use their hands and a single piece of cotton thread to remove hairs."

Twenty states currently exempt threading "without issue," according to Forbes.

Zahra Lakhani, a DPOR-licensed educator, recently retired after doing eyebrow threading for approximately 30 years. 

It would be a step backwards to remove the license requirement for threading, she said. The education an eyebrow threader receives through instruction is important, Lakhani said. 

"It's very important to know the sanitary part of it, how to keep yourself safe, how to keep your customer safe, how to do the practice well and well skilled," Lakhnai said.

 Sanitization is essential for threading because technicians roll the thread on the clients' faces, which could cause cross-contamination, according to Lakhani.

 Rolling the thread cuts or burns the skin if the skin is not tight and held a specific way while removing hair from your face, she said.

 "The consumer and the provider should always be protected," Lakhani said.

If the waxing education requirement was removed, Lakhani thinks at least 60 hours of threading training would be "sufficient," and should include sanitation training, theory and practice hours. 

Stefania Rafeedie, who owns Arch and Beauty Studio LLC in Fairfax County, wrote DPOR to request an "Eyebrow Specialist" license in 2021, according to the letter accessed from the regulatory agency. More specific training is needed to provide specialized eyebrow treatments, according to Rafeedie. 

"It is puzzling to me that while one of the above licenses are required, none of them teach a future practitioner how to perform these services," Rafeedie stated. 

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University's Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.

By Adrianna Lawrence, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia localities will soon have a streamlined ability to offer incentives that aid the development of urban green spaces, like city parks or sport fields.

Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, introduced House Bill 1510 to give localities regulatory flexibility. The General Assembly passed the bill with a House vote of 72-27 and a Senate vote of 32-8.

Urban green space is defined as a piece of land covered with grass, trees, shrubs or other vegetation and located around a populated area, according to the bill. The proposed area must help reduce higher temperatures sometimes associated with urban development or aid the mitigation of stormwater in order to qualify for incentives, and can be public or private projects. 

The incentives would not be available in rural areas and areas of low population density.

The incentives may include a reduction in project permit fees or a streamlined permit approval process, according to the bill. The type of available permits would be up to localities, but could include permits such as building, Adams stated. 

"The process for obtaining permits is both costly and lengthy; ideally, this legislation could help speed up that process for developments incorporating [urban green space]," Adams stated. 

The incentives received will depend on how much green space is implemented on a building site.

The bill gives cities the flexibility to opt in, Adams told a House Finance subcommittee.

"The bill does not mandate localities do anything, but rather gives those that currently have resources a tool to incentivize or accelerate urban green space development and there is no fiscal impact for the state," Adams said.

Lee Francis, deputy director for the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, said he sees the bill as an opportunity to serve communities that don't have access to green spaces.

"It gives localities a tool to expand green spaces into underserved communities and kind of even the playing field a little bit," Francis said.

Jeremy Hoffman, chief scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, believes that more green spaces in urban communities, such as Richmond, are beneficial to various aspects of the environment.

"They lower air temperatures, they soak up stormwater that falls on them as rain and they clean the air of harmful pollutants," Hoffman said.

Hoffman describes urban green spaces as "natural air conditioning for cities," while being the "environmental clean up crew."

Building more green spaces can reduce a phenomenon called urban heat island effect. It is when air temperatures rise in a city from man-made infrastructures, such as dark paved roads, compared to rural areas, according to Hoffman.

"Those [paved roads] absorb more of the sun's energy throughout the day and then re-emit it back into the air as heat throughout the afternoon and overnight, basically raising the temperatures in those landscapes," Hoffman said.

Scientists can quickly attain heat island results and use air thermometers or before and after thermal heat photos taken from the ground or by satellite, according to Hoffman.

"We trimmed up some trees, planted some new plants and were able to show between the morning and the afternoon the impact of improving that green space," Hoffman said while talking about Rosemoore Pocket Park in the Scott's Addition neighborhood in Richmond.

Green spaces can lower temperatures by 10 degrees to 20 degrees on hot days, according to Shelly Barrick Parsons, executive director for Capital Trees.

Capital Trees is a Richmond-based nonprofit organization that works to implement green spaces in the community through partnerships with the city, corporations and other nonprofits.

Barrick Parsons sees the potential in the bill and what it could do for urban cities.

"I think it has opportunity to increase the development of green space if municipalities take advantage of the opportunity," Barrick Parsons said.

The incentives can help accelerate a development timeline, but also have financial impacts.

"Permitting fees can be just a few thousand dollars, but that $2,000 can make a lot of difference to a nonprofit," Barrick Parsons said.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved the bill on March 23, and the measure will become effective on July 1. 

By Adrianna Lawrence, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia firefighters will be required to complete a training program starting next year, about the risk of electric vehicle fires.

Del. Israel O'Quinn, R-Washington, proposed House Bill 2451 to require the executive director of the Virginia Department of Fire Programs to develop a training program for electric vehicle fires. The program must be developed and available by July, 1 2024, according to the bill. All firefighters, including volunteer firefighters, must complete the training by Dec. 1, 2025.

The bill unanimously passed committees and both chambers. Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, asked for one clarification in the Senate General Laws and Technology committee, about whether the program would be offered both in-person and virtual.

"I heard from some of my fire folks, and they were concerned that this is more time away," Reeves said.

A lot of the annual firefighter training is done online, according to Reeves.

Spencer Willett, government affairs manager for the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, assured the Senate committee the training would be offered in multiple modalities.

"The agency's plan would be to offer an online version for departments and then also offer an in-person version for those that would be willing to want to take that training," Willett said.

The number of electric vehicles on Virginia's roadways is set to increase with the soon-to-be implemented Clean Car law. The law states 35% of all new cars and trucks sold in Virginia with a 2026 model year must be electric. Then 100% of new models on the market must be electric by 2035, according to the law, which is based on California's final regulation order.

Del. Mike Cherry, R-Colonial Heights, a co-patron of the bill, said it is important to implement mandated training statewide, even for areas like Southwest Virginia where electric vehicles aren't prominent.

"Anytime a fire department deals with something new and unique, they will then figure out a protocol to deal with it again in the future," Cherry said.

There is currently no mandated electric vehicle training for Virginia firefighters, according to William Boger, District 5 vice president and communications director for the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters.

However, departments can currently seek out training from car manufacturers like Tesla or Toyota, he said.

The future training program will greatly help firefighters better understand electric vehicle fires and the best ways to extinguish them, according to Boger.

Firefighters use approximately 50 gallons to 100 gallons of water to extinguish a regular internal combustion engine, or gasoline, vehicle fire while electric vehicles require about 10,000 gallons of water, according to Boger.

"They are very stubborn and very difficult to extinguish," he said.

Most electric vehicles carry large lithium-ion battery packs underneath the vehicle, where they are not very accessible. These batteries can overheat, which leads to a reaction called thermal runaway and requires thousands of gallons of water, according to Boger.

Firefighters also need to be aware that the battery is not necessarily finished burning just because the fire is finally put out, according to Boger. 

"The problem with these cars is you have to put the fire out, then you have to continuously cool the battery," Boger said.

Some electric vehicle batteries will reignite on the way to a junkyard if the battery is not properly cooled down and observed after the fire is put out, according to Boger.

Some batteries can even catch fire two to three days later, according to Doug Reynolds, battalion chief of the Henrico County Division of Fire.

"You may have to have several tankers bringing you water, so it's not the easy, you know, fire that it used to be," Reynolds said.

Dry chemicals and fire blankets have been used, but are not considered as effective as water, according to Boger.

Andrew Klock, senior manager of education and development with the National Fire Protection Association, said the best recommendation is still water.

"It's the most effective to date and if it's placed in the proper location, it can put out the fire and drain the heat from the battery pack," Klock said.

Electric vehicle fires are not more threatening than gasoline vehicle fires, which occur every three minutes, Klock said.

"But I do think that the risk and the inherent problem is that firefighters have had a 100 years to figure out and perfect how to put out an internal combustion engine vehicle [fire]," Klock said. "But it's not so with this new technology or newer technology of hybrid and electric vehicles."

Reynolds' department looks forward to seeing the curriculum and learning everything they can about this unique type of vehicle fire, he said.

"It affects every firefighter, you know from paid to volunteer, big departments, small departments, you know, the car fires are out there every day," Reynolds said. "So it's just better to protect us to learn how to fight those fires because it's important."

The Virginia Department of Fire Programs will develop the training program, utilizing fire experts and industry representatives, according to Will Merritt, VDFP marketing and communications manager. 

A workgroup will create the curriculum in concert with VDFP staff, Merritt stated via email. The curriculum is then "piloted, finalized and posted for registration in VDFP's learning management system, Cornerstone OnDemand," he stated.

"As electric vehicles become more popular, it is important that Virginia's fire service be adequately trained to fight electric-vehicle fires," Merritt stated.

By Mackenzie Meleski, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia General Assembly did not pass legislation this session to ensure paid sick days for employees, despite strong public support. 

A 2021 study by Christopher Newport University found almost 90% of people surveyed support paid sick leave. Both House and Senate versions of the bill updated the current law that state employers only have to provide paid sick leave to certain home health workers. 

Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, introduced Senate Bill 886, with chief co-patron Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath. Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William, introduced the similar House Bill 2087.

The bills also would have removed current regulations that require grocery store employees and health care providers to work at least 20 hours each week or 90 hours per month to be eligible for paid sick days. The Department of Labor and Industry would also have developed guidelines for grocery store employers to provide sick leave by Dec. 1.

The employees can accrue a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, according to the bills. The earned paid sick leave can be carried over to the following year, but an employee cannot accrue or use more than 40 hours of paid sick leave in a year, unless the employer chooses a higher limit.

The Senate bill passed on a 22-18 party-line vote. Once the bill went to the House, it was killed in the Commerce and Energy subcommittee. The House bill failed to advance from the same committee.

Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, served as co-patron of Mundon King's bill. Guzman also sponsored HB 1988, to allow all employees of private employers and state and local governments to accrue paid sick leave. The bill allowed an employee to transfer accrued sick leave to the following year. An employee could also donate accrued sick leave to another employee, with certain restrictions, according to the bill. The bill died in the same House committee as the others.

Guzman has advocated for paid sick leave since 2018. The General Assembly passed an amended version of Guzman's legislation in 2021 that mandated paid sick leave for some in-home health care workers. The legislative attempts this session expanded on that work.

"The reason why we couldn't, you know, leave COVID behind us is because people need to pay their bills and they continue to go back to work being sick," Guzman said.

The bill failed to pass the House because it lacked Republican support, Guzman said.

Virginia law does not require employers to provide paid sick leave to all employees. The employer can determine how much sick leave an employee receives, according to Guzman.

The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy advocated for Guzman's bill in 2021. The bill provided five paid sick days per year for 30,000 home health care workers in Virginia, according to the VICPP website.

VICPP conducted a study in 2015 that reported 1.2 million workers in Virginia have no paid sick leave, according to Jase Hatcher, VICPP economic justice program manager. This totals to 41% of private sector workers in Virginia, according to Hatcher. Taking just 3.5 unpaid sick days can result in an average family losing a month's worth of groceries, Hatcher said.

"That means that workers are choosing between taking care of themselves and their family member, or paying their bills," Hatcher said. "That is not how we should do that."

The VICPP study stated that 83% of registered Virginia voters supported a paid sick day standard, according to the VICPP website. Home health care providers need paid sick leave to tend to their health and also to help prevent further outbreaks of illness, VICPP stated. A 2020 study by Health Affairs found that paid sick leave reduced the spread of the coronavirus.

The VICPP believed the bill failed due to the "issues around its impact" on small businesses, Hatcher said. The Senate version of the bill added that a grocery store worker did not include any employee of a business that employs fewer than 25 employees. 

"What it comes down to is there are a lot of folks who just don't believe that there should be mandates or any mandates on paper, but as the data shows, without that mandate, 1.2 million workers go without," Hatcher said.

The VICPP will continue to advocate for a paid sick leave bill during the next session, because it is one of the most important issues for workers, according to Hatcher.

"The U.S. is one of the very, very few countries in the world which does not have a national paid sick leave policy," Hatcher said. "So making sure that we're filling the gaps at the local and state level is really essential before we can get that nationally."

By Zahra Ndirangu. Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia students are returning to K-12 public schools — although enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels — but there are fewer teachers due to an increase in teacher vacancies. 

The rebound comes after an enrollment decline the previous two years.

FALL MEMBERSHIP DATA

Enrollment numbers increased by more than 11,300 students from fall 2021 to fall 2022, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education.

VDOE annually collects statistics on the number of students enrolled in public school on Sept. 30. This report, known as "Fall Membership," is submitted by each school in Virginia that officially enrolls students.

Virginia K-12 enrollment sits just over 1.26 million full and part-time students combined. Part-time students are nonpublic school students who take one or more classes in a public school, according to VDOE. 

 The numbers show schools haven't reached the 2019-20, pre-pandemic levels of almost 1.3 million students.

The number of current part-time students decreased by over 100 students since the last school year. There was a significant increase of over 500 part-time students in the 2020-21 school year, while numbers fluctuated in prior years with no apparent trend.

The number of home-schooled students, including religious exemptions, decreased for the current school year, down 8% at almost 57,000 students. The previous two school years saw a spike in total home-schooled students, reaching over 65,500 home-schooled students in the 2020-21 school year. 

The category with the most home-schooled and religious exempt students is K-5, accounting for almost half of the total. 

TEACHER VACANCIES

There was a 25% increase in teacher vacancies throughout Virginia from the 2021 fall report to the 2022 fall VDOE report. The number of vacancies increased from just over 2,800 to over 3,500, according to the data, which does not include personnel or transportation positions. The numbers may have changed, as they pertain to a snapshot of data from fall 2022, because school divisions do not report daily, weekly or monthly data on unfilled positions, according to the VDOE.

There was a 12% increase in teachers leaving the workforce in the 2021-22 school year, when compared to the pre-pandemic yearly average, according to a Nov. 2022 report published by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or JLARC. At the same time, there was a 15% decrease in newly licensed teachers, according to JLARC. 

As more teachers leave the profession, fewer teachers are being licensed, according to the JLARC report. Nearly all divisions surveyed for the report indicated that finding "fully qualified applicants" was among their biggest challenges when it came to staffing. 

The Richmond Education Association and other organizations have lobbied for better education funding and met with state lawmakers to provide support for educators, according to REA president Katina Harris.

There are a few changes that will help increase enrollment, according to Harris, and lawmakers need to commit necessary funding. Students will receive a better education with smaller classroom sizes, more available counselors and more teacher support for remedial learning programs, Harris said.

"At minimum, $1.3 billion is needed to fully fund our [Richmond City] schools right now," Harris said. "That shouldn't be that hard to ask because the children are literally the future."

Richmond City allotted just over $200 million in general funds for education in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the city's budget. The city has also budgeted $200 million in capital improvement funds for school modernization and improvement for the upcoming 2024 fiscal year.

HOME-SCHOOLER APPEAL

The pandemic contributed to the increase of home-schooled students, according to Yvonne Bunn, the director of homeschool support and government affairs for the Home Educators Association of Virginia. 

There was an almost 56% increase in total home-schooled students in the 2020-21 school year. The amount of K-5 home-schooled students doubled that year.

Many parents have chosen to continue home schooling even since schools reopened. Parents can tailor their children's education to their needs, according to Bunn. 

The home environment is safer for children who deal with bullying or harassment in public schools, Bunn said.

"It takes them out of that where they can be in their home, they can be more secure in their home," Bunn said. 

Home schooling in Virginia allows parents to meet their children where they are, rather than children struggling to keep up in schools, according to Bunn. 

"If they got average or below average, we'd go back over it to see how they could understand the material better," Bunn said. "So that's the key to home schooling, one-on-one tutoring, that's really the key."

Virginia Commonwealth University student Celia Donnelly is a senior studying graphic design. Home schooling allowed her time to pursue her interests, which eventually led to her current studies, she said. Donnelly was home-schooled from K-12 in North Carolina, she said.

Parents can provide resources, such as curriculums that adapt to specific learning styles, that are not readily available in public school, or are not as standardized, according to Donnelly. 

"It's all standardized, you have a lot of people who need a lot of things, so just inherently there's going to be a lot of gaps ... and home schooling can help with that," she said. 

Donnelly's mother valued and through home-school taught her the ability to "question everything and stay curious" about the world around her, she said. 

LEGISLATION AND FUNDING

Virginia lawmakers allotted $3.2 billion in direct aid for state education in the 2022-24 biennium budget. The budget also included reforms for a 10% teacher pay raise split over two years. Funds from the American Rescue Plan act directed $125 million to fund a one-time, $1,000 bonus to educators last December.

Lawmakers have introduced proposals during the current General Assembly session to tackle the deficit of teachers, as well as the increasing number of home-schooled students. 

Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, introduced House Bill 1566, which would require the state to pay educators a rate equal to or above the national average salary for teachers. The bill reported from a House committee but did not advance from the Appropriations committee.

Del. John McGuire III, R-Goochland, proposed HB 1454. The bill would have eliminated the four criteria needed for parents and guardians to home-school their children. 

Virginia laws currently require that homeschooling educators must hold a high school diploma, be qualified by the Board of Education, provide children with a program that can be delivered through distance learning or provide evidence that they have an ability to provide adequate education. A House education subcommittee killed the measure.

Del. Marie March, R-Floyd, proposed HB 1475, which would prohibit schools from joining interscholastic organizations that would not allow home-schooled students. Similar versions of the bill to allow home-schooled students to play sports have been introduced for years. The bill passed an education subcommittee but was defeated in committee.

State budget amendments currently under debate by lawmakers also proposed an increase in education spending, according to a report by VPM. Additionally, House and Senate versions include a 2% salary increase that would extend to K-12 educators. 

RICHMOND – Today, the House of Delegates passed legislation that will reform how Dominion Energy is regulated. The bill is designed to lower costs for Virginia families, bring more stability, and ensure reliable service in the future. 

"Democrats came into session committed to lowering costs for Virginia families — and we stayed at the negotiating table until we were sure this bill would do exactly that," Leader Don Scott said. "It's the result of years of work — and we welcome the other party coming to the table to get this done. And the truth is, if Governor Youngkin hadn't been singularly focused on giving tax breaks to out of state corporations, we could've done even more for families this legislative session."  

Chair Charniele Herring  says, "Today marks the culmination of efforts to make the Commonwealth work for hard working Virginians. Democrats came ready to fight so that Virginians would see real oversight and reduced costs when it comes to their electricity. This bill will ensure affordability and reliability for years to come." 

"Families and businesses across Virginia are facing higher costs – we all know it and feel it – and today, we acted to change it," said Delegate Rip Sullivan. "While Democratic delegates have spent years tirelessly pushing for reform, today's success is not about scoring political points. It's about lowering costs for families and doing so in a bipartisan way. Today was a good day for every family and every business that has to pay an electric bill."

By Faith Redd, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Creativity should be valued as an important part of the Virginia economy, said the state lawmaker behind legislation to create the Virginia Creative Economy Grant Program.

Del. Jackie Glass, D-Norfolk, introduced House Bill 2376 to establish a dedicated funding source for grant awards no more than $20,000 each to independent content creators and creative entrepreneurs. 

The program would be managed by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority. VEDP collaborates with local and regional partners to encourage expansion and diversification of Virginia's economy, according to its website.

A creative worker is considered anyone that produces and distributes creativity and arts-based goods and services, according to a handout from Glass.

Virginia's creative workers produce film, art, music, software, video games, television and radio, according to the bill.

The U.S. creative economy annually generates over $900 billion, according to Glass. Almost $18 billion of that is generated in Virginia. The creative economy businesses in Virginia lost at least $2.6 billion in revenue in 2020, according to Glass. 

Noah "Noah-O" Oddo is a local entrepreneur. Oddo owns Charged Up ENT, a record label that has been around since 2002. He opened the flagship store of Charged up ENT in Richmond's downtown Art's District.

Oddo would put the money directly into his business if there was grant funding, he said. 

 "We can't exist without the people's support," Oddo said. "If you would like to see more of this and Virginia to continue to grow in this direction, that's what's needed, support in the form of dollars."

The bill did not have enough support to make it through the House General Laws subcommittee, where it was tabled on a 4-2 vote. However, there was support for the idea, Glass said.

Glass said people from the other side of the aisle approached her to discuss further action, including Del. James Morefield, R-Tazewell.

Glass and Morefield will work alongside the VEDP after the General Assembly session ends, to try and secure funding, Glass said.

"It's not dead, I mean, it's dead as far as a piece of legislation, but it's not dead administratively," Glass said.

There is also the Virginia Commission for the Arts, a state agency that offers creative grants. The VCA invests in arts leaders, arts educators, and arts practitioners, according to its website.

The creative industry is among the most impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic drain on nonprofits and other funding sources, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Brent Royal is a Richmond entrepreneur who owns the Good Money Counting Kit clothing brand. He sells products through social media and his website. Royal said he was discouraged to hear that the bill failed. He thinks the bill could have helped small businesses struggling from inflation and the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Royal worked two jobs to start his businesses, he said. He also launched the nonprofit Good Money Give Back and he puts 10% of his profits into it, to help the community. For example, Royal gave flowers to teachers for Valentine's Day, has held clothing and backpack drives for children, and is working on a mentoring program for young men.

Royal previously received grant funding and would apply for potential VEDP funding if the process moved forward. He would reinvest in the community by opening a clothing store, creating jobs for locals and using profits to reinvest in his nonprofit, he said.

The main focus for his brand is to inspire entrepreneurship, according to Royal. The state could do a better job at maintaining relationships with entrepreneurs, he said.

"It's kind of hard to be an entrepreneur in Virginia, just because there's so many different tax things you have to deal with federally, locally," Royal said.

Glass introduced the bill because she is a creative entrepreneur herself, she said. She has a podcast called "Your Neighbor's Hood," where she discusses uncomfortable cultural conversations with content creator Christina Kimbrough, according to the website. Glass monetized the venture, she said.

Creative entrepreneurs have the heart to create work but struggle to make a living out of what they do, Glass said.

"We don't have that creative infrastructure here," Glass said. 

The funding for creatives is considered sustainable, because 83 cents of every $1 invested in a creative worker is reinvested locally, according to a handout from Glass. The creative sector also increases travel and tourism to improve the economy.

"This is another industry of economics that can drive and bring dollars to the commonwealth," Glass said.

Oddo visited the state Capitol with Creatives for Virginia on Jan. 24 to lobby for the bill. 

"I'm trying to let people know in our generation these are the things that matter," Oddo said. "If you don't organize, if you don't speak out in order to change these things, there's not going to be the things you want to see done in our society and you'll just constantly be in the state of reaction toward what's going on." 

By Adrianna Lawrence, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia lawmakers this week shot down the last bill of seven introduced to reverse the adopted California standard on electric vehicles Tuesday afternoon.

Del. Tony Wilt, R-Rockingham, proposed House Bill 1378 to repeal the 2021 law allowing the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board to implement emission standards for vehicles with a 2025 or later model year.

The current Clean Car law, adopted from California and soon to be implemented in Virginia, states 35% of all new cars and trucks sold in Virginia with a 2025 model year must be electric. By 2035, 100% of new models on the market must be electric, according to California's final regulation order.

Wilt introduced the bill for several reasons, he said. He questioned whether Virginia's infrastructure can withstand 100% electrical powered cars in 12 years, Wilt said.

"In such a short period of time, we start putting these demands on electric grids of having the capabilities to keep up with electric generation," Wilt said. 

The bill passed in the House with a party-line vote of 52-48. 

Ahead of the final House vote, Wilt expressed concern over the cost of electric vehicles and said "they still cost significantly more upfront." 

"Which can make them unattainable," Wilt said.

Wilt's bill died in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources committee on a party-line 8-7 vote to pass by indefinitely. Other similar measures introduced in the Senate were incorporated into one bill that met the same outcome in the same committee.

Virginia residents will look to surrounding states to buy combustion engine vehicles because of the decrease of those available cars and the expensive costs of electric vehicles, according to Wilt. 

"And so we're actually taking the revenues out of the state of Virginia," Wilt said.

Wilt believes in a renewable energy future but said it should be done incrementally. 

"Instead of these heavy-handed governmental mandates to meet these deadlines and so forth, let the free market dictate that," Wilt said.

Natural consumer demand for electric vehicles is what should drive the market to go green, according to Wilt.

Virginia needs to "decouple" from California and establish standards unique to Virginia, according to Wilt and other Republicans who have spoken against the measure. 

Trip Pollard, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said it is not legally possible to create a Virginia-specific standard.

States either accept the required Clean Air Act federal regulation or choose the more protective standard introduced by California. 

"The General Assembly decided in '21 that we want to choose the more protective option," Pollard said. "We can't set our own standards."

The reasoning behind this is simple, Pollard said: Car manufacturers cannot meet 50 different state regulations. 

"The manufacturers got that written into the Clean Air Act decades ago because they don't want to have to produce 50 different models of vehicles for different states," Pollard said.

California sought a waiver from the EPA to create its own standards, which now allows states to also choose California's stricter standards. 

So far, 17 other states have adopted California's clean car standards, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Many advocates for the Clean Car law, including Pollard, point out these next few years in the General Assembly are crucial for prepping the state's infrastructure for electric cars. 

Along with legislative action, Virginia has already begun receiving incremental funding that will be over $100 million through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, according to Pollard. Private companies, such as Tesla, are distributing electric car chargers as well, he said.

Even with these initiatives, some legislators are already giving up on the law before it has even taken effect, according to Pollard. 

"To me it makes no sense to repeal these standards now, when they offer such enormous health and environmental benefits," Pollard said.

Lawmakers can ditch the adopted California standard and go back to the less protective federal one if the Clean Car law does not work out, according to Pollard.

Environmental organizations, like the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, strongly believe in keeping the Clean Car law in place due to the harm combustion engine vehicles bring to Virginia's air quality.

"Transportation emissions are Virginia's largest driver of climate change," said VLCV deputy director Lee Francis. "They make up about half of our total carbon pollution."

Electric vehicles are popular right now and there is a fast growing shift toward electric vehicles, according to Francis. 

"A lot of it is driven by the auto manufacturers themselves," Francis said.

General Motors, Ford, BMW and Honda are just some of the car manufacturers shifting toward zero emission vehicles, according to Forbes.

Lawmakers, lobbyists and Gov. Glenn Youngkin have attempted to repeal the Clean Car law since 2021. Citizens question what the state's future of electric vehicles will look like by 2026.

The effort to overturn the Clean Car law could be a factor in the upcoming November election, according to Stephen Farnsworth, director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington and a political science professor.

All seats are up for reelection in the currently Republican-majority House and the Democratic-majority Senate. 

Candidates will compete for Senate and House seats in new districts recently redrawn to keep up with population changes. The redistricting could favor Democrats more since the population changes across Virginia put more districts in Democratic-leaning areas, Farnsworth said.

House Republicans will use the Clean Car law as a part of their campaign to be reelected, he said.

"Republicans often run on issues of individual freedoms and a bill that comes out of California and shapes public preferences in a liberal direction is a useful thing for Republican candidates to talk about," Farnsworth said.

The Air Pollution Control Board will implement the standard shortly after Jan. 1, 2024 and auto manufacturers will have to abide by it to sell their vehicles in Virginia, according to the board's vehicle standards.

By Anna Chen, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. – Lawmakers crossed the midpoint of the General Assembly session earlier this week. 

Almost 600 bills in the House and over 500 in the Senate advanced, and only one bill passed both chambers by Feb. 7.

Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington Center for Leadership and Media Studies, said there will be a delay in the passage of controversial measures.

"Even things that passed in one house that are contentious will face problems in the other house, given divided government," Farnsworth said. 

"Hot-button issues" are unlikely to reach the governor's desk, Farnsworth said, due to the Democratic-majority Senate and Republican-majority House.

"The Senate won't accept abortion restrictions and the House won't accept gun control," Farnsworth said. "Key issues are going to be delayed until one party ends up controlling both chambers and the governor's office."

The Senate passed a higher percentage of bills than the House. Almost 52% of proposed House bills advanced, and the Senate had an almost 66% success rate. The statistics don't reflect resolutions, or bills carried over from last session.

Gianni Snidle, communications director for the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus, said he thinks a lot less legislation will advance this session. 

"If they're [House of Delegates] sending bills over that's ripping freedoms away from LGBTQ people, from women, from Virginians, we're going to kill those bills here," Snidle said. 

Lawmakers are debating key issues such as reproductive freedoms, gun control, rate regulation and more, Snidle said.

"It's just a flurry of common sense gun control legislation that has gotten out of the Senate and other bills helping Virginia families be able to craft and achieve their American Dream," Snidle said.

Jeff Ryer, press secretary for the Senate Republican Caucus, said top issues in the second half of the session include crime—courts and penalties—as well as consolidation of workforce development programs. A high profile crime bill addresses organized retail theft, with versions in the House and Senate, Ryer said. 

"There's been a lot of agency bills that have passed out of both chambers, meaning things that that individual government agencies have requested to have passed," Ryer said. 

Lawmakers amend the state budget in odd numbered years. The budget is a top priority, including tax cuts and spending initiatives, according to Ryer. 

The two chambers will have more time to work on the budget now, as there are fewer bills to pick up after crossover day, Farnsworth said. 

"That may involve tax cuts, it may involve additional resources devoted to schools," Farnsworth said. "We'll have to see where there's going to be areas of agreement."

General Assembly 2023 stats

The legislative scorecard of bills passed is not the only measure of a lawmaker's effectiveness, according to Farnsworth.

"The contents of the legislation usually matter more than the won-loss ranking," he stated. "A bill that has a tangible, direct benefit to the district or is strongly desired by a key segment of the electorate in the district is the gold standard of legislative effectiveness." 

Capital News Service analyzed some bill stats from the midpoint, using the Legislative Information System spreadsheet. 

In the House, 31 legislators introduced 15 bills—the most allowed.

Del. Robert Bloxom Jr., R-Accomack, advanced the most bills in the House—with 14 of his 15 bills moving to the Senate. 

Del. Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania, had all of his 13 measures move to the other chamber.

Nine delegates were unable to advance any measures, including Dels. Marie March, R-Floyd, and Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, who each introduced 15 bills and saw none advance. 

Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, introduced 32 bills, with an 84% pass rate. Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, had the most bills pass out of the Senate; he advanced 28 of his 30 bills.

The newly-elected Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, was the only senator with a 100% passage rate. He advanced all six bills to the House. Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, passed 18 of her 19 bills. 

Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, was the only senator who advanced no bills. She introduced 17 bills.

The session is slated to adjourn on Feb. 25 and reconvene for unfinished business on April 12. After that, election season begins in earnest. All 140 General Assembly seats will be up for grabs in November. 

By Anna Chen, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. – Elected officials serving in the Virginia General Assembly have a short amount of time to potentially discuss thousands of proposed measures that are either defeated or signed into law. 

Over 1,900 bills were introduced this session, in addition to joint resolutions and legislation carried over from last year. So far, over 100 bills have failed to advance in the House and over 300 in the Senate. There are over 1,000 bills pending in the House and over 500 in the Senate, with the session midpoint approaching. 

Here are a few of the bills that failed to advance this session. 

Senate Bill 1288: Petition for defendant to pay child support due to wrongful death of child's guardian resulting from driving under the influence

The measure introduced by Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, would allow the court to consider child support payment in an instance of wrongful death of a child's parent or legal guardian that was caused by driving under the influence. 

The legislation was passed by indefinitely with a 14-0 vote in the Senate Judiciary committee and is likely dead for the session. 

Committee members felt the bill did not add additional value to the current scenarios in wrongful death civil cases. 

Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, questioned the legislation because it is not "a policy solution to a specific problem."

"It's not clear to me why we would say 'you pay child support if somebody dies by drunk driving instead of murder,'" Surovell said during the committee.

Senate Bill 880: In-person absentee voting period shortened to week prior to any elections

The measure, introduced by Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, would shorten the in-person absentee voting period to seven days prior to the election. Currently, absentee voting in person begins 45 days before the election. 

The bill would create a burden at high-volume localities, Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, said during the committee hearing.

"They would need hundreds of people [staff] to get those people not having to wait for hours and hours in line," Ebbin said 

The legislation was passed by indefinitely with a 10-4 vote in the Senate Privileges and Elections committee.

House Bill 1720: Eliminates one-year divorce waiting period due to cruelty, bodily hurt

Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Portsmouth, introduced a measure to eliminate the one-year period spouses wait to be pronounced divorced and legally separated. A separation or divorce would be granted before the one-year period in cases of spousal abuse such as cruelty, reasonable apprehension of bodily harm, abandonment or desertion and more by either party. The bill would have applied to divorce filings on or after July 1. 

A divorce is currently permitted if the parties lived apart without interruption for one year, or entered into a separation agreement and have no minor-aged children born or adopted, and lived apart without interruption for six months. 

An anti-human trafficking advocate and victim of spousal abuse offered testimony on behalf of the bill. 

"Right now, this does not solve the problem that Del. Clarke wants to solve," said Richard Garriott, with the Virginia Family Law Coalition, in opposition to the bill. "We have a solution for that, it is called an emergency and permanent protective order."

The House of Delegates Courts of Justice subcommittee defeated the bill with a 5-3 vote.

House Bill 2003: Enforcement of sexual harassment and workplace discrimination training and education 

Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, introduced a bill to require employers with 50 or more employees to provide annual interactive sexual harassment and workplace discrimination training and education. Employees in a supervisory role would be required to complete at least two hours of training. Other employees would be required to complete one hour. 

A provision in the bill called for migrant and seasonal agricultural workers to have the one-hour training, to start Jan. 1, 2024.

Employees would receive a certificate of completion.

A House Commerce and Energy subcommittee recommended the bill not advance, with a 5-3 vote. Still to come

There will be plenty of other failed bills this session. In fact, gridlock is to be expected when "voters put one party in charge of one chamber and the other party in charge of the other," according to Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington Center for Leadership and Media Studies and a political science professor.

"From guns to abortion to taxes to schools, Republicans and Democrats in Richmond demonstrate over and over again that there is little interest in compromise in these polarized times," Farnsworth stated in an email. 

The session is approaching the midpoint with "crossover day" on Feb. 7, which is when a bill must have passed its respective chamber in order to advance, or it will be left behind.

By Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Two Virginia General Assembly bills seeking to strengthen the state's Freedom of Information Act will advance to the House calendar. 

Virginia FOIA laws, also known as sunshine laws, require public institutions to disclose public records, and provide access to government meetings unless an exemption applies. 

Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, introduced House Bill 2006 and HB 2007, which reported out of a committee on Thursday.

Government agencies can charge to provide public records. HB 2006 asks for such charges to have an electronic payment option. HB 2007 proposes that a public body state on its website how it assesses fees.

"I am for better or worse — and God, it seems like worse sometimes — absolutely hellbent on being the voice, if there can be no other, who is going to strongly, passionately support an accessible, strong Freedom of Information Act, as opposed to a restricted one that has so many exemptions," Roem said.

Roem encountered FOIAs in her more than 10 years as a journalist before going into public office. She recalled several deterrents to access public records requests. A constituent drove 40 minutes across the county to deliver a physical check to have a request fulfilled, Roem said.

"The current version more resembles a block of legislative Swiss cheese, than it does the law of the code of Virginia," Roem said.

Roem introduced FOIA legislation in prior sessions that did not advance, such as proposals to create a FOIA ombudsman — a designated authority — in the attorney general's office, establish a cap on hourly billing charges to fulfill records requests and to allow some free FOIA requests, with conditions.

"The point of the Freedom of Information Act is for the public to find out what the hell is going on with its government," Roem said. "For reporters to be able to perform their most essential duties, which is watchdog of the government."

Fewer people are using traditional forms of payment, so the proposed bills are a "step forward with the times," Megan Rhyne, the executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, stated in an email interview.

"If local governments are already using electronic means for various public transactions, like paying taxes via an electronic check or paying a recycling invoice by credit card, then they should use those systems to accept payment for FOIA requests," Rhyne stated.

This will help citizens who are "often blindsided" by the costs associated with sunshine laws, according to Rhyne.

"I support both of these bills, both of which are trying to chip away at the way in which the increasing costs of FOIA requests are putting government information out of the reach of the taxpayer," Rhyne stated. 

The methods of getting information are "crucially important in this time." There is less media coverage on the government in some parts of the state, according to Dina Weinstein, president of the Virginia Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

"We need to know this information and making it inaccessible is not democratic," Weinstein said.

A fee used to be an exception for a FOIA requester, but it is increasingly becoming the rule, said Tom Nash, the Virginia proxy for the nonprofit MuckRock. The organization aims to make government more transparent and helps file FOIA requests, according to its website.

"It's important for people to keep in mind that when government agencies ask us to pay for FOIA requests, essentially, we are paying for the same information twice," Nash said. "Because we've already been paying government officials to do the work that they do, and part of that work is making documents."

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University's Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.