The following is a guest blog by Lori Haas. It was a beautiful spring morning ten years ago when I got the phone call from my daughter, Emily. “Hi Mom, I’ve been shot,” she said. I immediately dropped what I had been doing and raced towards Blacksburg with my husband, breaking every traffic law as […]
Year: 2017
Senator Dunnavant Lives In Bizarro World
Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant is an OB-GYN. She’s also a state senator. That seems awesome, right? It would be great to have a doctor with women’s interests in mind as a State Senator. Dunnavant Doesn’t Care About Women Turns out, Senator Dunnavant hasn’t exactly prioritized women’s health in the State Senate. She put a conservative political […]
Corey Stewart: Riding on the Coattails of Trump’s Attacks on Immigrants
A recent event in Richmond looked like a Trump rally with people wildly cheering on the political candidate as he hammered away on immigration. “This issue of illegal immigration is not a racial issue, it’s about public safety,” said Corey Stewart, a Virginia gubernatorial hopeful. “If someone is in our country illegally, and they commit […]
Anti-Immigrant Madness in the General Assembly
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Yet with every new wave of immigration, the settled population becomes fearful and denies human dignity to the new arrivals. In the tradition of the Know-Nothing Party and the 1920’s Red Scare, today’s authoritarian right again deflects the blame from the system of wealth to poor, hard-working […]
The Buck Stops Here
Governor McAuliffe vetoes bill to defund Planned Parenthood
Did you think the legislature passing our year-long supply of birth control bill meant they were finally done attacking women’s health? Think again. Last week the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill to defund Planned Parenthood (you know, the place where you get affordable birth control). Thankfully, the buck stops with the Governor and he […]
In Virginia General Assembly, Attacks on Commonwealth’s Working People
We aren’t halfway through the General Assembly session and Virginia’s legislature take aim at the wages and well-being of Virginia’s working people. Earlier in the session, the House General Laws Committee voted to report both Delegate Webert’s HB1596 and Delegate Davis’ HB1753. If the House decides to pass Webert’s bill, state agencies would not be […]
Virginia General Assembly
Still working on transparency.
The Virginia General Assembly is not designed with transparency in mind. This is arguably most evident in the House Courts of Justice Criminal Law Subcommittee, where long dockets are heard by a committee of eleven delegates, eight republicans (Albo-42, Bell-58, Cline-24, Gilbert-15, Miller-50, Morris-64, Adams-16, Collins-29) and three democrats (Herring-46, Mullin-93, Watts-39). The final Criminal […]
Conservatives in Richmond Try Desperate Power Grab Against Voters
Conservatives are getting the message they are out of touch with Virginia voters. Democrats have won the past three presidential elections, two senate elections, and hold the Governor’s office. But conservatives will take power where they can get it, even if that means taking the power to vote away from the voters who elected them […]
The Future of the Democratic Party and Progressivism
The Democratic Party is retreating into the political wilderness for the first time in a century.
The Legislative Fellows program supports Progress Virginia’s efforts to make a more transparent and fair Virginia. All views expressed in this post are the author’s views and do not reflect the views and opinions of Progress Virginia or Progress Virginia Education Fund. If you would like to watch live streaming of key committee meetings please […]
Eyes on Richmond
Transparency period. [ms_button style=”normal” link=”http://www.eyesonrichmond.org” size=”medium” shape=”rounded” shadow=”yes” block=”no” target=”_blank” gradient=”no” color=”#fcbb3b” text_color=”#ffffff” icon=”” icon_animation_type=”” border_width=”0″ class=”” id=””]Watch Live[/ms_button]