We just finished the 2018 session of the Virginia General Assembly. During this year's 60-day session over 2,000 pieces of legislation were introduced, many addressing important issues that affect all Virginians.
My primary focus was on providing pragmatic legislative solutions to ensure that our students receive an affordable education that prepares them to compete in a 21st century global economy, and work towards making Virginia #1 in the nation for business and job growth.
My colleagues and I will return to Richmond on April 11th, to begin finalizing our new two-year balanced budget that is required to be completed prior to July 1st.
There were several bills that I was proud to Patron or be the Chief Co-Patron of this year including:
HB 373 Multi-State Tax Commission; the Commonwealth to become associate member.
Virginia will finally become a member of this Commission to help prevent other states from adopting policies that would negatively impact Virginia businesses. Every other state with a state income tax is a member, and after three years of working on this issue, Virginia will now be represented.
HB 443 High school graduation requirements; substitution of computer coding for foreign language credit.
Virginia will now allowEnglish language learners that pass a second language proficiency exam to replace a foreign language requirement with a computer coding class. The option for students with disabilities to have the same opportunity was removed in the State Senate, but I will reintroduce it in a new bill next year.
HB 589 Higher educational institutions, public and private; diplomas, proof of education.
Virginia will be the first state in the nation to proactively move towards endorsing online digital verification of proof of education at Virginia's colleges and universities. This will add significant protection against falsification of diplomas from Virginia colleges and universities and decrease the time for the Commonwealth to provide such verification.
HB 798 Income tax, state; apportionment of sales for debt buyers.
After three years of introducing legislation, the Commonwealth will finally start to ensure that businesses located outside of Virginia, but operating in Virginia, are not given a competitive advantage over Virginia based businesses. At least one Hampton Roads company has announced that this legislation will allow hundreds of jobs to be created in Virginia in 2018, as opposed to creating them in another state.
HB 1251 CBD oil and THC-A oil; certification for use, dispensing.
Virginia has significantly broadened the allowable medicinal uses for cannabidiol oil. Studies show, and I hope to see, this new treatment begin to reduce the disturbing trend of opioid abuse.
HB 1351 Joint legal or physical child custody; custody and visitation decisions, communication to parties.
This pro-family bill will ensure that the courts consider joint custody in determining the best interests of a child in custody hearings.
HB 1530 High schools; awarding student a diploma of achievement, etc.
Virginia will be working over the summer to create policies to allow students who graduate with multiple years of manufacturing, robotics, or computer coding classes are recognized with the same "advanced" diploma as those students who graduate with multiple years of foreign language classes. Today, those students only qualify for a "standard" diploma.
When it comes to ensuring an affordable college education for all Virginians, more can, and should, be done. That is why I introduced House Bill 1512 which would cap Virginia's public colleges tuition rates at the 2017-2018 rates and tied future increases to the Consumer Price Index. I also introduced House Bill 982 which calls for the funding of Virginia's colleges and universities to be tied to performance metrics including in-state tuition rates, in-state student ratio, average time for degree attainment, and the average starting salary of graduates. Both bills were referred to a study over the summer where I hope they gain additional support for future initiatives.
Lastly, I introduced innovative legislation which has Virginia addressing how blockchain technology can be utilized to modernize our tax code and make our state record keeping and procurement processes more efficient and secure.
As always, please contact my office if I can ever be of assistance. My team and I can be reached at (757) 802-4982 or by email at
DelGDavis@house.virginia.gov
. You can also visit my website,
www.glennrdavis.com
, to sign up for email updates, stay up date on my activities around our district and the issues affecting us and our families, and to link to my Facebook and Twitter pages.
