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Six Disappointments

It's not all peaches and cream. If I didn't fail to succeed in some bills I cared about, that would probably mean I didn't try hard enough. As I learned in grade school, sometimes a perfect score meant the test was too easy. I try, in every bill I put forward, to get the very best and strongest bill I can. And sometimes that means I don't succeed the first time out.

This is simply part of politics, part of the legislative process. You propose ideas. Sometimes, people like them; sometimes, people don't. I knew I wasn't going to pass every one of the 47 bills I introduced this year. All you can do is try your best and hope you convince your colleagues. But if I still feel it's a good idea, I will bring the issue back again and again until I do succeed. Many of the bills I've had success with so far this year I've introduced in the past and tried again. Sometimes a failure is simply a "not-success-yet."

1. No Local Option to Raise the Minimum Wage

HB325 is a measure I've introduced repeatedly since 2016 to give localities the option to raise the minimum wage over the federal and state minimum. Why should workers in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax receive the same minimum wage as those in small towns and other areas of Virginia where the cost of living is far less? Those who work in our communities should be able to live in our communities. And I am confident the localities I represent would raise the minimum wage if they could.

Unfortunately, the subcommittee didn't see it that way. They didn't explain their reasoning, but perhaps, with Democrats raising the state minimum wage so much this year (37% in four months, see above), they thought it was too much too soon. 

Perhaps, I could have been better prepared. But when you have introduced as many bills as I did this year (the second highest in the House of Delegates), you tend to focus on the bills that seem more difficult to pass. I had thought this would be an easy one. I was wrong. Many of my allies on this issue must have thought so as well, because very few were in the room that late at night after a long day. Advocacy matters, and sometimes who is in the room does make a difference as to whether a bill passes or not. Rest assured, I will make this proposal again in the future and make sure the room is full of advocates for a higher local minimum wage option.

 
Click the image to watch me argue for giving localities the option of raising the minimum wage.

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2. No Additional Penalties for Drivers Seriously Injuring Pedestrians

HB247 would have increased penalties for drivers who seriously injure pedestrians while disobeying traffic laws. It was brought to me by Alexandria Families for Safe Streets. A number of Alexandria's pedestrians have been terribly injured by careless drivers. But despite causing serious bodily injuries, these drivers can only be punished under criminal law with a fine.

Delegate Lee Carter moved to report the bill, but he failed to get a "second."  Obviously, my colleagues disagreed that this issue was serious enough to warrant jail.

4. No Notice for Evicted Tenants of State Resources to Help Them

HB329 was a bill to require information on all eviction notices about the state service 2-1-1, a number that unfortunate people who are being evicted can call to get critical help for their situation (including information and rent assistance). The bill failed to report out of a General Laws subcommittee. To be honest, I thought this bill would pass easily and unanimously. Boy, I was wrong. 

I still think those being evicted could use this service, but my colleagues disagreed.

5. Virginia Will Continue to be Required by Law to Use Taxpayer Dollars to Promote Religious Discrimination

Back in January, I told you about HB1051, a bill: (1) to prohibit Virginia from funding adoption agencies that discriminate against people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or status as a veteran; and (2) to repeal a law proposed by the current Republican Leader Delegate Todd Gilbert in 2012, passed over fierce Democratic opposition including several amendments by my predecessor Delegate David Englin, which requires taxpayer-funded bigotry.

Even if Virginia does not want to discriminate against same-sex couples or Jews or Buddhists or any other religion, Virginia is currently required by law to fund such discrimination with taxpayer money.

Current law does not allow us to do what's best for children! Virginia is required to leave children languishing in temporary homes rather than allow them to be adopted by loving couples in permanent homes, so long as a private religious organization is too prejudiced to put children's needs over the organization's own religious bigotry. My legislation would have both repealed the "required bigotry clause" and replaced it with a non-discrimination clause. 

You can watch my first presentation of HB1051 by clicking here.

Members of the subcommittee whom I know do not support discrimination had expressed concerns about the impact that the bill could have on kids currently in the foster care system. They passed the bill by for the week so I could gather evidence to show them that they did not need to worry about a single child being displaced if my bill were to go into effect. 

In my estimation, I delivered on my promise to them. I explained how, in numerous states where similar laws have been put in place, not a single child has ever been displaced. We're talking thousands of children here, folks. 

I even amended the bill to give Virginia's Department of Social Services — the state agency which runs our adoption and foster programs — an additional six months to ensure a smooth transition as the new law took effect. But it was to no avail. My bill to end state-funded discrimination in adoption services failed to pass the Health, Welfare and Institutions Subcommittee on Social Services.

You can watch my second attempt to get the bill out of subcommittee here. 

Still, I did not give up. I received the permission of the Chair of Health, Welfare, & Institutions to bring up the bill one more time to full committee right before Crossover. I was even willing to amend the bill to allow Virginia's taxpayer-funded discrimination to continue; but as amended, my bill would have removed the requirement that Virginia discriminate.

But even that was still insufficient for at least one of the bill's detractors, who apparently went behind my back to keep the bill from being heard. Honestly, I just don't think the person who did this understood my proposed amendment to the legislation. I assure you I worked as hard as I possibly could to make this happen. Sometimes people just are unwilling to listen. 

I promise you I will never give up on this. You can rest assured I will bring this bill back each and every year as long as I'm an elected official. 

There is no justification for requiring Virginia taxpayers from a wide variety of religious traditions to fund religions that expressly discriminate against us. If a religion wants to act with bigotry, it should not get state funding to do so.

I believe the 2012 Gilbert law is not just offensive. I believe it to be an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits state establishment of religion. It may require a very expensive lawsuit to remove this odious law from our books. I would prefer to just repeal it. But I will not rest until it is no longer harming Virginia's children or Virginia's families.

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6. Virginia will Continue to Promote Guardian Abuse and Block Harmless Family Members from Seeing their Loved Ones with Alzheimer's or Other Mental Incapacitation.

HB862, my bill to reform our guardianship system so as to minimize the unnecessary forced isolation of people deemed incapable of making their own decisions, failed to make it out of the Civil subcommittee of Courts of Justice. 

This was especially heartbreaking for me, as I had worked relentlessly over the course of the past year to bring all stakeholders to the table to hash out a compromise we could all live with. And I thought we had that agreement. 

As you can see in the video below, this bill had the support of the elder law attorneys, the National Guardianship Association, AARP, the Alzheimer's Association, Adult Protective Services, and families who have been affected by our disastrous status quo. 

You can watch the first hearing of this bill by clicking the image below. 

I can't deny being disappointed that one person with a professional conflict who had never reached out to me and promised the committee she would negotiate with me then, minutes later, told me she was in "no position to negotiate." I don't believe such obvious bad faith at the eleventh hour should be able to scuttle a year's work. 

You can watch the second presentation here:

The last-minute deep-sixing of this bill turned out to be a big two-day front-page story for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Unfortunately, the detailed stories written by journalist Bridget Balch are behind a paywall (but I think you may be able to read a couple of them for free or join for a small fee).

Levine's guardianship bill faces unexpected
last-minute objection from bar association lawyer

Levine's guardianship visitation bill killed by
Virginia Bar Association opposition

If you want to read these articles and don't have access to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, just email me and I'll send these articles to you.

As I said to the Richmond Times Dispatch, our guardianship system in Virginia is broken. Most guardians are good people, but a few of them abuse the system and the end result is extremely dangerous to people with Alzheimer's and other mentally incapacitated people and their families.

That's why I was the chief copatron of HJ127, Delegate Danica Roem' s bill to study this broken system, which I presented along with her to the Rules Committee (Click here to watch video, where we received a promise from the Chair to send a letter to Virginia's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to study the issue.)

We should be able to sort out the difficult conflicts of interest that occur when a person loses their mental capacities and their due process at the same time. I believe guardians should owe a fiduciary duty to the mentally incapacitated people they supposedly serve, rather than to the hospitals that pay these lawyers to deny care to them in order to save on hospital bills. 

A detailed three-part series in the Richmond Times Dispatch (that is also unfortunately behind a paywall) showed in detail the dangers of leaving the mentally incapacitated in the care of those bent on profit rather than care. I've long believed that loving family and friends are often the only competent "eyes and ears" a mentally incapacitated person has.

If your parents have Alzheimer's, you shouldn't have to file a court action and present clear and convincing evidence that guardian restrictions are unreasonable just to pay your mom or dad a visit. Nor should you lose visitation rights if you complain to Adult Protective Services about the sores you see on your mom's body. You should be consulted when the guardian decides to let your dad die in contrast to his own stated wishes on his medical power of attorney.

I was very sorry to see the House of Delegates kick this can down the road for another year. Perhaps I care a little too much, but I cannot deny that those who abuse vulnerable people make me viscerally angry.

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I do hate to end on a sour note. As noted above and in virtually every other newsletter I've sent this year, it's been an overwhelmingly positive and productive session. Twenty five of my bills have passed from House to Senate, either directly or by incorporation. This is no shabby accomplishment, and even if only half of this legislation passes the Senate as well and is signed by the Governor into law, it would still be an equivalent or even greater achievement than my four years of work under Republican rule put together. 

Furthermore, as a caucus, we House Democrats have done some amazing things. When the Republican Minority Leader Todd Gilbert bitterly complains that it will take decades to undo all we've done in just five short weeks, I know our contributions to Virginia have been deep and long lasting.

I know I will have disappointments post-crossover as well. Not every bill will succeed. Those who know me know I put hard work and passion in every cause I fight for. If the intensity I put in my work occasionally leads to great disappointments, I know that that same devotion also leads to incredibly rewarding successes.

I also push my dedicated staff quite hard. We are often working late into the night when all other delegates and staff have gone home. So next time you see my Chief of Staff Jacob Weinberg, my Legislative Counsel Snapper Tams, or my diligent legislative interns Danny Anderson or Sajya Abdul, please thank them heartily, commiserate with them for what I've put them through, and let them know the labor was all worthwhile.

We are changing Virginia dramatically for the better. 
And I owe it all to you for giving me the privilege to do it.

Thank you.

Pictures from Session