Sen. Aaron Rouse

Monday, January 15th, 2024
Weekly Newsletter

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I am reminded of this quote:

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

First day of session! It’s exciting to be back with my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate to outline our priorities to keep Virginia moving forward.

This session, I am proud to serve on the following committees: Privileges and Elections, Commerce and Labor, General Laws and Technology and Rehabilitation and Social Services.

On January 10th I announced my legislative priorities for the 2024 General Assembly Session. These prefiled bills focus on delivering for Virginia Beach, supporting working families, protecting voting rights, and ensuring small businesses can thrive in our Commonwealth.

My bills this session will:

• Change the Virginia Beach City charter to adopt the 10-1 election system. Amends the charter for the City of Virginia Beach to reflect the City's transition to a city council consisting solely of single-member districts and the mayor.
• Prevent unlawful and/or flawed voter purges by setting standards, such as a verification requirement. The general registrars must send notice before canceling a voter's registration, regardless of the reason for cancellation. Any canceled voter registrations create a record available to the public per the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the National Voter Registration Act
• Establish requirement of registrars to notify voters who appear on the felony list before canceling their registration. The general registrar must mail a notice to voters who appear on the felony list before canceling their voter registration. The general registrar will allow a 14-day window for those with their right restored to petition their cancellation.
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. Allows eligible low-income taxpayers to claim a refundable income tax credit equal to 20 percent of the federal earned income tax credit claimed that year by the taxpayer for the same taxable year. Filers who qualify for the federal equivalent of this credit but can't due to them, a dependent, or joint filer not possessing a valid social security number are eligible to claim this credit.
• Establish a framework for the regulation, taxation, and enforcement of skill games in Virginia. Under this bill, the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority would oversee skill games, which is estimated to bring $200 million in tax revenue to the Commonwealth for public education, school construction, and local governments. Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) and Senator Timmy French (D-Shenandoah County) will serve as chief co-patrons of this legislation.
• Legalize recreational marijuana sales in Virginia. Establishment of marijuana retail market and regulatory structure inclusive of Virginia’s small and midsize businesses. The legislation will allow for potential licensees to apply for licenses at the same time, sets a 12% retail tax for marijuana and marijuana products, with 6% going to the state, 6% to localities and empowers the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority to establish secure seed to sale tracking.
• Extend Virginia’s “cocktails to go” policy, which allows bars and restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages for takeout. More than 35 states, including Virginia, have permitted restaurants/bars to sell cocktails to-go since the pandemic started. States such as Arizona, Georgia, and Washington D.C., have enacted “cocktails to go” as a permanent policy.
• Establish Military centered community zones. Allow localities to offer unique economic development benefits in communities that serve a high population of military personnel.
• Establish Cardiac Emergency Response Plan for schools. Requires each public elementary or secondary school to develop a cardiac emergency response plan (CERP) to appropriately direct school personnel to respond to incidents involving an individual who is experiencing sudden cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening emergency while on school grounds.
• Amend the powers of the State Corporation Commission to require the consideration of public safety, workforce development, and fair labor standards.
• Modernizing rental agreements for Self-Storage facilities. Allows rental agreements to be delivered and accepted electronically. This bill would also allow for self-storage facility owners to tow, per local ordinances, any non-authorized abandoned vehicles or watercraft.

Virginia Legislative Black Caucus

I am proud to be serving with the LARGEST assembly of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus in the HISTORY of Virginia!

With colleagues, Sen. Boysko and Sen. Hashmi on the Senate floor!

I temporarily took over as Chair of Rehabilitation and Social Services committee as my colleague, Sen. Favola presented her bills.

Aaron in the News

Historic display of racial, gender diversity marks the start of 2024 General Assembly session - Virginia Mercury
“In a state that once intentionally sought to disenfranchise Black voters, Black lawmakers now run both committees dealing with voting and election issues. Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, is leading the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. On the House side, Del. Marcia Price, D-Newport News, who has championed a state-level voting rights law, is chairing the elections committee.”

Senate Public Education Committee subcommittee recommends reporting @AaronRouseVaBch school cardiac emergency response plan grant fund. (But will need to survive full committee and Finance committee.) VAPLAN @vaplan2018 2:22 PM · Jan 11, 2024 · X

Dems push for retail cannabis market, some Republicans not on board | WRIC ABC 8News
“It’s far too long, we have gone two years without really setting up this market and putting teeth behind it,” Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach told reporters on Jan. 10.
 

While Youngkin wants to raise taxes on low-income Virginians by an average $44 (to pay for a $9640 avg tax break for the wealthy), @PriceForDel95 and @AaronRouseVaBch want to create a refundable earned income tax credit for them. VAPLAN@vaplan2018 3:49 PM · Jan 9, 2024 · X

Sen. Rouse’s Legislative Staff

Welcome Sen. Rouse’s Legislative team for the 2024 Session:

Dymon Bailey, Chief of Staff, Email: [email protected]
Tonianne Beals, Legislative Assistant, Email: [email protected]

We look forward to sharing updates with you throughout the session. To contact me or my staff, please reach out to [email protected] or (804) 698-7522. To keep up with all the action at the General Assembly throughout the coming weeks follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Have a good week!
Sen. Aaron Rouse