Friends,
The Assembly's engines are roaring. Committees churn, bills multiply, and Senate sessions stretch like marathons. Constituents and advocates swarm the halls, their voices a symphony of passion. The pace is frantic, and the hours are long, but my staff and I continue to work hard for our region, fueled by the sheer energy of it all.
Child Safety Bill Blocked By Democrats
My Republican colleagues and I were both dismayed and puzzled by Democrats killing a bill to protect children from sex offenders.
Senator Danny Diggs offered what seemed to me a commonsense idea-- Keep convicted child sex offenders at least 100 feet away from State Parks where children congregate.Children and their families deserve to be able to enjoy Virginia’s parks without worrying that a known sex offender might be lurking in the park or just outside it.
Democrats decided to focus on the concerns of the sex offenders rather than the safety of children. They claimed the bill was overly broad. One supporter of the Democrats’ position even testified that it was “pointlessly cruel” to bar sex offenders from public parks—as if that outweighed the cruelty they caused to the children they assaulted.
Republicans sought to return the focus to where it belonged—the safety of children to play without fear, but the Democrats would have none of it. They decided that the“cruelty” to sex offenders was more important than child safety and killed thebill.
To view a video demonstrating the idiocracy of the Democrats defense to the bill click here: https://youtu.be/_-rT3zcS-Us?si=FAtKuHVi1WztUBod.
Legislation Moves Forward
This past week, we were pleased to have several pieces of legislation come before both committees as well as for consideration by the full Senate, and with their passing this week ensures that these bills will continue in the lengthy process of becoming laws soon.
Senate Bill 5, creating the STEM+C Competition Team Grant Fund, was reported from Finance and Appropriations Wednesday uncontested, and now heads to the Senate floor for final consideration This grant program will allow all schools throughout the Commonwealth to create and grow STEM competition teams, such as robotics, in their schools. The scholarship program focuses on those school systems in rural and inner cities that might not otherwise be able to finance such teams programs that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
Senate Bill 28 passed the full Senate last Tuesday, 36-3, and its passage is a monumental step in reforming our education system and ensuring that the focus in our school is centered on our student learning, and not what is on their cell phone. Senate Bill 28 empowers each school division in the Commonwealth with the ability to create regulations to prohibit the use of handheld electronics during the school day by students. As I said to my fellow members of the Senate when the Bill was debated on final passage, the use of cell phones by students during the school day distracts them from learning, potentially subjects them to cyber-bullying, and encourages physical violence that is recorded by on-lookers and then posted on social media. This bill will allow students to focus on their studies during the school day, and will prevent bullying and violence that is now prevalent in our schools because cell phones have become too much apart of the students’ day.
