,
This week the halls of the General Assembly building have been filled
with constituents and advocates. Many meetings have been held in order
for them to share their views and concerns about proposed legislation
that has been submitted. Full sessions of the Senate are getting
longer, and hundreds of bills are being considered. Things are moving
at a very quick pace and so am I.
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. To
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 the bill.
DEMOCRATS DRIVE UP INFLATION WITH HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE
In order to keep Virginia a top place for business, the General
Assembly needs to pass laws that lowers costs for families, reduce red
tape, and encourage entrepreneurs and economic growth. Senate
Democrats seem committed to doing the opposite.
One example is the minimum wage. In their first bill of the session,
SB 1, they proposed a 25% increase in the minimum wage over just two
years. If this becomes law, many struggling small businesses or
companies will be forced to come up with money they do not have by
raising prices. And we all know that higher prices are another way of
saying “inflation.”
Everyone should be able to earn a good living, but if businesses are
forced to close there will be fewer jobs. Raising costs results in
higher prices for everyone. Virginians cannot afford even more
inflation at this point. Wages are rising on their own due to more
competition for workers. The government does not need to pile on when
the market is already doing the job.
I will update you on this as the legislation moves through the General
Assembly.
LEGISLATION
This week saw several of my bills assigned to subcommittees and
committees. SB 475, which is a charter change for the Town of Pulaski
passed out of the Senate. Two bills, SB 25 and SB 463, also passed out
of committee. SB 25 is the Virginia Brownfield and Coalmine Methane
Renewable Energy Grant Fund and SB 463 deals with the Board of
Accountancy and some revisions to their duties. Unfortunately, SB 557
and SB 562 did not make it out of committee. They both were carried
over until 2025.
The impasse on the State Corporation Commision came to an end when
both bodies unanimously elected Kelsey Baggot and Sam Towell as SCC
Judges. These vacancies needed to be filled to provide efficient
oversight of utility rates for consumers. I voted to approve these new
judges and restore the SCC to fill capacity since 2022.
As always, I want to encourage you to watch the General Assembly
session. You are welcome to visit us in person in Richmond and view
the proceedings from the gallery. But you can also stream each day’s
session here:
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Please let me know where you stand on legislation impacting you. You
can reach us at our email
[email protected] or call
(804) 698-7505.To get up-to-date information, please follow us on our
Facebook page, Senator Travis Hackworth. I will be in touch next week
with another update from the General Assembly. Have a great week!
Until next week,
Senator Travis Hackworth
Virginia State Senator, District 5
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