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John,
More than two weeks removed from the end of session and now two weeks to go until the deadline for the Governor of Virginia to act on the bills passed by the General Assembly this year, I thought it would be a good time to update you on what's been happening since my last missive to you the start of my first term as the Virginia state Senator for the 30th District.
Six years to the day that I became the first out-and-seated transgender state legislator in American history, I had the privilege on Jan. 10 of becoming the first out trans state senator in Virginia and the second in the country.
Once I got down to Richmond from Manassas, I filed 20 Senate Bills this year. We passed 10 of them -- all with bipartisan support, just like I did 41 times in the House of Delegates from 2018-2023.
That said, I couldn't have gotten it done alone -- my staff helped me every step of the way. Even though the state provides for two Senate staffers, I have another so we can maximize constituent service and lay the groundwork for what will surely be one of the most expensive legislative campaigns in Virginia history the next time I'm on the ballot as I won by the narrowest margin of every Democratic senator in our 21-seat majority in a 40-member body.
So if you could donate $10, $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can do today, your donation will first go to helping me make payroll for my third staffer and replenish my warchest following our $2.65M winning campaign last year. [[link removed]]
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So, what did we get done?
Well, I campaigned on "Fixing Roads. Feeding Kids." So, I introduced two bills to fix roads and we passed one of them to expand areas near schools where speed cameras can go. I also carried four bills to feed students and we passed two of them, including one to take a major step toward funding universal free school meals and the other to create the Farm-to-School Task Force so Virginia students learn how to grow food in Virginia and more Virginia-grown food can be served to them in school.
We also passed three of my bills to continue reforming the court-appointed adult guardianship system; two to expand government transparency; one to expedite completion of paperwork for military families adopting children so those kids can be covered by health insurance sooner; and one to allow interment rights for people to be buried next to their kin in family cemeteries located on private property.
Separately, I also led the fight this year to push back against data center sprawl, with all five of my bills being sent to study this year, which means my constituents can count on me to introduce even more bills next year once the recommendations of that study are published this fall.
I'm also proud to report our Democratic majorities in the Senate and House stood strong against every anti-LGBTQ bill filed by Republican members in both chambers (as if a number of their members who filed that garbage in 2023 didn't then lose last fall... they learned nothing, truly) and we also passed a budget that makes major investments in education, from raising teacher pay to capping tuition costs.
So far, the Governor has signed one of my bills into law -- the one for military families adopting children -- and we're awaiting action on the other nine bills.
I'm heading back to Richmond again April 17 for veto session and then later this spring, my Route 28 STARS project for Manassas Park and Yorkshire will be competing for $40 million so we can finally fix Route 28 for good here at home.
And of course, once we have all of our nominees, I'll be hustling hard to help keep our Democratic-endorsed majorities on the Manassas City Council and Manassas Park Governing Body this fall (not to mention help our federal Dems too!).
Thank you so much for your support, as always. I'm grateful to serve the people of western Prince William and greater Manassas and, of course, to keep doing the work to make Virginia a more inclusive commonwealth.
Warmly,
Danica
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Friends of Danica Roem
P.O. Box 726
Manassas, VA 20113
United States
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