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Dear Friend,
This Wednesday, April 17, the General Assembly will reconvene in Richmond to address the Governor’s amendments and vetoes to bills passed during the 2024 Session which ended just over a month ago on Saturday, March 9.
This week’s newsletter discusses the outcomes of my legislation that were sent to the Governor’s desk, provides reflections on my time in Newport News for the Regional Convening on Maternal Health, shares information provided in a briefing to the Senate of Virginia on the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge disaster in Baltimore, and highlights select community meetings from this past week. Thank you for reading and staying informed.
Reconvened Session and My Legislation
On Wednesday, April 17, the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates will be back in Richmond for Reconvened Session. Given the large number of bills that were either returned to the General Assembly with a veto or with amendments, we may be in Richmond for more than one day. The full list of the Governor’s amendments [[link removed]] and vetoes [[link removed]] has now been shared following the April 8 deadline. According to the Virginia Constitution [[link removed]] , amendments require simple majorities to accept or reject; however, vetoes can be overridden only by a two-thirds majority vote in both Chambers. Given the Governor’s historic use of veto power [[link removed]] , we will have an extensive agenda to complete during the Reconvened Session.
Additionally, the Governor has returned HB30 , the Budget Bill agreed to jointly by the Senate and the House, with over 200 amendments [[link removed]] . This historic number of amendments will require considerable discussion by the appropriations committees and the budget conferees. We will likely need to return for a Special Session for a full consideration of the budget. Next steps will be further decided by the leadership of both Chambers.
Legislation that has been signed by the Governor does not need additional action by the General Assembly and will not be addressed during Reconvened Session. Five of my bills were
Key Bridge Disaster Briefing
I appreciate the work of our Chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation – Senator Jennifer Boysko – in convening a briefing for our Transportation Committee to hear directly from the Secretary of Transportation, Shep Miller [[link removed]] , and officials from the Port of Virginia about the impacts of the tragic disaster at the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland. In our Friday briefing, we learned that the Port of Virginia has ramped up its services to accommodate the discharge of cargo in Virginia, rather than in Baltimore, and thus ensure that impacts to the supply chain are minimized. The Port has added cranes to facilitate the discharge of cargo and to effectively coordinate cargo flow to ground transportation, including rail. Officials further clarified that Baltimore was not a site of oil shipments and therefore no impacts to international oil supplies in the United States have been impacted.
Port of Virginia officials also addressed the situation of cruise ships that are docking now in Norfolk and other Eastern US ports and providing ground transportation for passengers to return to their original points of origin. We also heard that the Port of Baltimore is anticipated to re-open by July 1, 2024.
We also heard from Commissioner Stephen Brich who spoke to the concerns about the highway network between Virginia and Maryland, as well as our own bridges in Virginia. Immediate impacts, according to the Commissioner, include about 500 additional trucks each day serving the Port of Virginia. Greatest impacts will be on traffic congestion at the Monitor Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. This impact should be temporary for the next two months; once the Port of Baltimore re-opens, cargo will once again be delivered in its usual patterns and distributed among the ports of the Eastern seaboard.
As I learn more details, we will continue to share updates about the Key Bridge disaster and its impacts on Virginia.
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Select Community Engagements
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Wednesday evening, I joined the Chesterfield Democratic Committee to provide a General Assembly legislative update on the budget and on a few bills signed, amended, or vetoed by the Governor. As legislators return to Richmond this Wednesday for Reconvened Session, Democrats are ready to push for protections for reproductive health care, for fully funding our public education, supporting working families, and much more.
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Thursday afternoon, I joined Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao and the Dean of VCUarts Carmenita Higginbotham to learn about the new CoStar Center for Arts and Innovation [[link removed]] . This state-of-the-art multidisciplinary facility will host events ranging from opera to quantum computing and help build industry partnerships that will give students real-world experience. The Center is expected to open in 2027.
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Later that evening, I attended the Richmond History Makers (RHM) 19th Annual Valentine event. I was delighted to celebrate Breanna Diaz and Narissa Rahaman who both individually received the Civil Rights and Advocacy Award acknowledging their work at the American Civil Liberties Union-Virginia and Equality Virginia, respectively. For the past 125 years, RHM has helped shape our region through community engagement and documenting our history. In recent years, RHM has recognized the individuals and organizations that have significantly impacted the Greater Richmond Region. Congratulations to all of the many amazing honorees!
Eid al-Fitr
As the holy month of Ramadan concluded on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning brought the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. I know that, for Muslims around the world, this sacred month has been filled with evening gatherings of the community to break fast. Many iftar hosts in Virginia have also invited the community at large to share meals and to pray for healing in the world. I thank our RVA Muslim community for the exceptional charity work that has been done this month, as well as throughout the year. I know that several mosques in the area make it their mission to distribute food and other necessities to those in our community who are struggling. For those who are celebrating the joyous holiday, I wish a very sincere Eid Mubarak.
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Connecting With My Office
My office can be reached at the following:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 804.698.7515
If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up to receive my office’s weekly newsletter here [[link removed]] .
— Ghazala
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