Richmond, VA
On December 7, I hurried the two older kids out the door to buss stops and dropped my youngest off at the elementary school, before hustling downtown for my first League of Women Voters meeting at the Capitol. I had picked an outfit out the night before, like it was the first day of school, and in many ways - for me - it was.
The line-up of speakers was incredible and I learned more in those few hours than I had expected. For those of you who could not attend, below is the list of speakers and a few notes of what they spoke of, along with links to their organizations. I encourage anyone who has never attended a LWV meeting to go to one soon (men, included!).
Pre-Session Women’s Legislative Roundtable — LWV of Virginia
Capitol Building, Senate Room 3
Moderators: Co-Presidents LWV — Lois Page and Dianne Blais
Nancy Rodrigues
9:30 Ric Brown: Virginia Secretary of Finance finance.virginia.gov Admittedly, I was a little late for this one (finding parking near the Capitol is hard ya’ll, walking in heels on sidewalks is not easy, and did you not read about the 3 kids to 3 schools up top?). I’m sure he said some important stuff about VA finance; check their website for actual information.
9:40 Brian Cannon: OneVirginia2021 onevirginia2021.org Brian’s group is trying to fight against gerrymandering, by creating a system that fairly draws political lines. They are working to get a line in the state constitution that lines must be drawn not to benefit any one party. There are some interesting court cases going on currently in VA, NC, and WI.
Janice Craft and Margie Del Castillo
Impromptu calling up of Nancy Rodrigues: Secretary of Administration in Governor Terry McAuliffe’s Cabinet administration.virginia.gov Nancy spoke about the importance of registering young voters and mentioned a 2019 Commemorative video for the 400 years of democracy in VA (video on her website). A Women’s Monument is in the planning stages.
9:50 Kenneth Gilliam: Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org Kenneth’s team focuses on the budget and taxes and how they affect low income residents. Unemployment is low at under 4%, but state revenue is lagging with a shortfall of 1% less than predicted; which may not sound like a lot but equals $279 million. Some issues we face are not having nurses in every public school, less support to higher education increasing tuition prices, and attacks on the Affordable Care Act.
James Parrish
10:00 Janice Craft and Margie Del Castillo: Women’s Equality Coalition www.vawomensequalitycoalition.org This group supports women’s rights in the key areas of health and safety, economic opportunity, and democratic participation. In 2017 they will be focusing attention on women’s reproductive rights, Medicaid, a $15 minimum wage bill, equal pay for women, and the ERA. Their lobby day is January 23rd.
10:20 James Parrish: Equality Virginia www.equalityvirginia.org
Claire Guthrie-Gastanaga
James spoke about the 9 anti-LGBT bills that were defeated in 2016. So, there is “support for fairness,” but with challenges, especially on the House side. Their Action Day is February 7th and you can register on their website.
10:30 Amy Woolard: JustChildren, Legal Aid Justice Center www.justice4all.org Amy’s group advocates for children. She shared their report, “Suspended Progress,” on the effects of the overuse of suspensions and expulsions in VA schools. She mentioned the Rise program as an alternative to incarceration for at-risk teenagers. www.riseyouth.org
Mira Signer
10:40 Claire Guthrie-Gastanaga: ACLU acluva.org What do these folks not do? Claire spoke on many of the legislature issues that will be faced in 2017, including pushing for the amount of money involved in a crime to make it a felony in VA to be increased from $200 to $400, which is one of the lowest in the country.
10:50 Mira Signer: National Alliance on Mental Illness of VA namivirginia.org Mira’s group is
tackling the topic of mental illness in jails and wants to create procedures and timelines that hold specific agencies accountable for the treatment of the mentally ill in local jails. They would also like to see more funding for jail diversion programs.
Dana Wiggins
11:00 Jay Speer and Dana Wiggins: Virginia Poverty Law Center www.vplc.org This group advocates for lower-income residents in the areas of consumer, elder, family, domestic and sexual violence, health, and housing. They touched on reenter’s rights, VA hunger solutions programs like SNAP and TANF, and leading issues like pay-day loans and line-of-credit loans that take unfair advantage of low-income citizens.
78 cents to the dollar
11:10 Leslie Tourigny: AAUW-VA American Association of University Women aauw-va.aauw.net The national AAUW has been helping women and girls since 1881 through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Leslie spoke about a bill for 2017 to eliminate the pay gap. In 2015, the pay gap in VA was 78%, making it the 35th state in pay equity.
Candace Graham and Eileen Davis
11:15 Candace Graham and Eileen Davis: Women-Matter/ERA www.women-matter.org Women Matter is still trying to get the ERA ratified in Virginia. It needs 3 more states to ratify it but our legislature won’t hear it because of the expired deadline. They must be forgetting the VA poll tax that was ratified 8 years after its deadline. This group is also supporting an upcoming bill that protects children financially when their parent dies.
Andy Goddard
11:20 Megan Rhyne: Virginia Coalition for Open Government VCOG www.opengovva.org Megan spoke about addressing transparency in VA legislature, specifically the recording of the legislature votes and not hiding them through House subcommittees.
11:30 Kristine Hall: VA Sexual and Domestic Violence Alliance VSDV www.vsdvalliance.org Kristine spoke on this groups supportive role to all their allied groups to eliminate sexual and domestic violence for all Virginians. Find out more at their website.
Tram Nguyen
11:40 Andy Goddard: Virginia Center for Public Safety VACPS vacps.org Andy informed attendees that over 900 people in VA die from gun deaths each year, more than car-accident deaths. Ninety-two percent of Americans polled believe there should be background checks for every gun purchase, and, yet, our legislatures still won’t pass common sense gun laws. They will hold their 25th annual Vigil at 2pm near the Bell Tower at the Capitol January 16th.
11:50 Edgar Aranda-Yano: VA Coalition of Latino Organizations VACOLAO vacolao.org Edgar talked about the importance of being able to obtain a drivers license and in-state tuition for all immigrants. They would like to hear a resolution from the legislature that they welcome diversity.
12:00 Tram Nguyen: New Virginia Majority www.newvirginiamajority.org This group is involved in election laws and voter protection. Tram touched on proof-of-citizenship hurdles, early voting, and rights restoration. She said, “It’s not sexy, but it’s important.”
Molly Ward
12:10 Molly Ward: Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources naturalresources.virginia.gov Molly talked about the importance of land conservation and water quality in our state. She mentioned the National Park Service’s acquisition of Werowocomoco, the former capital of the Powhatan Chiefdom on the York River. She discussed the Bay watershed and the overuse of the Potomac aquifer.
Luncheon Program at the Patrick Henry Building
Kelly Thomasson: Secretary of the Commonwealth www.virginia.gov Kelly updated attendees on Virginia’s restoration of rights. Over 100,000 people have had their voting rights restored. She said there are 300 state boards and commissions with over 600 positions that will need to be filled when seats expire.
Kelly Thomasson
Edgardo Cortes: Commissioner of Elections www.elections.virginia.gov
The title of Edgardo’s speech was “November 8, 2016 Election Administration: How Did Virginia Do?” He said the voting process went smoothly thanks mostly to the effort to modernize. He is a big proponent for electronic registering at the DMV. He said 3.9 million Virginians voted in the election.
Edgardo Cortes
S’hew! That is a lot of politics in one day for a soccer mom turning political activist. I’ll tell you later about my first Chesterfield County Democratic Committee meeting I went to that very same night! The point of this article is that there are many, many opportunities to get involved — click on these organizations’ websites and sign up to support your community.
www.chesterfielddems.org
www.lwv-va.org
