The 36th District Town Hall Wrap-Up

Over the past two weekends we have held six different town hall meetings.

Thank you all who attended the town halls, both in-person and online through Facebook Live, thank you for all the engaging questions you brought with you. Stay contacted with me via Facebook and Twitter to hear about future town halls.

You can watch video from each of the town halls below! 

Occoquan Town Hall – January 27, 2018

Weekly Column: Progress on Education Equity and Setbacks on Distracted Driving

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of January 29, 2018.

               This past weekend, we saw about 150 people turn out at my three Town Hall Meetings in Occoquan, Montclair and Stafford County with Senator Jeremy McPike, Delegates Jennifer Carroll Foy, Hala Ayala, and Elizabeth Guzman.  You can watch videos of all six of my town hall meetings on my Facebook page or on my blog – The Dixie Pig – at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.  Thank you to everyone who turned out!

               On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation Committee killed my legislation to authorize temporary driving permits for Virginians who cannot show legal immigration status but can pass a driving test and are paying Virginia taxes.  Numerous studies in the fifteen states who have done this have shown that it reduces collisions, hit and run incidents, increases reporting other crimes to law enforcement, and results in significantly increased tax collections.  The bill died on a party line vote 7-8 after over three hundred people jammed the room and testified about how a lack of driving privileges affected them on a daily basis.

Weekly Column: Progress on Transportation Safety and Criminal Justice Reform

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of January 22, 2018.

Progress on Transportation Safety and Criminal Justice Reform

The General Assembly acted on several of my bills last week, the first full week of the session.

Two of my bills passed this week.  First, my bill to expand the types of abuse proceedings in which children can testify by video connection passed unanimously.  Also, the Senate passed my legislation raising Virginia’s threshold between misdemeanors and felonies to $500 after it was combined with other members’ bills.  Virginia’s felony threshold is the lowest in the United States, has not changed since 1980, wastes taxpayer dollars and unnecessarily turns many into felons.  Only two senators voted against the bill and it now heads to the House of Delegates.  

Weekly Column: Coal Ash, Predatory Lending and Education Equity

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of January 15, 2018.

The General Assembly has reorganized, added nearly twenty new members, and we inaugurated a new Governor on Saturday.  The 36^th District now overlaps with five new state delegates including four new women.  I am looking forward to the new ideas and energy they bring. 

This year brings a long session and a new two-year budget.  The biggest news in Governor McAuliffe’s proposed budget was about $500 million of new education monies, a proposed funding solution for Metro, and $170,000 to finally clean up a derelict barge in Belmont Bay. 

While we need to fix Metro, Governor McAuliffe’s proposed fix takes over half a billion dollars away from other Northern Virginia transportation projects and will serious jeopardize the current timeline on U.S. 1 projects in Fairfax County and potentially Prince William County.  I cannot support it as written and will work to find other revenue sources to solve this problem.