Weekly Column: Stay At Home!

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of March 29, 2020.

Stay At Home!

                The last two weeks brought us two executive orders and one consistent message from our Governor – Stay.  At.  Home.

Last week, Governor Northam issued an order extending school closures, closing all entertainment and personal care venues and businesses, and restricting access at certain non-essential businesses.  This Monday, the Governor further restricted public gatherings after Virginians continued to appear in large groups at the beaches and a few restaurants.  

It is important to understand that this disease can be transmitted before carriers develop symptoms.  It also appears to transmit without physical contact.  The majority of individuals diagnosed with this virus are under age 50.  While people under 50 tend to be less at risk for death, if one person under 50 infects 20 other people, the chain of transmission ultimately results in more deaths.  Continuing to socialize with others is incredibly selfish.

2020 36th District Paving Maps

VDOT will repave over 100 lane miles in the 36th District portions of eastern Fairfax, Prince William, and Stafford Counties this summer. The entire map of roadwork for the 2020 summer paving season can be viewed at http://bit.ly/VDOTPaving2020.

This work is only made possible by tax increases passed in the 2013 transportation bill - HB2313. I voted for the 2013 transportation bill as a State Delegate after a significant reduction of the Hybrid Tax. Though it was not perfect, the 2013 bill provided the revenues necessary to restart road maintenance that had been put on hold for two years.  We had not raised transportation taxes in 28 years and we are continuing to dig out of the maintenance backlog. Re-paving these streets is long overdue.

In Virginia, all public roads are owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT).  Our local governments play no role in road maintenance.

Several of the affected neighborhoods in the 36th District are Villamay, Wellington, Marumsco, Woodbridge, Colby Drive, Spriggs Road and Widewater. Maps by neighborhood can be seen below.

Rippon-area paving scheduled for 2020

Mt. Vernon paving scheduled for 2020

Widewater paving scheduled for 2020

Montclair paving scheduled for 2020

Occoquan/Lakeridge Paving Scheduled for 2020

Weekly Column: Virginia's Actions To Address the COVID-19 Crisis

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of March 22, 2020.

               This week, I  had planned to write about some of the major bills that we  passed in the 2020 session of the General Assembly, but in light of the coronavirus risk and its impacts, I decided that updating the community on the Commonwealth’s responses is a priority.  Here is where things stand as of Sunday, March 22. Please keep in mind this will be published later and things change daily.

            Multiple websites offer guidance and updates on the coronavirus and how to address it.  The state’s website is vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus and I post daily updates on my blog, scottsurovell.blogspot.com.

                I have spent most of the entire week home with my family like many other people.  My law firm decided to remain open with a skeleton crew, four people versus 30 in the office every day, until further notice.  I had my shift on Friday.  Otherwise, I worked on my constituents’ problems and my legal responsibilities from home and had some quality family time.   

COVID-19 Public Schools Meals Distribution in 36th District

All of our local school systems are distributing meals to children during the school shutdown.  There are over a dozen sites in the 36th District.  

Here are how you find the locations in Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford County:

Fairfax County Public Schools Meal Sites 

Fairfax County Bus Route Meal Service

Prince William County Public Schools Meal Sites

Stafford County Public Schools Meal Sites

Please let us know if you have any problems or require any further information.   

Weekly Column: COVID-19 and Our New State Budget

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of March 15, 2020.

COVID-19 and our New State Budget

               On Thursday, we passed the Senate Budget and nearly as soon as it was passed, the Corona-19 Virus situation exploded.  While this virus crisis is unprecedented, our budget was well-structured and balanced as required by our constitution, and we are prepared for a recession.

               Virginia has its largest cash reserves in the history of the Commonwealth – over $2 billion.  We have been building this reserve both because of constitutionally required deposits to our Revenue Reserve or “Rainy Day” Fund, but also because analysts have been warning us about a likely recession for years even though until last week, we were in the longest economic expansion in American history.

               Our outside bond rating agencies have been warning us that much of American economic growth has been generated by government stimulus versus underlying solid economic fundamentals.  For example, the Trump Tax cuts from 2017 and additional federal government spending accounted for about 1.1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product over the last three years.  Some of Virginia’s productivity was generated by the $1 billion annually invested through Medicaid Expansion.

Weekly Column: The 2020 General Assembly: 39 Surovell Bills Passed

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of March 8, 2020.

The 2020 General Assembly:  39 Surovell Bills Passed

 The 2020 General Assembly finished work on all legislation this past Sunday, except we did not pass a final state budget or elect new judges to fill vacancies.  We will return to Richmond on Thursday, March 13, to complete that work and adjourn for this year.

                This was my most successful session in passing bills in my eleven years in the General Assembly.  The legislature sent 39 of my bills to Governor Ralph Northam.  We carried over nine bills and  referred them to study commissions.  The legislature also carried over my legislation to abolish the death penalty to be potentially considered over the summer. 

                I will highlight some of the other major bills we passed and discuss more bills and the budget in future columns.

Weekly Column: One Week To Go!

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of March 1, 2020.

The second-to-last week of the General Assembly was very busy with many long sessions including one night where we were on the floor until after 1:00 a.m.

Two major firearms bills were sent to the Governor last week.  First, my legislation to authorize local governments to regulate firearms passed both chambers and is off to the Governor.  The bill will allow localities to regulate firearms in public buildings like government centers, police stations, libraries, community and recreation centers.  It will also allow regulation of parks and publicly permitted events such as farmer’s markets.

Localities have been requesting this authority for well over a decade and was further underscored after the shooting that occurred during the Charlottesville Unite the Right March and firearms rights activists open carrying AR-15’s at the City of Alexandria Farmer’s Market.  All entrances where firearms are restricted will be required to be marked with signage so that people will not be caught off guard.