Town Hall Meeting and Budget Amendments

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

First and foremost, our hearts grieve for the victims of the tragic plane crash at Reagan National Airport. Earlier today, Fairfax County Public Schools announced that the victims include members of our community. Keep these families in your thoughts and prayers. The General Assembly has been briefed by the Governor – and we are grateful for our first responders who are at the scene.

It is hard to believe we have reached the three-week mark of the 2025 General Assembly session. This week has been incredibly busy – but in a good way! My days are filled with committee and subcommittee meetings as well as visits from constituents advocating on behalf of many important issues. So far, I have gotten eight of my bills through the full House. Several more are awaiting final committee action later this week. More to come in my next newsletter. Our deadline for acting on all House bills is next Tuesday, which is known as “cross-over.” At that point, we all take a deep breath and start the process again by considering Senate bills. 

TOWN HALL MEETING

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at my annual Town Hall meeting this Saturday, February 1. The meeting will be held from 9-11 AM at the City of Fairfax City Hall. We will be joined by State Senator Saddam Salim. The Town Hall will include an overview of the session, our legislative initiatives, and lots of time for Q&A.

BUDGET AMENDMENTS

Last week, I highlighted my legislative initiatives. This week I wanted to provide an overview of my proposed budget amendments. Virginia is relatively unique in that it operates on a two-year budget cycle. This biennial approach helps with long-term planning and keeps the budget structurally balanced. We are now in the second year of the biennium.

At this point in the session we are all filled with hope! That may change on Sunday when the House and Senate will announce their proposed budget packages. But until then we can all dream that our budget amendments will pass muster. Below are a few of my introduced budget amendments:

• K-12 School Funding – Item 125 #2h. A recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report revealed just how much the state is underfunding K-12 education. This has a direct impact on property taxes in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. This budget item lifts Great Recession era cuts and will restore $222.9M to directly support our schools.
• Early Childhood Education – Item 125.1 #1h. Virginia has made great strides toward making early childhood care and education more affordable and accessible. Quality childcare is not only important for our littlest learners, but also a vital part of our economy. While we have made progress, we still have a waiting list of over 10,000 children from low-income families. This budget item provides $160M to significantly increase available slots.
• Virginia Housing Trust Fund – Item 102 #7h. Virginia is facing an affordable housing crisis. A recent JLARC report estimates that Virginia needs to build at least 200,000 affordable rental units to address demand. This budget item adds $160M to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund, which is a flexible fund used to increase and preserve affordable housing as well as to prevent homelessness.
• Affordable Housing Development for Underutilized Land – Item 102 #3h. Related to the above, non-profit organizations, including faith-based communities, often have underutilized land that could be converted to affordable housing. We have a great example in the City of Fairfax at the Fairfax Presbyterian Church. This budget item would provide grants to help non-profit organizations navigate the zoning process and develop feasibility studies.
• PFAS Testing Capability – Item 68 #1h. PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” are a serious and growing environmental and human health concern. As we work to find and eliminate the sources of PFAS in our water, we need to increase our PFAS testing capabilities. This item adds $2.1 million for the Department of General Services Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services to increase testing capacity.
• GMU Operating Support – Item 151 #3h. This budget item provides an additional $18M for George Mason University. GMU is the largest university in Virginia and is a critical part of our economy. However, it has among the lowest per-pupil support of any Virginia institution of higher education.
• Invasive Species Management – Item 360 #2h. This budget item provides $450K each year to support invasive plant species mitigation and control in our state parks. These invasive plants cause billions of dollars a year in economic and ecological damage. 
• New Oak Hill State Park – Item 360 #3h. Virginia is the birthplace to eight Presidents of the United States (bonus points if you can name all of them!). We have a rare opportunity to bring the home of President James Monroe into our state park system. This is an incredibly well-preserved property situated on over 1,000 acres in Loudoun County. 
• Stormwater Local Assistance Fund – Item C-53 #1h. Improving the quality of stormwater runoff from urban areas (parking lots, roads, and other impervious surfaces) is a key component to restoring local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. This budget item adds $50M for the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund to help local governments implement stormwater quality projects.
• Wastewater Treatment Upgrades – Item 365 #1h. This budget item increases funding by $31.1M to reduce pollution from our wastewater treatment plants – which is important both for public health and restoring the Chesapeake Bay.
• State Parks Maintenance – Item C-29.30 #2h. We are blessed to have an amazing state park system in Virginia. Unfortunately, we face a huge maintenance backlog. “Maintenance by emergency” is not only bad for users of the system, it is also an inefficient use of tax dollars. This budget item adds $45M for maintenance, which is about 10% of the total need.

Click here to see all my budget amendments and stay tuned for my next Focus on Fairfax for an overview of the proposed House budget.​

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you! I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Town Hall meeting.