U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is slated to be the featured guest at the 15th annual “Toast to Adam Ebbin” on Sunday, Oct. 9 from 3 to 5 p.m.
The event is a fund-raiser for Ebbin, a state senator whose...
State Sen. Adam Ebbin has been tapped to serve as chair of the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.
“I look forward to this new responsibility,” Ebbin said in a statement.
“The General Laws committee entertains legislation crucial to many longstanding...
Even as they work to determine their candidates for 2022 elections, Arlington Republicans are looking ahead to state Senate races in 2023.
Matthew Hurtt, the local GOP’s communications chairman, recently sent out a missive reminding the rank-and-file that the Republican...
Arlington County Board members will be a little late to the party this weekend as they start the ball rolling on assisting local cab drivers with meeting the increasingly high cost of doing business.
Board members are slated to set...
It took a conference committee to get to a resolution, but legislation to end a century-old requirement that adult children be financially responsible for their parents has landed on the desk of Gov. Youngkin.
The sentiment embodied in current state...
Despite a brief hiccup during consideration in a House of Delegates subcommittee, legislation to end a century-old requirement that adult children be financially responsible for their parents is likely headed to the desk of Gov. Youngkin.
The sentiment embodied in...
We had coverage a few days ago of a bill patroned by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Still My Senator Until Redistricting Kicks In or I Finally Relocate!) that would remove from the Code of Virginia a provision that adult children...
Who knew: For more than a century, the adult children of Virginians have had a legal obligation to support their parents in times of financial distress, and if they didn’t meet that obligation, could be subject to a fine...
Legislation that would put an end to mandatory student masking at all Virginia public schools received a mixed response from the three members of the Arlington delegation to the state Senate.
Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax-Arlington) on Jan. 8 voted to support incorporating the concept into existing legislation, while Sens. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington-Fairfax-Loudoun) and Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria-Arlington-Fairfax) opposed it.
The wording, which passed the state Senate on a lopsided 29-9 vote Feb. 8, was patroned by Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax-Vienna), a vocal critic of mandatory masking policies.
The measure unmasked splits within the Senate Democratic caucus, with 10 supporting the bill, nine opposing it and two not voting. All 19 Republicans supported the measure.
A day later, the state Senate passed the broader bill, patroned by Republican Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant, which also included language mandating that public schools retain an in-person option even if COVID spikes again.
The full bill passed the Senate 21-17, with a few Democrats, including Petersen (but not Howell), joining with Republicans.
The bill moves on to the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, which seems destined to approve it. The bill, SB 739, has the support of the Youngkin administration.
Whether the measure would have any practical effect, or is merely political theater, is an open question. Backers have devised a plan that would, after expected passage by the House of Delegates, have Gov. Youngkin propose an amendment to treat the bill as an emergency measure. Unlike legislation that originates in the General Assembly, which requires a supermajority of both houses, an amendment from the governor would only require majority votes, Republicans say. That would allow the measure to go into effect immediately, if at least one of the Democrats in the Senate went along.
A coalition of Northern Virginia school districts has sued the Youngkin administration, arguing that the new governor’s executive order requiring a mask-optional policy for all Virginia school districts violates their rights. The measure, now working its way up the judicial system, likely will be decided by the Virginia Supreme Court – unless the school districts throw in the towel first.
Petersen is something of a renegade Democrat, and had promised at the start of the 2022 General Assembly session that if local school districts did not end their mask mandates – which he believes are ineffective and do more harm than good – he would force the issue. Which he then proceeded to do, but only after first ripping into outgoing Fairfax Superintendent Scott Brabrand in a letter castigating that district’s mandatory-masking policy.
The fact that more than half the Senate Democrats voting opted to support Petersen’s position suggests how quickly the political winds on masking appear to be changing across the nation. A number of Democratic-dominated states are beginning to eliminate their own mask mandates, an effort that seems likely to be driven as much by polling data as by major changes in public health.
Arlington is now 3-for-3 when it comes to its state senators holding committee chairmanships.
The Senate Democratic Caucus on Jan. 28 announced that Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria-Arlington-Fairfax) would become chair of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections. He moves...
