Workgroup, Lawmakers Fine-Tuning Accessory Dwelling Unit Proposal - Royal Examiner (2024)

Garage-turned-apartments, carriage houses, in-law suites — all are accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Whatever they’re called, ADUs are seen by some as a fix to affordable housing options or a way to meet the needs of specific families.

But the versatile form of housing isn’t always encouraged by locals or officials and little regulatory guidance exists for their approval around the state.

Following the continuation of proposals to frame such guidance during Virginia’s most recent legislative session, a workgroup in the state’s Housing Commission is fine-tuning ideas for how to get a law on the books in the future.

“It was never supposed to get out of committee, is what I was told. And somehow [it] got out of committee to get bipartisan support,” said Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Fairfax, a freshman delegate carrying a bill that would have required local zoning ordinances for ADUs, which had been unsuccessful in a previous session.

Salim’s bill cleared the Senate with bipartisan votes before failing in a House committee. That same committee also stopped a similar measure from Del. Kannan Srinivasan, D-Loudoun. But rather than be defeated totally, they were “continued to 2025.”

Now, Salim is optimistic that after workshopping from the Housing Commission, a future version of the bill can go on to become law. The trick will be balancing local government authority with state-level guidelines for ADUs.

In her own district — which encompasses rural and urban areas with different residential needs — workgroup chair Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, sees the challenge if state law were to more rigidly regulate ADUs.

It’s why she believes there’s some consensus building on taking a guideline approach that localities could implement. Salim is eager to see what comes of the workgroup.

“I think there’s going to be some consensus on ‘what does local authority look like?’ when the bill comes back,” Salim said. “I’m super excited about that.”

Why do ADUs matter?

ADUs may serve different purposes for Virginia communities’ differing needs.

“Sometimes folks build them to have a rental income, to age in place, to help someone recovering from an injury or illness or to house multiple generations on the same property,” said former Charlottesville delegate Sally Hudson, who’d carried a previous version of the bill.

Hudson had seen inspiration for the legislation in her district, as demand for housing had increased in the Charlottesville area.

Likewise, Salim noted how job growth in his Northern Virginia district has contributed to a higher need for housing that isn’t always being met through construction of new homes and apartments. Allowing for ADUs could at least help, he said.

“This is not going to solve the housing crisis that we have,” Salim said. “This is going to sort of ease some of the issues that we already have right now.”

ADUs aren’t a one-size-fits-all approach to increasing housing stock or affordability. But they offer flexibility for families or communities who may want them.

In some places, they’re allowed to be constructed by-right, or without seeking local permits in residentially-zoned areas.

Rockingham County, for example, allows this. About 90 ADUs were built in the county over the past seven years, allowing housing for a range of people, from farm workers to students and tourists, who can rent them when needed.

Local infrastructure has made their construction a little easier in Rockingham where many properties are on private wells and use septic tanks, but constructing ADUs in other places may require expanding sewage lines and utility setups. It’s considerations like these that are a part of why some people may oppose ADUs, or wish for local authority over how to regulate them.

So, what’s next?

In the short term, the workgroup is planning to explore how localities could allow for ADUs within their comprehensive plans without fully requiring them to develop local zoning ordinances for them.

Comprehensive plans are guiding documents for localities’ urban planning that the state requires they update every few years.

Coyner, the ADU workgroup’s chair, said she hopes to “ensure that localities couldn’t stick their head in the sand and not address the need for accessory dwelling units” and also “allow them to have the flexibility based on the differences and nuances in localities.”

The full Housing Commission is set to meet on July 15, where the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development is expected to present data. Coyner anticipates the ADU work group will meet again later in July to utilize that data in its next steps.

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

Kristen Fenty of Virginia Beach says her daughter Lauren only got one moment of physical proximity to the father she never got a chance to know. It happened when she was a baby, still small enough to be lifted onto her father’s casket.

As a room full of government officials listened Monday, Fenty told the group that her daughter — who was 28 days old in 2006 when her dad, Lt. Col. Joe Fenty, was killed in a helicopter crash — is now 18, preparing to go to college and hoping to eventually go to medical school.

But a tuition waiver program Fenty assumed would help pay for her daughter’s education, the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, has been thrown into limbo due to state leaders’ controversial efforts to cut the program’s growing costs.

“Societies that do not share the cost of war topple,” Fenty said, adding that she hopes the Virginia General Assembly will “right this wrong.”

At the first meeting of a bipartisan task force Gov. Glenn Youngkin convened to study the VMSDEP program and its growing financial impact on Virginia’s public higher education system, Youngkin administration officials and General Assembly members said they were committed to listening to military families and see their well-being as a top policy priority. Fenty was one of several military spouses and veterans selected to serve on the task force, which she called “both an honor and an agony.”

Over the course of several hours Monday afternoon at the Virginia War Memorial building in Richmond, public officials mostly took a rhetorical beating from military veterans and Gold Star spouses who said they felt betrayed by an insular, out-of-touch political class.

“These past two months have shown me the ugly side of Virginia’s government,” said task force member Donna Lewis, a mother of three whose husband was killed in combat in Iraq. “Countless senators and delegates we met with said they were told the impact on our families would be minimal.”

Lewis said she hoped the task force would be productive, but was skeptical after watching what she called “institutional betrayal in its highest form.”

General Assembly leaders have pointed to data showing the VMSDEP program, which provides tuition waivers to spouses and children of military members killed or permanently disabled as a result of their service, has grown exponentially over the last five years. With VMSDEP beneficiaries essentially given the opportunity to go to college for free, some Virginia universities have raised concerns that they can’t continue absorbing the costs of enrolling a growing number of VMSDEP beneficiaries that don’t pay tuition. Those added costs, some policymakers have argued, will ultimately be felt by taxpayers at large or by tuition-paying students who might have less ability to pay than families receiving military benefits.

According to data presented by state officials, VMSDEP participation has grown by nearly 350% over the last five years, jumping from 1,400 students in 2019 to 6,400 in 2023.

The revised program imposes a stricter Virginia residency requirement, prevents the waivers from being used for advanced degrees or a second undergraduate degree and requires participants to first pursue other forms of financial aid and only use VMSDEP for remaining costs.

The attempted trimming of the program enraged military veterans and their families, who have bristled at the idea they’re becoming a burden on public universities that they say don’t seem particularly hard up for cash. Supporters of the VMSDEP program also contend it’s a benefit earned through the sacrifices of adults and children alike and shouldn’t be tied to a family’s ability to pay like other forms of financial aid. Policymakers’ attempts to shield current VMSDEP beneficiaries from the changes fell short, the critics argue, by being unclear and leaving many families uncertain about their status.

The General Assembly is already planning to reconvene later this month to undo the changes to the VMSDEP program and take a closer look at its eligibility rules and how they could be reformed. The task force, made up of General Assembly members, cabinet officials, higher education officials, veteran services officials and military families themselves, is supposed to be studying VMSDEP and issuing recommendations for the 2025 legislative session.

“You have made numbers come alive,” Youngkin Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera told the crowd at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting. “And that’s what matters. And it’s emotional.”

House of Delegates leaders have specified their chamber will return on June 28 and intend to fully reverse the VMSDEP changes. Speaking with reporters after Monday’s meeting, House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, said he and others who supported the VMSDEP changes had sincere concerns about the program’s growth and were trying to look out for the state’s best interests.

“Obviously, from what we’re hearing, it went sideways,” Torian said. “We’re going to move forward. We’re going to address the concerns.”

The plan for the state Senate is less clear, but Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said the Senate expects to announce more detail later this week.

Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, attended Monday’s task force meeting virtually and gave only brief introductory remarks.

“There is no stronger supporter of our military families than I am,” said Lucas.

The task force was part of Youngkin’s response to a furor that erupted when the VMSDEP changes were included in a bipartisan budget deal approved on May 13. Though changes to VMSDEP were on the table in the General Assembly’s regular session, the final budget deal was mostly crafted behind closed doors and approved quickly.

At the time, both parties were eager to get the overdue budget done and avert the prospect of a government shutdown come July 1. But Youngkin, who signed the budget, and the General Assembly, which passed it by a wide margin, are now under pressure to come back before July 1 to reverse the VMSDEP changes and restore the program to its former state.

The task force’s first meeting mostly focused on introductions and taking public comment, almost all of which was infused with indignation at the officials listening from the other side of the table.

Jason Redman, a former U.S. Navy Seal and Old Dominion University graduate who was badly wounded in Iraq, said people signing up for military service are given assurances that, if the worst happens, their loved ones will be taken care of.

“You’re saying that it is too hard to sustain this program to families that have buried a loved one for your freedom,” Redman said. “To warriors who have endured loss of limb, eyesight, function, disfigurement and permanent disability. … This is appalling.”

Brian Smith, a military veteran who said he now works as an eighth grade civics teacher, said that during his service he could never make promises to his daughter that he would be there for any particular holiday or birthday. Expecting VMSDEP to cover college costs, he said, was a promise he thought could be kept.

“What lesson am I taking back to my eighth graders about government?,” he said. “Can you help me out with that?”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

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Manufactured homes, mobile homes, trailers — whatever they’re referred to as, this type of housing has offered tenants an affordable option to become homeowners.

But they haven’t offered as much stability. That’s where Virginia lawmakers have passed some laws to help neighbors around the state have a little more peace of mind.

For example, should a mobile home park be sold for redevelopment, a new law will require some financial assistance to help residents relocate and another new law strengthens protections for residents’ leases.

The mobile-home-specific proposals are among a suite of housing laws that will take effect next month — ranging from rental protections, extensions of pilot programs and the establishment of workgroups to study potential future laws.

‘A misnomer to call them mobile’

From loopholes in renter protections to the ease of displacement by the selling of parks, mobile home owners don’t always have the long-term residency in an area that being a typical homeowner may yield. Many states typically don’t have laws specifically for mobile home residents but Virginia has had some targeted legislation in recent years.

It’s the several mobile home parks in his district that Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, had in mind when he carried a bill to require park owners to provide $5,000 to cover relocation costs when they sell their park for redevelopment.

In 2024, it can cost between $5,000 and $15,000 to move a mobile home depending on the size and distance traveled.

It can be even costlier for longer-standing homes that may be more fragile to move. Krizek said some residents in his district have told him their estimates are closer to the $10,000 and $12,000 range.

“It’s really a misnomer to call them mobile,” he said.

Tram Nguyen with New Virginia Majority also noted the challenges of moving mobile homes as well. Additionally, cost of living is higher in Northern Virginia where several existing mobile home parks represent dwindling affordable housing options.

“I feel like this General Assembly was a bit of a mixed bag,” Nguyen said.

Krizek can attest to that. His bill originally included other protections such as extending the notice period for potential sales and granted local governments a first right of refusal to potentially purchase parks. Between moving through committees and chambers and earning Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature, the bill lost other components but retained the relocation expenses.

While Krizek would rather preserve existing mobile home parks, he hopes that his bill can help people when that’s not possible due to park sales.

That’s where he points to a $5 million dollar increase in the state budget toward the Manufactured Home Revolving Loan Fund — which helps nonprofit organizations and resident associations purchase parks.

His wasn’t the only bill specifically catered to mobile home residents.

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, and Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, made Improvements to the Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act that increased protections such as granting a “right of redemption” to tenants who may face eviction for unpaid rent. The forthcoming law clarifies the reasons a person can be evicted, to include unpaid rent, and outlines the process both parties can follow.

“If you own the home, but you rent the dirt, that is where (this law) applies to you,” said Daniel Rezai, a lawyer with the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

Another component of the bill concerns rights for lease renewals. The law gives the same protections that renters of apartments or other homes have.

“We made sure that we’re providing the same kind of protections to tenants in these communities as we do to other residential rental properties,” Hashmi said.

For example, tenants won’t have to worry about automatic renewals of leases if they don’t want them — resulting in potentially breaking a lease and the charges associated with that — should they inform park owners that they wish to leave.

Other new laws

A handful of other housing laws will take effect next month covering other types of residencies or situations residents can find themselves in.

House Bill 73 — This will require courts to automatically expunge eviction records for cases that have been dismissed after 30 days.

House Bill 764 — This bill will give domestic violence or sexual abuse victims the right to terminate a lease agreement early should they have a permanent protective order and need to move residences for their safety.

House Bill 86 — This bill mandates that during eviction cases, landlords notify tenants of any increases to any money that is requested.

House Bill 477 and Senate Bill 50 – These bills extend Virginia’s eviction diversion pilot program for another year.

House Bill 368 and Senate Bill 538 — These increase the maximum fine that localities can impose on repeated violations of the Uniform Statewide Building Code.

House Bill 1203 — This bill increases tax credit amounts available to landlords who rent to Housing Choice Voucher holders. There is also an earmark for use in rural regions of Virginia.

House Bill 478 and Senate Bill 49 — These allow localities to set up Community Revitalization Funds, which can be used to prevent neighborhood deterioration, such as revamping blighted structures for continued use.

Senate Bill 489 — This bill establishes a workgroup that can analyze the possibility and options for creating a Virginia Residential Development Infrastructure fund.

House Bill 368 and Senate Bill 195 — These bills establish an advisory group to explore changes to Virginia’s Uniform Statewide Building Code. The specific goal concerns permitting the use of single-exit stairways in multi-family residential buildings that are under six stories tall.

Future goals

Though several bills were able to pass during this year’s legislative session and are soon to become law, housing advocates and lawmakers stress there is still more work to do.

For the Virginia Housing Alliance, some key priorities failed to gain traction this year and they hope to see the proposals resurface with better luck next year.

For example, Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, and Hashmi plan to try again on their proposal dubbed “5,000 Families.” Despite their proposal, it did not make it into the final budget.

“5000 Families was really trying to create a pool of funds so that if a family with school-aged kids came into a housing crisis during the school year they can access those funds to keep their housing stable and stay in the same school,” Coyner explained.

She explained that she hopes to continue drawing the connections between how stable housing can affect children’s ability to excel in school.

“This is not just a housing intervention, but this is a really important education intervention,” added Isabel McLain, VHA’s policy director.

While an earlier version of Krizek’s mobile home bill had included a first right-of-refusal component when it comes to mobile home parks up for sale, a bill from Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, would have allowed localities to apply this concept to preserve subsidized housing.

The failed legislation would have required property owners to give localities a chance to match offers to buy certain multifamily rental buildings that might be aging out of affordable housing designations.

Typically, these sorts of properties were developed with the use of low-income housing tax credits, which expire after a set number of years. (Another bill from Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, would have also allowed all Virginia localities to take advantage of these credits if they wished to do so when approving developments).

“We see it as a way to extend our public investments in affordable housing,” McLain said. “We’ve put a lot of state and federal taxpayer dollars into affordable housing and we don’t want those investments to just come to an end.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

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Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order 31, introducing multi-agency data-sharing protocols to improve the accuracy and integrity of Virginia’s voter rolls. This initiative underscores the administration’s commitment to strengthening voter list maintenance through enhanced data accuracy and interagency collaboration.

The new executive order mandates the Virginia Department of Elections to revise and update data-sharing agreements with multiple state agencies within the next 90 days. It also establishes an interagency work group to enhance the quality and security of voter registration data. The work group’s recommendations will guide the Department of Elections in developing and reviewing data-sharing standards for list maintenance processes.

In his announcement, Governor Youngkin emphasized the importance of accurate and transparent data use among state agencies. “Today, I am issuing this Executive Order to ensure the accurate, transparent, and reliable use of data among state agencies, aiming to achieve best-in-class voter list maintenance processes for the Commonwealth,” he stated. “As we transition to a new statewide voter registration system, it is imperative that every state agency provides accurate and valid data. This Executive Order continues our improvements to list maintenance processes, providing a reliable election system for voters.”

This executive order builds on several measures already implemented by the administration to enhance voter list maintenance. These measures include:

• One-to-One Data-Sharing Agreements: Establishing agreements with seven states to ensure accurate voter data exchange.
• National Change of Address Mailings: Two mailings will be conducted to update voter addresses.
• Removal of Deceased Voters: Streamlining the process for removing deceased individuals from voter rolls through a comprehensive audit of Virginia’s deceased records.

These initiatives aim to create a more reliable and secure voter registration system for the Commonwealth of Virginia. By leveraging accurate data from various state agencies, the administration aims to ensure that voter rolls are consistently up-to-date and reflect accurate voter information.

Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order 31 marks a significant step towards modernizing and securing the voter registration process in Virginia, ensuring that the state maintains a transparent and trustworthy electoral system.

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The number of U.S. mpox cases has more than doubled compared with last year, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been urging clinicians across states to encourage vaccinations for those at risk.

As of May 25, the nation had seen a roughly 150% increase in cases of the disease formerly known as monkeypox — from 434 at that time last year to 1,089 this year, according to theCDC. About a third of the cases are in New York state, New York City (which the CDC reports separately), New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Anyone can contractmpox, a viral disease that can cause a rash, pain severe enough to require hospitalization and — inrare cases, primarily in patients with other complications — death. But during 2022’s U.S. outbreak, the contagious infection mainly affected men in gay and bisexual communities. While it’s not a sexually transmitted infection, mpox can be passed through skin-to-skin contact, respiratory droplets or contact with bodily fluids.

June is Pride Month, and public health experts are concerned about a potentially higher caseload this summer as people gather for large celebrations. Experts are encouraging vaccination outreach, especially to Black and Hispanic LGBTQ+ people, who are less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to face barriers to getting care.

Those who are at highest risk for mpox, including men who have sex with men and people with advanced HIV, should receive two doses, four weeks apart, of the trademarked Jynneos vaccine to prevent infection.

The CDC haswarnedthat low vaccination rates among those groups with the highest risk of mpox exposure could lead to a resurgence of the disease.

Dr. Richard Silvera, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said the current mpox rates are far lower than they were in 2022, when there weremore than 3,800 casescitywide, but that the numbers are growing rapidly.

“I am very concerned that there will be increased rates over the summer, particularly as we hit Pride Month,” Silvera said.

New York City has seen more than 200 cases this year — up from 46 at this time last year. It’s unclear what is causing the surge, but Silvera and other experts say one factor could be that some patients may not have received their second doses.

“Either their immunity is waning, or folks didn’t get complete vaccination,” he said. “And so now there’s been time for that virus to exploit those gaps in protection.”

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released anadvisoryin early May, noting that of the 256 diagnoses between October 2023 and April 15, 73% were among unvaccinated people or people who had received only one dose.

“There’s a large overlap between people who belong to BIPOC communities, living with HIV, identifying as LGBTQ+,” said Preeti Pathela, executive director of the STI program at the agency.

“Our hope is that, through this kind of regular outreach which we have intensified in the last couple of months, knowing that coming into the summer is going to be a critical time to really double down, we’re just hoping that the messaging and the services get out to the communities that need it.”

Racist language associated with the former name of mpox helped spur the World Health Organization to rename it in 2022. Public health experts also were concerned that the former name might be discouraging people from being tested and vaccinated by contributing to the stigma surrounding the disease.

Inreportslast month, the CDCwarnedof a heightened global threat of a deadlier strain of mpox that is devastating the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus is endemic. That strain hasn’t been detected in the United States, but the agency and clinicians are on alert for possible cases in travelers from the country.

Infectious disease physician Dr. Anu Hazra said he and others in the field are closely watching that strain.

“The only way that we can truly think about eradicating mpox is bringing vaccines to everywhere in the world that’s impacted by the illness,” said Hazra, who sees patients at Howard Brown Health, which runs several clinics in the Chicago area focused on LGBTQ+ care.

HIV patients are athigher riskof contracting mpox, and aredisproportionatelyBlack and Hispanic. Racism, hom*ophobia and barriers to care such as poverty and a lack of transportation complicate prevention and treatment efforts.

“When we think about, sort of, any communicable disease, we know that it tracks along racial and economic fault lines. We’ve seen that with HIV, we’ve seen that with COVID, we see that with certain STIs — we have certainly seen it with mpox,” Hazra said.

Silvera, of the Icahn School of Medicine, said clinicians and state health agencies also should consider the historic distrust of medicine among Black and Hispanic communities.

“It takes a lot of time. We’re undoing decades and centuries of work,” he said. “It’s a tough job. And so, we can do that person to person, but it’s also going to require larger efforts as well to undo these disparities.”

Along with distrust and vaccine skepticism, fear of being “outed” as gay is a major barrier in some Black communities, said Ryan Payne, a prevention specialist at the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina. The organization serves six counties in North Carolina.

“That is a full-blown truth. It’s very hard. Me and my co-workers are talking about that all the time,” Payne said.

At the end of April, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services found that30 of the 51 casesover the previous six months were among Black people. Butonly 27%of patients vaccinated in the state this year were Black.

In Pennsylvania, there have been 64 reported mpox cases compared with two at this time last year, according to the CDC. The state’s health department said it will emphasize the importance of vaccinations throughout 2024, using an awareness campaign that will focus on reaching the at-risk populations through social media and dating apps.

Cory Haag, a registered nurse at the Central Outreach Wellness Center in Pittsburgh, said the best way to stem the spread is by addressing barriers, educating patients and quelling fears within the LGBTQ+ community the center serves.

Many patients travel for up to two hours to receive care at the center. It provides bus passes to patients so they can more easily return for a second vaccine dose.

“We’re just happy to be that safe space to catch them,” Haag said.

This story originally appeared in Stateline, which, like the Virginia Mercury, is part of States Newsroom.

by Nada Hassanein, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

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Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said he’s not opposed to reconvening the General Assembly to address a public outcry over recent changes to a state program that covers higher education costs for some military families.

“There is shared ownership over this issue that we can all work together on to correct,” Scott said in an interview Tuesday evening. “Nobody has to use politics to try to take advantage of veterans.”

A U.S. Navy veteran himself, the speaker said it’s been unfortunate to see political “grandstanding” take hold in discussions of what the state should do about the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, which provides higher education tuition waivers and stipends to spouses and children of military members who were killed or severely disabled as a result of their service.

To address concerns the program has grown so fast over the last five years that the financial impacts are becoming too steep for public institutions to bear, state officials recently approved new limits on the program meant to narrow who’s eligible for VMSDEP benefits. The revised program imposes a stricter Virginia residency requirement, prevents the waivers from being used for advanced degrees or a second undergraduate degree and requires participants to first pursue other forms of financial aid and only use VMSDEP for remaining costs.

Youngkin calls for repeal of new limits on college tuition program for military families

That winnowing of the program, enacted quietly through Virginia’s bipartisan budget deal last month, set off an uproar among military families who felt state leaders had abruptly yanked back a benefit integral to their college plans. Many of those families contend the benefit was earned through service and sacrifice, and isn’t something that should be tied to financial need or treated as a burden on universities that can’t collect tuition from VMSDEP students.

Since the new budget was approved on May 13, activists opposed to the VMSDEP rollback have bombarded Youngkin and General Assembly members with complaints and have pressed policymakers to reverse course. That’s left General Assembly members in a difficult position; they’re trying to explain the program could be susceptible to exploitation by non-Virginians or families with the means to pay for college themselves, without sounding unsympathetic to the real struggles of military veterans and their loved ones.

Ceding to the public pushback, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced last week that he wants the General Assembly to return this month to restore the program to its former status while a state task force studies ways to get VMSDEP costs under control. Some Democrats have seemed resistant to that plan, but Scott’s comments indicate General Assembly leaders and the governor could be moving closer to a consensus on the need to reconvene by the end of the month.

“At the end of the day, we all got here together. We can all get out of here together,” Scott said. “We’re going to do it in partnership with those families. We’re going to get a solution.”

Though Republicans may have been quicker to publicly side with the upset military families, Scott said the GOP also had a hand in putting VMSDEP cost-cutting on the General Assembly’s agenda this year.

In addition to Youngkin signing the budget that included the program overhaul, Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, filed a bill this year, with support from the Youngkin administration, that included many of the same changes to the program.

“People are now playing politics with this because they bit off a little bit more than they could chew,” Scott said. “They shot first and then aimed.”

Reeves watered down his VMSDEP bill at its first Senate hearing in February, amending it to simply study the program and hold off on making changes to who would qualify. The study bill cleared the state Senate 40-0, but was blocked by the Democratic-led House Appropriations Committee in a voice vote at the end of February.

Just before that vote, a House committee staffer suggested the study bill was unnecessary because the House was pressing ahead with changes to the program through its budget proposal.

“The program has increased sixfold over the last five years, and any delay in moving forward could cause the institutions an impact of about $40 million,” legislative fiscal analyst Tony Maggio said at the Feb. 28 committee meeting.

The VMSDEP overhaul was included in the budget the General Assembly approved in March as the regular legislative session adjourned. The package of proposed budget amendments Youngkin put forward a few weeks later stripped out the VMSDEP changes and called for the type of VMSDEP study envisioned in the legislation the House blocked.

The House rejected Youngkin’s amendments in April, and the VMSDEP program changes reappeared in the final budget both sides wanted to approve quickly in May. Passing that budget ended a lengthy partisan standoff and put to rest talk of a potential government shutdown.

However, the document was largely negotiated behind closed doors, and VMSDEP supporters were frustrated to see major policy changes carried out through a few lines of text on page 641 of a 674-page budget.

The final document was released to the public just 48 hours before the May 13 vote on the budget. The VMSDEP changes included a grandfather clause exempting anyone already participating in the program or committed to a higher education institution by May 15.

Activists said that sequence of events gave families very little time to parse what was happening and left many families scrambling to try to find out how the changes would impact them.

Scott acknowledged the issue could’ve been handled differently.

“I think there’s some validity to the complaint that we probably shouldn’t have done this through the budget without legislation,” he said.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, Friends of VMSDEP, the main advocacy group pushing back against changes to the program, thanked Scott for listening to calls for a special session.

“We hope this will put us on a path to preserving VMSDEP with a vote to repeal the language in HB/SB6001 and ensure a comprehensive study is completed prior to any future proposed legislative changes,” said Friends of VMSDEP co-founder Kayla Owen. “Ultimately our goal is to make sure this program is sustainable for many years to come.”

After an unrelated event Wednesday, Youngkin told reporters he too thinks the program should remain unchanged for now and the General Assembly can revisit the issue in 2025 with “full committee hearings” that “allow Virginians and particularly our veterans to be engaged.”

“I have not had huge pushback” from the legislature, Youngkin said. “In fact, I’ve had real agreement from leadership in the House and the Senate, from Republicans and Democrats,” Youngkin said of his call for immediate action to reverse the VMSDEP changes. “I believe that we can do this. We need to come back before June 30.”

This story was updated after publication to include a statement from Friends of VMSDEP.

by Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

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Starting Friday, some anglers in Virginia will be able to cast their fishing lines into salt waters at the cost everyone can afford: free.

From June 7-9, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission will lift the saltwater recreational fishing license requirement, which typically costs Virginia residents $17.50 to obtain.

The effort is intended to encourage the public’s participation in fishing, while still adhering to other regulations and conservation measures, and allow people to enjoy the state’s marine resources, which can be home to a smattering of species including pompano, red drum and the iconic striped bass, or rockfish.

“This initiative provides a wonderful opportunity for Virginians and visitors alike to experience the joy of fishing without the barrier of license fees,” stated VMRC Commissioner Jamie Green. “We encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity while also respecting our marine ecosystems and regulations.”

For those going after striped bass, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissions, the regional authority regulating fisheries along the East Coast, earlier this month imposed a one-fish catch limit for recreational anglers. In the Chesapeake Bay, the catches must be between 19 and 24 inches, and along the Atlantic Coast, hauls must be between 28 inches and 31 inches.

The conservation measures were put in place following research that found a continual decline in the number of baby striped bass.

“What has everyone worried is that there are hardly any smaller striped bass growing up for anglers to catch in future years,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation Virginia Executive Director Chris Moore, in a statement following ASMFC’s action. “The last time the Chesapeake saw a strong group of young striped bass was back in 2015.”

Moore said big fish need to stay in the water,“to reproduce and rebuild the striped bass population so that they’ll be around in the future.”

Head boats, charter boats, rental boats, or fishing piers that typically charge a fee are excluded from the free fishing waiver. More information on Free Fishing Days and fishing regulations in Virginia can be found at www.mrc.virginia.gov.

by Charlie Paullin, Virginia Mercury

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