Latest news with #D-Richmond
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Virginia will allow for some criminal records to be sealed next year
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, virtually joins a discussion panel with criminal justice experts in Richmond on May 14, 2025 to discuss a forthcoming record-sealing law. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/ Virginia Mercury) Next summer, certain people with past convictions will be eligible to apply for their criminal records to be sealed — meaning long-past convictions won't show up on background checks. This can help people who have been formerly incarcerated and rehabilitated get a fresh start when applying for jobs, loans or apartments. The process stems from a 2021 law that underwent several years of workshopping before its delayed implementation. Starting next summer, people with some misdemeanor and felony convictions will be able to petition to have their records sealed. For felonies, people need to have had no new convictions for 10 years to be eligible, while people with misdemeanor convictions need to have no new convictions in seven years. People with Class 1 or 2 felony convictions, typically violent crimes, or charges that carry life sentences are not eligible. And petitioners must not have been convicted of a Class 3 or Class 4 felony within 20 years. For people with misdemeanors that might have been dismissed but still appear on records, expungement of records is a separate process they can seek out through their local circuit courts. While expungement has been a limited option for people in Virginia, record-sealing is new. The 2021 law's rollout has been slowed down to give circuit court clerks time to prepare for waves of people who would seek a sealing, determine how far back in court records would be permitted (prior to the 1980s, most courts weren't digitized), and compromise on the types of crimes that are eligible. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, virtually joined a panel of criminal justice experts Wednesday in Richmond to discuss the law's evolution and the journey for beneficiaries that lies ahead. 'It was important to get the system up and running and functioning,' Surovell said, noting that updates to Virginia's digital criminal record-keeping that can help streamline the process have been underway in recent years. And while he, Del. Rae Cousins, D-Richmond, and Suffolk Circuit Court Clerk Randy Carter suspect the law will need further tweaking, they celebrated the fact that it's come to fruition. With a start date of July 1, 2026, Surovell said dozens of constituents have already reached out to him to express excitement. Surovell said that one of those people had a larceny charge in his youth that has 'followed him around' for decades. Likewise, Cousins stressed her support for the law. 'It is laws like this that make it easier for people who have taken accountability who have also served their time, who have rehabilitated themselves to actually get out and have a second chance at life.' Lawyer George Townsend, who moderated the panel, said the law inspired him to found a firm called Clean Slate Virginia, specifically focused on record-sealing cases. He said he saw the law as a 'game changer' for helping people get their lives back on track and reduce recidivism. With a little more than a year before the law is effective, the panel acknowledged that public outreach about the new law will help let potential petitioners know they have this option. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Va. community colleges end diversity, equity and inclusion practices
J. Sargent Reynolds Community College in Henrico. (Photo courtesy WWBT) Virginia's 23 community colleges will be required to ensure all of their programs and practices comply with federal regulations to ensure everyone is treated fairly and equally, ending policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. The decision by the Virginia Community College System's State Board is in response to President Donald Trump's executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives, which are designed to overcome historic inequities and discrimination that blocked progress for minorities and women. The VCCS directive applies to several areas including admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, and graduation ceremonies, according to the March 20 resolution. The Trump Administration has also warned colleges and universities to end race-based decision-making or risk losing federal funding, which many institutions rely on to cover Pell Grants and the federal student loan program. Feds to Virginia schools: End race-based policies or risk losing funds The VCCS' resolution also directs Virginia community colleges to avoid attempts to get around the new rules and to end reliance on third-party organizations that assist in implementing race-conscious policies. 'Adopting a resolution to affirm our values and compliance with recent guidance on discrimination and merit-based opportunity and amending language in our policies and strategic plan are critical necessary actions to ensure federal funding for Virginia's Community Colleges is not compromised,' said VCCS State Board Chair Terri Thompson, who was reappointed by former Gov. Ralph Northam. 'It is our continued ability to provide students with high-quality educational and training opportunities that is at the heart of our mission.' The board's decision also led to several changes to the system's strategic plan, which outlines the VCCS' goals and objectives, including removing the goal of increasing the diversity of full-time faculty and staff by 5% by 2030. The decision also changed some areas of the policy manual, including renaming its advisory council on 'diversity, equity, inclusion and culture' to 'culture of care and success.' David Doré, VCCS chancellor, said the changes made don't impact the system's mission, which is to help people learn new things and glean better skills to enhance their lives and help their communities get stronger. Del. Michael Jones, D-Richmond, told WRIC last week that the board needs to reverse the decision, adding that VCCS' diversity policies help ensure minorities, who he says have been subject to systemic racism, have the same opportunities as their white counterparts. 'It bothers me when people come up to me (and say), 'I don't see race,'' Jones said to the television news station. 'You need to see race because when you see race you will understand and see the obstacles that I had to face, the challenges I had to overcome, just simply being born the color that I am into the system or the country that I was born in.' State Republicans applauded the board's decision, including Del. Mike Cherry, R-Colonial Heights, and Del. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham, both members of the House Education Committee. During the past two sessions, Garrett introduced proposals to amend the Virginia Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on race and sex. After the proposal failed to pass in 2024 and was revised to exclude 'sex' in January, the Democratic-controlled House did not hear the proposal. 'We need to be aware of the negative impacts of our past mistakes, but (also) that we do not correct those going forward by considerations for promotion and opportunity beyond merit and one's ability to serve their community,' Garrett said. Cherry added that Virginia's community college system is an 'important link' in the state's higher education offerings, particularly for first-generation and working adult families. 'Ending the divisiveness of DEI programs at VCCS and all public colleges and universities allows them to stay focused on one of their main objectives, which should be making a college degree attainable and affordable for all Virginians, and I support their decision.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Not on our watch': McClellan stresses congressional fight to defend Medicaid from potential cuts
U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond speaks in Virgnia's General Assembly Building on March 18, 2025. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/ Virginia Mercury) With over one million people in Virginia on Medicaid, about 630,000 of those could stand to lose coverage should Republicans in Congress cut federal funding, Democratic state lawmakers have stressed. U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, added her voice to the chorus of warnings at a press conference at the statehouse on Tuesday afternoon. Virginia weighs response to potential Medicaid rollbacks affecting 630,000 'We are here to say, 'not on our watch and not without a fight,'' McClellan said during her visit to Virginia's Capitol. She was joined by state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield and Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, along with central Virginia residents who shared their experiences with Medicaid as recipients or healthcare providers. Though it doesn't name Medicaid specifically, the U.S. House Republican budget plan adopted in February would direct the House Energy and Commerce Committee — which McClellan serves on in the minority party — to find ways to cut the deficit by $880 billion over the next decade. That committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid, Medicare and the Children's Health Insurance Program. '(Republican's budget plan) doesn't say the word 'Medicaid' but you cannot get to $880 billion… without cutting Medicaid,' McClellan said. The federal program helps states provide healthcare coverage to low-income earners, as well as those with disabilities or who don't have employer-sponsored healthcare. When Virginia expanded its Medicaid program in 2018, Virginia's acute care hospitals stepped up to provide some funding. But trigger language in the expansion means that it could be lost if federal funding changes. The possibility is troubling for Virginia Democrats, who have been sounding the alarm for months. A January memo from President Donald Trump to initiate a federal funding freeze earlier this year included a footnote detailing programs that would not be affected — Medicaid was absent from that footnote. Several states also reported brief loss of connection to Medicaid portals, something Gov. Glenn Youngkin's office knew about but did not disclose at the time. Youngkin's office knew about temporary suspension of federal aid portals, memo shows Hashmi and state Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, had tried to help Virginia prepare for potential cuts through a state budget amendment, but it didn't survive negotiations. 'We're going to have a lot of figuring out to do and it's really going to be a struggle to do that,' Deeds said earlier this year. Aida Pacheco's voice strained and eyes welled Tuesday while she described how her daughter is battling breast cancer. Having worked all of her adult life, the diagnosis has left her unable to do so while she is receiving care. 'She has a fighting chance with Medicaid,' Pacheco said. Her voice grew passionate as she described opponents of Medicaid labeling beneficiaries as 'abusing the system' or being people who 'don't want to work.' 'It's insulting,' she said. Katina Moss added how each of Virginia's Medicaid recipients has a story of what it means for them. For Moss, it means being able to have insurance for her own health while she cares for her ill and aging mother. Just as she was launching her own small business, her mother fell ill and needed multiple surgeries. To be able to care for her, Moss has taken 'jobs for lesser pay.' 'I do not intend to be on Medicaid permanently,' she said, but said it has helped her at a time she otherwise would not have health care. 'There are too many people who are just one doctor's visit away from financial ruin.' It's stories like theirs that McClellan hopes her colleagues in the nation's capital will listen to. 'When they start hearing from their constituents about how much they want them to keep their hands off their health care, they'll backtrack,' McClellan said. In the meantime, there are still steps ahead before more concrete movement on Medicaid specifically could occur. Congressional Republicans are balancing pressure from the Trump administration to move forward on certain tax cuts as well as funding boosts to support military spending and mass deportations of undocumented immigrants with cuts to social programs as possibilities. There is also a reconciliation process likely to kick off next month where lawmakers can further deliberate on budgets. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
