Greetings from the General Assembly where we have just passed the halfway point for the legislative session! There were some long days on Monday and Tuesday, when we voted on the House versions of over 250 bills. Monday was particularly grueling as we voted and debated on the House Floor until 10:15 pm.
Of the legislation I sponsored, quite a few are still moving to the Senate for consideration, including the human trafficking prevention for hotels bill, the STEM Advisory Board bill and the local government gifts legislation. The humane treatment of dogs for research bill, (now carried by Del. Bell) is also still moving forward. The School Construction and Modernization bills I carried have versions that passed in the Senate so I am hopeful they will also become law.
I continue to hear from educators and business leaders about the importance of workforce development and investing in our children’s education. I recently enjoyed a visit to my office from local business leaders with the Virginia Maritime Association and, as usual, the conversation came around to workforce and the importance of education in science and technology. This is why I was a co-founder of the Career and Technical Education Caucus (CTE), to try to bring House members from both parties together to talk about what we can do to get our students career ready.
This past week, we held our first Career and Technical Education Caucus of the 2022 session. We heard presentations from Dr. Brenda Long with the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), Chris Dovi with CodeVA and Bud Oakey president of the Virginia Aviation Business Association. ACTE has worked to develop an accessible CTE curriculum through VERSA. CodeVA has trained over 1,000 Virginia teachers in computer science curriculum. Mr. Oakeys’ presentation focused around the need to build up an aviation maintenance workforce. All three speakers represent organizations that advocate for more CTE opportunities for our students in schools to build Virginia’s workforce. Learning about CTE helps students to see careers in the STEM field as viable options post high school or higher education.
As always, we thank you for following our work in the General Assembly. If you would like to meet with me or my staff our office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 10am and 2 to 5pm. You can schedule an in person meeting or a zoom meeting by emailing contact@simondsfordelegate.com or calling 804-698-1094.
We also want to invite you to our Virtual Town Hall this Wednesday, February 23rd, with the Newport News Delegation. Please register for this event using this link.
bit.ly/NNDelegationTownHall https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ji02DP0AStej7Qa2i7WWKw
Photos from the Week
Last week I was visited by Virginia Maritime Association
members on their lobby day, Bobby Clinton, Dana Truxell, and Will Fediw
I stood alongside Delegate Mullin as he presented
HJR179 to President Trible of Christopher Newport University
Bud Oakey presenting at our Career and Technical Education Caucus
Chris Doby from CodeVA presenting
on the importance of computer science education