|
BE PREPARED
Although Christmas festivities are uppermost in our minds right now, the 2023 General Assembly will begin its 46-day session on Wednesday, January 11, and it’s imperative that we be prepared.
Many bills have been filed and some are already on the GA website. Bookmark http://leg1.state.va.us in order to go quickly to this source to access bills, summaries of bills, the session history of a bill, House and Senate committees, legislators’ contact information, the Constitution of Virginia, the state budget, and much more.
Another invaluable source is VPAP (Virginia Public Access Project). A wealth of information is available on that website www.vpap.org. VPAP is a 501c3 non-partisan service, funded entirely by donations, that tracks statistics related to state government. However, one of its most helpful offerings is the daily VaNews, which contains articles related to state and local government from newspapers across the state. This can be accessed on the website each morning or readers can sign up there for a free subscription that will arrive as an email to you early each morning. VPAP is one of VRTA’s charitable donations, and this contribution allows us to sponsor VaNews on January 31 with a sentence about our celebration of Retired Teachers Day in Virginia that day. I encourage you to visit this website before the GA begins and familiarize yourself with the information found there. Perhaps you too would like to make this one of your charitable donations to ensure that this unique service continues for all Virginia citizens.
A third helpful resource is VEA. Go to www.veanea.org, click on News & Events at the top of the page; in the drop-down box click on Latest from VEA. There you will find explanatory articles as well as progress of legislation and calls to action.
Fourth, the Fund Our Schools coalition, of which VRTA is a member, can be found at www.fundourschools.org. See our logo along with those of 14 other partners as well as fact sheets that can be printed and used in communication with legislators as a basis for letters to the editor in local newspapers, etc.
Nursing home reform is still on our agenda, and pertinent information on legislation on this important issue will be sent to you later. But be alert to anything you see in the media on this topic, since it is beginning to be an issue of national scope. That is sure to help us in Virginia.
I encourage you to visit these websites and familiarize yourself with them so that when you need explanations or supporting information quickly during the session, you will know where to go for it and how to find it. Being prepared will give us confidence and assure us of winning arguments.
| 
