Last year Virginia’s General Assembly passed more than 30 separate clean energy bills, which together put Virginia on a path to zero-carbon electricity by 2050, enabled massive investments in renewable energy, storage and energy efficiency and eased restrictions on distributed solar.
But many of the bills that passed were not perfect, and most of the new mandates affect only the electric sector. Only about a quarter of Virginia’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from power plants, so getting serious about a zero carbon economy means finding ways to reduce emissions from transportation, buildings, industry and agriculture.
Unfortunately, building on last year’s progress will be hard this winter, not because there aren’t plenty of opportunities, but because the legislative session that starts Jan. 13 is likely to be exceptionally short and tightly-controlled. If, as expected, Republicans force a 30-day session limit(including weekends and holidays), that means each chamber mu
Gov. Northam signs Marcus Alert into law, creating statewide alert system for people experiencing mental health crisis
Office of Gov. Ralph Northam
By: Web Staff
and last updated 2020-12-16 20:04:06-05
RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Ralph Northam ceremonially signed legislation Tuesday creating the Marcus Alert, a statewide mental health alert system to make sure behavioral health experts are involved in responding to people in crisis, including by limiting the role of law enforcement.
The law is named to honor Marcus-David Peters, a high school biology teacher who was killed by a police officer in Richmond while experiencing a behavioral health crisis in 2018.
Governor Northam Signs Legislation Creating Statewide ‘Marcus Alert’
RICHMOND Governor Ralph Northam ceremonially signed legislation today establishing the ‘Marcus Alert,’ a statewide mental health alert system to ensure behavioral health experts are involved in responding to individuals in crisis, including by limiting the role of law enforcement. The law is named to honor Marcus-David Peters, a high school biology teacher who was killed by a police officer in Richmond while experiencing a behavioral health crisis in 2018.
The legislation creates a mental health awareness response and community understanding services (Marcus) alert system, and creates teams of mental health service providers and peer recovery specialists to promote a behavioral health response to individuals in crisis, including those with substance abuse disorder and developmental disabilities. Governor Northam was joined at the ceremony by members of Peters’ family and by Oscar Ubrina, whose 15-year-ol