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Va Senate committee approves HIV decriminalization bill washingtonblade.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonblade.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Virginia State Capitol Building (Photo: Craig Carper/VPM News)
A panel of retired judges chose eight Virginia citizens on Wednesday to make up the un-elected portion of the commonwealth’s new redistricting committee.
The committee was approved when voters approved an amendment to the state constitution in November, and is tasked with drawing new voting districts. It is made up of 16 people: The eight citizens selected today and eight lawmakers appointed by party leadership.
The panel of judges was headed by Pamela Baskervill, a retired Petersburg circuit court judge.
Before starting the selection process, she highlighted the state measures that guide their work, saying, “in making our selections, we are to ensure the citizen commissioners are, as a whole, representative of the racial, ethnic, geographic and gender diversity of the commonwealth.”
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Virginia s State Capitol. (Crixell Matthews/VPM News)
Buoyed by better-than-expected state revenues, Gov. Ralph Northam proposed a revised two-year state budget on Wednesday that includes significant investments spanning education, COVID-19 relief, and criminal justice reform.
The latest December revenue forecast anticipates an extra $1.2 billion beyond the prior forecast, released in August. The extra cash gives lawmakers the luxury of adding new spending rather than the cutbacks seen in other states.
Virginia’s largest employers the federal government, defense contractors, and the tech sector have largely weathered the pandemic without layoffs, a reality that has been reflected in the withholding tax collections that make up over 60% of Virginia’s state revenues. Better-than-expected sales and corporate tax revenue have buttressed Virginia s bottom line.