2023 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

You can also follow our Bill Tracker to see where our priority bills are in the legislative process!

Budget

The budget is a moral document. Therefore, Virginia’s budget ought to
- Fund affordable housing.
- Fund childcare and early childhood education.
- Protect people who are incarcerated.
- Target tax cuts at people who need it most.
Click here to read our Budget Fact Sheet

Economic Justice/Worker Justice

Protecting the Minimum Wage.
Paid Sick Days. Extend Paid Sick Days to key groups of essential workers.
- Click here to read our Paid Sick Day Fact Sheet
  - SB886 – Surovell
  - HB2087 – Mundon King
  - HB1988 – Guzman
- Click here to Learn More

Criminal Justice Reform

Limiting Use of Solitary Confinement. Extensive solitary confinement is torture, and Virginia should limit time in solitary to 15 days, and include programming for out-of-cell time for even those who are isolated.
- Click here to read our Solitary Confinement Fact Sheet
- Click here to read the Solitary Confinement Faith Statements
- Click here to Learn More
Ending profiteering in prisons and jails.
- Click here to read the Profiteering Fact Sheet
Supporting higher education for people incarcerated.

Health Equity

Unconscious (Implicit) Bias Training Licensing Criterion. Require unconscious (implicit) bias training become an eligibility criterion for all health care professionals licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine.
- Click here to review Support & Evidence-Based Resource List
- Click here to Learn More
Creating a plan for a Perinatal Health Hub model around Virginia. This would address the gaps in access to health care for parents, especially in low-income communities.
Allowing licensed midwives to administer medication. This would expand coverage and improve access to treatment for common complications during childbirth.
Click here to read our Maternal Health Fact Sheet

Affordable Housing

Affordable Housing budget amendments. Virginia needs to address our housing unit shortage, strengthen tenants’ rights, and combat rising eviction rates.
- Increase funding in the Virginia Housing Trust Fund (VHTF) to build new affordable units.
- Increase funding for the Virginia Eviction Reduction Program (VERP) to provide short-term financial assistance and provide tenant resources to help curb evictions. Click here for more information on VERP.
- Fund Down-Payment Assistance to help offset up-front costs in the housing market and increase homeownership statewide. Click here for information on DHCD’s Down Payment Assistance (DPA) program.
- Click here to read our Affordable Housing Funding Fact Sheet
Advancing Tenant Protections by providing localities with stronger enforcement mechanisms to punish malicious landlord activity.
- Expand the “pay-or-quit” period before evictions.
- Require transparency for rent increases and uninhabitable living conditions.
- Click here to read our most updated Tenants’ Rights Fact Sheet

Defending Past Gains – VICPP is prepared to defend, if necessary, previous issues, such as: