Becky Bowers-Lanier | VHF Advocacy Consultant
This fall, we have two virtual advocacy events planned; one that already occurred on September 27th, and the other is our annual VHF/HACA Virtual Advocacy Stakeholder and Education Meeting set for November 13th at 4 pm. We’d love to have you attend – you can RSVP at this link. Please plan to attend to learn from our executive branch and non-profit policy sectors, the federal and state outlook, and from the Virginia bleeding disorders program.
The 2022 General Assembly session begins on Wednesday, January 12th, and right now we are anticipating that this session will be in-person.Committee meetings will be available for viewing online, but we do not have any information at this point whether the public will be able to offer comments online.
The November 2nd election will be bringing lots of changes to Virginia. You all know that the statewide offices will be held by Republicans Glen Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares. The House of Delegates will also change hands to the Republicans, who will have a slim majority. The Virginia Senate membership will remain the same, the Democrats holding a slim 21-19 majority.
At this point, it’s too early to say how the change in composition of the statewide executive branch offices and the House of Delegates will impact our advocacy issues. Many of the initiatives we’ve supported in recent years have had bipartisan support, and that is something we should anticipate and work toward moving forward.
That said, you may have a new delegate this year, and you’ll want to check out whether that is the case. It’s too early to use the Virginia General Assembly website to find out who your legislator is, but you can certainly find this information on the web. It’s not too early to contact your delegate and state senator to reacquaint them with our issues regarding health insurance and access to products. Stay tuned for more!
