Delegate Matt Fariss

The 2018 General Assembly session has officially begun. This year will be a long session (60 days) where we tackle important issues such as healthcare, the opioid crisis, and the teacher shortage across Virginia. The election cycle may have lasted longer than anyone expected, but there is a lot of work to get done, and that work began this week. House Republicans have laid out the “Practical Solutions to Everyday Issues” agenda, prioritizing the real problems people talk about at home.

After a long election season, and months of recounts and other delays, I am excited to finally get to work when the General Assembly convenes January 10th. 

Almost one month ago, Anthem announced it would exit Virginia's Obamacare market entirely in 2018. While this is largely a federal issue, Virginia has been taking steps to try to find a solution to the problem created by Washington. We are hopeful that we may be able to work with an insurer to offer coverage in these localities without any providers, but that’s not a likely scenario. Unfortunately, the insurance providers are at the mercy of Washington’s inaction. 

The Trump Administration announced last Monday that it would end the Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (DACA) program established by executive order under President Barack Obama. The program will end in six months, giving Congress an opportunity to address the status of over 1.5 million people who came to America as undocumented children.

Over the past week, we have watched Hurricane Harvey reach landfall in the United States. The category 4 hurricane crashed into the Texas coast, devastating many families and businesses. At least two people have been reported dead, and estimates place the total cost of property damage and lost business in the tens of billions.

Governor McAuliffe signed Executive Order Number 68 on Thursday last week, creating the Task Force on Public Safety Preparedness and Response to Civil Unrest. 

The rhetoric and actions of racists, white supremacists, and Nazi-ideologues in Charlottesville were disgusting and vile. This is not what Virginia believes in or stands for and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. We are heartbroken that Heather Heyer was killed in a violent act of terrorism. Whether the perpetrator is charged as a terrorist or as a murderer, I hope his punishment is swift and harsh. We are grateful for the bravery and professionalism of local law enforcement, the Virginia State Police, and the Virginia National Guard. They are heroic public servants.

My family and I continue to pray for healing to all affected by the events in Charlottesville this weekend. It is so sad that innocent lives were lost and affected by hate. I pray for the families of the young woman that was murdered, all that were injured and the two state troopers who were just doing their job. The rhetoric and actions of racists, white supremacists, and Nazi-ideologues in Charlottesville this weekend are disgusting and vile.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) recently partnered with Keep Virginia Beautiful to help support the agency’s Adopt-A-Highway program. The agreement calls for Keep Virginia Beautiful to focus on the engaging volunteers to participate in the program, which is aimed at beautifying roads throughout the commonwealth and preventing litter.

For the last several months, we watched the process unfold in Congress with disappointment and frustration. Washington is broken. Our exasperation is not with one party or the other, but rather with a federal system that is proving incapable of finding solutions to our national challenges.