Dear Advocacy Day participants,
As you know, a snow storm is heading for Virginia tomorrow. We are watching the weather reports and have decided that although our event will take place tomorrow as scheduled, we will no longer be providing a bus leaving from Arlington. We apologize for the inconvenience.
For those able to make it to Richmond tomorrow, we will continue with our full program which begins at 8:30am. For those unable to attend tomorrow, we will be working to set up an alternative date in the near future to meet in Richmond and continue to pressure our elected representatives to support VACOLAO’s legislative agenda.
Legislative Update
VACOLAO is happy to report that two of our bills have been voted out of their respective committees.
On Thursday, January 16, the VA Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education voted SB249 (In-state tuition for Immigrant Youth (DACA holders) out of Committee clearing an important first hurdle. The bill will now likely move to the full Senate Education and Health Committee later this week.
Today, January 20th, the House Courts of Justice Subcommittee: Civil voted HB492 (mandating new advertisement rules for notaries republic to help combat notary fraud) out of committee today. This bill mandates new rules for notaries advertising their services to Virginia’s immigrant communities in order to prevent them from presenting themselves as lawyers to innocent Virginians seeking legal advice. The bill will now move to the full House Committee for Courts of Justice. A similar bill has also been introduced in the Senate by Senator Adam Ebbin but has yet to be heard by that body.
We look forward to working with all of you as we advocate for immigrant rights in Virginia.
Best regards,
Edgar Aranda-Yanoc
Chair, Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO)