HISTORIC TRIANGLE — The Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce hosted its 2025 Post-Session Legislative Forum with local leaders from the General Assembly delegation Tuesday.
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia — the House of Delegates and Senate — that meet annually on the second Wednesday in January for its legislative session to discusses, debates and pass legislation for the commonwealth.
Participating in the forum, led by Mindy Williams Carlin, President and Co-founder of Access Point Public Affairs LLC, were senators Ryan McDougle and Danny Diggs, along with House delegates Amanda Batten, A.C. Cordoza and Chad Green.
This year’s session was marked at the start by the water crisis in Richmond.
“This was a really interesting legislative session,” said Batten, alluding to the January snow which, in turn, caused water lines to break, sending representatives back home to wait for the water to be restored.
“This year was a 46-day, short legislative session — every day counts. We began the session already running a little bit behind schedule, so it was pretty much a breakneck pace speed this year. It was remarkable how much you can actually accomplish in such a short space of time,” Batten remarked.
The forum focused on local topics ranging from highlights and disappointments within the session, taxes, workforce education and training, as well as transportation.
A highlight included the introduction of a safe driving bill (HB 1549) by Green after working with Yorktown resident Tammy Guido, whose son was killed in a tragic accident after an unlicensed driver crashed the car. The new law prohibits any person from knowingly authorizing the operation of a car by a minor that they know does not have a license or learner’s permit, holding them accountable as a Class 1 misdemeanor if such violation results in an accident that causes death or injury to any person if such violation does not otherwise constitute a felony.
“We were successful — it was kind of a ninth hour thing — but, we were successful and the governor signed it into law a couple of weeks ago. Very excited that this will save lives and help with the healing process for a grieving mother,” stated Green.
Many delegates expressed the need for more tax relief for their constituents and Virginia businesses.
“Small businesses are just like every other business except they don’t have some of the bandwidth to deal with challenges that larger businesses do. If you’re a small business you have to show up, you don’t have a bunch of employees to cover if people don’t show up to work or are out sick, the regulatory impact is more expensive to you — you can’t spread it out over a larger network — and tax implications have a more significant impact on that small business.” McDougle said. “When we’re looking at what you can do for small business … making sure the tax burden is low, so those businesses can put more of what they are generating back into the business to stay afloat.”
The delegation agreed on the importance of local school divisions and colleges in providing education — in addition to dual enrollment programs, internships and certification programs — that lead to opportunities and resources to help Virginia maintain a strong, skilled workforce.
Additionally, transportation across the Hampton Roads region continues to be an area of priority.
“One of the biggest things we are doing to help with transportation is expanding the tunnel and making sure we have four lanes from Virginia Beach all the way to Richmond. That is a very big innovation that will help our area,” Cordoza explained. “We are losing people because we don’t have the right transportation in place.”
Additionally, as an electric vehicle driver, Cordoza said he understands the difficulties in providing for this growing market — citing the lack of charging stations, as well as balancing regulations and taxes gained through gas purchases.
Wrapping up the discussion, Carlin asked the delegates to share their favorite part of session. Diggs explained that each day is broken into parts, and each part have there own rewards.
“Meeting with constituents — you learn what is on their mind, what their needs are, and it’s good to see people from back home. When you are in the committees, that’s where the real work gets done and you have the most influence and you can voice your opinions. It’s easy to amend bills there and get stuff done. And, then, when you are out on the Senate floor, it’s just an awesome place. Sometimes you look around and think, ‘what did I do to deserve to be here and be a part of history,'” said Diggs.
