Senior Services of Alexandria

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“After five years of working tirelessly for me and for the people of the 45th District, John Alex has decided he is ready for new challenges,” said David. “He has been invaluable to me throughout my time in the General Assembly, and his dedicated service has made a real difference to my constituents.”

Jared brings a wealth of experience to his new role, including work for the League of Conservation Voters and several Democratic campaigns.

“Jared will bring the same level of attention to constituent services our office has always been known for, so if you need anything from us, don’t hesitate to get in touch,” said David.

Today I’m announcing that this will be my last term in elected office, so I will not seek reelection to the House of Delegates. Serving the people of the 45th District has been one of the great honors of my life, and I hope they are proud of the work we have done together. But political life has affected me in ways I never expected. In my public role, I have worked hard to serve my constituents and to be an effective, progressive voice in Richmond. But in my personal life, I let down my family and was unfaithful in my marriage, so Shayna and I recently separated.

Shayna has always been the true source of my strength and happiness, and we have been a team in my political work. I will leave political life to put Shayna and Caleb first and to focus on rebuilding what is and always was most important to me: my marriage and my family. I am deeply sorry for hurting the people I love the most and for letting down so many others who put their faith in me. This will be my only public statement about our marriage, and Shayna and I both ask everyone to respect our family’s privacy as we work through this immensely difficult, painful, and personal time.

With this announcement, attention will no doubt turn to choosing my successor. Our community is blessed with a wealth of smart, dedicated, and energetic Democrats. When I first ran for this seat in 2005, I was 30 years old, fresh out of the Air Force, and Shayna, Caleb, and I had barely lived in Alexandria for a year and a half. The race was supposed to be unwinnable for me, but we won. No matter how improbable others may think your candidacy, if you believe you have something to offer the people of the 45th District, I hope you will consider stepping forward to serve.

Despite our current personal challenges, it continues to be a tremendous honor for Shayna and me to serve our community and to stand up for our progressive values. Please know that, as long as I am still your Delegate, I will continue fighting for you, and if you ever need service or assistance, my staff and I are here to help. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

“Public service has been a priority for both David and me. I’m proud of the work we did together and am grateful for the many who supported David and me in public life,” said Shayna Englin. “During this very difficult and painful time, I hope we can each have the privacy and space we need to refocus on private priorities, be great parents to Caleb, and work through this however we need to.”

Delegate David Englin is currently serving his fourth term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County.

For the past several years, I have been working with a small group of legislators to change the culture in Richmond when it comes to billions of dollars of tax giveaways that neither legislators nor the public have any real opportunity to scrutinize and evaluate.  In committee and on the House floor, we have poked, prodded, questioned, and exposed various tax credits, preferences, and giveaways, trying to shine some sunlight and create more accountability on these policies that reduce revenue by billions of dollars a year, undermining our ability to provide effective services and be efficient stewards of taxpayer dollars.  As unabashedly liberal as I am, this year I formed an unlikely coalition with the co-chairman of the General Assembly’s Conservative Caucus to successfully pass the first piece of legislation to institutionalize a mandatory five-year sunset on all new tax credits to force the kind of transparency and accountability these policies have lacked for so long.  In addition to this substantive policy victory, our sustained bipartisan emphasis on this issue resulted in legislators preemptively modifying their own bills to comply with our emphasis on tax expenditure transparency and accountability, suggesting the start of the kind of cultural shift on tax giveaways that we have been working toward for so long.

As a member of the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee, I have been working to promote jobs and economic development through sustainable and locally grown agriculture, which also ensures our community has access to ecologically conscious, farm-fresh products.  Last year, I was the chief sponsor of the Virginia Cider Act, which has helped launch a renaissance in Virginia’s burgeoning hard cider industry. Since the bill became law last July, production of traditional Virginia hard cider – the very kind Thomas Jefferson served at his dinner table – has expanded, and several new cideries are in varying stages of development.  This year, to support efforts to market this historic Virginia product , I passed legislation designating the full week before Thanksgiving each year as Virginia Cider Week.

The Humane Society this year asked me to carry legislation as part of a national effort to shine a spotlight on spaying and neutering as proven methods of saving the lives of companion animals, feral cats, and street dogs who might otherwise be put down in shelters or killed on the street.  The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria admits more than 3,500 animals through its doors every year, highlighting the need for strategies to reduce overpopulation. Four million cats and dogs – about one every eight seconds – are put down in U.S. shelters each year. Often these animals are the offspring of cherished family pets.  Therefore, I passed legislation designating each Feb. 28 as Spay Day in Virginia to focus attention on spaying and neutering as steps individuals can take to address this problem.

In addition to these victories, there were some disappointing defeats this year.  First and foremost, I was disappointed that the Senate failed to pass legislation I co-sponsored to repeal the so-called “Kings Dominion Law” that forces schools to remain closed each summer until after Labor Day.  The bill passed the House on a bipartisan supermajority vote, and it was among the governor’s top priorities, so I expected it to easily pass the Senate.  Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the bill died in the Senate Education and Health Committee, so our community’s hands are tied for another year.

The result this session were mixed on a number of hot-button issues.  The Republican majority and Governor McDonnell repealed the one handgun per month purchase limit, restoring Virginia’s place as the arms dealer to criminals up and down the eastern seaboard.  Also, anti-gay Republicans pushed through a bill allowing state-contracted adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate based on sexual orientation.  They even defeated an amendment I offered to protect teenagers from being placed in homes where they will be abused because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  On the other hand, Democrats beat back an effort to repeal Virginia’s law giving middle school girls access to a life-saving vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer.  We also defeated a heartless effort to block abortion funding for poor pregnant women whose wanted babies have severe fetal deformities such that they are doomed outside of the womb.

The most controversial bill this session was the effort to require physically invasive transvaginal ultrasounds without a woman’s consent prior to an abortion.  I led the fight against this bill, offering the amendment on Valentine’s Day that laid bare the physically invasive nature of this requirement, which some likened to state-sanctioned rape.  That was the spark that lit the fire in the media that ultimately forced Republicans to back off of the physically invasive requirement.  Unfortunately, the bill they ended up passing into law still uses the power of the state to bully women into not having abortions.  This new law even includes a requirement that women seeking abortions to complete late-stage miscarriages have ultrasound images of their miscarried fetuses placed in their medical records.  Adding insult to injury, these medically unnecessary requirements will drive up health care costs and add to the financial strain of women already facing difficult circumstances.

To close on a high note, during the final days of the legislative session, the General Assembly passed my constitutional amendment to enable us to delay the annual Reconvene Session to avoid conflicting with religious holidays and other occasions.  At times during my legislative service, the Reconvene Session has conflicted with important Passover observances, and I was surprised when the House Clerk informed me that it would take a constitutional amendment to give us a modicum of flexibility to address this.  To change the Virginia Constitution, an amendment must pass the General Assembly twice with an intervening election and then be approved by the voters.  This amendment passed the General Assembly the first time during the 2011 legislative session and Virginia held General Assembly elections in November 2011.  This session’s passage will send the amendment to the voters during this November’s General Election.  Of course, I urge you to give it your full support.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of the 45th District during this year’s General Assembly session, and please contact my office if we can ever be of assistance throughout the year.

Arlingtonians go to the polls Tuesday, March 27

Please vote at your usual polling place on Tuesday, March 27, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., and when you vote, vote for Libby!

Click here to locate your polling place in Arlington, and click here to find out how you can get involved with her campaign. Remember that decisions are made by those who show up…so show up!

Richmond

Regardless of what other conflicts or scheduling issues may arise, the Virginia Constitution is immutable regarding the date of the annual one-day legislative session during which the General Assembly votes on vetoes and amendments offered by the governor. Currently, this “Reconvene Session” must occur on the sixth Wednesday after adjournment of a regular or special legislative session. Englin’s constitutional amendment will allow the General Assembly to delay the date of the Reconvene Session by no more than seven days. 

“At times during my legislative service, the Reconvene Session has conflicted with important Passover observances,” said Englin, who is Jewish. “I was surprised when the House Clerk informed me that it would take a constitutional amendment to give us a modicum of flexibility to address this. As looked into it more deeply, I realized there are other scenarios where we may want some ability to adjust the schedule, so I decided to try for this amendment.”

Englin noted that it has taken several tries to move forward even this simple change to the constitution. “That’s perfectly appropriate,” said Englin. “The constitution is not something we should change lightly.”

To change the Virginia Constitution, an amendment must pass the General Assembly twice with an intervening election and then be approved by the voters. This amendment passed the General Assembly the first time during the 2011 legislative session and Virginia held General Assembly elections in November 2011. Today’s 36 to zero vote from the Virginia Senate will send the amendment to the voters during this November’s General Election.

“This is as close as it gets to a ‘minor technical correction’ to the constitution,” said Englin, using legislative parlance. “But it’s a change that makes sense so we have the flexibility to respect various religious observances and simply better manage the legislative process. I encourage voters to support it this November.”

Englin is serving his fourth term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. He is an Air Force veteran, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and he lives in Alexandria.

When Governor McDonnell introduced his budget in December, Democrats identified three major problems with it.  First, a larger portion of the sales tax was diverted from the General Fund – which pays for K-12 education, higher ed, public safety, and community assistance needs for the disabled – to transportation.  Over the course of several years, the percentage would rise from its current rate of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent, which translates from almost $50 million in the first year to over $320 million by year six.  Second, there were substantial cuts to human services that would have eliminated the health care safety net, with funds nearly or completely cut from the Virginia Health Care Foundation, statewide free clinics, rural dental health centers, teen pregnancy clinics, and many other similar programs.  Third, education funding was not prioritized.  There was little, if any, new money for schools, with the lion’s share resulting from re-benchmarking the statewide funding formula.  Just $6 million was directed to new programs, while about $400 million advertised as “new education money” was actually a mandate on local governments to pay a higher rate into the state’s retirement program for teachers.  Additionally, the budget eliminated “cost-of-competing” money Northern Virginia localities need to account for our higher cost of living.

Fellow House Democrats and I pressed these issues hard, and when the House released its version of the budget, it addressed some of our concerns.  Nearly all of the safety-net funding was restored, $136 million in additional school funding was included, and $24 million in cost-of-competing funds (out of $65 million) was restored.  Other positive changes included:

• Funding for Alicia’s Law – a court fee paid by criminal defendants that supports police units targeting violent sex crimes against children – was completely redirected back to its intended use
• State employees were not required to pay 1 percent of their net pay into the Virginia Retirement System
• A 2 percent conditional pay raise for state employees and college faculty was included, beginning in the summer of 2013
• 200 additional slots to provide community-based services for the intellectually disabled, bringing the total additional to 450, plus 50 new waiver slots for the developmentally disabled
• Funding was included for community centers for the disabled
• No language defunding Planned Parenthood, as has been introduced in prior years, was included

Despite these successes, the House version of the budget still included many problems.  The sales tax diversion remained, which will likely be the main sticking point before a final budget is passed.  There was no mechanism for offering public school teachers a pay raise, which they have not received in four years.  Medicaid payment rates were not satisfactorily adjusted for inflation.  Tens of millions of dollars in cost-of-competing funds were not restored.  Language prohibiting state funding of embryonic stem-cell research was included, as was funding for various other divisive social-issues.

In an effort to continue addressing our concerns, House Democrats attempted several amendments during floor debate on thre budget.   We sought 575 additional waivers for commnity-based services for the disabled.  We tried to restore funds for child advocacy centersm, which serve abused children in crisis.  We tried to boost the meager pay for personal home care and respite care workers that are essential to enabling families to cope with caring for severaly disabled children.  We attempted to fund research for into treating sickle-cell anemia, andf we fought for an industrial machinery and tools grant progrtam to promote economic growth.  Unfortunately, the Republican majority defeated all of these efforts.

While we still await the Senate’s action on a budget, the House budget passed late last week over my dissenting vote.  The House budget is a marked improvement over what Governor McDonnell proposed, but I cannot support a budget that diverts hundreds of millions of dollars from education, health care, public safety, and other core services to pave roads.

Richmond

“It is a travesty that an estimated 100,000 companion animals in Virginia and 4 million cats and dogs in the U.S. — about one every eight seconds — are put down in shelters every year,” said Englin, a passionate animal advocate. “Many cats and dogs who die as a result of pet overpopulation could have made wonderful pets, and it is my hope this day can help raise awareness across our commonwealth about the importance of this life saving strategy.” 

“Spay Day will create a wave of spay/neuter awareness and activity to help combat the pet overpopulation problem in Virginia,” said Laura Donahue, Virginia state director for the Humane Society of the United States. “It is fitting that this resolution, and the inaugural first year of Spay Day in Virginia, passed on World Spay Day. This day will now provide a unique opportunity for everyone who cares about animals to come together towards a common goal to end the euthanasia and suffering of homeless companion animals, feral cats and street dogs.”

“Spaying and neutering companion animals is the single most important initiative in ending the needless suffering of countless unwanted animals,” said Neil Trent, executive director of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. “We encourage the entire community to visit our shelter this week and take advantage of the many spay/neuter discounts we are offering.”

Founded as Spay Day USA in 1995 by the Doris Day Animal League and Doris Day Animal Foundation, the program has grown to include participants in 46 countries in 2011. Events include low and no-cost spay/neuter clinics for low-income families, fundraisers to benefit spay/neuter programs and educational efforts for pet owners about the importance of spaying or neutering pets. Since Spay Day’s inception, it is estimated that more than 1 million animals have been spayed or neutered in conjunction with the campaign.

To locate a spay day event in Virginia, visit You can help raise funds for spay/neuter by voting in the World Spay Day Pet Photo Contest through Feb. 29 at humanesociety.org/photocontest.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization — backed by 11 million Americans, or one of every 28. For more than a half-century, The Humane Society of the United States has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty — On the web at humanesociety.org.

The Humane Society of the United States Media Contact: Stephanie Twining, 301-258-1491, gro.yteicosenamuhnull@gniniwts.

Englin is serving his fourth term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. He is an Air Force veteran, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and he and his family live in Alexandria.

Richmond

According to a recent draft report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Virginia’s 187 tax credits reduced revenues by approximately $12.5 billion in 2008, which is the most recent year of available data. The report showed that only 20 of those tax credits include a reporting and evaluation requirement of the cost and whether they achieve their intended purpose. Of the remaining tax credits, 131 of them receive no regular oversight at all. 

“Virginia needs comprehensive tax reform, and this bipartisan effort to institutionalize transparency and accountability is an important first step. Sunsetting new tax credits will prevent them from accumulating on the books without scrutiny. I look forward to continuing to work together in a bipartisan manner to ensure even stronger transparency and accountability over Virginia’s finances in the future,” said Delegate Englin.

“Ensuring that government is held accountable for spending Virginia taxpayers’ hard-earned money should be a bipartisan issue. We must continue working together to ensure that our tax code is low, flat, and fair, and that tax policy is well-reasoned and considered carefully here in Richmond,” said Delegate Cline.

Englin is serving his fourth term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee. He is an Air Force veteran, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and he lives in Alexandria with his wife and son.

Cline represents the 24th District in the House of Delegates. The 24th House District includes the Cities of Buena Vista and Lexington, Bath and Rockbridge Counties, as well as portions of Amherst and Augusta Counties. He was re-elected to his sixth term in 2011. Cline serves on the House Finance Committee, Commerce Committee, Courts Committee, and Committee on Militia, Police, and Public Safety. He is also Chairman of the Joint Commission on Health Care.

You can view the full Rachel Maddow segment online here.