2020 8th Congressional District

2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention
Resolutions for Consideration

Presented by the 2020 8th Congressional District Resolutions Committee
Matt Royer, Chair
Nancy Morgan, S ecretary
Matt Bell
Mark Allen Cannady
Adam Chaikof
Becky Dick
Steve Ferber
Liz Hume
Paul Jameson
Robert Nelson
Colin Stewart
Keith Willis
Margo Horner, 8th Congressional District Committee Chair
Table of Contents
Infrastructure
Resolution to Rebuild, Reinvest, and Renew America’s Infrastructure 4
Resolution to Expand Zoning for Multi-Unit Housing and Make Affordable Housing More Accessible in
Virginia 7
Resolution on Expanding Community Broadband and Ensuring Affordable, High-Speed Internet for All
10
Resolution To Support a National Infrastructure Bank 13
Resolution on Preservation of the United States Postal Service and Adoption of Postal Banking 14
Environmental & Clean Energy

Resolution to Support a Green New Deal for Virginia, Building Off of the Virginia Clean Economy Act16
Resolution for Carbon Emissions Pricing 19
Resolution to maintain National Methane Leak Inspection/Repair standards, improve Particulate pollution
standards and allow California-led vehicle fuel-efficiency standards to be maintained 20
Labor & Workers’ Rights

Resolution to Protect the Virginia Minimum Wage Increase in 2021 22
Resolution to Support Public Sector Collective Bargaining 24
Resolution to Support the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO Act) 25
Resolution to Support the Reward Work Act 26
Resolution to Ensure Support to Low-Income Workers during a Pandemic 27
Resolution on Paid Family Leave 29
Resolution on Securing and Ensuring Workplace Democracy 30
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Criminal Justice Reform & Public Safety
Resolution on Criminal Justice Reform and Reducing Mass Incarceration 31
Resolution to Pursue Full Legalization of Cannabis 32
Resolution to Reform the Virginia Correctional System 34
Resolution on LGBTQ+ Equality in Virginia 35
Resolution to Pursue Federal Gun Safety Legislation 37
Healthcare & Medicine

Resolution to Pursue Healthcare for All 39
Resolution to Reform Pharmaceuticals, Limit Drug Prices, and Hold Big Pharma Accountable 41
Resolution to Amend the Virginia Constitution Guaranteeing An Individual’s Right to Personal

Reproductive Autonomy 44
Resolution on Pandemic Preparedness 45
Education
Resolution to Strengthen Anti-Bullying Laws in Schools in Virginia. 46
Resolution Supporting Efforts to Close the Opportunity Gap in Virginia Public Schools 47
Resolution to Require Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Education in Virginia Public Schools 49
Resolution on Adopting Universal Quality Childcare and Pre-K for All 50
Resolution to Support Making Public Colleges, Universities, and Trade Schools Tuition Free for All, and
Cancelling All Student Debt 51
Foreign Affairs & Intelligence

Resolution to Prevent the Continuance of Past Use of Torture in Intelligence Gathering and to Encourage
the full release of the Senate Select Committee’s Report (under the Bush-Cheney administration) 53
Resolution to Oppose the Occupation and Annexation of the West Bank 55
Resolution Supporting Lifting Sanctions Against & Sending of Aid to the People of Iran due to the
Covid-19 Pandemic 57
Resolution for Electronic Privacy 58
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Anti-Corruption, Ethics, Tax, Finance & Election Reforms
Resolution to Strengthen Ethics Agencies in Virginia 60
Resolution on Corporate Accountability and Democracy 61
Resolution on Fair Banking, Wall Street Reform, and Public Banking 63
Resolution to Impose a Wealth Tax and Restore Progressive Taxation 65
Resolution to Reform U.S. Senate Filibuster 67
Resolution to Censure or Impeach Attorney General William Barr 68
Resolution to Eliminate of Superdelegates 70
Resolution to Pursue Vote by Mail Nationwide for the 2020 General Election And Beyond 71
Resolution on Enacting Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia and Reducing Big Money in Politics
Through an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 72
Resolution in Support of Independent Non-Partisan Redistricting Reform for Fairer Maps 74
3
Resolution to Rebuild, Reinvest, and Renew America’s Infrastructure
Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee
Americans depend on our nation’s roads, bridges, schools, telecommunication systems, water
infrastructure, and electrical grids every single day. Our infrastructure was once the envy of the world, but
due to lack of funding and investments, it has fallen apart and we have fallen behind. Today, the United
States (US) has a current letter grade of a D+ granted by experts in their respective fields1 and ranks 13th
in the world for overall infrastructure according to the World Economic Forum.2
We drive on crumbling roads, bridges, and tunnels to commute to work and to get our children to school,
many of which are in buildings that are unsafe and outdated. Many experts had said the collapsing of the
Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota3 would serve as a wake up call, but over a decade later, the US has
made little to no attempt to get ahead of this growing problem. We have seen a rise in train derailments
across the United States, including in neighboring West Virginia where a train fell into the Potomac River
near Harpers Ferry.4 Around half of the roads in many of our largest metropolitan areas are in poor
conditions and littered with potholes.5
Outside of physical safety, we still have a large population of Americans who do not have access to
essential utilities. Currently, 19 million Americans do not have access to high speed internet either
because of the cost or because of the lack of connection to their areas in rural parts of our country.6 1.9
million people in the US do not have access to clean drinking water, a statistic that is disproportionately
affecting communities of color and rural areas more than others7, like Flint, Michigan which had been
without clean drinking water for 5 years and is still recovering from the effects.8
While we are falling behind in maintaining what we have, we are also not making improvements. We
desperately need to invest in expanding our renewable energy portfolio in terms of wind energy, solar
energy, hydro-electric, and other sustainable methods. During the current administration, we have seen
tremendous regression as the US continues to attempt to prop up a dying coal and fossil fuel industry,
while rolling back renewable production tax credits (PTCs) and the gutting of the Clean Power Plan.9 All
the while, our workforce is being placed further into poverty and our unions are being strong-armed by
1
2017 Infrastructure Report Card: https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/americas-grades/
2
Peter G Peterson Foundation:
https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0215_infrastructure-ranking-by-country-world-economic-forum
3
NPR: 10 Years after Bridge Collapse, America Is Still Crumbling:
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540669701/10-years-after-bridge-collapse-america-is-still-crumbling
4
Washington Post: Freight train derails and falls into Potomac River near Harpers Ferry,
W.Va.https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/freight-train-derails-and-falls-into-potomac-river-near-harpers-ferry-wva/2019/12/
21/6970e6f2-240a-11ea-a153-dce4b94e4249_story.html
5
Pothole.info: Preserve and Protect https://www.pothole.info/the-facts/
6
Federal Communications Commission: Eighth Broadband Progress Report
https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/eighth-broadband-progress-report
7
WHYY: Water access is a problem in the U.S. affecting minoring and rural groups the most:
https://whyy.org/articles/water-access-is-a-problem-in-the-u-s-affecting-minority-and-rural-groups-the-most/
8
Michigan Radio: Does Flint have clean water? Yes, but it’s complicated:
https://www.michiganradio.org/post/does-flint-have-clean-water-yes-it-s-complicated
9
Reuters: Trump administration replaces Obama-era power plant, in boost to coal.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-climate/trump-administration-replaces-obama-era-power-plant-rule-in-boost-to-coal-i
dUSKCN1TK12V
4
employers and undercut by competitors in government sponsored projects leading to lower quality in
finalized products, which in turn cost taxpayers more money10. We need a new commitment to our public
health and safety, our workforce, to our economy, and to our country.
According to a plan written by the Senate Democrats in partnership with the Society of Civil Engineers
and other experts, these investments will total to about $1 trillion dollars and create 15 million new jobs
over the next 10 years: $100 billion to the roads and bridges, $100 billion to main streets, $100 billion to
highways and transportation, $110 billion to water and sewer systems, $50 billion to railroads and bus
systems, $130 million to public transportation systems, $200 billion to a new Vital Infrastructure Program
(VIP), $75 billion to America’s schools without raising property taxes, $30 billions to airports, $10 billion
to ports and waterways, $25 billion to protect against natural disasters, $100 billion to build new
renewable energy infrastructure, $20 billion to expand high speed internet and broadband access, $20
billion to public lands and Indigenous country, $10 billion to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and $10
billion to new innovative financing tools11.
The United States should be leading the world in infrastructure with the amount of money and access to
new developing technologies that we have. It is time for America to reinvest, rebuild, and renew our
infrastructure for the health, safety, and well-being of all Americans.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention
calls on Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald MacEachin, Bobby
Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton as well as United States Senators to pursue the
following in Congress:
1. Invest in transportation systems that increase safety, lower costs commuters and businesses, and
get goods to market quicker, by stabilizing the Highway Trust Fund and providing a major
increase in federal investment to upgrade the 56,000 structurally deficient bridges across the
country, improve road quality and improve access to reliable transit option that are energy
efficient and environmentally conscious.
2. Pursue technologies to recycle our waste glass into creating asphalt for highways and roads ina
more effective manner as laid out by the Federal Highway Administration12 to reduce our created
waste and create a more efficient method of road construction.
3. Invest in stronger, more resilient transportation networks and public infrastructure to withstand
rising sea levels, a changing climate, extreme weather and predicted seismic events, and adopting
cost-effective, nature-based solutions.
10
Washington Post: The second phase of the Silver Line has been tarnished from day one
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/local-opinions/the-second-phase-of-the-silver-line-has-been-tarnished-from-day-one/2
019/09/06/5b1492c8-ce8a-11e9-b29b-a528dc82154a_story.html
11
Senate Democrats: A Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/files/documents/ABlueprinttoRebuildAmericasInfrastructure.pdf
12
Department of Transportation: Federal Highway Administration - User Guidelines for Waste and Byproduct Materials in
Pavement Construction: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/structures/97148/wg2.cfm
5
4. Improve our nation’s inter-city passenger railroads and invest in high-speed rail to connect more
communities and implement lifesaving Positive Train Control technology, while reducing service
disruptions across the county and making it more convenient and safer for all passengers with
funding for grant programs including: Amtrak, the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety
Improvement program, the Federal-State Partnership program, and Restoration and Enhancement
grants.
5. Invest in critical physical and digital infrastructure needs in schools while creating jobs in order to
build safe, healthy, and modern learning environments for our students by reauthorizing the
Qualified Zone Academy Bonds program and expand its use to help public schools located in
economically distressed and high-poverty communities invest in their school districts.
6. Increase public investment in our airports and aviation system to meet passenger growth and
cargo activity, while improving safety and efficiency by increasing appropriations to the FAA’s
annual facilities and equipment budget, the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), and additional
investments to accelerate implementation of the NextGen modernization program.
7. Invest in marine dredging and inland waterways to accommodate growth in waterborne traffic
and ensure that money paid by shippers into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is used to
update our ports, inland waterways, locks, and dams with increasing funding available to the
Army Corps Construction, Operations & Maintenance, and Investigations accounts, as well as
projects supported by the Bureau of Reclamation.
8. Restore our commitment to addressing our drinking and wastewater infrastructure so that all
Americans in urban and rural areas have access to safe and clean water, in order to protect public
health for all communities, especially the most vulnerable populations, communities of color, and
low income areas, and to ensure these essential public services remain affordable to working
people by increasing funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program
that provides federal loanst to support large-scale water infrastructure projects with national and
regional significance.
9. Deliver cheaper energy prices for consumers and reduce the number of power failures by
improving and modernizing our energy grid, and expand renewable energy infrastructure to create
sustainable jobs and lessen our carbon footprint, while strengthening our bioenergy capabilities
and invest in energy efficiency retrofits and smart communities that help cut energy usage and
combat climate change. Funding will be exhibited through incentives given for electricity
generation, transportation fuels, and energy efficiency improvements based on performance: the
cleaner the technology or the more energy conserved, the larger the incentive.
10. Expanding our connectivity through high speed internet and broadband access to rural
communities and lower income communities, while stressing the importance of municipal owned
telecommunication services.
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11. Commit to undergrounding transmission lines for electric and telecommunication wherever
possible in residential and commercial areas to reduce the likelihood of power outages and
communication outages.
12. Build up the American infrastructure while maintaining critical protections for clean air, water,
and wildlife.
13. Restore and maintain the integrity of America’s waterways, restore contaminated land and protect
the health of our communities, economy, environment, and natural resources.
14. Commit to using organized labor, Project Labor Agreements, and invest in Unions in all
construction, maintenance, manufacturing, and other aspects of these projects. Place workers'
interests and protections first in planning.
15. Modernize the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospitals, Extended Care Facilities, and other
infrastructure critical to our nation’s heroes.
16. Repurpose budget in Congress to account for the cost of all of these investments and rebuilding of
necessary aspects of our country.
17. Champion legislation that falls under the House Democrats’ proposal for a Better Deal to Rebuild
America13 and the Senate Democrats’ proposal for A Blueprint to Rebuild America’s
Infrastructure.14
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution to Expand Zoning for Multi-Unit Housing and Make Affordable

Housing More Accessible in Virginia
Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District
Additions by Tim Dempsey, Our Revolution Arlington
For the past few decades, Virginia has become an increasingly attractive location to move to for many
people, especially in the Northern Virginia region because of its close proximity to our nation’s capital
and also the arrival of massive businesses such as Amazon and Nestle. With the expansion of mass transit
out to locations as far as Loudoun County to the west and Fredericksburg to the south, a new problem has
been put in the spotlight: the lack of middle-income housing and the hurdles to access affordable housing.
Systematic shortages of housing are one of America’s greatest policy failures. Current zoning in many
neighborhoods now makes it illegal to build anything other than a detached single-family home on most
residential land and also makes it illegal to convert these single-family homes to be rented into different
units without massive modifications, such as separate A/C systems and separate utility systems in some
13
Democratic Leader: A Better Deal to Rebuild America:
https://abetterdeal.democraticleader.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A-Better-Deal-to-Rebuild-America.pdf
14
Senate Democrats: A Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/files/documents/ABlueprinttoRebuildAmericasInfrastructure.pdf
7
cases.15 With stringent single-unit housing zoning laws in Virginia in each locality and the rise of Not In
My BackYard or NIMBYism, it has fallen to the state government in the commonwealth of Virginia to
take on these zoning matters through legislative efforts in the General Assembly.
Delegate Ibraheem Samirah (D-Herndon) introduced a series of zoning bills in the House of Delegates in
the 2020 General Assembly Session. The objective of these bills was to expand the availability of
multi-unit housing by legalizing duplex housing on all residential land throughout the Commonwealth
and eliminate exclusive single-unit zoning everywhere in the Commonwealth. Virginia House Bill 152
would require all localities to allow development or redevelopment of "middle housing" residential units
upon each lot zoned for single-family residential use.16 It would also propose blanket upzoning measures,
with no carve-outs for special areas, a common feature of other state-level zoning bills.17 The bill would
not end single-unit zoning but it would allow for current single-unit buildings to be used for multi-unit
housing and for accessory dwelling units to be legalized for all neighborhoods.
Various states, including Oregon, have adopted measures that eliminated exclusive single-family zoning.
California also adopted a series of laws to encourage “accessory dwelling units” that could also
accomplish a similar upzoning goal.18 Other areas that have explored increasing upzoning so far have
been California, Washington, Seattle, Minneapolis, Nebraska, and Maryland.
More density in housing would presumably lead to affordable housing. However, since Virginia is such a
hot destination to live in, relying on the marketplace to even itself out does not apply here since landlords
and property owners will maintain high costs because supply is not able to meet overall demand. Many
people are forced to choose lower housing costs in exchange for longer commute times. This is
problematic especially for those who are trying to live and work in the same area.
Arlington County is a prime example to understand the discrepancies between affordability and affordable
housing in Virginia, and how the market does not even out with more density just on its own. According
to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, a family of 4 would need to be making a total of $9,493 per
month, or about $113,915 per year, to live in Arlington comfortably.. Single Arlingtonians, though, have
to make $56,221 annually to live comfortably — only $11,619 less than a couple without children does
($67,840).19 For individuals and couples to access affordable housing, it is reasonably easy comparatively
for individuals and couples without children: $68,000 maximum income for individuals and $77,680 for
couples. A family of 3 can have a max income of $87,360 (only $9680 above the 2 person household) and
a family of four can have a max income of $97,040 (only $19,360 above the 2 person household).20 The
15
Curbed: What is Upzoning?
https://www.curbed.com/2020/1/30/21115351/upzoning-definition-affordable-housing-gentrification
16
LIS: HB 152https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB152
17
CityLab: With New Democratic Majority, Virginia Sees a Push for Denser Housing
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/12/virginia-legislature-statewide-upzoning-law-codes-ordinance/602818/
18
Vox: The telling conservative backlash to a Virginia zoning reform proposal, explained
https://www.vox.com/2019/12/27/21039043/ibrahim-samirah-virginia-single-family-zoning
19
ArlNow: Want to Live Comfortably in Arlington? Here’s What It Will Cost You
https://www.arlnow.com/2018/03/26/want-to-live-comfortably-in-arlington-heres-what-it-will-cost-you/
20
Arlingtonva.us Housing Limits https://housing.arlingtonva.us/income-rent-limits/
8
reason for these stringent is that there simply is not enough supply to meet the needs of affordable
housing in Arlington.
One way to expand the supply of affordable housing would be the reintroduction of proffers into the
development agreements between localities and large scale developers. A proffer is an offer by a
landowner during the rezoning process to perform an act or donate money, a product, or services to justify
the propriety of a proposed rezoning.21 This would allow a large-scale real estate developer to set aside a
number of units within their multi-unit buildings to be zoned as affordable housing units. In other cases, it
would mean that developers would donate to the housing trust fund in the given locality or state or to pay
for new streets, sewers, and sidewalks. These agreements would offset the costs that the localities would
incur like losing the available land to develop affordable housing units or the possible unintended damage
that construction would cause to a given area.
In 2016, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill to restrict what local governments could ask real
estate developers and homebuilders to do to offset the impact of their developments. Many Northern
Virginia local officials, such as former Fairfax County Chair Sharon Bulova, said that this bill was
damaging to their counties since they would not be able to hold developers accountable to be active
community partners.22 In 2019, a bill was introduced to alleviate the impacts of the 2016 bill. It, however,
only allowed for more communication between the developers and the local governments, but did not
allow for localities to ask for any community benefits outright.23
Exploring how to improve our zoning laws and increasing the availability and accessibility of affordable
housing are key elements in easing the housing problems within Virginia. Increasing density around mass
transit would also bring about a much needed decrease in pollution in our metropolitan areas in Virginia
and help our overall goal of combating climate change. In addition, if we require the developers who want
to operate in our commonwealth to give back to the community, we will see a desired influx in
improvements to overall affordability for housing.
calls on Democratic Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia State Senate to pursue the following
in the General Assembly:
1. Reform the zoning laws in Virginia to make multi-unit zoning mandatory within a mile radius of
major mass transportation hubs like Metro Stations, bus stops, Virginia Railway Express stations,
Amtrak stations, and other mass transit stations for all new development.
21
Albemarle County Attorney: Conditional Zoning
https://www.albemarle.org/upload/images/Forms_Center/Departments/County_Attorney/Forms/LUchapter11-proffers.pdf
22
Washington Post: Va. Senate passes bill restricting development proffers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/va-senate-passes-bill-restricting-development-proffers/2016/02/09/efdd8948-c
f59-11e5-88cd-753e80cd29ad_story.html
23
Loudoun Now: Governor Signs New Proffer Bill https://loudounnow.com/2019/02/22/governor-signs-new-proffer-bill/
9
2. Allow the conversion of current single-unit houses into multi-unit dwellings without requiring
unnecessary modifications, such as separate A/C systems and utility systems for each unit.
3. Permit accessory dwelling units in residential neighborhoods through new zoning laws.
4. Continue to expand the affordable housing trust fund in the 2021 General Assembly Session.
5. Propose legislation to encourage localities to increase the income thresholds in localities for
people to access affordable housing in Virginia, i.e. in Northern Virginia regions, for families of 3
or more who make an average income of $50,000 a year between 2 adults (or $100,000) to
qualify for affordable housing, adding an additional $15,000 to the threshold limit for each
additional child.
6. Reinstate the proffer system to its full capacity to allow localities to be able to ask large scale
developers to either set aside a percentage of their units for affordable housing or give a cash
payment of an equal cost to the Virginia housing trust fund depending upon the size of their
project.
7. Enact legislation for a Virginia Tenant Bill of Rights that allows tenants the right to organize for
safety and security in their homes.
8. Foster and encourage the creation of local and regional community land trusts by dedicating a
percentage of the state housing trust fund’s resources for permanently affordable housing models
like community land trusts and limited equity cooperatives.
Resolution on Expanding Community Broadband and Ensuring Affordable,

High-Speed Internet for All
TIm Dempsey, Our Revolution Arlington
There is a serious digital divide in Virginia and the country as a whole. Hundreds of thousands of
Virginian homes and businesses currently lack connection to fixed terrestrial broadband at speeds of 25
Mbps/3 Mbps (the FCC defined threshold for “high-speed internet”) because it is simply unprofitable for
investor-owned internet service providers to build out their infrastructure to areas where population
density is too low to recoup investments. Potentially many more Virginians who do have access to
high-speed broadband are unable to afford it because of the monopoly prices charged by the handful of
large providers who dominate the market. While the scope of the problem is difficult to assess due to
inadequate reporting standards and resistance to data sharing by private wireline providers, the data that is
available makes it clear that this digital divide manifests itself along geographic, class, and racial lines.
This state of affairs has serious economic and social (justice) implications as the internet has become an
essential component of modern life and business. Indeed, the current COVID-19 crisis has grimly
highlighted the extent and consequences of this divide for rural areas, the poor, and people of color.
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In addition to fostering a regulatory environment that serves to limit competition, the dominant
investor-owned telecom companies have successfully lobbied the federal government and FCC to remove
net neutrality rules, which allows them to establish tiered service and prioritize their own content over
those of perceived or actual competitors. The major telecom companies have also convinced federal
regulators to erode communications privacy protections, which allows them to harvest our browsing
history for sale to third parties. Within the states, these same investor-owned giants have successfully
lobbied state governments to pass laws preempting competition in the form of public broadband, or, as in
Virginia’s case, have lobbied for onerous restrictions that make municipal broadband virtually impossible.
In stark contrast to the anti-competitive and anti-consumer behavior of the large investor-owned telecom
companies, new models for providing fast and affordable telecommunications services have been
springing up all over the country. Approximately 900 communities in the U.S. are being serviced by
community owned broadband networks, of which more than 560 are served by some form of municipal
network and more than 300 by a cooperative. Several of those networks are now considered to be the best
and fastest in the country, if not the world. These networks have also pioneered innovative programs to
bridge the digital divide to make sure all residents have access to broadband that is well above the FCC
standard for high speed for a price that is a fraction of that charged by the large investor-owned telecoms
— all while ensuring network neutrality and privacy protection. Virginia itself has a growing number of
community networks in the form of 1) open-access networks owned and operated by a broadband
authority, 2) fiber-to-the-home networks built by existing electric and telephone cooperatives, and 3)
publicly owned dark fiber networks that connect publicly owned buildings – all of which have been
shown to promote economic development and save taxpayer money.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 8th Congressional District Convention calls on the
Virginia Delegation to United States Congress: US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along
with US Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald MacEachin, Bobby
Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton to pursue the following in Congress:
1. Enact legislation that clearly stipulates the right of municipalities, counties, and states to build
their own broadband networks and preempts all local and state restrictions on the territorial and
customer expansion of those community networks; and
2. Create a multi-billion dollar fund that provides funds exclusively to electricity and telephone
cooperatives, non-profit organizations, tribes, cities, counties, and other state subdivisions to
build the fiber infrastructure necessary to bring high-speed broadband to unserved areas,
underserved areas, or areas with minimal competition, while conditioning those grants on 1)
strong labor, wage and sourcing standards to ensure that federal funding goes toward creating
good-paying union jobs and 2) on universal service, provisioning minimum speeds, privacy
standards and affordability; and
3. Continue to seek passage of the “The Save the Internet Act” and apply pressure on the FCC to
restore net neutrality and rescind rules that serve to erode internet user privacy;
11
4. Enact legislation that will require ISPs to report service and speeds down to the household level,
as well as aggregate pricing data, and make the data available to the public and stipulate regular
audits to ensure accurate reporting.
5. Enact legislation to prohibit monopoly-oriented actions by giant private providers to unfairly

squeeze out competition, hold governments hostage, and drive up prices. Return control of utility
poles and conduits to cities, prohibit landlords from making side deals with private ISPs to limit
choices in their properties, and ban companies from limiting access to wires inside buildings.
6. Enact legislation that ensures that all new buildings are fiber-ready so that any network can
deliver service there and institutes a “Dig Once” policies to require that conduit is laid anytime
the ground is opened for a public infrastructure project.
FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED that the 8th Congressional District Convention calls on

Governor Ralph Northam of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the elected representatives of the
General Assembly of Virginia to pursue the following:
1. Identify all laws within the Code of Virginia that currently pose an obstacle to any and all forms
of community broadband and pass legislation to amend or eliminate them.
2. Significantly increase state financial support and create a dedicated funding source for the
Virginia Telecommunications Initiative program to provide infrastructure grants and technical
assistance for localities in Virginia to build publicly owned and democratically controlled,
co-operative, or open access broadband networks and to retrofit existing structures to
accommodate Fiber-To-The-Home/Premises wireline connections; and
3. Enact legislation to prohibit the range of maneuvers giant private providers use to unfairly
squeeze out competition, hold governments hostage, and drive up prices. Return control of utility
poles and conduits to cities, prohibiting landlords from making side deals with private ISPs to
limit choices in their properties, and banning companies from limiting access to wires inside
buildings.
4. Enact legislation that ensures that all new buildings are fiber-ready so that any network can
deliver service there and institute a “Dig Once” policy to require that conduit is laid anytime the
ground is opened for a public infrastructure project.
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Resolution To Support a National Infrastructure Bank
Andrew Parr, Virginia 8th CD Delegate and Angela Vullo, Virginia 10th CD Delegate
The United States faces an acknowledged infrastructure crisis. Specific to Virginia, the American Society
of Civil Engineers gave the State of Virginia a grade of C- in its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card. Virginia
received a D grade on the condition of its roads, with the gridlocked District/Virginia/Maryland metro
area ranked second worst in the nation. Over 930 bridges were rated structurally deficient, and the state
received a D on wastewater treatment.
The Commonwealth of Virginia needs to expand its rail system to meet current and growing population
and freight demands. However, meeting the needs for modernization of our infrastructure is beyond the
fiscal capacity of the Commonwealth and most states. The Commonwealth has the fiscal capacity for only
partial funding of infrastructure projects, as do other states and localities, so we must have a reliable
cost-sharing public partner for long-term stable funding for infrastructure modernization.
Therefore, a National Bank for Infrastructure and Industry (The Bank) could partner with Virginia, other
states, and their instrumentalities to provide shared responsibility for the necessary reliable funding. The
National Infrastructure Bank should be capitalized at $3-4 trillion, within current fiscal constraints. A
report by the Brookings Institute has concluded that “There is strong evidence that a period of increased
infrastructure investment effort could provide large benefits to the American economy. It could provide a
fiscal expansion in an economy where aggregate demand growth has been stubbornly slow for years.
Public infrastructure investments enhance economic output and productivity, stimulating stable
employment growth with higher real wages, and have larger returns per dollar than many alternative
public investments.
This policy was already adopted unanimously by vote of the membership of the Loudoun County
Democratic Committee on January 3, 2019, in addition to Loudoun Progressives, Fairfax County
Democratic Party, Alexandria Democratic Party, Our Revolution Northern Virginia, and has been widely
endorsed by national associations of public officials and institutions.
hereby endorses the creation of a National Bank for Infrastructure and Industry and urges the Democratic
Party of Virginia to endorse the creation of this National Bank.
FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention
hereby urges our elected Congressional delegation to endorse and enact legislation to create and authorize
appropriations for The National Bank for Infrastructure and Industry.
13
Resolution on Preservation of the United States Postal Service and Adoption
of Postal Banking
Becky Dick, Arlington Dems; Sacha Brenac, Arlington Young Dems; Kei Helm, Arlington Young Dems;
Additions: Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee
Since the founding of the United States, the Postal Service has been a critical part of our infrastructure,
enabling inexpensive and efficient communications between and among every address in the nation. The
Postal Service is required by law to provide every American, no matter where located, with uniform
services at uniform prices. Its famous motto is, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays
these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Today it remains essential to
delivering goods and information; even private carriers often rely on it to deliver small packages over the
last mile24. Because of the Postal Service’s importance in the life of our society, its establishment is
authorized by the Constitution.
The Postal Service plays a particularly critical role now, with pandemic-related travel restrictions and
breakdowns in other distribution channels. And it will be essential to ensuring a credible Presidential
election. It is unlikely there will be a vaccine against Covid-19 by November and in-person voting will
therefore be dangerous. Voting by mail rather than in person would facilitate a fuller and fairer election.
Many states, including important swing states, already allow their citizens to vote by mail for any reason.
Others could adopt voting by mail in time for the election. Despite some Republican opposition, it is not
clear whether universal voting by mail would help Republicans or Democrats. But it would ensure a fairer
election, with higher turnout, and the results would better reflect the will of the American people.
Even before the pandemic hit, the U.S. Postal Service faced serious financial problems. In 2006 Congress
passed a law restricting its business practices, based on the then-current business environment. Shortly
afterwards, advances in the convenience of electronic communications led to sharp declines in demand for
its most profitable services. The requirements of the 2006 law became simply unworkable. Since the onset
of the pandemic and the shutdown of much economic activity, already low mail volume is estimated to be
down as much as 30%. The Postal Service now faces a crisis. One way to address it is to expand the range
of services the Postal Service may offer.
In addition, there is an unmet need for some new services that the Postal Service could provide. Postal
banking could offer convenient and efficient banking services to a portion of the public who are not being
served by our existing banking institutions. Many US citizens lack access to proper banking institutions,
including but not limited to: the homeless, the financially illiterate, immigrants, undocumented peoples,
and those living in rural areas. The US previously had a postal banking system wherein every American
had an account with the United States Postal Savings System (USPSS), run by the predecessor to the US
Postal Service (USPS). 25 percent of US households are either unbanked or underbanked. More than half
of those people do not have enough money to bank in current financial institutions, 30 percent say they
24
Politico: the Right way to Bail Out the Post Office
https://www.politico.com/news/agenda/2020/04/16/the-right-way-to-bail-out-the-post-office-190271
14
cannot trust big banks, and 9 percent inconvenienced by the location of banks being too distant from their
home.25
The initial USPSS was limited in scope and scale, it provided easy access to banking for immigrants,
people suffering under economic distress such as during the Great Depression, and for the wealthy alike.
Banking today is far more complicated and financial literacy is a recognized problem for Americans
seeking to attain a comfortable life. In times of crisis, Federal or State governments may need easy access
to offer direct cash-transfers to citizens in order to alleviate financial stress. The current banking system is
dominated by private banking institutions that, since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, have
proven to be far too risky and that a public option for banking is appropriate to provide both security and
competition for the American people. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has proposed a bill (Postal
Banking Act) that would provide a banking service through the USPS and additionally provide loans for
small businesses to compete with predatory payday lenders.
In recent years, many Republicans have advocated for privatizing the Postal Service, placing it in the
hands of a for-profit entity. Trump has expressly supported this26. But a for-profit entity has different
incentives than a public institution. A public post office is dedicated to the public interest and to carrying
communications and goods to everyone. It is well-positioned to offer other needed services as well. A
for-profit entity is required to maximize profits for its shareholders; the interests and needs of its
customers rank second. Privatization of postal services in other countries has resulted in higher costs and
less service . In this large country, privatization would especially threaten service to rural areas, which are
expensive to reach. As we have relied heavily on the postal system to disseminate the stimulus checks
promised by the government, many Americans do not have a place to put them, so they rely on same day
check cashing establishments. However, if those same people were to have their own accounts through
the postal system, this would create a much more equitable banking operation for them to receive funds
from the government that they so desperately need.
It is time to provide the Post Office with an emergency infusion of the cash it needs to continue to operate
effectively for the coming year, and then promptly to enact legislation correcting the problems with the
2006 law and stabilizing the Post Office for the future. Adoption of postal banking would assist in
meeting this goal. Finally, Congress must preserve the Post Office as an institution dedicated to the public
interest.
calls on the Virginia Delegation to United States Congress: US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark
25
CNBC 25% of US Households are eith unbanked or underbanked
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/25percent-of-us-households-are-either-unbanked-or-underbanked.html
26
Washington Post: Trump’s privatization plan would destroy the Postal Service
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-privatization-plan-would-destroy-the-postal-service/2018/08/07/caaf9a24-99a
2-11e8-8d5e-c6c594024954_story.html
15
Warner, along with US Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald
MacEachin, Bobby Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton to pursue the following in
Congress: :
1. Appropriate the funds needed by the Post Office to continue its regular operations for the next
twelve months.
2. Formulate and pass legislation that would place the Post Office on a stable financial foundation
for the foreseeable future.
3. Affirm that the United States Post Office is a public institution, dedicated to fulfilling the
nation’s communications and distribution needs.
4. Enact legislation adopting postal banking to provide inexpensive and reliable banking services
for Americans for whom such services are not currently available.
Resolution to Support a Green New Deal for Virginia, Building Off of the
Virginia Clean Economy Act
Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee, with Green New Deal VA
On October 8, 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a special
report that stressed that we are running out time to save our planet. It called for bold, decisive action in
order to combat the rising temperatures of our environment. The world is currently 1°C above
pre-industrial levels, and we are already experiencing the effects such as: extreme weather events, coastal
flooding and threatened ecosystems. If the global temperature is allowed to rise more than 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels, impacts will worsen and may cause irreversible damage to ecosystems, the weather,
land coverage, and communities around the world.27
On November 28, 2018, the Federal Government issued the Fourth National Climate Assessment Report,
which details the damage climate change has already imposed on the American economy and how it will
increasingly continue to affect important sectors of the economy and our daily lives including, water, air,
agriculture/food production, human health, coastal flooding, among others28. No one remains unaffected
by this climate crisis. Everyone in every level of our society is being impacted by this growing issue,
however, marginalized populations, including people of color, immigrants, indigenous communities,
elderly, low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and the unhoused have been proven to be
negatively affected by it the most29.
27
United Nations: Special Climate Report: 1.5ºC Is Possible But Requires Unprecedented and Urgent Action
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2018/10/special-climate-report-1-5oc-is-possible-but-requires-unprecedented-a
nd-urgent-action/
28
US Global Change Research Program: Fourth National Climate Assessment https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/
29
NAACP: Environmental and Climate Justice https://www.naacp.org/issues/environmental-justice/
16
Social, racial, economic, and environmental justice must be the centerpiece of any initiative to combat
climate change. In 2019, Delegate Sam Rasoul and Delegate Elizabeth Guzman co-patroned HJ 724 in the
Virginia House of Delegates, also known as the Green New Deal for Virginia. The resolution stressed
recognizing the need for an emergency statewide plan, which promotes a just transition to a clean energy
economy through lifting working families30.
Introduced in 2020, HB 7731 by Delegate Rasoul laid out the groundwork for the Green New Deal in
Virginia, which would create thousands of sustainable jobs including construction on renewable energy
projects, maintenance on those projects, and manufacturing jobs to create the necessary equipment for
construction. These jobs would be highly concentrated in lower income and rural areas because of the
availability of space for wind, solar, and other renewable sources, thus creating new economic
opportunity for a stimulus in those communities. There would be large investments in job training and
workforce development for the jobs that are created, which would mean those who have lost their jobs in
formerly coal mining towns in Southwest Virginia32 could receive the necessary training to be gainfully
employed free of charge.
The Virginia Clean Economy Act was signed into law this year called for calls for 73% or more of the
state’s electricity to come from clean energy by 2035, achieving a 100% goal by 2050, by generating
2,500 MW of offshore wind energy by 2026, part of the overall 5.2 GW by 2034, as well as 3,000 MW of
solar and land-based wind by 202233. However, there are gaps present in this plan that need to be
addressed.
Due to the flags raised by the studies mentioned earlier, there is a need to escalate this timeline from 2050
to 2036. Additionally, there isn’t any mention in this plan about the utilization of Union Labor, Project
Labor Agreements, and also workforce development programs that would be crucial in assisting our rural
and lower-income communities. We would also require more investments in transportation to limit the
amount of air pollution created by traffic in the Commonwealth.
Expanding our renewable portfolio and reaching 100% reliance on renewable energy by 2036 is the goal
of the Green New Deal Virginia. In addition to building new renewable energy projects as stated
previously, there would be the goal to have a moratorium placed on all fossil fuel projects and pipelines,
similar to the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines, which have threatened historic
African-American areas, local farmers, and other vulnerable communities in the southwestern region of
Virginia34. The moratorium would begin with holding all new approvals on fossil fuel projects at the
beginning of the following year after the act is passed. We can no longer afford to be complacent with
30
Virginia 2019 Session: HJ 724: https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HJ724
31
Virginia 2020 Session: HB 77 https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB77
32
Bunk History: A Curse Appalachian Mining Town Ivanhoe, Virginia:
https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/2109
33
Solar Industry: Northam Signs the Virginia Clean Economy Act
https://solarindustrymag.com/northam-signs-the-virginia-clean-economy-act
34
Dogwood: Supreme Court to Decide Fate of $8 Billion Pipeline That Could Devastate Black Communities
https://vadogwood.com/2020/02/26/supreme-court-to-decide-fate-of-8-billion-pipeline-that-could-devastate-black-communities/
17
business as usual when it comes to our climate. We ask for bold action to ensure a green, clean, and
prosperous future for all.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional DIstrict Democratic

Convention calls on all Democratic Virginia State Senators and Delegates to pursue a Green New
Deal for Virginia which follows the following tennant and requirements:
Regarding Equitable Labor:
1. A just and equitable renewables plan building off the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act that
leaves no workers or communities behind.
2. The establishment of job training programs and energy worker protections through project labor
agreements and prevailing wage requirements for construction, and union neutrality agreements
and living wage standards for permanent employees.
3. Transitional assistance for workers in the fossil fuel industry and affected communities.
Regarding Prudent Benchmarks:
4. Escalating the VCEA Timeline so that there will be 100% reliance on renewable energy for
electricity generation in Virginia by 2036 with a proper and responsible schedule to achieve it
5. A 36 percent reduction in electric energy consumption in buildings by 2035 by increasing the

standards in which we hold our buildings to be environmentally conscious.
Regarding Investments in Infrastructure
6. Prioritize equitable, affordable & clean transportation systems.
7. Large investments and job-training programs in renewables, building an energy efficient

smart-grid, residential and commercial energy efficiency, & more.
8. Investments in local-scale agriculture in communities across Virginia.
9. A moratorium, effective the following calendar year on approval by any state agency or political
subdivision of any approval required for
a. Electric generating facilities that generate fossil fuel energy through the combustion of a
fossil fuel resource
b. Import or export terminals for fossil fuel resources
c. Certain maintenance activities relating to an import or export terminal for a fossil fuel
resource
18
d. Gathering lines or pipelines for the transport of any fossil fuel resource that requires the
use of eminent domain on private property
e. Certain maintenance activities relating to such gathering lines or pipelines
f. Refineries of a fossil fuel resource;
g. Exploration for any type of fossil fuel, unless preempted by applicable federal law.
Resolution for Carbon Emissions Pricing

Colin Stewart, Alexandria Young Democrats
Global climate change is an urgent threat to the wellbeing of the United States and the international
community, and is driven by human activity, principally carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel
combustion35. Carbon pricing can effectively reduce carbon emissions,36 and should be undertaken along
with other policies as a multi-pronged approach to address climate change.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763) would impose a $15/tonne CO2-equivalent
fee on fossil fuels at the point of emission, or where they enter the US economy, and increase the fee by
$10/tonne per year, or $15/tonne if the emissions reduction target is not met in the prior year, until US
emissions reach 10% of 2016 levels37,38. H.R. 763 would establish an ambitious emissions reduction
schedule that would put the United States on track to meet its obligations under the Paris Climate
Agreement39,40,41, though further action is needed to keep global warming to 2°C following IPCC reporting
42
. The bill would also divide the carbon fee revenue into equal shares and pay a monthly dividend to all
US households, projected to provide a family of four with nearly $3,500 in annual dividends after 10
years43.
35
IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report.
(https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full.pdf)
36
Boyce, James K. "Carbon pricing: effectiveness and equity." Ecological Economics 150 (2018): 52-61.
(https://www.umass.edu/economics/sites/default/files/Boyce%20Ecol%20Econ%202018.pdf)
37
Energy Innovations and Carbon Dividends Act, H.R. 763
(https://energyinnovationact.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Energy-Innovation-and-Carbon-Dividend-Act-2019.pdf)
38
Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, Section-by-Section Guide to EICDA
(https://static.smallworldlabs.com/cclobby/content/resources/energy-innovation-act/Section-by-Section-Analysis-Energy-Innovat
ion-Act-2019.pdf)
39
Climate Action Tracker: Pledges and Targets, USA (https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/usa/pledges-and-targets/)
40
REMI, Synapse, “The Economic, Climate, Fiscal, Power, and Demographic Impact of a National Fee-and-Dividend Carbon
Tax”, 2014 (https://citizensclimatelobby.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/REMI-carbon-tax-report-62141.pdf)
41
B. Plumer, B. Migliozzi, “How to Cut U.S. Emissions Faster? Do what These Countries Are Doing”, New York Times, 2019
(https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/13/climate/cut-us-emissions-with-policies-from-other-countries.html)
42
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2106758-the-oil-and-gas-we-have-already-tapped-will-take-us-past-1-5c/
43
REMI, Synapse, “The Economic, Climate, Fiscal, Power, and Demographic Impact of a National Fee-and-Dividend Carbon
Tax”, 2014 (https://citizensclimatelobby.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/REMI-carbon-tax-report-62141.pdf)
19
H.R. 763 has bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and has the largest number of cosponsors
on a carbon pricing bill to date in the 116th Congress (80 as of 2/21/2020)44. It would not restrict state and
local governments from implementing additional policies to curb carbon pollution. It would also not limit
the ability of the federal government, state governments, organizations, or individuals to sue fossil fuel
companies. H.R. 763 would protect EPA’s authority to issue Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
standards to regulate emissions from vehicles. It would pause a narrow set of federal CO2 regulations that
would be redundant or ineffective upon implementing the carbon fee – such as the Trump
administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) plan, which does not effectively reduce US emissions
and may in fact drive emissions higher45. If emissions reduction targets are not met after 10 years, H.R.
763 would mandate that EPA regulate CO2 emissions to meet the targets set by the emissions reduction
schedule.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention endorses

the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2019 (H.R. 763), and calls upon all members of
the Virginia Congressional Delegation to co-sponsor H.R. 763, or the corresponding Senate bill once
introduced.
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution to maintain National Methane Leak Inspection/Repair standards,

improve Particulate pollution standards and allow California-led vehicle
fuel-efficiency standards to be maintained
Dr. Steven Ferber, PhD, Arlington Democrats
Regarding Methane Leakage:

Given the Trump Administration’s proposal to allow oil and gas operators to largely police themselves
regarding Methane Leak Inspection and Repair at their facilities.46
Given that Methane (CH4) gas is 80 times as potent a greenhouse gas pollutant as carbon dioxide
in its ability to cause Climatic Instability (“Global Warming” as the media call it) and that Scientists have
projected that the world needs to cut its overall greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half by mid-century to
avert catastrophic effects therefrom. In fact, according to the EPA, methane accounted for more than 10
percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities as recently as 2017 and that nearly a
third of those emissions were generated by the natural gas and petroleum industry
And, given that there is even a mixed reaction from the oil and gas industries meant to benefit from
loosening such requirements. Several of the world’s biggest fossil-fuel companies, including Exxon, Shell
and BP, have opposed the rollback. For example, BP President Susan Dio said “The more gas we keep in
our pipes and equipment, the more we can provide to the market — and the faster we can all move toward
a lower-carbon future.”
44
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/763/cosponsors?searchResultViewType=expanded
45
Harvard C-Change “Carbon Standards Re-examined”, 2019
(https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/carbon-standards-re-examined/)
46
Washington post; 04-21-20
20
The current EPA even acknowledged that its rollback will release more volatile organic compounds
which “will degrade air quality and are likely to adversely affect health and welfare”
And, given that Jody Freeman, a climate adviser to President Barack Obama who now teaches at Harvard
Law School, said the Trump administration’s rollback will slow down any future administration that
wants to aggressively rein in methane emissions. And that Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law
Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group, called the proposal reckless, saying it
shows “complete contempt for our climate.”
Regarding Fine Particulates:

As the nation struggles to control a lung-related pandemic, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency
is proposing to merely stay the course on its standards for fine particulates, produced in significant
amounts by vehicles and power plants. Breathing in fine particulate matter is linked to heart attacks,
decreased lung function, asthma attacks, and premature death in people with heart or lung problems.47
Given that Health Groups48 and environmental activists decry the EPA’s April 14 proposal to merely keep
the standard, set back in 2012. They say scientific evidence shows the fine particulate matter limit needs
tightening. The agency’s staff last fall recommended the EPA lower the fine particulate standard to
between 9 and 11 µg/m3. In practice, retaining the current standard of 12 µg/m3 of air for particulates that
are 2.5 µm or less in diameter means most chemical plants won’t have to adopt more stringent pollution
controls for particulate precursors such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides.
And, that Gretchen Goldman of the Union of Concerned Scientists notes that “It’s especially egregious
that EPA is making this announcement in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic,” She points to early
results from a study by Harvard researchers49 that found that a small increase in long-term exposure to
fine particulate matter leads to an increase in the death rate from COVID-19 of 15% (the disease caused
by the SARS-CoV-2 virus).
And that the current EPA, led by a former coal lobbyist, last year moved to affect changes to its modeling
method50 used to count deaths from particulate-matter emissions, such as those from coal and diesel, and
drafted recommendations via an internal committee to limit what kinds of studies of health effects can be
used51 to determine standards. And that, in 2018, the EPA dissolved two scientific review boards52,
including the Particulate Matter Review Panel53.
47
Chemical & Engineering News, April 15, 2020; Cheryl Hogue
48
19 “Health and Medical Organizations Strongly Oppose EPA’s Move to Keep Weak Limits on Particle Pollution, Placing
Health of Millions at Risk” on American Lung Association website media press release, April 14, 2020
49
“Exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States”. Xiao Wu, Rachel C. Nethery, Benjamin M. Sabath,
Danielle Braun, Francesca Dominici. medRxiv 2020.04.05.20054502; doi:
50
Green Car Reports website, May 21, 2019; Bengt Halvorson
51
Ibid, April 1, 2019
52
Ibid, October 24, 2018
53
ibid, April 15, 2020
21
Regarding Vehicle Fuel-Efficiency Standards:
Given that the Trump administration is on track to roll back standards on vehicle fuel-efficiency standards
set by President Barack Obama which are followed by California and 19 other states54, being more
stringent than the federal standards, which the courts have upheld their right to implement for the past
half-century,
And that said standards are intended to reduce oil imports, slash carbon dioxide emissions that cause
climate change, improve public health and save consumers money without compromising safety, and
given that the freeze of such standards would reduce the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy)
standard from 36 to 29 mpg,
And given that Margo Oge, a former director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality who
helped set auto regulations under Obama, called the Trump administration’s fuel-standards proposals “a
horrible deal for the planet, U.S. consumers and the U.S. economy.” She also opined that “Selling
gas-guzzling cars and trucks might continue to drive short-term profit, but abandoning the standards now
in place would run counter to the longer arc of consumer demand, state regulations and international
market forces. Looser standards now, when consumers and many states are demanding cleaner cars,
would spell trouble for the auto industry. Almost everyone loses except the oil industry.”
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention

encourages our Senators and all Virginia Democratic Representatives to take all action possible to
require appropriate Methane leak inspections and repairs, to reduce the fine particulate matter
limits required by the EPA and to allow the maintenance of the Obama-Biden administration
standards as regarding California vehicle fuel-efficiency regulation.
Resolution to Protect the Virginia Minimum Wage Increase in 2021

Additions by Virginia State Delegates Iris Chadab and Sohail Hasnain
The Fight for $15 movement began in 2012 when two hundred fast-food workers walked off the job to
demand $15/hr and union rights in New York City. This statistic was based on what the living wage
would have been calculated in 2012 in the United States55. However, the cumulative rate of inflation in
the United States at 12.4% since 2012, that would translate to $16.88/hour for a living wage. In addition,
more experts say that the minimum wage should be closer to $20/hour if the wage was keeping up with
the growth of the US economy.56
54
Washington Post; 08-29-19
55
CNN:A $15 minimum wage started as a slogan. Now it's passed the House
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/15/economy/15-dollar-minimum-wage-house-vote/index.html
56
Business Insider: If the US minimum wage had kept up with the economy, many low-wage earners could earn double what
they're making now
22
During the 2020 Virginia Legislative Session, the Senate passed in SB 7 introduced by Majority Leader
Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax)57 and HB 395 introduced by Del. Jeion Ward (D-Newport News)58, which both
would increase the minimum wage beginning at $9.50/ hour on January 1, 2021 with a gradual increase
until January 1, 2026 when the wage will be $15.00/hour. As stated before, the minimum wage would
need to be much higher by the time our $15.00/hour was enacted according to the approved timeline.
On April 12, 2020, Governor Ralph Northam amended this timeline to start on May 21, 2021, and to
advance prevailing wage, collective bargaining, and project labor agreement legislation as well.59 This
amended timeline was in response to concerns raised by businesses and corporations within Virginia after
the Virginia Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne stated that the state budget would take a hit of $2 billion
after the coronovarius crisis.60 However, due to the state of the Virginian workforce due to the same crisis,
our workers cannot afford to wait longer to be paid what they are worth.
calls on Governor Ralph Northam to adhere to the original timeline approved by the Virginia
General Assembly starting on January 1, 2021. Be it further resolved, that the 2020 8th
Congressional District Democratic Convention calls on the Democratic Senate and House of
Delegates to accelerate the original timeline, while increasing the minimum wage to be closer to
$20/hour by 2025.
FURTHERMORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

Convention calls on the Virginia Delegation to United States Congress: US Senators Tim Kaine and
Mark Warner, along with US Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald
MacEachin, Bobby Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton to pursue the following to
enact legislation to:
1. Raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour effective as immediately as possible; and allow all
workers regardless of the industry including industries that have been traditionally been excluded
including but not limited to: farmworkers, in-home healthcare workers, hotel workers, and
industries that primarily employ persons with disabilities.
2. Thereafter, increase the minimum wage annually by the percentage by which labor productivity
in the United States increased in the previous year, as calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
of the U.S. Department of Labor.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-higher-the-fed%E2%88%9A%E2%88%9A%E2%88%9Aeral-minimum-wage-sh
ould-be-2017-12
57
LIS: SB 7: https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB7
58
LIS: HB 395 https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB395
59
Office of the Governor of Virginia: Governor Northam Signs New Laws to Support Virginia Workers
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/april/headline-856057-en.html?fbclid=IwAR1tK1rYOzPimC67b
bY7Opo33dhY43HIYNpmwEmov5bzyBdFiJwJ_C4-DRc
60
Washington Post: Virginia considers delaying raises, minimum wage increase as coronavirus blows huge hole in state budget
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-considers-delaying-raises-minimum-wage-increase-as-coronavir
us-blows-huge-hole-in-state-budget/2020/04/02/a6275464-748c-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html
23
Resolution to Support Public Sector Collective Bargaining
Adam Chaikof, Arlington Young Democrats
For decades, Virginia was one of three American states with a total ban on public sector collective
bargaining.61 As a result, public sector workers in Virginia are paid between 18.3% and 20.8% less than
private sector workers in Virginia and earn approximately 8.9% less in benefits than public sector workers
in other states.62 This has made it especially difficult to attract and retain public school teachers,
firefighters, custodians, school nurses, social workers, police officers, and other crucial public service
workers in Virginia.
In response, Del. Elizabeth R. Guzman and Sen. Jennifer B. Boysko introduced HB582/SB939 to legalize
collective bargaining for all state and local government employees across Virginia. While the House of
Delegates passed the bill without major changes, Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw blocked the bill’s
passage until local governments were given the ability to opt out of collectively bargaining with their
employees even if they voted to unionize.63 Adding insult to injury, Gov. Northam announced that public
sector collective bargaining would not be permitted until May 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.64
Virginia public employees need a voice on the job now more than ever to ensure safe working conditions
as they risk their lives to transport coronavirus patients, sanitize public buildings and spaces, feed students
who rely on free or subsidized lunches, and more.65 Collective bargaining is also vital to ensure that state
and local governments do not force public employees to bear the brunt of the ongoing economic downturn
with further cuts and privatization of public services.66 Finally, if the U.S. could permit collective
bargaining in war production industries during WWII,67 then surely Virginia can allow public employees
to collectively bargain while trusting local governments and unions to make any necessary adjustments in
the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
calls on Governor Northam to immediately allow all state and relevant local government employees
to collectively bargain as soon as July 1st.
____________________________________________________________________________
61
Washington Post: Virginia, shake the vestige of Jim Crow by giving public-sector workers the freedom to bargain
collectivelyhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/05/virginia-shake-vestige-jim-crow-by-giving-public-sector-work
ers-freedom-bargain-collectively/
62
EPI: How is Public Sector Faring? https://www.epi.org/publication/virginia-public-sector/
63
AP NEWS: Virginia lawmakers OK limited public sector bargaining bill
https://apnews.com/6559ad8943dd4d1c22e519d27530c2f0
64
Governor of Virginia: Governor Northam Signs New Laws to Support Virginia Workers
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/april/headline-856057-en.html?fbclid=IwAR1nrwUebwogsQjuS
qzTVMs3-ht1FG89qzhTKzMfeuHE4wy6E4aK2dEYX9w
65
VA AFL-CIO: Virginia AFL-CIO Statement on Delay of Collective Bargaining Law:
https://www.va-aflcio.org/news/virginia-afl-cio-statement-delay-collective-bargaining-law
66
Blue Virginia: We Protected Our Schools During Crisis, Protect Us with Collective Bargaining Rights
https://bluevirginia.us/2020/04/we-protected-our-schools-during-crisis-protect-us-with-collective-bargaining-rights
67
The American Prospect: The Good Warhttps://prospect.org/special-report/good-war-workers/
24
Resolution to Support the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO Act)
Ketih Willis, Arlington Labor Caucus
The United Nations has recognized the right to organize and bargain collectively as an international
human right. 68 However, in the United States we have seen decades of eroding these rights through
legislation, court rulings, and lack of enforcement of existing laws. The declining ability of workers to
join together and improve their workplaces has led to job insecurity, lack of healthcare, retirement, and
stagnant wages for working class people. There is an imbalance of power in our economy, where wealthy
CEOs and their corporations reap record profits and bonuses while the working people who create those
profits fall further behind.
When workers join a union or organize a new one, they are demonstrating the power of collective action
as a countervailing force for the benefit of their interests as working people, and Workers are organizing,
mobilizing, protesting and striking at levels of intensity not seen in our labor movement for decades.
Current labor law gives employers too much power to impede workers trying to organize with their
co-workers.
Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (House Resolution 2474) will remove many of these barriers
to organizing, and make it easier for workers to join together in unions and negotiate a first contract. This
legislation will increase penalties and speed up remedies when employers interfere with workers’ rights. It
will streamline the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process, increasing the election
speed and decreasing company interference by prohibiting mandatory anti-union company meetings. The
PRO Act will protect strike and protest activity that gives workers the economic leverage by allowing
secondary boycotts and prohibiting companies from hiring permanent replacement workers during strikes
It will narrow the definition of independent contractors and supervisors to eliminate employee
misclassifications, a common tactic used by many employers to avoid NLRA protections, such as the
right to organize and will define a process for reaching a first contract, including mediation and binding
arbitration, and a fair-share clause, even in so-called “Right-to-Work” jurisdictions.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

Convention calls on Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to sponsor and pass the Senate version
of the bill S. 1306 and House Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connelly, Jennifer Wexton, Abigail
Spanberger, Bobby Scott, Don McEachin, and Elaine Luria to oppose any attempts to weaken the
bill.
68
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) Adopted on 1 July 1949 by the General Conference of
the International Labour Organisation at its thirty-second session. Entry into force: 18 July 1951, in accordance with article 8.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RightToOrganise.aspx
25
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution to Support the Reward Work Act

Adam Chaikof, Arlington Young Democrats
Stock buybacks were legalized in 1982 after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted
Rule 10b-18.69 Ever since then, corporations have used stock buybacks to artificially inflate their share
values and boost CEO pay. S&P 500 companies repurchased over $2 trillion worth of their own stock
between 2017 and 201970 and over $4 trillion worth of their own stock in the nine years preceding that
period.[3] Not only has the explosion in stock buybacks siphoned trillions of dollars away from activities
such as capital investment, R&D, wage increases, and worker retraining, but it’s also caused wealth
inequality to skyrocket.71
Over 50% of stock buybacks have also been financed with borrowed money,72 which has helped push
corporate debt to a record of $10 trillion.73 High levels of corporate debt have left many American
business short of liquidity and more vulnerable to a sudden economic downturn like the one caused by the
coronavirus74
Thankfully, Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representatives Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) and
Ro Khanna (CA-17) have introduced the Reward Work Act (H.R. 3355/S.915) to address these very
issues. First and foremost, the Reward Work Act would prohibit corporations from repurchasing their
stocks on an open market, which is where 90% to 95% of stock buybacks occur.75 In the event of a hostile
takeover, however, the Reward Work Act would permit corporate boards to use stock buybacks to
persuade shareholders to oppose it. This is the case because stock buybacks made during attempted
takeover bids (a.k.a. tender offers)76 are much rarer and are subject to a greater degree of SEC regulation
and disclosure.77
Second, the Reward Work Act would allow employees of publicly traded corporations to elect one-third
of their company’s board of directors. Worker representation on corporate boards has been the practice in
countries such as Germany for many decades and it’s been shown to prevent the kind of short-term
shareholder focused mentality that motivated so many companies to spend so much on stock buybacks in
the first place from taking root.78
requests that Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, House Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry
69
https://prospect.org/power/curse-stock-buybacks/
70
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/the-stock-buyback-binge-is-over.-what-that-means-for-investors.-2020-03-22
71
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/opinion/ban-stock-buybacks.html
72
https://fortune.com/2019/08/20/stock-buybacks-debt-financed/
73
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-coronavirus-financial-crisis-record-piles-of-risky-corporate-debt-11584627925
74
https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-stock-buybacks-are-dangerous-for-the-economy
75
http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/jfried/Open_Mkt_Shared_Resources.pdf
76 ]
https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answerstenderhtm.html
77
https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/press-releases/reward-work-act
78
https://prospect.org/labor/codetermination-difference/
26
Connelly, Jennifer Wexton, Abigail Spanberger, Bobby Scott, Don McEachin, and Elaine Luria
cosponsor and actively support the Reward Work Act.
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution to Ensure Support to Low-Income Workers during a Pandemic

Nancy Morgan, Alexandria Democratic Committee, and Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee
As the spread of the Coronavirus Novel Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) expands across the country, closing
businesses and schools, the economic disruptions were revealed in April’s U.S. unemployment figures
which exceeded 25 million individuals by the end of April, or more than 1 in 10 working-age Americans.
79
This included more than 415,000 Virginians , or 9 percent of the workforce, who filed unemployment
claims. While self-employed workers and independent contractors are typically excluded from traditional
unemployment benefits, the recently passed CARES Act creates a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
(PAU) program that could make them eligible for $600 in weekly benefits. However, more than weeks
after the act's passing, the PUA program is still not implemented in Virginia.
As businesses shut down, delays in implementing the federal benefits system are straining low-income
Virginia workers who were hoping for relief during the pandemic shutdown. Nearly a third of 13.4
80
million US renters didn't pay their rent between April 1 and April 5. As unemployment levels continue
to rise and delays have been reported in getting assistance to residents, workers' ability to pay May’s rent
will be challenged. This raises the specter of evictions and utility shut offs. While Governor Northam
proposes an eviction moratorium of an extra 60 days to catch up on payment to residents who can’t pay
their rent, continued economic turmoil is likely to lead to large scale debt to households during this time
in Virginia and across the United States.
With millions out of work and no money coming available to households, families become more food
insecure. Families should have to weigh paying their rent or buying food for their children. In this context
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is critical in staving off increased hunger and
poverty during the crisis-and for supporting local economies and workers. While the CARES Act
included increased funding for SNAP to cover the costs associated with the increase in caseload, it did
not raise benefits for SNAP recipients.
The crisis also highlights that paid sick leave is crucial, with many workers fear dismissal or
discrimination when sick. The absence of paid sick days forces ill workers to decide between caring for
their deteriorating health or losing jobs and income, risking impoverishment to themselves and their
families. Currently, 24% of U.S. civilian workers, or roughly 33.6 million people don’t have paid sick
81
leave.
79
https://apnews.com/bf6664f5fae1ef552a73ffc04a005728
80
https://www.nmhc.org/research-insight/nmhc-rent-payment-tracker/
81
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/12/as-coronavirus-spreads-which-u-s-workers-have-paid-sick-leave-and-which-d
ont/
27
As the pandemic evolves, we need to recognize that many of low-wage workers will not be able to return
to the so-called “normal state of being” and that permanent legislation needs to be put in place which
serves as a foundation for long-term resilience to future disasters.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 2020 8th Congressional District Convention requests

Governor Ralph Northam, and Virginia Democratic congressional delegation, Senators Tim Kaine
and Mark Warner, House Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connelly, Jennifer Wexton, Abigail
Spanberger, Bobby Scott, Don McEachin, and Elaine Luria to support:
1. $100 billion in federal money for emergency rental assistance, along with a national moratorium
on evictions during the crisis. The bipartisan Eviction Crisis Act (S.3030) introduced by Senator
Bennet (D-DO) and Portman (R-OH) is a model that establishes a federal emergency housing
grant program which would provide aid to people experiencing housing insecurity in order to
prevent homelessness.
2. Strengthening SNAP in the next federal relief package by increasing the maximum benefit
available to all households by 15 percent and increasing the minimum benefit from $16 to
$30/person.
3. In the context of the crisis, the amount slated to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund (VHTF),
currently $84 million over three years, should be increased to create or preserve affordable
housing units, reduce the cost of affordable housing, increase homeownership and provide rapid
re-housing and longer-term housing solutions for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.
4. Temporary federal sick leave benefits as part of emergency legislation to address the COVID-19
crisis. The measure would guarantee workers with the disease or caring for family members with
two-thirds of their wages for up to three months; it would expire in January 2021. The bill also
would require all private employers to give their workers seven days of paid sick leave, with an
additional 14 days available immediately in the event of “public health emergencies.”
5. Support an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC)
in the next coronavirus relief package. As the economic effects of COVID-19 are expected to last
into next year, this would put money back in the pockets of working Americans as they continue
to weather the economic downturn. This immediate support would build on an existing bill,
Working Families Tax Relief Act.
6. Over the longer term, a federally-implemented refundable “renters tax credit” for low income
renters would be a foundation for long-term resilience to future disasters. Households would
receive a refundable tax credit for rental costs above 30 percent of their household income up to
the local fair market rent.
28
Resolution on Paid Family Leave
Liz Hume, Falls Churches Democrats, and Paul Jamesson, 8th Congressional District Committee
The United States shares the dubious distinction with Suriname and Papua New Guinea of being the only
countries in the United Nations that do not require employers to provide paid time off for new parents.
The countries that require paid family leave have a variety of ways in which it is mandated and paid for
(in much of Europe through social security but other parts of the world have different systems).
Employers in Virginia are covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)82 that allows
eligible employees to take unpaid leave, with the right to reinstatement. FMLA leave is available if an
employee needs time off to: recuperate from a serious health condition, care for a family member with a
serious health condition, bond with a new child, handle qualifying exigencies arising out of a family
member’s military service, or care for a family member who suffered a serious injury during active duty
in the military.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”),83 signed into law on March 18, 2020, amended
the FMLA to provide for up to 12 weeks of emergency, job-protected leave if an employee is unable to
work or telework due to a need to care for a child under 18 years of age because that child’s school or
place of care has closed or the child’s child care provide is unavailable due to a public health emergency
with respect to COVID-19. Employers are responsible for paying out the leave benefits themselves, but
will be eligible for tax credits.
This additional expense is likely to create financial difficulties for many of the employers with fewer than
500 employees that the FMLA amendments apply to, who are themselves reeling from the impact of the
coronavirus on the economy. It is hoped that the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service can
work out an efficient way to get these payments reimbursed in a timely manner, so as to not force more
companies out of business.
These provisions are due to expire on December 31, 2020. Nevertheless, they open the door to the United
States joining most of the rest of the world in providing paid family leave for new parents at the Federal
level. The mechanisms put into place to get employers accustomed to providing paid leave for
coronavirus-related needs can be transferred to getting employers accustomed to providing maternal and
paternal leave for new parents, and get the federal government accustomed to providing tax credits in a
timely manner to companies providing this leave.
At the state level, in the 2020 Virginia State Assembly session, two bills were introduced but not adopted
that would have allowed an employee to get up to 80 percent of their weekly pay for up to 12 weeks for
any family issue including death in the family or maternity leave.84 The proposed laws would have
82
Pub.L. 103–3; 29 U.S.C. sec. 2601; 29 CFR 825.
83
HR 6201
84
HB 825 and SB 770.
29
provided 80 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, not to exceed 80 percent of the state weekly
wage, which amount is required to be adjusted annually to reflect changes in the statewide average
weekly wage. The measure capped the duration of paid leave at 12 weeks in any application year. The
bills would require the Virginia Employment Commission to establish and administer a paid family and
medical leave program with benefits paid to eligible employees for family and medical leave. Funding for
the program would be provided through premiums assessed to employers and employees. The bills also
provide self-employed individuals the option of participating in the program. California, Connecticut,
Washington, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia
also have state mandated FMLAs and other states have proposed state FMLA bills. Each state with a state
mandated paid FMLA sets their own rules including reasons for paid leave, who is considered a family
member and contribution amounts.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic
Convention:
1. Calls on the U.S. Congress to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide for
paid, job-protected maternal and paternal leave for new parents, along the lines of, and
using lessons learned from, the emergency family leave provisions of the Families First
Coronavirus Response Act.
2. Calls on the Virginia Democratic members of the Senate and the House of Delegates to
support measures to mandate state paid FMLA.
Resolution on Securing and Ensuring Workplace Democracy

Thomas C. Barnes, Esq., 10th CD Virginia State Delegate
The National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) was enacted to encourage the practice of
collective bargaining and to protect the exercise by workers of full freedom of association in the
workplace. The benefits of unionization are clear: Union members earn 25.6 percent more than workers
who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement and workers who are represented by a union are
28 percent more likely to be offered health insurance through their workplace. African-American union
members earn 25 percent more than African-American workers who are not covered by a collective
bargaining agreement, and Latinx union members earn 42.6 percent more than Latinx workers who are
not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. However, retaliation by employers against workers
who exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act persists at troubling levels, and many
workers do not currently enjoy the protections of the National Labor Relations Act because they are
excluded from coverage under the Act or interpretations of the Act. Further, Virginia's "right-to-work"
law, contained in Article 3, Chapter 4 of Title 40.1 of the Code of Virginia, does not give any worker the
right to a job, but instead prohibits unions from charging dues to all members for the necessary
representation and services that the unions are legally obliged to render, leading to free ridership and
discouraging unionization.
30
supports the right of employees to form unions and to engage in collective bargaining for the
purposes of mutual aid and protection, without employer retaliation
FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

Convention encourages members of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia to
support HB 153, offered on January 8, 2020, and encourages legislatures of other states to repeal
similarly unjust "right-to-work" laws

Convention urges the Democratic Members of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions, and the Democratic Membership of the US Senate, to support H.R. 2474 -
Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019, passed by the US House of Representatives on
February 6, 2020.
Resolution on Criminal Justice Reform and Reducing Mass Incarceration

Cindy Cuningham, Falls Church Democrats
Mass incarceration in Virginia causes intergenerational harm and trauma to families, destroys
communities, and disproportionately impacts communities of color, particularly Black communities.85
280,000 people are arrested each year in Virginia, over 18,000 of whom are under the age of 18, including
some under the age of ten; and despite making up only 19% of Virginia’s population, African-Americans
make up 42% of those arrested.86
Nearly 60,000 individuals are incarcerated in jails and state prisons on any given night, many without a
conviction, awaiting trial, and unable to afford bail.87
Those who are convicted of a crime—or even just arrested—face many challenges upon leaving the
criminal justice system, including enormous debt from fines and fees imposed on them; criminal records
that make it harder to find a job, to secure housing, to qualify for student loans, and even to vote; and
sometimes deportation consequences that tear apart families.
60,000 Virginians are on a supervised release program, which can be ordered for up to ten years, with
violations even for traveling out of state or failing to find a job often resulting in additional time on
probation or even jail time. 88
85
Brennan Center for Justice: Ending Mass Incarceration:
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/2019_EndingMassIncarceration_digital.pdf
86
Richmond Times-Dispatch: One in four persons arrested in the U.S. in 2017 were locked up more than once, a new study
found richmond.com/news/virginia/one-in-four-persons-arrested-in-the-u-s-in-2017-were-locked-up-more/
87
Crime in Virginia: https://www.vsp.virginia.gov/downloads/Crime_in_Virginia/Crime_in_Virginia_2018.pdf
88
Virginia Department of Corrections: https://vadoc.virginia.gov/media/1204/vadoc-financial-annual-mis-report-2017.pdf
31
calls on the Virginia General Assembly to:
1. End the use of money bail; as well as the imposition of court fees and fines on individuals who
lack the ability to pay.
2. Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences
3. Abolish the death penalty.
4. Restore discretionary parole
5. Increase the age at which juveniles can be tried as adults, and set a minimum age of criminal
responsibility of at least ten years old.
6. Take steps to facilitate re-entry following incarceration, such as: banning discrimination in
employment, housing, university admissions, and public services for those with criminal records;
reforming expungement laws; amending the constitution to allow automatic voting rights
restoration; and eliminating probation revocation for technical, non-criminal violations.

Convention calls on Governor Ralph Northam to make greater use of his power to commute
sentences to release those serving excessive sentences who have demonstrated rehabilitation.

Convention calls on localities to increase diversion opportunities, restorative justice programming,
and treatment options that minimize court involvement and result in no prison time.
Resolution to Pursue Full Legalization of Cannabis

Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee with Virginia National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Additions by Tim Dempsey, Our Revolution Arlington
Currently in the United States, cannabis is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia. Evidence shows
that marijuana legalization is working so far. States are saving money and protecting the public by
comprehensively regulating marijuana for adult use. Arrests have plummeted in places with legal
cannabis, which saves hundreds of millions of dollars for the taxpayer and not imprisoning thousands of
nonviolent offenders. Despite conservative belief, youth marijuana use rates have remained the same in
states that have legalized for users who are 21 and older. Roads have remained safe with no impacts on
driving under the influence charges and overall sales and tax revenue in each state quickly exceeded
initial estimates.89
Cannabis legalization has exhibited benefits for the opioid crisis. Legal access to medical marijuana has
been associated with a 23% reduction in opioid dependence or abuse-related hospitalizations and 15%
89
Drug Policy Alliance: From Prohibition to Progress: A Status Report on Marijuana Legalization
https://www.drugpolicy.org/legalization-status-report
32
fewer opioid treatment admissions. In states with medical marijuana access, overdose death rates are
almost 25% lower than in states with no legal access to marijuana, and the reductions in overdose death
rates strengthened over time.90
Over the past decade, more than 133,000 people have been arrested in Virginia for suspected cannabis
possession. Each year, there are about 10,000 first-time cannabis possession offenses that are convicted,
which can result in loss of a job or a security clearance, suspension of federal student aid, difficulty
obtaining housing, and issues with professional licensing and child custody disputes, all for simple
non-violent cannabis possession. The majority of Virginians say they are in favor of outright legalization
of recreational use and we should work harder to legalize it to avoid these egregious punishments91.
In the 2020 Session, Delegate Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) was able to pass HB 972 which
decriminalized simple marijuana possession and provided for a civil penalty of no more than $25. Senator
Adam Ebbin (D-Arlington/Alexandria) was able to pass the Senate companion bill which provided the
same decriminalization model. However, Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy’s HB 1507 was the much more
progressive bill which would allow for all simple possession of marijuana to be legalized. The bill was
continued to the 2021 legislative session92.
calls on Governor Ralph Northam, Democratic State Senators, and Demoractice Delegates to
pursue the following in the Virginia General Assembly:
1. Pass legislation to legalize recreational use of cannabis by adults at least 21 years of age and
maintain a state monopoly on its sale using existing ABC liquor stores (while banning
advertising)
2. Pass legislation to redirect a portion of revenues raised from the sale of cannabis for investment in
the communities disproportionately impacted by the war on marijuana
3. Vacating and expunging of all non-violent offenders arrested for cannabis possession
immediately.
4. Pass legislation and establish funding for the creation of a network of not-for-profit cannabis
cultivation cooperatives utilizing environmentally sustainable and organic growing methods;
5. Conduct a study on establishing a publicly owned “cannabis bank” to hold money earned from
the sale of recreational cannabis if it is to be legalized before the federal government has
descheduled it
6. Pass legislation to prevent big tobacco companies and large agricultural corporations from
participating in the cannabis industry.

Convention calls on the Virginia Delegation to United States Congress: US Senators Tim Kaine and
Mark Warner, along with US Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald
Congress:
90
ibid
91
Washington Post: Here’s how much Virginia taxpayers are spending to jail marijuana
usershttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/31/heres-how-much-virginia-taxpayers-are-spending-to-jail-marij
uana-users/
92
Virginia NORML: 2020 Legislation https://www.vanorml.org/2020_legislation
33
1. Pass legislation to deschedule cannabis, expunge cannabis-related non-violent convictions,
remove obstacles to banks from servicing the cannabis industry, redirect a portion of tax revenues
to reparations for communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, regulate the
cultivation of cannabis to prevent environmentally harmful plantation-based monocultures, and
prevent tobacco companies and agri-giants from participating in the cultivation and sale of
cannabis.
Resolution to Reform the Virginia Correctional System

Cindy Cunningham, Falls Church Democrats
Virginia spends $1.5 billion annually on its system of incarceration, yet conditions in Virginia’s prisons
and jails are severely lacking, inhibit rehabilitation, and put the health and safety of inmates at risk.93
Many incarcerated people struggle with poverty, addiction, or mental health issues, and there is nearly a
4:1 chance that someone with a serious mental illness is in jail or prison, rather than a hospital.94
Studies have shown solitary confinement can cause psychological and physical damage in as few as 10
days, and over 7,000 people are subjected to the practice per year in Virginia.95
Visitation has been shown to decrease recidivism, but visitors of those incarcerated in Virginia face
arbitrary and capricious policies such as dress codes, strip searches, and tampon restrictions that can cause
them to be turned away after driving hours to visit their incarcerated loved one.96
Therefore, be it resolved, that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention calls on
the General Assembly and the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to exercise
greater oversight over Virginia Department of Corrections policies with respect to the health, safety
and welfare of those incarcerated, and policies related to visitation.
Furthermore, the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention calls on the General
Assembly to end solitary confinement, also known as “restrictive housing.”
Furthermore it is resolved The 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention calls on the
Virginia Department of Corrections to:
93
Justice Policy Institute: Virginia’s Justice System
http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/va_justice_system_expensive_ineffective_and_unfair_final.pdf
94
Mental Health Virginia of America: How Will Virginia Address Mental Illness in Jails and Prisons?
https://mhav.org/how-will-virginia-address-mental-illness-in-jails-and-prisons/
95
American Civil Liberties Union: The Use of Solitary Confinement in Virginia Is Inhumane and Unlawful
https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/solitary-confinement/use-solitary-confinement-virginia-inhumane-and-unlawful
96
National Institute of Corrections: The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism
https://nicic.gov/effects-prison-visitation-offender-recidivism
34
1. Ensure access to high-quality, trauma-informed health care in prisons and jails; to provide
nutritious food and regular opportunities for exercise; and to establish and maintain reasonable
heating and cooling standards in all correctional facilities.
2. Provide generous in-person visitation, without undue limitations and restrictions; to improve the
quality of in-person visits by allowing visitors to have physical contact, providing space for
children and parents to play together, and ensuring accessibility for families with disabilities; and
provide access to free phone calls and video conferencing.
3. Pay fair wages to incarcerated individuals and make commissary items, educational materials,
and clothing available at rates no higher than those available on the free market.
4. Explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, age, race, national origin, disability,
religion, and sexual orientation and gender identity or expression; and to establish and maintain
gender-responsive practices, including a ban on using physical restraints on pregnant people, and
ensuring strip searches are conducted by staff of the incarcerated person’s preferred gender and
that they are never conducted on children.
Resolution on LGBTQ+ Equality in Virginia

Colin Stewart, Alexandria Young Democrats
Additions by Amber Beichler, Virginia Justice Democrats
With newly secured Democratic leadership in the VA State Senate, House of Delegates, and continued
support from the Governor’s mansion, Virginia has finally been able to make significant progress towards
the full and equal treatment of LGBT+ residents under the law. Recently passed Virginia Values Act S.B.
868 protects equal opportunity for housing, public and private employment, public spaces, and credit
applications on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.97,98 Recently passed S.B. 179 expands
the definition of hate crime to cover victims based on gender expression and sexual orientation.99
Recently passed H.B. 386 bans conversion therapy of minors by health care providors and counsilors.100
Virginia has also ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, a positive step for LGBTQ+ citizens as
partnerships between people of the same sex are disproportionately affected by discrimination on the
basis of sex.101
While Virginia has made historic progress towards equality for LGBTQ+ residents, there are still several
legal areas where discrimination resides.102 These include:
1. No legislation has been implemented in VA against the so-called “Gay- or Trans-Panic Defense”,
whereby the assault or murder of LGBTQ+ victims may be excused on the basis that the defendant
allegedly found non-violent same-sex or trans sexual advances so offensive or frightening that they
97
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/april/headline-856051-en.html
98
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB868
99
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB179
100
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB386
101
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/15/796754345/virginia-ratifies-the-equal-rights-amendment-decades-after-deadline
102
https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality_maps/profile_state/VA
35
were provoked into reacting. Unlike neighboring MD and DC, no legislation against this
discriminatory legal tactic has been introduced in VA.103
2. Virginia permits state-licensed child welfare agencies to refuse to place and provide services to
children and families, including LGBTQ+ people and same-sex couples. Legislation preventing this
discriminatory behavior has not yet been passed, but is addressed in H.B. 1051 introduced by Mark
Levine.104,105
Furthermore, over a dozen state legislatures across the US have introduced bills that would criminalize
healthcare services that affirm the gender of transgender minors. Alabama House Bill 303 would have
“prohibit[ed] the performance of a medical procedure or the prescription or issuance of medication, upon
or to a minor child, that is intended to alter the minor child's gender or delay puberty.” Alabama considers
anyone under 19 years of age a minor. Violation would be considered a Class C felony, with punishment
up to 10 years in prison. (N. Lang March 10, 2020) These kinds of egregious bills harm transgender
minors by blocking their access to life-saving, gender affirming care while also harming the medical
community that serves them.
Roughly .6% of adults in the U.S. identify as transgender, and 1.8% of youth are estimated to be
transgender. Transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth are a vulnerable population; in
addition to experiencing many shared challenges with the transgender adult population, including lack of
legal protections, poverty, harassment and stigma, anti-transgender violence, barriers to healthcare, and
difficulty in updating legal documents, as minors they are subject to many additional restrictions,
obstacles, and barriers in regards to transitioning socially, legally, and medically that their adult
counterparts do not face. Because of this, the freedoms and benefits that transgender youth in supportive
households receive, such as accessing gender affirming hormone therapy or puberty blockers, must be
protected in order to ensure the well-being of this vulnerable population.

Convention:
Commends:
1. State Senator Adam Ebbin, state Delegate Mark Levine, and Governor Ralph Northam for
sponsoring and passing S.B. 868, S.B. 179, H.B. 386, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
2. State Delegate Mark Levine for introducing H.B. 1051 which prevents adoption discrimination
against LGBTQ+ persons
Urges:
103
https://lgbtbar.org/programs/advocacy/gay-trans-panic-defense/gay-trans-panic-defense-legislation/
104
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1051
105
H.B. 1051 did not make it out of committee by 3/12/2020; https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/1161292
36
3. All Virginia representatives to reach out to LGBTQ+ residents to hear their concerns and issues,
so that they may be incorporated into new legislation on an ongoing basis.
4. The introduction and support of a Senate bill corresponding to H.B. 1051, and eventual signature
by the Governor.
5. State senators and delegates introduce and support legislation preventing the so called “Gay- and
Trans-Panic Defense”, which may be similar to protections recently enacted in neighboring
Maryland, MD H.B. 488.106
6. Governor Ralph Northam to affirm that transgender troops may serve openly in the Virginia
National Guard, Virginia Air National Guard, and Virginia Defense Force.107
FURTHERMORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional Distric Democratic

Convention calls on local, state, and federal governments to adopt a statement and support
legislation upholding the importance of gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and
to firmly oppose any proposed bills that would threaten transgender minors' access to
gender-affirming medical care.
Resolution to Pursue Federal Gun Safety Legislation

Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee, with Moms Demand Action - Arlington and the Brady Campaign
Gun violence has become a growing epidemic here in the United States. Since 2016, gun-related deaths
have continued to rise despite efforts by common sense gun safety activist groups, such as Everytown for
Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, the Brady Group, Giffords, and the Coalition to Prevent Gun
Violence, to curb this growth. In 2019 alone, at least 39,429 people were killed by gun violence108. A
large portion of these were suicides, while others were both intentionally or unintentionally committed by
others. More than 50% of women who were murdered, were done so at the hands of a spouse or intimate
partner.109 In addition to these statistics, there were 418 mass shootings (up from 337 in 2018) and 31
mass murders.
We here in the Commonwealth of Virginia are all too familiar with these mass shootings having
experienced the hardships of the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 and then more recently in Virginia
Beach in 2019. After gaveling out of the 2019 Special Legislative Session after 90 seconds and gaining a
Democratic Trifecta, the Virginia General Assembly passed gun safety legislation including measures to
extend firearm prohibitions for those under protective orders, require citizens to report lost or stolen
weapons, allow local governments to have more authority to enact gun laws in their localities, update
protections to keep unsecured weapons out of the hands of children and teens and to create a "red flag
106
https://legiscan.com/MD/text/HB488/2020
107
https://lgbtvadem.org/2019/06/resolution-on-transgender-military-ban/
108
Gun Violence Archive: Past Tolls https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/past-tolls
109
Everytown Research: Disarming Domestic Abusers:
https://everytownresearch.org/issue/disarming-domestic-abusers/?filter-by=all
37
law."110 However, the unintended consequence yielded a push from certain localities to create so-called
“2nd Amendment sanctuary cities” in Virginia111. While the Commonwealth of Virginia has made great
strides in the wake of these massacres to take on Gun Violence Prevention, we still need action federally
to deal with this widespread epidemic and to handle this push back from other localities.

Convention calls on the Virginia Democratic congressional delegation, Senators Tim Kaine and
Mark Warner, House Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connelly, Jennifer Wexton, Abigail
Spanberger, Bobby Scott, Don McEachin, and Elaine Luria to make the following pronouncements:
1. Seek universal background checks on all transfers of firearms in the United States
2. Pursue Extreme Risk Protection Orders, or Red Flag Law, to permit police or family to petition a
state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present danger to
others or themselves
3. Prohibit the purchasing or the transfer of firearms to individuals with a history of violent behavior
and/or domestic abuse allegations, regardless of marital status.
4. Close the Gun Show Loophole in which many states don’t require private sellers to perform
background checks on gun purchases or transfers.
5. Strongly Regulating and/or prohibit the use of 3D printing technologies to manufacture plastic
guns by non-licensed manufacturers creating “ghost guns”, which create undetectable threats in
public places.
6. Hold the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives accountable for gun industry
oversight and call for stronger enforcement on gun manufacturers who mass produce weapons of
war for public consumption.
7. Fully fund gun violence research to be conducted by the Center of Disease Control.
8. Commit to pursuing heavier regulation on assault rifles and banning bump stocks that are both
frequently used in mass shootings. These weapons would include those that fit the definition of
"assault weapon" used in the The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act or
Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB of 1994 (HR 3355)112, which included specific
semi-automatic firearm models by name, and other semi-automatic firearms that possessed two or
more from a set certain features:
a. Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the
following:
110
CNN: Virginia gun safety bills head to Democratic governor for signature:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/politics/virginia-gun-bills-northam/index.html
111
WSLS: List of second amendment sancturaries in Virginia and where it’s being discussed
https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2019/11/27/list-of-second-amendment-sanctuaries-in-virginia-and-where-its-being-discussed/
112
HR 3355 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-103hr3355enr/pdf/BILLS-103hr3355enr.pdf
38
i. Folding or telescoping stock
ii. Pistol grip
iii. Bayonet mount
iv. Flash hider or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
v. Grenade launcher
b. Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
i. Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
ii. Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or
suppressor
iii. Barrel shroud safety feature that prevents burns to the operator
iv. Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
c. A semi-automatic version of a fully automatic firearm.
d. Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following:

i. Folding or telescoping stock
ii. Pistol grip
iii. Detachable magazine.
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution to Pursue Healthcare for All

Virginia Progressives
Edits by 8th Congressional District Resolutions Committee
The health of a population is both an instrument of national progress and development, and an indicator
thereof. It is difficult to describe a country as advanced if it does not have an efficient system through
which all members of a population have access to all health services required without the risk of financial
113
hardship when paying for them.
Since the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, legislators and activists in the United States have
sought to create a universal health care system guaranteeing affordable healthcare to all people, a feat
managed by every other major industrial nation. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a critically
important step toward this goal. However, despite its passage in 2010, the United States remains an outlier
in the ability to provide quality, affordable universal healthcare to its citizens. The U.S. is the only large,
114
rich nation without universal healthcare coverage .
115
According to the U.S. Census Bureau Health Insurance Coverage Report in 2018, 8.5% of people, or
27.5 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year, increasing from 7.9% in 2017.
The percentage of uninsured children under the age of 19 was 5.5%. In the next decade, projections rise
116
from 30 million uninsured in 2019 to 35 million in 2029 .
113
https://www.who.int/healthsystems/topics/financing/uhc_qa/en/
114
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2018/04/26/america-is-a-health-care-outlier-in-the-developed-world
115
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-267.html
116
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55085
39
117 118
In addition to studies from 2001 and 2007 which found that 60% of bankruptcies in the United States
are direct or indirect results of illness and medical expenses, a study from the American Public Journal of
119
Health evaluated court records of bankruptcy filers from 2013 to 2016, showing that 66.5% of these
filings were tied to medical issues. While there are some criticisms of the definitions used in the original
two studies, they do not refute the fact that medical expense is a major contributing factor to bankruptcy.
Furthermore, the United States on a per capita, spends much more on health care than other developed
countries. The chief reason for the higher overall health care spending is not greater health care
utilization, but higher prices—including higher drug prices, higher salaries for doctors and nurses, higher
hospital administration costs, and higher prices for many medical services, leading the U.S. to remain an
120
outlier in terms of per capita health care spending . In 2017, the U.S. spent 17% of its GDP on health
consumption, whereas the next highest comparable country devoted 12%. The data shows a remarkable
change in spending from 1970, when the U.S. spent about 6% of its GDP on healthcare. Even as a high
income country, the U.S. spends more per person on healthcare than comparable countries. In 2017, per
capita health spending in the U.S. was 28% higher than the next highest per capita spender. The average
121
amount spent on health in comparable wealthy countries is roughly half that of the U.S.
Despite having the highest healthcare spending in the world, an analysis in a series of Commonwealth
122
Fund cross-national comparisons found that :
1. The U.S. spends more on health care as a share of the economy- nearly twice as much as the
average OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) country- yet has the
lowest life expectancy and highest suicide rate among the 11 nations.
2. The U.S. has the highest chronic disease burden and an obesity rate that is two times higher than
the OECD average.
3. Americans had fewer physician visits than peers in most countries, which may be related to a low
supply of physicians in the U.S.
4. Americans use some expensive technologies, such as MRIs, and specialized procedures, such as
hip replacements, more often than our peers.
5. Compared to peer nations, the U.S. has among the highest number of hospitalizations from
preventable causes and the highest rate of avoidable deaths.
A further study of six categories of waste in healthcare spending in the US found the following estimated
ranges of total annual cost of waste: failure of care delivery, $102.4 billion to $165.7 billion; failure of
care coordination, $27.2 billion to $78.2 billion; overtreatment or low-value care, $75.7 billion to $101.2
billion; pricing failure, $230.7 billion to $240.5 billion; fraud and abuse, $58.5 billion to $83.9 billion;
123
and administrative complexity, $265.6 billion.
117
Himmelstein DU, Warren E, Thorne D, Woolhandler S. Illness and injury as contributors to bankruptcy. Health
Affairs. 2005;24:W5–63. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15689369
118
Himmelstein DU, Thorne D, Warren E, Woolhandler S. Medical bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: results of a national
study. Am J Med. 2009;122(8):741–6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19501347
119
David U. Himmelstein, Robert M. Lawless, Deborah Thorne, Pamela Foohey, Steffie Woolhandler, “Medical Bankruptcy:
Still Common Despite the Affordable Care Act”, American Journal of Public Health 109, no. 3 (March 1, 2019): pp. 431-433.
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304901
120
https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2019/us-health-care-spending-highest-among-developed-countries.html
121
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-since-1980-the-gap-has-wide
ned-between-u-s-health-spending-and-that-of-other-countries___2018
122
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019
123
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2752664
40
Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, Democrats in the US House and Senate have been
fighting against the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Now as we face a massive pandemic, it is
more crucial than ever to protect all individuals’ access to affordable healthcare without a massive
overhaul of the healthcare system.
calls on the Virginia Democratic Congressional Delegation US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark
Warner, along with Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald McEachin,
Bobby Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton to pursue all possible methods to protect
and expand the Affordable Care Act and work towards universal healthcare coverage.
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution to Reform Pharmaceuticals, Limit Drug Prices, and Hold Big

Pharma Accountable
In the United States, the pharmaceutical industry has been one of the least regulated industries of all time.
Big pharma has been charging Americans prices that are three, four, or even ten times higher than what
they are priced in other countries.124 Bad actors have often taken advantage of the limited regulation on
the pharmaceutical industry to increase profitability. Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of Turing
Pharmaceuticals, obtained the manufacturing license for the antiparasitic drug Daraprim, which is used to
prevent pneumonia in HIV/AIDS patients, from $13.50 per tablet to $750 per tablet in 2015 to increase
profits.125 Purdue Pharmaceuticals, owned by the Sackler family and the main producer of Oxycontin, has
pushed the addictive drug since 1995 through deceptive sales practices. Though the Connecticut Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal filed lawsuits against the company in 2001, they have continued to falsely
claim that the drug was “less addictive” than other drugs, helping spur the opioid epidemic in America.126
Currently, there are two major problems within the United States: the price of drugs and the limited
regulation on the manufacturing and seeming drug peddling conducted by these companies.
Broken Drug Pricing
Americans spend more on prescription drugs than anyone else in the world, which averages to about
$1200 per person per year.127 In many cases, the highest priced drugs are the ones that are most needed for
medical survival, the biggest example being insulin. Even though insulin was invented in 1922, its
inflation-adjusted per-unit price has, at least, tripled between the 1990s and 2014. In the United States,
insulin costs per patient have nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016.128 This dramatic increase in the price of
124
VOX: The true story of America’s sky-high prescription drug prices
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/30/12945756/prescription-drug-prices-explained
125
New York Times: Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750,
Overnighthttps://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight-increase-in-a-drugs-price-raises-protests.html
126
CBS News: Purdue Pharma continued deceptive sales practices for Oxycontin after 2007, whistleblower says
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oxycontin-purdue-whistleblower-says-drug-maker-continued-deceptive-sales-practices/
127
OECD: Pharmaceutical spending: https://data.oecd.org/healthres/pharmaceutical-spending.htm
128
NBC News: US insulins costs per patient nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016, study finds
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/diabetes/u-s-insulin-costs-patient-nearly-doubled-2012-2016-study-n961296
41
insulin has put 7 million Americans with diabetes in danger, especially since it has led to insulin
rationing. Insulin rationing due to the inability to afford the drug can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis, which
will ultimately lead to death in most patients.129
Delegate Lee Carter (D-Manassas) introduced HB-66 which prohibited health insurance companies and
other carriers from setting an amount exceeding $50 per 30-day supply that a covered person is required
to pay at the point of sale in order to receive a covered prescription insulin drug.130 Though other bills
have been introduced on the federal level for insulin and other prescription drugs, they have not been able
to gain traction within Congress. However, these monthly caps can save lives and prevent fatal
insulin-rationing.
Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6) introduced the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act
(H.R. 3) in October of 2019, which passed through the House, and now awaits action in the Senate131. The
bill would give Medicare the power to negotiate directly with drug companies, and would creat strong
new tools to force drug companies to the table to agree to real price reductions. HR 3 would stop drug
companies from ripping off Americans while charging other countries less for the same drugs, by limiting
the maximum price for any negotiated drug to the average price in other countries like ours, where drug
companies charge less for the same drugs – and admit they still make a profit.132
Deceptive Sales Methods and Pushing Unneeded Drugs
Currently in the United States, there is a growing opioid epidemic that has led to widespread addiction as
well as thousands of overdoses. From 1999 to 2018, more than 750,000 Americans died from
opioid-related drug overdoses.133 In 2018, an estimated 2 million people in the United States had a
substance use disorder related to prescription opioid pain medication.134 A large portion of this epidemic
is due to the pushing of prescription opioids, such as OxyContin.
Purdue Pharmaceuticals originally debuted the drug in 1996 and began pushing it to medical professionals
as they wanted to see “a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition.”135 For years, the
pharmaceutical company marketed the drug as less addictive than competitors, claiming it “did not cause
a ‘buzz’ or euphoria … and could be used to ‘weed out’ addicts”, even after they had reported they had
129
Right Care Alliance: High insulin costs are killing Americans https://rightcarealliance.org/actions/insulin/
130
Virginia LIS: HB 66 https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB66
131
H.R. 3 - Elijah E. Cummings Lowe Drug Costs Now Act congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3
132
Speaker Pelosi: The Lower Drug Costs Now Act https://www.speaker.gov/LowerDrugCosts
133
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0318-data-show-changes-overdose-deaths.html
134
American Psychiatric Association: Nearly One in Three People Know Someone Addicted to Opioids, More than Half of
Millennials believee it is Easy to Get Illegal Opiods
https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/nearly-one-in-three-people-know-someone-addicted-to-opioids-more-than-
half-of-millennials-believe-it-is-easy-to-get-illegal-opioids
135
STAT: Documents reveal new details about Purdues’ marketing of Oxycontin:
https://www.statnews.com/2019/01/15/massachusetts-purdue-lawsuit-new-details/
42
stopped “misstatements” in 2001.136 Oftentimes, Purdue’s pharma reps would incentivize doctors’ offices
by paying the doctors on an exponential scale for their increases in prescriptions.137
This form of marketing by the drug company led to drug peddling by doctors, over prescribing of the pain
medication for seemingly no justifiable medical reason. The vicious cycle of more money for more
prescriptions led to the widespread opioid epidemic that the United States still finds itself in today. In
2018, Congress passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act (OCRA) (S. 2690), which contained a mix of law
enforcement and public health measures, including one that aims to block deadly fentanyl from being
imported through the mail and one that will allow more nurses to prescribe medication for opioid
addiction.138 Though it was a step forward for the relief to many who suffer from addiction, the bill did
not hold large drug companies, such as Purdue Pharma, to compensating the victims of the opioid
epidemic, install regulations on the industry to prevent another addiction crisis from occurring, or bar
companies that contributed to the crisis from profiting off the manufacturing of drugs that treat addiction.
calls on Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald MacEachin, Bobby
Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton along with US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark
Warner to pursue the following in Congress:
1. Limit the price of lifesaving prescription drugs for medical conditions, such as (but not limited to)
Diabetes, Asthma, HIV/AIDs, Multiple Sclerosis, Hepatitis, and Cancer, by working to pass
legislation through the House and the Senate to cap drug costs, similar to Del. Carter’s HB 66.
2. Work to pass the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3) by calling on Sen.
Mitch McConnell to assign the bill to a committee and to call for a vote on the Senate floor.
3. Call on the Food & Drug Administration to enforce regulations more heavily against
pharmaceutical companies that use deceptive sales methods and/or pricing methods.
4. Continue to move forward with regulation on the methods in which pharmaceutical companies
are allowed to market their products.
5. Ensuring those affected by the opioid epidemic are given compensation from companies, such as
Purdue Pharmaceuticals, that spurred the spread of the addictive drug.
6. Limit the ability of drug companies that contributed to the opioid crisis from profiting off of the
manufacturing of drugs that treat addiction
____________________________________________________________________________
136
CBS News: Purdue Pharma continued deceptive sales practices for Oxycontin after 2007, whistleblower says
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oxycontin-purdue-whistleblower-says-drug-maker-continued-deceptive-sales-practices/
137
CNN: The more opioids doctors prescribe, the more money the make
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/11/health/prescription-opioid-payments-eprise/index.html
138
New York Times: In Rare Bipartisan Accord, House and Senate Reach Compromise on Opioid Bill
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/health/opioid-bill-congress.html
43
Resolution to Amend the Virginia Constitution Guaranteeing An Individual’s
Right to Personal Reproductive Autonomy
Liz Hume, Falls Church Democrats
Targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws are medically unnecessary regulations designed to
make it more difficult for women to access abortion and to shut down reproductive health care clinics.
Many of the regulations are absurd and have nothing to do with providing safer health care. Medical
facilities are already regulated, and TRAP laws impose unfair requirements on abortion clinics that other
medical providers are not subject to. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Whole Woman’s Health v.
Hellerstedt that TRAP laws in Texas did not make patients safer and imposed an unconstitutional burden
on abortion access. The goal of TRAP laws is to close clinics and make it difficult for women to obtain
abortions139. These restrictions are unconstitutional and put an undue burden on women seeking abortion
services.
Until recently in Virginia TRAP laws impeded access to abortion and women’s access to health care. The
Virginia Assembly passed and Governor Northam in 2020 signed a law that removes longstanding
regulations requiring abortion seekers to undergo an ultrasound at least 24 hours prior to receiving an
abortion and to get counseling on alternatives to abortion140. It also strikes the requirement that facilities
providing more than five abortions per year be designated as hospitals. The measures also remove the
requirement that only physicians provide abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, which will
expand the provider pool. In Virginia, women now have better access to safe, legal abortion and do not
have to navigate undue restrictions. However, these laws could be reversed, and states can ban abortions
during exigent circumstances. Texas has banned abortions due to the COVID pandemic and recently a
court upheld this ban. Therefore, it is recommended to amend the Virginia Constitution by adding a
section that guarantees the individual right to personal reproductive autonomy.
Therefore, be it resolved that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention calls on
the Virginia Democratic Senate and the House of Delegates support the following amendment to the
Constitution of Virginia:
Amend the Constitution of Virginia by adding in Article as follows:
That an individual's right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the enjoyment of life and
liberty and shall not be denied or infringed upon unless justified by a compelling interest of the
Commonwealth and achieved by the least restrictive means.
____________________________________________________________________________
139
New York Times: Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Restrictions
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/us/supreme-court-texas-abortion.html
140
CNNN: Virginia governor signs abortion protections into law
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/politics/virginia-abortion-protections/index.html
44
Resolution on Pandemic Preparedness
Becky Dick, Arlington Democrats
The novel coronavirus pandemic has exposed gaping holes in the United States’ preparedness to protect
its population from a new, highly contagious, and highly lethal disease. While some of the blame for the
high number of deaths in the United States can be attributed to President Trump’s slow, weak response
when the disease arrived in early 2020, part of the blame belongs to inadequate preparation over the past
several years and funding reductions141 to key entities that should be at the core of our response to
emerging pandemic threats. The Trump administration disbanded142 the office within the National
Security Council responsible for medical and biodefense preparedness. In acts of short-sighted budget
“discipline,” Republicans in Congress cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control as well as for other
preparedness agencies and programs. And as a consequence of President Trump’s overall withdrawal of
the United States from its leadership role in the world, no nation developed a global strategy and logistical
plan for countering the disease, as the United States did during the Ebola outbreak. As a result, the death
toll from Covid-19, both in the United States and worldwide, is much higher than it might have been.
There have been several outbreaks of new diseases in the past twenty years, and it appears inevitable that
another, yet unknown disease, will appear within the next decade. The next time, the United States must
be fully prepared.
makes the following pronouncements:
1. Through all means available, the White House should re-establish the United States’ leadership
position in global health security and the international response to emerging pandemic threats, in
part by working with the WHO and with other nations to develop international protocols for a
cohesive international response to future pandemics.
2. The White House should re-establish the White House National Security Council Directorate for
Global Health Security and Biodefense.
3. Congress should fully fund the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and
all other federal entities with a share of responsibility for protecting the American public from
disease and emerging pandemic threats.
____________________________________________________________________________
141
Vox: The Trump administration’s botched coronavirus response, explained
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/14/21177509/coronavirus-trump-covid-19-pandemic-response
142
AP: Trump disbanded NSC pandemic unit that experts praised
https://apnews.com/ce014d94b64e98b7203b873e56f80e9a
45
Resolution to Strengthen Anti-Bullying Laws in Schools in Virginia.
The 2017 School Crime Supplement (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice143)
and the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention144)
indicate that, nationwide, about 20% of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying on school property.
These same reports also indicate that, among students ages 12-18 who reported being bullied at school
during the school year, about 15% were bullied online or by text. Students who are bullied are at risk and
more likely to experience depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in
sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. Students who are bullied
have decreased academic achievement and are more likely to miss or drop out of school.
Virginia school districts must include policies and procedures that prohibit bullying in district codes of
student conduct. Virginia anti-bullying laws require districts to establish character education programs
and direct the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to provide training for Virginia public
school personnel in school safety, on evidence-based anti-bullying tactics, based on the definition of
145
bullying in state law , and in the effective identification of students who may be at risk for violent
behavior and in need of special services or assistance. Virginia anti-bullying laws direct the principal of
each school to notify the parent of any student involved in an alleged incident of bullying of the status of
any investigation within five school days of the allegation of bullying. However, Virginia anti-bullying
laws do not cover off-campus conduct and there are no specific groups listed under Virginia anti-bullying
laws or regulations. Virginia anti-bullying laws also do not require districts to provide safeguards or
mental health support for students involved with bullying.
In comparison, New Jersey is home to one the toughest anti-bullying laws in the nation. In September
2011, the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights took effect in response to the widely publicized suicide of a Rutgers
University student who was humiliated online. The law requires schools to prevent, report, investigate,
and respond to bullying. The law also requires training for teachers, school staff, and school board
members. School districts must have district anti-bullying coordinators, school anti-bullying specialists,
and school safety teams (which includes a parent of a student). Every year, school districts must report
bullying incidents to the New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE). The NJ DOE gives each school
district and each school in the district a grade on how the school district or school is carrying out the
requirements of the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. School districts are required to post the report and the
grade their schools have received on their website. In 2017, New Jersey adopted Mallory's Law named
after Mallory Grossman146, who committed suicide when she was 11 after being bullied on school grounds
and harassed via Snapchat and text messages. This law requires that all accounts of bullying be forwarded
143
National Center for Education Statistics: Indicator 10: Bullying at School and Electronic Bullying:
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/ind_10.asp
144
CDC: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm
145
Virginia anti-bullying laws and regulations include the following definitions of bullying: "Bullying" means any aggressive and
unwanted behavior that is intended to harm, intimidate, or humiliate the victim; involves a real or perceived power imbalance
between the aggressor or aggressors and victim; and is repeated over time or causes severe emotional trauma. "Bullying" includes
cyber bullying. "Bullying" does not include ordinary teasing, horseplay, argument, or peer conflict.
146
New Jersey 101.5: Mallory Grossman https://nj1015.com/tags/mallory-grossman/
46
to the county superintendent, and the parents of students involved in the incident be notified. Proven acts
of bullying are added to a student's permanent record. Under the measure, students on their third offense
are required to attend anti-bullying training with their parents. Law enforcement are notified to see if any
crimes have been committed. And parents of a student who is proven to be bullying may face civil
liability in certain cases, specifically if they demonstrate "blatant disregard of supervising their child."
calls on the Virginia Democratic Senate and the House of Delegates to strengthen anti-bullying laws
in schools in Virginia.
____________________________________________________________________________
Resolution Supporting Efforts to Close the Opportunity Gap in Virginia

Public Schools
Matt Royer, 8th Congressional District Committee, with Arlington County Demoractic Committee
Virginia has become increasingly more liberal and progressive when it comes to how our students are
educated. We have been able to enact legislation that safeguards some marginalized groups from hate
speech and hate crimes, yet there still remains a pervasive issue with gaps in how they taught.
In June of 2019, the US Department of Justice demanded that the Arlington Public School system do a
more adequate job of educating 5,000 students who are not proficient in English. Arlington Public
Schools had been under federal investigation for potential violations of the Equal Educational
Opportunities Act of 1974. The settlement requires the schools to provide English as a second language
instruction to all students who need it. The school system has also agreed to adequately train middle
school core content teachers of English learner students and train secondary school principals on how to
evaluate teachers of English learner students147.
Studies have pointed to several other educationally-related outcomes which highlight the role that
demographics plays in public school teaching. A study shows that during the 2017-2018 school year in
Arlington County, 93 percent of white students in Arlington schools passed state Standards of Learning
tests in math compared with 71 percent of black students. White students posted a 95 percent passing rate
on reading exams, while 73 percent of their black peers passed. 40% of white high school students in
Arlington were identified for gifted services in 2017-2018, school system data show, compared with 16
percent of black students148.
In Fairfax County in 2018, test scores of black and hispanic students lagged those of Asian and white
students, despite efforts in Fairfax County Public Schools to narrow those achievement gaps. 89 percent
of white students in Fairfax public schools and 92 percent of Asian students passed state math tests,
147
TOP: Arlington Public Schools will bolster education of ESL students
W
https://wtop.com/arlington/2019/06/arlington-public-schools-agrees-bolster-education-esl-students/
148
ashington Post: Arlington schools were named best in Virginia, but a growing chorus of black parents is disrupting that
W
narrative
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/arlington-schools-were-named-best-in-virginia-but-a-growing-chorus-of-black-
parents-is-disrupting-that-narrative/2019/09/22/c014c126-d339-11e9-9343-40db57cf6abd_story.html
47
according to data compiled by the committee. Meanwhile, 65 percent of Hispanic students and 69 percent
of black students passed.149
In Loudoun County, parents raised concerns over the protections for LGBTQ students when books with
LGBTQ characters were referred to as “sexual propaganda” by some other parents and were banned from
Loudoun’s curriculum.150 This followed closely the ruling by a federal judge that Virginia Public Schools’
bathroom rule, which forced transgender students to use the bathroom of the gender they were assigned at
birth, was unconstitutional.151
Despite significant efforts, there remains a persistent gap between the average achievement of students of
color, English learners, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students and the
average achievement of other students in public schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Children who
lack the opportunity to realize their full potential in grades K-12 face lifelong limitations on their
economic opportunities and quality of life. Opportunity for all is a core Democratic policy goal. We
support the public school systems of Virginia in their continuing effort to close the achievement gap..
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the 8th Congressional District Committee commends all
Virginia Public Schools that have committed to the following actions. We additionally call on all
other Virginia Public School System who have not yet committed to take action on the following, to
do so.
1. Expand implicit bias training for teachers and school administrators, so that, among other things,
teachers have and communicate high expectations for children of color, English learners, and
students with disabilities.
2. Expanding learning opportunities, including making early childhood programs more broadly
available and expanding special learning opportunities for older students.
3. Hire additional qualified teachers of color.
4. Employ data-driven efforts to ensure that discipline is applied fairly to all students, without regard
to color, disability, or ethnicity; and
5. Properly identify and place English Learner students when they enroll in their respective districts’
schools and communicate with parents about program offerings and other essential information in
a language they understand;
149
Washington Post: Report: Racial disparities persist on test scores, hiring and discipline in Virginia’s largest school system
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/report-racial-disparities-persist-on-test-scores-hiring-and-discipline-in-virginias
-largest-school-system/2019/06/30/e3047d22-9827-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html
150
Washington Post: Angry parents protest LGBTQ books in Virginia classrooms
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/perversity-angry-parents-protest-lgbtq-books-in-loudoun-classrooms/2019/1
1/10/6dbe0024-01b3-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html
151
New York Times: Virginia Schools’ Bathroom Rule Violates Transgender Rights, U.S. Judge Says
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/us/virginia-transgender-bathroom-policy.html
48
6. Provide English as a Second Language instruction to all English Learner students, including
students with disabilities, so that they can become proficient in English;
7. Adequately train middle school core content teachers of English Learner students so that these
students can meaningfully access grade-level curricula;
8. Train secondary school principals on how to evaluate teachers of English Learner students and
support effective teaching strategies;
9. Ensure that English Learner students are timely and appropriately evaluated for special education
services; and
10. Properly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of its English Learner programs over time.
Resolution to Require Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Education in Virginia

Public Schools
Erin’s Law is named after childhood sexual assault survivor, Erin Merryn. The legislation was first
introduced in Erin’s home state of Illinois and the bill was named “Erin’s Law” after her by legislators.
Erin’s Law requires that all public schools in each state implement a prevention-oriented child sexual
abuse program which teaches: Students in grades pre K – 12th grade, age-appropriate techniques to
recognize child sexual abuse and tell a trusted adult; School personnel all about child sexual abuse; and
Parents and guardians the warning signs of child sexual abuse, plus needed assistance, referral or resource
information to support sexually abused children and their families152. The Vermont State Board of
Education has required this in schools since 2009 and to date twenty-one (21) states have passed
legislation mandating instruction within schools on child sexual abuse and awareness prevention. Ten
(10) states have passed legislation allowing or recommending this kind of instruction.
In 2018, Virginia passed a law that creates guidelines on age-appropriate programs on the prevention,
recognition and awareness of child abuse, abduction, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, but it does not
require schools to implement such programs. While this law is a step in the right direction and gets
Virginia closer to Erin’s law of requiring public schools to implement a prevention-orientated child sexual
abuse program, it doesn’t go far enough. School districts where the law is not required may not actually
be implementing the training due to lack of follow up by state agencies or lack of school resources at the
community or district level.
Approximately one in four girls and one in 20 boys report experiencing sexual abuse during childhood,
according to research from t he University of New Hampshire published in the Journal of Adolescent
152
Erin’s Law: http://www.erinslaw.org/erins-law/
49
Health and most children know the person who sexually abuses them. 153 These facts and figures show
that the United States has a silent epidemic and sexual abuse of children is easier when we don’t talk
about it at home, in our communities, or in our schools. To prevent this silent epidemic society and our
schools must openly and actively engage in an educational conversation about child sexual abuse and if
prevention education is not required in schools then children may be missing out on a vital prevention
program.
calls on the Virginia Democratic Senate and the House of Delegates to fully adopt Erin’s law and
require child sexual abuse prevention education in public schools in Virginia.
Resolution on Adopting Universal Quality Childcare and Pre-K for All

Karishma Mehta, 8th CD Virginia State Delegate
Safe, affordable childcare and early education remains elusive and completely unaffordable for
working-class families in Virginia. We need the political will to develop high-quality, comprehensive,
early education programs for every child ages 0-5 in Virginia, regardless of zip code, income, or
immigration status. The Department of Health and Human Services qualifies “affordable child care” as
costing no more than 7 percent of a family’s income, but families are spending between 9 and 22 percent
of their income on child care on average. For low-income families, the burden is even higher: a full 35
percent of their income goes toward child care. And when it comes to the proportion of income spent on
child care, single parents spend more than double what married parents spend.* Beyond the affordability
crisis, parents also have to meet eligibility requirements for the Virginia Child Subsidy Program that are
unreasonable and discriminatory. It is unacceptable that in the wealthiest nation on earth, having children
is a leading cause of poverty. Unaffordable child care creates a cycle of poverty that extends into the next
generation, and should be replaced by universal free child care and pre-K for all
Congress:
1. Support or cosponsor S. 1878 Universal Childcare and Learning Act introduced by Senator
Elizabeth Warren.
2. Double funding for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV)
Program, which supports home visiting services from nurses, mental health professionals, social
workers, and other support professionals for families with young children who live in low-income
and at-risk communities.
153
University of New Hampshire: The lifetime prevalence of child sexual abuse and sexual assault assessed in late adolescence.
https://scholars.unh.edu/soc_facpub/325/
50
3. Pass the Universal School Meals Act that he introduced by US Senator Bernie Sanders with
Representative Ilhan Omar, which provides year-round, free universal school meals –breakfast,
lunch, dinner, and snacks– to every child in childcare and pre-k
4. Construct, renovate, or rehabilitate the childcare facilities and pre-schools we need throughout the
country.
5. Enact Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education introduced by US Senator Bernie Sandersto
make transformative investments in our public education system to ensure the developmental
gains made by implementing universal child care and pre-k are built upon when children start
their K-12 education.
6. Provide early childhood workers with strong protections for unionizing, sector-wide collective
bargaining, workers’ rights, workplace safety, and fair scheduling, regardless of immigration
status, and ensure that they have the information and tools they need to act on these rights and
protections through the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act introduced by
Representative Pramila Jayapal and enacting the Workplace Democracy plan.

Convention calls on Governor Ralph Northam of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the elected
representatives of the General Assembly of Virginia (Virginia Senate and House of Delegates) to
pursue the following:
1. Redefine educators’ and healthcare workers’ jobs as “green jobs” necessary to a clean sustainable
economy and provide that these jobs are crucial for building a sustainable, thriving civilization.
2. Repeal the Virginia Subsidy Program eligibility requirement to provide documentation of child's
citizenship or legal residence in the United States.
3. Repeal the Virginia Subsidy program eligibility requirement for active employment status.
4. Enact the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights for educators to strengthen unionizing protections,
workers’ rights, workplace safety, regardless of immigration status.
Resolution to Support Making Public Colleges, Universities, and Trade

Schools Tuition Free for All, and Cancelling All Student Debt
Andrew Parr, 8th CD Virginia State Delegate and Aaraj Vij, 10th CD Virginia State Delegate
Postsecondary education is critical for America’s future. According to a study by Georgetown

University’s Center on Education and the Workforce154, by 2020, 65% of all jobs will require education
past high school. Moreover, a highly educated populace is beneficial to society at large. According to the
aforementioned study, the United States is expected to face an ever-growing shortage of millions of
workers who meet the labor market’s post-secondary education requirements.
154
https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Recovery2020.ES_.Web_.pdf
51
Unfortunately, postsecondary education is increasingly unaffordable. According to the National Center
for Education Statistics, between the 2006-07 and 2016-17 school years, tuition and fees for
undergraduate public institutions rose by 31%, adjusting for inflation.155 Despite this rampant price
increase, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, the average wage of young college
graduates has only grown by 1.4% since 2000.156 This unaffordable cost-of-attendance dissuades many
Americans from pursuing postsecondary education, and those who do are saddled with debt. In fact, the
average college student graduates with $30,000 in student loans. Nationally, student debt exceeds $1.6
trillion.
Moreover, equity gaps in higher education perpetuate income inequality from one generation to the next..
According to a 2018 report by the Washington Post, “Children from families earning more than $90,000
have a 1-in-2 chance of getting a bachelor’s degree by 24. That falls to a 1 in 17 chance for families
earning under $35,000.”157 And, as per a 2018 report by The Institute for College Access & Success, 23%
of first-generation college students default on their student loans within 12 years.158
Notably, universal programs are politically resilient because everyone, regardless of income, benefits, as
demonstrated by Social Security and Medicare, two of the country’s most popular programs. Although
means-testing often functions as an agent of division between groups that benefit more and groups that
benefit less, universal programs provide a point of unity, withstand political attacks, and encourage
common investment.
Finally, current and past Democratic presidential candidates have a longstanding commitment to making
college accessible for all. The Democratic Party at the local, state, and federal levels has a record of
increasing investment in student financial aid, Pell Grants, and community colleges. Virginia’s own
Governor Ralph Northam has pledged to “strengthen our Virginia system of higher education by
committing to invest more in our colleges and universities to ensure access, affordability, and excellence.”
159
Free postsecondary training and education will be more needed than ever to ameliorate the economic
hardships arising in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent high-school graduates now face a very
difficult job market and will need enhanced skills and education to secure employment.
urges measures to make all public colleges, universities, and trade schools free and accessible for
all, and the cancellation of all student debt.
FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention calls

on the Virginia Democratic Delegation to the United States Congress: Senators Tim Kaine and
155
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76
156
https://www.epi.org/publication/the-class-of-2017/
157
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/06/08/why-do-so-many-students-drop-out-of-college-and-what-can-
be-done-about-it/
158
https://ticas.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy-files/pub_files/students_at_the_greatest_risk_of_default.pdf
159
http://growth4va.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NorthamHigherEd.pdf
52
Mark Warner, along with Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald
MacEachin, Bobby Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton, to pursue the following in
Congress:
1. Pass the College for All Act of 2019 (H.R.3472, S. 1947) to “eliminate tuition and fees at
four-year public colleges and universities, tribal colleges, community colleges, trade schools, and
apprenticeship programs.”
2. Pass the Student Debt Cancellation Act of 2019 (H.R.3448, S.1947) to “forgive the outstanding
balance of interest and principal due on all eligible Federal student loans.”
3. Increase Pell Grant funding to low-income students to cover non-tuition costs of attendance such
as housing, books, and supplies.
4. Cap federal student loan interest rates.
5. Increase funding to Historically Black Colleges, Minority Serving Institutions, and TRIO and
Gear UP Programs to alleviate the class, ability, and racial disparities in higher education.
Resolution to Discourage the Future Use of Torture in Intelligence Gathering

and to Encourage the Release of the Full Report of the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence Regarding the Use of Torture in the Bush-Cheney
Administration
Dr. Steven Ferber PhD., Arlington Democrats, with Amnesty International - Arlington Chapter
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report regarding the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA)
Detention and Interrogation Program is a 6,700 page document that details the CIA’s use of morally
abhorrent and horrific acts of torture160. Acts of torture described in the report include waterboarding to
the point of inducing convulsion and vomiting, a practice that President Theodore Roosevelt witnessed in
the Philippines and clearly branded as torture161. One detainee was chained, partly unclothed, to a
concrete floor and left to die of hypothermia. Others were stripped, hooded, bound with Mylar tape,
given medically unnecessary rectal feedings, and dragged through corridors while being physically
abused. The CIA placed detainees in ice water “baths” to induce hypothermia and threatened to sexually
abuse or otherwise harm the family members of detainees162.
The Report is the product of a multi-year investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee conducted
into the CIA's torture program. In addition to describing the immoral brutality of the program, it also
shows that torture often failed to produce intelligence or produced false information. In a public response
to the Report, CIA Director Brennan himself admitted that the CIA did not know whether torture had
160
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Study: CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY’S DETENTION AND
INTERROGATION PROGRAM https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/publications/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf
161
NPR: Waterboarding: A Tortured HIstory
https://www.npr.org/2007/11/03/15886834/waterboarding-a-tortured-history
162
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Study: CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY’S DETENTION AND
INTERROGATION PROGRAM https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/publications/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf
53
produced any useful intelligence163. Further, the Report shows that the CIA repeatedly misled Congress,
the President, and the Department of Justice about the extent, severity, and outcomes of the torture
program164. The entire program was developed and overseen by a pair of psychologists without any
background in interrogation who were paid over 80 million dollars for their “expertise” and “results”.165
Most of the 6,700 page Torture Report is classified and has never been shared with the American people.
Instead a 525 page Executive summary of the Intelligence Report was declassified (highly redacted) and
released in 2014. The investigation into CIA torture had bipartisan support from the time it began through
the release of the declassified summary. Republicans and Democrats alike were horrified by the brutality
the CIA inflicted upon its prisoners.
President Trump has expressed an interest in torturing prisoners, in his words, "even if it doesn't work."
Trump has also been on the record as saying, "Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your a** I’d
approve it…Does it work? Does torture work? And the answer was yes. Absolutely.”166 We have a
responsibility to ensure that our fellow citizens hear about both the brutality and ineffectiveness of the
torture program, and that we make clear to our politicians that it was wrong. We will lose something
irrecoverable if we allow torture to become accepted by our society.
After the Senate Intelligence Committee finished investigating the torture program, Senators John
McCain and Dianne Feinstein led a bipartisan coalition of Senators to pass a law mandating that all CIA
interrogations adhere to the humane standards in the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector
Operations167. The same law also provides the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all
detainees.
The McCain-Feinstein law provides an important bulwark against the return of CIA torture. That being
said, the current President supports the use of torture and his CIA Director, Gina Haspel, reportedly ran a
secret CIA “black site” in Thailand where some of these abuses took place and facilitated the destruction
of 92 videotapes of torture that occurred there.
Congress should act to ensure that unethical lawyers don't again skew the law to allow for torture by
releasing the full 6,000 page Torture Report, requiring that all interrogations be videotaped, and banning
the use of contractors in interrogations.
163
Wall Street Journal: CIA Chief Agrees Some Methods Were Abhorrent, Defends Agency
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cia-director-brennan-addresses-critical-interrogation-report-1418323857
164
The Guardian: Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/dianne-feinstein-cia-senate-statement-full-text
165
Amnesty USA: https://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/sscistudy1.pdf
166
CNN: Donald Trump: Torture “aboslutely works” -- but does it?
https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/politics/donald-trump-torture-waterboarding/index.html
167
Center for Victims of Torture: McCain-Feinstein Amendment
https://www.cvt.org/sites/default/files/attachments/u11/downloads/McCain-Feinstein%20Amendment%20Factsheet_November%
202015.pdf
54
calls on US Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to renew their efforts to have the full,
unredacted Intelligence Report released to the American public and strengthen protections against
the use of torture to collect information from intelligence informants by requiring that all
interrogations be videotaped and banning the use of contractors in interrogations.
Resolution to Oppose the Occupation and Annexation of the West Bank

Adam Chaikof, Arlington Young Dems
Additions from Virginia State Delegates Karishma Mehta, Zeinab El-Rewin, Zeina Hutchison
For over 50 years, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem along with
unchecked settlement expansion have been major obstacles to a just and peaceful resolution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 61% of the West Bank is currently under Israeli control while the settler
population has more than doubled since 2000 to over 400,000 in total.168 The Netanyahu government has
only accelerated this trend by constructing 2,000 new units each year, many of them miles away from the
border between Israel-proper and the West Bank.169 Netanyahu has even gone so far as to pledge to begin
discussions on unilaterally annexing the Jordan Valley and other major West Bank settlement blocs by July
1st at the earliest.170
Not only does Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank violate the Fourth Geneva Convention,171 it has
also forcibly displaced thousands of Palestinians and led to the systemic violation of their human rights. For
instance, each settlement has the authority to appoint a “civilian security coordinator” (CSCs) who is not only
armed, funded, and trained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), but also has the ability to command nearby
IDF soldiers in the field.172 Since CSCs are primarily accountable to members of their settlement in practice,
they are effectively free to search, detain, arrest, and use force against Palestinians without probable cause or
fear of accountability.173 Should Netanyahu follow through on his threat to annex major West Bank settlement
blocs without granting citizenship to the Palestinians living there, many Palestinians would be permanently
deprived of their human rights.
Israel certainly faces legitimate security threats and has a right to defend itself from extremist groups such as
Hamas and Islamic Jihad. However, endless occupation and unchecked settlement expansion will only further
jeopardize Israel’s security. By continuing to build settlements, forcibly displace Palestinians in the West
Bank, and refusing to constructively engage with the Palestinian Authority, Israel has given the Gazans
virtually no reason to believe that their situation will at all improve if they oust Hamas from power. Numerous
168
https://prospect.org/world/challenging-the-narratives-that-support-israeli-occupation/?fbclid=IwAR39eVTORQlUosJ8I6vn6ux
J5ChD67ryJKOnDz8VPD1rghMe4zSI7UWwi8I
169
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/08/709989737/after-a-decade-of-netanyahu-hopes-fade-for-a-palestinian-state
170
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/26/world/middleeast/26reuters-israel-palestinians-usa.html
171
https://www.amnestyusa.org/lets-be-clear-israels-long-running-settlement-policy-constitutes-a-war-crime/
172
https://www.972mag.com/how-the-idf-abdicates-its-monopoly-on-violence/
173
https://www.yesh-din.org/en/the-lawless-zone-the-transfer-of-policing-and-security-to-the-civilian-security-coordinators-in-the
-settlements-and-outposts/
55
former IDF commanders and security experts have also stated that the financial and personnel costs of
protecting the West Bank settlements overextend the Israeli military and leave the country more vulnerable to
external threats such as Hezbollah and Daesh.174
The overwhelming majority of the international community agrees that the most effective and feasible way to
guarantee both Palestinian human rights and Israel’s security is through the creation of a Palestinian state in
the Occupied Territories with possible mutually recognized land swaps. Unchecked settlement expansion,
however, undermines this goal by increasing the number of settlements that would have to be dismantled for a
Palestinian state to be economically viable.175 Annexing the Jordan Valley and major West Bank settlement
blocs as Trump and Netanyahu have proposed would likely eliminate the possibility of any Palestinian state
altogether by triggering the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and forcing Israel to take responsibility for
the entire West Bank.176 Without the possibility of a two-state solution, Israel would either have to become a
full-fledged apartheid state or a dangerously unstable binational state.
Progressive Israeli organizations such as Peace Now and Gush Shalom have worked to avoid this outcome by
campaigning for an economic boycott of the West Bank settlements while opposing the Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions (BDS) movement as a whole.177 Parties such as Meretz have also called for measures such as
immediately freezing settlement construction, unilaterally evacuating isolated settlements deep inside the
West Bank, resuming negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.178 The Democratic Party, however, has yet
to endorse any of these measures in its platform while Democratic Congressional leaders have so far failed to
publicly outline specific actions they would support should the Netanyahu government unilaterally annex part
of the West Bank. As J Street’s President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a recent emergency briefing, leading
Congressional Democrats could help deter Israel from annexing part of the West Bank if they appeared on
Israeli media outlets to warn that doing so could cost Israel support in Congress.179
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention:
1. Endorses J Street’s “Change the Platform” campaign and calls for the 2020 Democratic
Platform to reaffirm its commitment to Israel’s security and a two-state solution while also
explicitly opposing Israel’s “ongoing occupation, settlement expansion and unilateral
annexation of territory in the West Bank.”180
2. Urges the government of Virginia and all Virginia businesses and consumers to join Peace
Now, Gush Shalom, and other progressive Israelis in boycotting the West Bank settlements.
174
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-ex-generals-settlements-do-not-serve-security-needs-1.5480013?fbclid=
IwAR0H1YFpVv81jRasVKcyO7VzN-q-EJt-aRreIb5pQueFny_IpxtS1ltb6Lw
175
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/08/709989737/after-a-decade-of-netanyahu-hopes-fade-for-a-palestinian-state
176
http://en.cis.org.il/2020/04/02/annexation-huge-risks-unclear-benefits/
177
https://www.972mag.com/why-settlement-boycotters-shouldnt-join-the-bds-movement/
178
https://elections.meretz.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/platform-english.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1b2hVZJLzKlKtkj79PGxgzdnrjsK
gSIRQanIVKWHqw3r-ARhPFwgNVCCk
179
https://www.facebook.com/40102638699/videos/506601323557339/
180
https://act.jstreet.org/sign/change-platform/
56
3. Calls upon Virginia’s Democratic Congressional delegation to publicly declare what specific
actions they would be open to supporting should Netanyahu annex the Jordan Valley and
other West Bank settlement blocs.
4. Commends Representative Don Beyer for co-sponsoring HR 2407, the Promoting Human
Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. Calls upon
the rest of Virginia’s Congressional delegation to join him in order to ensure that American
aid to Israel is not used in the lawful military detention of Palestinian minors.
Resolution Supporting Lifting Sanctions Against & Sending of Aid to the

People of Iran due to the Covid-19 Pandemic
Sohail Hasnain, 8th CD Virginia State Delegate & Salma Makkar, 10th CD Virginia State Delegate
The people of Iran have been among the most hard hit by the covid-19 pandemic, having some of the
highest estimated percentage of cases and deaths. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran)
has been deeply limited in their efforts to respond to the current Covid-19 pandemic and its effects by
broad US-imposed economic sanctions, which result in drastic international banking restrictions. These
restrictions greatly impeded Iran’s attempts to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines and
medical equipment.
These financing restrictions, combined with the steep depreciation of Iran’s currency, in large part caused
by the Trump administration's previous decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action, greatly restrained the ability of Iranian companies and hospitals to purchase from outside of Iran
necessary medicines and medical equipment. The additionally renewed sanctions by the Trump
Administration against Iran, specifically pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic, have decreased Iran’s
ability to acquire and provide to its people an adequate amount of medical equipment for detection and
treatment of the virus. The US imposed sanctions have also limited the Iranian government’s ability to
support the Iranian people’s needs during this crisis.
Due to the combination of the facts on the ground and the effects of US sanctions, the number of Iranian
casualties as a result of the virus are estimated to go beyond 3 million people. These sanctions currently
cause the people of Iran to suffer far more than its government. Many Democratic Representatives,
Senators, and our presumed Democratic nominee for the 2020 Presidential election have expressed
support for reducing sanctions against Iran during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The global reach of this pandemic means that it is in the United States' interest to strengthen rather than
weaken Iran's ability to combat the virus. Moreover, President Trump’s decision to increase sanctions
against Iran during the Covid-19 pandemic is inhumane and will only lead to increased anti-American
sentiment within the country. There exists a precedent for the United States lifting sanctions on Iran
during times of great crisis, specifically when President George W. Bush did so in 2003 after southern
Iran suffered a massive earthquake.
57
Convention:
1. Recognizes and decries the humanitarian disaster that US sanctions have contributed to
Iran regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and that the principal victims of this are the people
of Iran. We call on all Virginia Representatives and Senators, the Democratic Party of
Virginia, and the National Democratic party to recognize and decry the same.
2. Calls on the Trump administration and all Virginia Representatives and Senators in
Congress to work to temporarily lift the sanctions that limit Iran’s ability to both respond
adequately to the covid-19 pandemic as well as rebuild in the pandemic’s aftermath.
3. Calls on the Trump administration and all Virginia Representatives and Senators in
Congress to work to send aid to Iran to help mitigate the negative effects that our
sanctions have already had during the covid-19 pandemic
4. Calls on the United States to take immediate action to ease US sanctions and expand
licensing of sanctions-exempt items to ensure Iran’s access to essential humanitarian
resources during the pandemic.
Resolution for Electronic Privacy

Colin Stewart, Alexandria Young Dems
In the bill of rights, the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution states: “The right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Over 200 years
ago, this amendment was written by authors who had no idea that in the new millennium, Americans’
“papers and effects” would include electronic documents and virtual data, and would be susceptible to
seizure and misuse on an unimaginable scale. Further exacerbating this issue was the dissolution of the
Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in 1995 by the new Republican majority in Congress181, as the
OTA had advised Congress on complex scientific and technical issues.
Robust electronic encryption is a prerequisite for the foundation to preserving the personal privacy of all
Americans, as well as the security of sensitive documents of US businesses, and federal, state, and local
governments. Encryption protects information from being read without a key, and should not have
“backdoors”, which can be used by bad actors182. Beyond individual privacy and national security,
181
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/house-democrats-move-resurrect-congress-s-science-advisory-office
182
https://globalpolicy.ieee.org/new-ieee-position-statement-supports-strong-encryption-for-confidentiality-and-data-integrity/
58
encryption is also an important issue for US businesses, which sell American innovation globally, but are
harmed by our government’s co-opting of their products for the purposes of surveillance.183,184
Beyond the issue protecting private data through encryption, there is also concern about the personal data
collected by companies for advertising or business purposes. With the extensive amount of e-commerce
and social media sites on the web comes the risk that companies can collect an extraordinarily detailed
dataset on an individual. This extensive dataset puts individuals at risk for commercial or political
manipulation, as seen in Cambridge Analytica and Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.185,
186
Of additional concern is the increasing use and prevalence of facial recognition software and databases.
Routine suspicionless facial recognition is fundamentally an encroachment on Americans’ privacy, but
also has led to racial profiling, including high inaccuracies in identifying African Americans.187
Furthermore, this data poses a national security risk as it could be hacked, especially in areas of Virginia
near our nation’s capital.

Convention:
1. Urges the Virginia congressional delegation to oppose any legislation preventing robust electronic
encryption, or which requires encryption “backdoors” (e.g. EARN IT, S.3398)188
2. Urges the VA General Assembly members of the 8th Congressional District to introduce and
support legislation to explicitly give Virginia residents the rights to see, delete, and prevent the
sharing of all data businesses collect on them, similar to the California Consumer Privacy Act189
and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.190
3. Urges VA General Assembly members to introduce legislation to ban facial recognition use by
the government (e.g. similar to that passed by San Francisco191), and to require notice and consent
for private use of facial recognition (e.g. similar to that of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy
Act192).
4. Urges the Virginia congressional delegation to move to re-establish and fully fund the Office of
Technology Assessment.
183
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-12-10/encryption-backdoors-won-t-stop-crime-but-will-hurt-u-s-tech
184
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/business/fallout-from-snowden-hurting-bottom-line-of-tech-companies.html
185
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/04/10/cambridge-analytica-indicted-russian-firm/
186
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/15657512/cambridge-analytica-facebook-alexander-nix-christopher-wyli
e
187
https://www.eff.org/pages/face-recognition
188
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3398/text
189
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB375
190
https://gdpr.eu/
191
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/facial-recognition-ban-san-francisco.html
192
https://medium.com/golden-data/the-illinois-biometric-information-privacy-act-92bb6e5e475e
59
Resolution to Strengthen Ethics Agencies in Virginia
Nancy Morgan, Alexandria Democratic Committee, with the Coalition for Integrity
State ethics agencies enforce a variety of ethics laws and encourage ethical behavior by government
officials and employees by adopting codes of conduct, conducting training programs, providing advisory
opinions, and sanctioning misconduct. Robust enforcement by ethics agencies is crucial to provide a
meaningful incentive to public officials to serve the public’s interest, and not their personal interest.
Transparency of enforcement is also critical as it enables public engagement and deters future
wrongdoing. On a national level, HR1, the “For the People” bill, co-sponsored by all 7 democratic
Representatives from Virginia, aims to set national standards which strengthen ethics rules for public
servants.
Building a solid ethics regime requires improving both of these prongs: transparency and enforcement.
State ethics agencies must enforce ethics rules and laws in a way that demonstrates a commitment to
ethical government, and that sends a clear statement to elected and appointed public servants that
unethical dealings will be swiftly and harshly dealt with. Additionally, they should be open and honest
with the public by publishing an annual or biennial report that communicates all relevant enforcement
information. By improving on both these fronts simultaneously, states can take a major step towards the
goal of honest government.
In 2015, Virginia created three ethics agencies: the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory
Council (Advisory Council), the Senate Ethics Advisory Panel and the House Ethics Advisory Panel.
Unlike the majority of state ethics agencies, these bodies do not have the power to sanction violations of
ethics rules. The Advisory Council cannot even investigate complaints.
Virginia’s inadequate ethics regime is reflected in its showing in two recent reports by the Coalition for
193
Integrity. The state scored in the bottom ten of the S.W.A.M.P. Index, an analysis of laws and
regulations related to ethics issues. Virginia fared poorly due to its lack of ethics enforcement powers,
lack of protections from removal of ethics agency members and weak financial disclosure laws. In a
follow-up report on how ethics agencies enforce ethics rules, Virginia’s lack of enforcement power
among all three agencies precluded it from even being scored.

Convention calls on the General Assembly to:
1. Review all lessons learned/results from studies undertaken on ethics reform in the
Commonwealth. Only if there is a gap in knowledge is there a need for another study.
2. Champion ethics reform legislation in the 2021 General Assembly which builds on HB 2380,
introduced in 2017, which lays out a robust investigative system, provides subpoena power and
requires transparency of proceeding. A new bill should, however, look at a potential consolidation
193
Coalition for Integrity is a non-partisan, non-profit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the US
Internal Revenue Code. The Coalition works to reduce corruption and increase integrity in the public and private sector.
60
of ethics agencies, propose independence of the agency, clarify a clear complaint process, and
allow sanctioning power.
Resolution on Corporate Accountability and Democracy

Tim Dempsey, Our Revolution Arlington
Edits by 2020 8th Congressional District Resolutions Committee
Even before the onset of the current COVID-19 crisis, the United States was already suffering from
historic levels of wealth and income inequality.194 Both wealth and income inequality have been on the
rise since at least the 1970s due to the interplay of myriad factors such as outsourcing, automation, the
decline of unions, the growth of monopolies, financialization, the “fissuring” of the workplace, and
changes in tax policy that favor the so-called one-percent, to name but a few.195 This has been as much the
case in Virginia as it has been throughout the country.196 Moreover, it is essential to note that within the
larger wealth and income disparity, there are many additional disparities related to geographic location,
race, gender, and immigration status.197 While there are global forces and federal policies driving many of
these long-term trends, an important, yet overlooked factor is the structure of the enterprise and the lack
of democracy in the workplace. Given the current power imbalance between capital and labor, a relatively
small coterie of CEOs and shareholders are making the decisions on how - and for whom - our economy
works and how our workplaces function. The modern corporation is fundamentally driven to seek profit
above all else in order to provide returns to absentee shareholders who have little stake in the well-being
of the company’s workers or the communities where the company and its assets are located. This
predictably leads companies to externalize their costs to workers, communities, taxpayers, and the
environment.198 Throughout the COVID19 crisis, as Amazon workers face death from community spread
working shoulder to shoulder in tightly packed fulfillment centers199, CEO Jeff Bezos fortune grew by $24
billion dollars200.
194
“The Index of Systemic Trends.” The Next System Project, 20 May 2019, https://bit.ly/3cBjnt1.
195
Collins, Chuck. “Reversing Inequality: Unleashing the Transformative Potential of an Equitable Economy.” The Democracy
Collaborative, 3 August 2017, https://bit.ly/2XX5HnS.
196
Hamza, Eric. “Data show poverty and income trends in Virginia.” NBC12. 3 October 2019. https://bit.ly/3bsNL8Q; Pope,
Michael. “Census Data Suggests Gap Between the Rich and Poor Varies Across Virginia”. WVTF, 29 May 2018,
https://bit.ly/2RXZTXG; Pope, Michael. “Data Shows Steady Decline in Virginia Manufacturing Jobs”. WVTF, 1 April 2019,
https://bit.ly/3bw8ska .
197
Florida, Richard, “How the 1 Percent Is Pulling America’s Cities and Regions Apart”. Citylab, 3 April 2019,
https://bit.ly/3axn2Xc; “Racial Economic Inequality.” Inequality.org, Undated, https://bit.ly/2XWnb40; “Gender Economic
Inequality”, Inequality.org, Undated, https://bit.ly/3atZC59; Xu, Ping, James C. Garand, and Ling Zhu. "How immigration makes
income inequality worse in the US." LSE US Centre blog, 14 October 2015, http://bit.ly/1QsBRe2.
198
For a useful discussion of the consequences of “shareholder primacy”, see Lenore Palladino, “The Economic Argument for
Stakeholder Corporations”, Roosevelt Institute, June 2019, https://bit.ly/2W11X29.
199
Redell, Bob. “Amazon Worker in Tracy Dies From COVID-19 Complications.” NBC Bay Area,
NBCBayArea,30Apr.2020,www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/amazon-worker-in-tracy-dies-from-covid-19-complications-report/2
281956/.
200
Evelyn, Kenya. “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Grows Fortune by $24bn amid Coronavirus Pandemic.” The Guardian, Guardian
News and Media, 15 Apr. 2020,
www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/15/amazon-jeff-bezos-gains-24bn-coronavirus-pandemic.
61
To be sure, it would be hugely beneficial for workers and society as a whole if the U.S. government
would pursue new policies focused on facilitating predistribution and redistribution of wealth and income,
strengthening and expanding collective bargaining rights, and breaking up corporate monopolies. But this
is not enough. There must be a longer-term strategy that seeks to fundamentally redesign the structure
and governance of the enterprise and that ensures that interests of workers, consumers, communities, and
the environment are at the forefront of business decisions.201 This should be done by substantially
expanding worker ownership in America. Congress and the state governments must provide technical and
financial support for the creation of worker-owned businesses and the conversion of existing businesses to
worker-ownership202. Large corporations must be compelled to share wealth with their workers through
inclusive ownership funds, whereby the workers would receive a share of dividends and voting power
equal to their ownership stake. Workers must also be guaranteed a “right of first refusal” if their
workplace is put up for sale, is closing, or is moving overseas, which, if combined with access to the
proper financial and technical assistance, would be a potent antidote to the “silver tsunami” of retiring
baby boomer business owners, private equity asset stripping, and outsourcing.203 Lastly, these policies
should be oriented toward the creation of or conversion to democratically governed worker-owned and
multi stakeholder cooperatives.204
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 8th Congressional District Convention calls on the
Virginia Delegation to United States Congress: US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along
with US Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Elaine Luria, Donald MacEachin, Bobby
Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton to pursue the following in Congress:
1. Pass the ‘‘Worker Ownership, Readiness, and Knowledge (WORK) Act’’, which would provide
more than $45 million in funding to states to establish and expand employee ownership centers,
which provide training and technical support for programs promoting employee ownership; and
201
Numerous studies have shown that worker ownership increases employment, increases productivity, increases sales, and
increases wages in the United States; see “Research on Employee Ownership”. National Employee Ownership Center. July 2019.
https://bit.ly/34UhAN5 and “The Benefits of Worker Cooperatives”, Democracy at Work Institute, Undated,
https://bit.ly/34YE2EU. For a study on the relationship between ownership structures and sustainability, see Sarah Stranahan and
Marjorie Kelly, “Ownership Design for a Sustainable Economy”, Fifty by Fifty, 10 January 2020, https://bit.ly/3bMx8oE. For
illustrative case studies of two large worker-owned cooperatives, see Nicholas Iuviene et al, “Sustainable Economic Democracy:
Worker Cooperatives for the 21st Century”, MIT CoLab, October 2010, https://bit.ly/3588vQK.
202
See the work of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network: https://eoxnetwork.org/. The Ohio Employee
Ownership Center, founded in 1987, has helped 92 companies convert to some form of employee ownership and has
created 15,000 employee-owners at a cost of $772 a job, with each worker-owner benefiting on average from
$40,000 in wealth creation. See "Ohio Employee Ownership Center", Community-Wealth.org, Undated,
https://bit.ly/2zxVnbT.
203
See Bernie Sanders’ proposal “"Corporate Accountability and Democracy", berniesanders.com, Undated,
https://bit.ly/2xckK2a. For a general discussion of the need for “inclusive ownership funds” at large corporations, see Lenore
Pallladino, “Inclusive Ownership Funds for the United States”, Roosevelt Institute, 15 May 2019, https://bit.ly/2KDuFB1. On
ownership funds in general, see Peter Gowan and Mat Lawrence, "Democratic Ownership Funds: Creating Shared Wealth and
Power", The Next System Project, 12 June 2019, https://bit.ly/2yDLkBS.
204
There is a thorough discussion of this issue and proposal in Gowan, Peter. “Right To Own: A Policy Framework to Catalyze
Worker Ownership Transitions.” The Next System Project, 16 April 2019, https://bit.ly/3ayTXup. See also Ranis, Peter,
“Eminent Domain: Unused Tool for American Labor?”, WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society, 1089-7011, Vol. 10,
June 2017, pp. 193-208. Peter Walsh et al likewise suggest in the Harvard Business Review that conditions are ripe for
worker-ownership conversions. See Peter Walsh et al, “Why the U.S. Needs More Worker-Owned Companies”, Harvard
Business Review, 8 August 2018, https://bit.ly/2Y922U9.
62
2. Pass the ‘‘United States Employee Ownership Bank Act’’, which would provide $500 million in
low-interest rate loans and other financial assistance to help workers purchase businesses through
an employee stock ownership plan or a worker-owned cooperative; and
3. Pass the “Accountable Capitalism Act”, which would require that very large American
corporations obtain a federal charter and that 40 percent of the board of directors be directly
elected by the firm’s workers; 205
4. Enact legislation to share corporate wealth with workers by establishing Democratic Worker
Ownership Funds, whereby corporations with at least $100 million in annual revenue,
corporations with at least $100 million in balance sheet total, and all publicly traded companies
will be required to provide at least 2 percent of stock to their workers every year until the
company is at least 20 percent owned by employees206
Resolution on Fair Banking, Wall Street Reform, and Public Banking

The United States is in need of major financial reforms. Despite reforms enacted in the wake of
the 2008/09 financial crisis, the big Wall Street financial institutions are bigger than ever and continue to
routinely engage in illegal or unethical behavior.207 These institutions invest in and provide financial
services to a variety of environmentally and socially destructive industries and infrastructure, particularly
the fossil fuel industry – despite the threat of climate change.208 Credit card and payday loan usury is at an
all-time high.209 ATM and overdraft fees drain billions of dollars from the working class and people of
color.210 Tens of millions of Americans are either unbanked or underbanked, and banking deserts are
increasingly prevalent in many communities.211 People of color, in particular, continue to face
discrimination in lending in everything from mortgages to credit cards to auto loans.212 Local and state
governments in need of financial services are at the mercy of a small cartel of Wall Street banks that
charge exorbitant fees and foist harmful financial products on them.213 The market and political power of
205
Camou, Michelle. "Cities Developing Worker Co-ops: Efforts in Ten Cities." Imagined Economy Project. 8 August 2016.
https://bit.ly/34YQ6Wk. An important and inspiring project that is combining the benefits of both unions and the cooperative
model is Co-op Cincy: https://coopcincy.org/.
206
Tyler, George. “The Co-Determination Difference.” The American Prospect, 10 January 2019, https://bit.ly/3bH8fuJ.
207
"Taming the Megabanks", National Affairs, Summer 2013, https://bit.ly/2KEmgx7
208
For a comprehensive accounting of megabanks' fossil fuel investments, see "Banking on Climate Change: Fossil Fuel Finance
Report 2020", Rainforest Action Network, 18 March 2020, https://bit.ly/3f1ZyNF.
209
Robert Armstrong, "US credit card interest rates hit 25-year high", Financial Times, 6 August 2019,
https://on.ft.com/2SeSQdb.
210
Heather Long, "Big Banks Rack up $6.4 Billion in ATM and Overdraft Fees", CNN Money, 22 February 2017,
https://cnn.it/2SeUETv. On the racial dimension of this, see Dalvin Brown, "Minorities Spend More on Banking Fees than White
People, Survey Says", USA Today, 15 January 2020, https://bit.ly/2VFMB4j.
211
An FDIC study estimated that 24 million Americans are “underbanked” and 8 million are “unbanked”. See "2017 FDIC
National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households", Federal Deposit Insurance Company, 2017,
https://bit.ly/2KQMsVn.
212
Aaron Glantz and Emmanuel Martinez, "Kept Out: For People of Color, Banks Are Shutting the Door to Homeownership",
Reveal, 15 February 2018, https://bit.ly/35osw5W.
213
Saqib Bhatti. "Dirty Deals: How Wall Street’s Predatory Deals Hurt Taxpayers and What We Can Do About It." Roosevelt
Institute, 18 November 2014. https://bit.ly/2YodCLb
63
large corporate banks and new regulations that favor these big banks have led local and family-owned
commercial banks to close or sell out to larger competitors.214 Commercial and consumer debt is now
greater than it was before the financial crash in 2007-8.215 The long-term trend of the financialization of
the U.S. economy has continued unabated while the country remains starved for major infrastructure
investments.216 Private equity firms are buying up productive companies only to bleed them dry and walk
away rich.217 Lastly, the federal government’s attempts to get emergency financial assistance to families
and businesses to help them stave off financial ruin have been badly hampered by the resistance and
opportunism of the big Wall Street banks that dominate our financial system. 218
It is abundantly clear that the U.S. financial system is in need of sweeping reforms and antitrust actions.
Congress must break up the big banks, pass a modern Glass-Steagall act, update the Community
Reinvestment Act, crack down on private equity looting, and reign in usurious lending practices and
extortionate fees.219 Reforms, however, are not enough. Given how vital finance is for the health and
proper functioning of the economy, we must make structural changes that put finance in service of the
people and the economy and not vice versa. This means that we must stop relying on profit-driven
investor-owned megabanks that are accountable only to their absentee shareholders. Instead we must
forge a new financial system where democratically governed public, cooperative, and community-owned
banks form its very foundation220.
Congress must stabilize and democratize our financial system by expanding the role of public banking.
First and foremost, this means authorizing the United States Postal Service to offer retail banking services
at all local post offices.221 Secondly, Congress must establish a national infrastructure and a green
investment bank to finance the repair of our crumbling infrastructure and our transition to an economy
based on distributed renewable energy, storage, and energy efficiency.222 Thirdly, Congress must enact
legislation making it easier for localities and states to establish public banks modeled on North Dakota’s
hundred-year-old public bank, the Bank of North Dakota, which has been tremendously successful in
creating and maintaining a stable, diverse banking ecosystem in that state.223 Lastly, given the potential
for another major financial crisis resulting from the pandemic-induced shutdown, failed banks must be
214
Scott Beyer. "Dodd-Frank, Community Bank Decline, And The Effect On U.S. Cities And Towns". Forbes, 24 July 2015,
https://bit.ly/2So583a.
215
On consumer debt, see Mark DeCambre, "U.S. consumer debt is now above levels hit during the 2008 financial crisis", Market
Watch, 25 June 2019, https://on.mktw.net/3fbPIJ5. On corporate debt, see Phillip Inman, "Corporate Debt Could Be the Next
Subprime Crisis, Warns Banking Body", The Guardian, 30 June 2019. https://bit.ly/2VRV0BO.
216
Mike Collins, “Wall Street And The Financialization Of The Economy”, Forbes, 4 February 2015, https://bit.ly/35pbXGF.
217
For an overview of her Senate bill "Stop Wall Street Looting Act", see Robert Kuttner, "At Last, Legislation to Stop Private
Equity Abuses", The American Prospect, 18 July 2019, https://bit.ly/3c1gemw.
218
David Dayen. "Unsanitized, Why Banks Don’t Want to Help Small Businesses". The American Prospect, 3 April 2020,
https://bit.ly/35m0hER.
219
Elizabeth Warren, "End Wall Street’s Stranglehold On Our Economy", Medium, 18 July 2019, https://bit.ly/2L3h9ad and
Bernie Sanders, “Fair Banking for All”, berniesanders.com, Undated, https://bit.ly/35lrmYR and Bernie Sanders, “Real Wall
Street Reform”, berniesanders.com, Undated, https://bit.ly/2VWyYho.
220
David Dayen, "Building the People’s Banks", The American Prospect, 16 January 2020, https://bit.ly/2KNdCg1.
221
Mehrsa Baradaran, "A Short History of Postal Banking", Slate, 18 August 2014, https://bit.ly/35mmFOl.
222
John Brown Miller, "Congress Closed America's Infrastructure Bank. Reopen It." Washington Examiner, 5 February 2018,
https://washex.am/2SnKVdt.
223
Stacy Mitchell, "Public Banks: Bank of North Dakota", Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Undated, https://bit.ly/3aTCMnL.
64
converted to permanent public ownership and provided with a mandate to finance a post-COVID green
stimulus.224
Congress by passing the following financial reform bills: 1) “BRIDGE Act”225; 3) “U.S. Employee
Ownership Bank Act”226; 4) "21st Century Glass-Steagall Act"227; 5) “Loan Shark Prevention Act”
228
; 6) “Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act”229; 7) “Stop Wall Street Looting Act”230; and 8) “Stop
Overdraft Profiteering Act of 2018”231
Resolution to Impose a Wealth Tax and Restore Progressive Taxation

Edited by the 2020 8th CD Resolutions Committee
There is enormous inequality between the income and wealth of the wealthiest 1 percent and all
other Americans. Most of the wealth of the wealthiest 1 percent comes from their ownership of
stocks, bonds, and other kinds of stocks, bonds, and real property. On the other hand, most of the
income for the 99 percent of Americans is from wages and salaries. The wealthiest 1 percent
own 40 percent of all wealth in America. The lower half on the income distribution ladder in
America has only 2 percent of all the wealth. The percentage of all income received by the
middle class has slowly been shrinking. This is a long-term trend that has seemed virtually
impossible to interrupt.232 Despite a number of national and global events with major economic
224
Given the difficulty in regulating them already, there is already a strong case for nationalizing the banks as opposed to simply
breaking them up. See Gar Alperovitz, "Wall Street Is Too Big to Regulate", New York Times, 22 July 2012,
https://nyti.ms/3aTRf2U and Gar Alperovitz, "Nationalize Banks That Overwhelm Regulation", New York Times, 13 January
2014, https://nyti.ms/3bWAkOC.
225
The “BRIDGE Act” would establish a national infrastructure bank to provide assistance to state and local governments in
financing infrastructure projects.
226
The “U.S. Employee Ownership Bank Act” would provide $500 million in low-interest rate loans and other financial
assistance to help workers purchase businesses through an employee stock ownership plan or a worker-owned cooperative.
227
The “Loan Shark Prevention Act” would establish a national usury rate of 15 percent on credit cards and other consumer
loans.
228
The "21st Century Glass-Steagall Act" would reduce risks to the financial system by limiting banks' ability to engage in
certain risky activities and limiting conflicts of interest, to reinstate certain Glass-Steagall Act protections that were repealed by
the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and for other purposes
229
“Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act” would break up any entity whose failure, due to its size, exposure to counterparties,
liquidity position, interdependencies, role in critical markets, or other characteristics or factors, would have a catastrophic effect
on the stability of either the financial system or the United States economy without substantial Government assistance.
230
The “Stop Wall Street Looting Act” would prevent private funds from imposing all the costs of their risky investments on
investors, workers, and communities while profiting from all the gains.
231
“Stop Overdraft Profiteering Act of 2018” would ban overdraft fees on debit card transactions and ATM withdrawals, and
limit fees placed for checks and recurring payments, as well as mandate that banks post transactions in a manner that minimizes
overdraft and non sufficient fund fees.
232
Ana Kent et al, "What Wealth Inequality in America Looks Like: Key Facts & Figures", Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,
14 August 2019, https://bit.ly/3aIIJnd;
65
consequences, upper-income families were the only income tier able to build on their wealth
from 2001 to 2016, adding 33% at the median.233 Even now during the COVID-19 crisis, as 26
million Americans lose their jobs, the billionaire class has added $308bn to its wealth.234
In his bestselling and widely acclaimed book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French
economist Thomas Piketty demonstrated with an impressive arsenal of data that in an economy
where the rate of return on capital outstrips the rate of growth, inherited wealth will always grow
faster than earned wealth. If there is slow growth alongside better financial returns, then inherited
wealth will, on average, "dominate wealth amassed from a lifetime's labour by a wide margin",
and wealth will concentrate among the lucky few at levels incompatible with democracy, let
alone social justice. Capitalism, in short, automatically creates levels of inequality that are
unsustainable.235 The current level of wealth concentration in the United States is not only an
issue of moral import, but a serious threat to democratic governance.236
The 2017 Tax Act dealt a near fatal blow to a progressive taxation system that has been under
assault for several decades.237 At a bare minimum, the U.S. Congress must restore our taxation
system to something resembling the Eisenhower-era policy regime.238 Given the current level of
wealth inequality, however, we must go further. The U.S. Congress must impose a tax on
extreme wealth.239

Convention calls on the Virginia Delegation to United States Congress: US Senators Tim
Kaine and Mark Warner, along with US Representatives Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly,
Elaine Luria, Donald MacEachin, Bobby Scott, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton
to pursue the following in Congress:
233
Juliana Menasce Horowitz et al, "Trends in Income and Wealth Inequality", Pew Research Center, 9 January 2020,
https://pewrsr.ch/35hZWCX.
234
Dominic Rushe and Mona Chalabi, "'Heads We Win, Tails You Lose': How America's Rich Have Turned Pandemic into
Profit", The Guardian, 26 April 2020, https://bit.ly/2SgtOKV.
235
Thomas Picketty. Capital in the 21st Century. Trans. Arthur Goldahmmer. Cambridge, MA: 2014. For a useful review, see
Paul Mason, “Thomas Piketty's Capital: Everything You Need to Know about the Surprise Bestseller”, The Guardian, 28 April
2014, https://bit.ly/35euMfK.
236
Laurie Goering, "Growing Wealth Inequality 'Dangerous' Threat to Democracy: Experts", Reuters, 15 April 2016,
https://reut.rs/2SgNluJ.
237
“Tax Fraud: The Tax Act of 2017” for the collection of articles analyzing it: https://bit.ly/2YdBcu8.
238
Economist Robert Kuttner explains what policies in the 2017 Tax Act need to be reversed: Robert Kuttner, "Principles for Tax
Reform", The American Prospect, 28 June 2018, https://bit.ly/2KG67Ho.
239
For an explanation of the wealth tax, the basic principles of implementation, and how to enforce it, see Emmanuel Saez and
Gabriel Zucman, "Progressive Wealth Taxation", Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 5 September 2019,
https://brook.gs/3aJ7G1R.
66
1. Impose a tax on extreme wealth with a progressive rate structure that would only apply to
the wealthiest 180,000 households in America who are in the top 0.1 percent.240
2. Enact legislation to 1) create a national wealth registry, 2) increase IRS funding for
enforcement and to require the IRS to perform an audit of 30 percent of wealth tax
returns for those in the 1 percent bracket and a 100 percent audit rate for all billionaires,
3) impose a 40 percent exit tax on the net value of all assets under $1 billion and 60
percent over $1 billion for all wealthy individual seeking to expatriate to avoid the tax,
and 4) make enhancements to the international tax enforcement and anti-money
laundering regime including the strengthening of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance
Act
3. Restore a progressive tax regime by increasing the top marginal tax rate to at least 70
percent or higher, constructing fairer income rates and brackets, assessing a surtax on
annual income of the rich, taxing capital income using a mark-to-market approach, taxing
all income equally, taxing wealth like work, repealing the 20% deduction for certain
business income, expanding the EITC to all working adults, closing wealth loopholes to
strengthen Medicare, setting the social security payroll tax cap to capture 90% of
earnings, closing the business payroll tax loophole, restoring responsible corporate tax
rates, ending the "territorial" tax system that allows offshoring of corporate income,
closing corporate tax loopholes, and taxing inherited wealth fairly and closing estate tax
loopholes.241
Resolution to Reform U.S. Senate Filibuster

Robert Nelson, Alexandria Democratic Committee
The U.S. Senate filibuster does not appear in the constitution and was first used 48 years after its
ratification. It was most frequently used to block anti-lynching laws and other civil rights legislation.242 It
is inconceivable that Senate Republicans would not filibuster legislation that would provide equal
congressional representation to the District of Columbia and other disenfranchised U.S. territories.
The Senate budget reconciliation process allows Republicans, who have the majority in the Senate, to
advance their legislative priorities such as tax cuts for the wealthy and attempts to repeal the Affordable
Care Act with only 51 votes. Democratic legislative priorities, such as immigration reform, environmental
regulation, pro-labor legislation, racial justice initiatives, economic equality measures, and anti-corruption
240
The suggested progressive rate structure should start with a 1 percent tax on net worth above $32 million for a married couple
and increasing to 2 percent on net worth from $50 to $250 million, 3 percent from $250 to $500 million, 4 percent from $500
million to $1 billion, 5 percent from $1 to $2.5 billion, 6 percent from $2.5 to $5 billion, 7 percent from $5 to $10 billion, and 8
percent on wealth over $10 billion. For more details, see "Tax on Extreme Wealth", berniesanders.com, Undated,
https://bit.ly/3bLkgit.
241
For a menu of progessive revenue options, see Hunter Blair and Josh Bivens, "Progressive Revenue Options: Descriptions
and Scores", Economic Policy Institute, 2 March 2020, https://bit.ly/3bNFn3Q.
242
https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-dyer-anti-lynching-bill/
67
bills are all subject to a sixty-vote threshold in the Senate because of the filibuster. Use of the filibuster
has grown increasingly more common, with more cloture motions having been filed in the last two
decades than in the 80 years prior.
The filibuster allows Senators that represent just over ten percent of the population to block any
legislation from moving forward. It frustrates voters and decreases trust in government by furthering
congressional gridlock.
calls on Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner to commit to changing the Senate rules to eliminate
or reform the filibuster the next time the Democratic Party controls the House, the Senate, and the
Presidency.
Resolution to Censure or Impeach Attorney General William Barr

Dr. Steven Ferber PhD, Arlington Democrats

Congress has the power to impeach the "president, the vice president and all civil officers of the
United States" for treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors, according to Article
2 of the Constitution. That includes Cabinet members like the attorney general.

Calls for Barr's removal began after it was revealed that Special Counsel Mueller disagreed with
his handling of Mueller’s highly anticipated report. In late March of 2019, the special counsel
wrote a letter to Barr in which he expressed frustration over how the attorney general had
presented the key findings of the nearly two-year probe in a mere four-page summary. Barr also
appears to have misled Congress during appearances on Capitol Hill in early April last year, a
week after he received Mueller's letter.

According to Gerhardt, lying to or misleading Congress during testimony is "sufficiently
serious" enough to warrant impeachment proceedings for an attorney general. Harvard Law
professor Laurence Tribe told Newsweek that "Barr's manifestly misleading and obfuscatory
testimony, whether or not impeachable, is certainly disqualifying for any attorney general. He
really needs to resign”

In this regard Adam Schiff (Chair of the House Intelligence Committee) said during an
appearance on CBS This Morning t hat "Look, there's no sugarcoating this: I think he should step
down. It's hard, I think, for the country to have confidence in the top law enforcement official in
the country if he's asked a direct question, as he was, and he gives a directly false answer.”

243
The events since Barr’s letter have incinerated whatever remains of his credibility . The
famously tight-lipped Mueller team told several news outlets the letter had minimized Trump’s
culpability and evaded questions as to whether he had shared the Mueller report with the White
243
The Intelligencer National Interest webpage of April 18, 2019
68
House; and, it turns out, he’s “had numerous conversations with White House lawyers which
aided the president’s legal team,” the New York Times reports. Where Mueller intended to leave
the job of judging Trump’s obstruction of Justice conduct to Congress, Barr interposed his own
judgment that Trump’s behavior was excusable. Next to the president himself, the attorney
general is the most crucial actor in the safeguarding of the rule of law. The Justice Department is
an awesome force that holds the power to enable the ruling party to commit crimes with
impunity, or to intimidate and smear the opposing party with the taint of criminality

Also244, given the analysis of highly respected public figures such as former Attorney General
Eric Holder (who had served under President Obama), writing in an op-ed on December 11,
2019 in The Washington Post who claimed William Barr is "unfit to be attorney general”245 for
his "naked partisan[ship]", "attempts to vilify the president's critics", his attacks on the inspector
general and his comments on ongoing investigations. - and former FBI director, CIA director and
federal judge William Webster who wrote in a December 2019 opinion piece of "a dire threat to
the rule of law in the country I love." Webster asserted that "the integrity of the institutions that
protect our civil order are, tragically, under assault," writing that "aspersions cast upon [FBI
employees] by the president and my longtime friend, Attorney General William P. Barr, are
troubling in the extreme.”246 Since 2005, Webster had served as the chair of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council.
In contravariance to its constitutional duties; under Barr, the DOJ has defended Trump’s refusal
to comply with congressional subpoenas into his personal finances. It has even intervened on
behalf of his former campaign chairman, convicted felon Paul Manafort, lobbying for him to
receive special privileges behind bars247.
Barr's Justice Department has now asked the court to dismiss its case, which arose out of
Mueller's investigation, against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The
Department took this action although Flynn pleaded guilty to the charges against him and the
facts underlying his plea are essentially uncontested. This unprecedented action further
demonstrates Barr's unfitness for office
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th District Democratic Convention calls
on Senators Warner and Kaine as well as the Virginia Democratic Representatives to
support efforts to impeach or censure the Attorney General William Barr.
244
Wikipedia article on William Barr
245
Washington Post. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
246
N.Y. Times December 16, 2019
247
Slate website. 9-25-19
69
Resolution to Eliminate Superdelegates
Andrew Parr, 8th CD Virginia State Delegate; Shelley Pineo-Jensen, 1st CD Virginia State Delegate; Salma Makkar, 10th CD
Virginia State Delegate; and Olga Paulette, 10th CDVirginia State Delegate
The Democratic Party advocates for transparency, affirmative action, inclusion, and participation in
government. In recent presidential nominating processes the final vote to select a nominee has included
not only participation by delegates elected for that purpose, but also a substantial number of party officials
and leaders who were not elected for that purpose and who are not bound by the results of any primary or
caucus (unpledged delegates; formerly officially called, and still colloquially known, as
“superdelegates”).
Virginia’s “automatic delegates” or “unpledged delegates” (superdelegates) control 20% of the state’s
nominating votes. The participation of these superdelegates has caused many party members to harbor
serious concerns over the legitimacy and probity of the nominating process, and has hindered efforts to
expand our party membership and unify against the current administration.
In a public letter to current DNC Chair Tom Perez, former DNC Chair and 2016 Democratic Vice
Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine wrote that superdelegates “are given undue influence in the popular
nominating contest and make the process less democratic” and therefore urged the party to “do away with
superdelegates”248.
fervently urges the following:
1. Be it affirmed that the selection of a presidential nominee must be accomplished solely by

pledged delegates bound to the proportional results of each state’s nominating process.
2. DNC members acquiesce to the wisdom of democracy by unequivocally ending the influence and
interference of such “superdelegates” on the presidential nominating process.
3. DNC members & representatives of the Democratic Party of Virginia to heed the voices of party
members and vote in favor of proposals of the Rules and Bylaws Committee to eliminate the
influence of “super-delegates” on the presidential nominating process.
248
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/07/democrats-want-to-change-the-democratic-party-they-just-disagree-on-how
-216055
70
Resolution to Pursue Vote by Mail Nationwide for the 2020 General Election
And Beyond
As the COVID-19 outbreak has spread throughout the United States, many facets of our current society
have been shown to have enormous gaps in opportunity. The outbreak has already forced many in-person
events to become virtual in order for participants to continue to practice safe social-distancing, but one
in-person event still needs our attention: the 2020 General Election. On November 3, 2020, millions of
Americans across the nation will be eagerly waiting to cast their ballot for the candidates seeking the
Presidency, the US Senate, the House of Representatives, and along with other assorted state and
municipal elections. However, should the pandemic continue until then, in-person voting would be
next-to impossible while following the current guidelines set out by the Center of Disease Control.
Beyond public health benefits, vote by mail also strengthens our democracy by increasing the opportunity
for all citizens to vote at their convenience. Currently in the United States, five states conduct their voting
entirely by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. 21 other states allow for smaller
elections like school board and other jurisdictional races to be conducted by mail.249 Currently in the
Commonwealth of Virginia, non-excuse absentee voting was passed through the Virginia General
Assembly, but is not set to come into law until July 1 after many primaries for local elections have
already been conducted. This method of voting allows for the voter to do so without traveling outside of
their home, expands the electorate by making voting easier and more accessible, allows for person with
disabilities and the elderly population to have better access to ballots, and cuts down on wait time
significantly for ballots since in some states it has take six hours for people to vote250. Most importantly as
it pertains to the current situation in the United States, it will allow for people to continue to exercise their
right to vote without permitting them to convene in a place with 10 or more people. In 2020, voters in the
US should not have to choose between their health and well-being or the right to vote. They should be
able to have access to both equally.
Congress:
1. Universal non-excuse vote by mail options in federal races in every state in the United States for
at least the general election on November 3, 2020 and urge state governments to adopt vote by
mail options for state and local elections in 2020.
2. Remove doctor’s note, notary, and privacy information requirements from those 22 states that still
require them to vote absentee.
249
National Conference of State Legislatures: All-Mail Elections:
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/all-mail-elections.aspx
250
Mother Jones: Here’s Why Texans Had to Wait Six Hours to Vote:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/texas-primary-lines/
71
3. Eliminate witness requirement for mailed-in ballots.
4. Support the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act251 introduced by US Senators Amy
Klobuchar and Ron Wyden enact mail in voting during times of crisis
5. Reintroduce the Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act of 2019252 (H.R. 1604, S. 3299) for
consideration for future federal elections after 2020.

Convention calls on Governor Ralph Northam of the Commonwealth of Virginia to make the
following pronouncements:
1. Move non-excuse absentee voting to come into law before July 1 for the June 9th primaries in the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
2. Pursue vote by mail for all federal, state, and local elections that may be held in 2020.
3. Ensure easy access and clear cut instructions for all Virginians to follow for voting by mail.
Resolution on Enacting Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia and Reducing

Big Money in Politics Through an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Nancy Morgan, Alexandria Democratic Committee, with American Promise
Money from special interests which influence elections and public policies is flooding into our elections
with large donors hiding behind our broken campaign finance system. The 2010 Citizens United ruling
unleashed the power of big money and fueled the creation of super PACs, which empower the wealthiest
donors, and the expansion of dark money through shadowy nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors.253
This influence on our elections has only aggravated the “pay-to-play” reputation of Virginia where
campaign finance laws are among the most lax in the country.
Special attention has been paid to swing states where the power and influence of huge donations can
determine electoral outcomes. As one of these competitive states, in Virginia, the increase in election
spending since the Court’s ruling has been quite striking. In 2011, the Senate and House of Delegates’
campaigns together raised $68.7 million, whereas total contributions in 2019 jumped almost twofold to
$121.5 million254, with nearly $25 million coming from outside the state.
251
Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Natural%20Disaster%20and%20Emergency%20Ballot%20Act%20of%202020%
20One%20Pager.pdf
252
TrackBill: Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act of 2019
https://trackbill.com/bill/us-congress-house-bill-138-universal-right-to-vote-by-mail-act-of-2019/1617236/
253
Vox Super PACs and Dark Money https://www.vox.com/2015/2/9/18088962/super-pacs-and-dark-money
254
Virginia Public Access Project. https://www.vpap.org/money/
72
Virginia is unique in our country in that legislators can raise as much campaign funding as they want and
spend it on themselves. Yet eighty percent of voters255, irrespective of political party, agree that money is
undermining our democracy. This year should have been the year of campaign finance reform in Virginia,
but when more than 10 campaign finance bills were introduced in this year’s General Assembly, they all
died, as they had the year before.
Campaign finance reform is the most important issue of our time, as it is the root cause of a government
that is no longer responsive to the people. The Citizens United ruling, combined with lax campaign
finance laws in Virginia, presents a serious and direct threat to our nation's representative democracy. It
also stands in direct contrast to Virginians’ commitment to good government, civic and civil discourse,
and broad participation in local decision-making;

Convention:
1. Commends Representative Don Beyer, as well as Representatives Spanberger, Wexton,

McEachin, Scott, and Connolly for co-sponsoring House Joint Resolution 2 (HJR2) which calls
for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States related to authorizing campaign finance
spending. We similarly thank Senators Kaine and Warner for supporting a Senate companion bill
(SJR51). We additionally thank our Representatives for supporting HR1 “For the People Act”
which addresses campaign spending including revising disclaimer requirements for political
advertising.
2. Calls upon Virginia legislators in the General Assembly to prioritize and work vigorously to
ensure passage of state-related campaign finance bills which limit campaign contributions, ban
donations from public service corporations, improve transparency through the mandatory
disclosure of donors, restrict personal use of contributions and allow localities to implement
public financing of elections.
3. Urges these same legislators to sponsor a resolution which endorses an amendment to the U.S.
Constitution to reverse Citizens United, stating that (a) corporations are not entitled to the
constitutional protections or "rights" of natural persons; and that (b) money is not speech. By
doing so, Virginia would be the 21st state to pass such a resolution.
4. Encourages local cities and counties to adopt similar local resolutions which support state and
national legislation authorizing election spending rules, thus reaffirming Virginia’s commitment
of a government for and by
255
“Americans Evaluate Campaign Finance Reform”, Programs for Public Consultation, School of Public Policy, University of
Maryland. May 2018.
73
Resolution in Support of Independent Non-Partisan Redistricting Reform for
Fairer Maps
8th Congressional District Resolutions Committee
For too long, partisan gerrymandering has been used as a tool to manipulate electoral districts to benefit
political parties instead of the voters. Political gerrymandering is a substantial problem harming
representational democracy throughout the United States; and within the Commonwealth of Virginia,
lines for General Assembly and congressional seats have frequently been drawn to benefit the political
party in power and to protect its incumbents—to the detriment of voters. Gerrymandering has often been
used to disadvantage and harm people of color by minimizing (or negating) their political strength. This
practice results in expensive legal challenges to minimize its harmful effects; for example, Virginia
taxpayers recently spent millions of dollars defending the rights of vulnerable communities against what
federal courts determined was racial gerrymandering.
The Virginia Constitution enshrines the legislature’s control of the redistricting process, which has led to
a history of gerrymandering in Virginia.256 In 2020, the General Assembly passed the second read of a
Constitutional Amendment (CA) that would create Virginia’s first redistricting commission (HJ 165). The
CA calls for a 16-member, bipartisan commission made up of eight state legislators - with equal
representation from the two major parties and the two chambers - and eight citizen members. The vote in
the 2020 General Assembly was 38-2 in the Senate and 54-46 in the House of Delegates. The General
Assembly also passed a ballot referendum which will put the matter before voters in the November
election, at which time voters will have the opportunity to approve the amendment.
The General Assembly also passed SB717 and HB1255 which lay out map-drawing criteria, end prison
gerrymandering, and contain explicit requirements that diversity be a consideration in every step of the
process. The General Assembly failed to pass SB203/HB758, enabling legislation intended to strengthen
and elaborate on other provisions in the CA. The considerations in this legislation included the
composition and selection of commission members and guardrails on the Supreme Court of Virginia in
257
the unlikely event that they are tasked with establishing maps due to an impasse by the Commission,
including the requirement that the Court appoint two Special Masters, nominated by each party, to draw
the maps.
Due to the results of the 2019 elections and the following 2020 Virginia legislative session, the
Democratic party has been torn into 2 camps between those who support this Constitutional Amendment
with legislators being involved in the process and those who want to see a citizen professional only
commission. However, this should not detract from what Democrats have sought, which are fairer maps
that are actually representative of the voters in those districts. We maintain that redistricting reform is
necessary to eliminate the conflict of interest that allows elected officials to pick their voters.
Though we may not agree on how redistricting reform should be enacted, we agree on the principles that
prove that the reform is needed. We agree that too many voters have been disenfranchised by the current
256
NPR: Supreme Court Hands Democrats a Win on Racial Gerrymandering in Virginia
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/17/733389132/supreme-court-hands-democrats-a-win-on-racial-gerrymandering-in-virginia
257
6 out of 8 legislators, 6 out of 8 citizens needed to pass.
74
political redistricting system that favors those well-connected over those who are marginalized. We agree
that our current redistricting system has been corrupted in order for parties to consolidate power and make
it harder for political competition. We agree that in order to form a fair democracy, we have to first
reform the systems that currently choose who makes important decisions within it.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention

believes every elected official should be accountable to the people they represent, which means we
need to end gerrymandering. We pledge to support fair redistricting that ends map manipulation
and creates truly representative districts.
75

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2020 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention

Resolutions for Consideration

Nancy Morgan, S​ ecretary

Mark Allen Cannady

Resolution To Support a National Infrastructure Bank 1​3

Environmental & Clean Energy

Resolution for Carbon Emissions Pricing 19

Labor & Workers’ Rights

Resolution to Support Public Sector Collective Bargaining 24

Resolution to Support the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO Act) 25

Resolution to Support the Reward Work Act 26

Resolution to Ensure Support to Low-Income Workers during a Pandemic 27

Resolution on Paid Family Leave 29

Resolution on Securing and Ensuring Workplace Democracy 30

Resolution to Pursue Full Legalization of Cannabis 32

Resolution to Reform the Virginia Correctional System 34

Resolution on LGBTQ+ Equality in Virginia 35

Resolution to Pursue Federal Gun Safety Legislation 37

Healthcare & Medicine

Resolution to Amend the Virginia Constitution Guaranteeing An Individual’s Right to Personal

Resolution on Pandemic Preparedness 45

Resolution on Adopting Universal Quality Childcare and Pre-K for All 50

Foreign Affairs & Intelligence

Resolution to Oppose the Occupation and Annexation of the West Bank 55

Resolution for Electronic Privacy 58

Resolution on Corporate Accountability and Democracy 61

Resolution on Fair Banking, Wall Street Reform, and Public Banking 63

Resolution to Impose a Wealth Tax and Restore Progressive Taxation 65

Resolution to Reform U.S. Senate Filibuster 67

Resolution to Censure or Impeach Attorney General William Barr 6​8

Resolution to Eliminate of Superdelegates 70

Resolution in Support of Independent Non-Partisan Redistricting Reform for Fairer Maps 74

Resolution to Expand Zoning for Multi-Unit Housing and Make Affordable

Resolution on Expanding Community Broadband and Ensuring Affordable,

5. Enact legislation to prohibit monopoly-oriented actions by giant private providers to unfairly

FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED that the 8th Congressional District Convention calls on

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional DIstrict Democratic

Regarding Equitable Labor:

Regarding Prudent Benchmarks:

5. A 36 percent reduction in electric energy consumption in buildings by 2035 by increasing the

Regarding Investments in Infrastructure

6. Prioritize equitable, affordable & clean transportation systems.

7. Large investments and job-training programs in renewables, building an energy efficient

8. Investments in local-scale agriculture in communities across Virginia.

b. Import or export terminals for fossil fuel resources

e. Certain maintenance activities relating to such gathering lines or pipelines

f. Refineries of a fossil fuel resource;

Resolution for Carbon Emissions Pricing

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention endorses

Resolution to maintain National Methane Leak Inspection/Repair standards,

Regarding Methane Leakage:

Regarding Fine Particulates:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 8th Congressional District Democratic Convention

Resolution to Protect the Virginia Minimum Wage Increase in 2021

FURTHERMORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

Resolution to Support the Reward Work Act

Resolution to Ensure Support to Low-Income Workers during a Pandemic

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the 2020 8th Congressional District Convention requests

Resolution on Securing and Ensuring Workplace Democracy

FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

FURTHERMORE IT IS RESOLVED that the 2020 8th Congressional District Democratic

Resolution on Criminal Justice Reform and Reducing Mass Incarceration

2. Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences

Nancy Morgan, S ecretary

Resolution To Support a National Infrastructure Bank 13

Resolution to Censure or Impeach Attorney General William Barr 68