The Virginia General Assembly's Hampton Roads regional public hearing on the Governor's proposed 2026-2028 biennial budget drew testimony from dozens of speakers requesting funding restorations and increases across disability services, education, maternal health, home care, and water quality — with no votes taken and all outcomes pending legislative deliberation.
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Athena Jones (SEIU Virginia 512) argued the DMAS291 emergency policy change expanding electronic visit verification to live-in caregivers does not reflect reality and was designated 'emergency' to bypass public input, calling it 'not efficiency, it's disrespect.' No named party defending the policy testified at this hearing.
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“My last difficult decision was on February 12, 2025. He was supposed to get out of the hospital and come home. And I decided that I would do a little ubering to make up for the loss of the pay that we didn't receive from our home care so that when he came home we could have a little extra. Unfortunately, I didn't get to bring him home and share that with him. Instead, I had to take that money and put it towards his funeral.”
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Sign in to subscribeThis is one of four virtual regional hearings on the state budget being held across the commonwealth today by Senate Finance and Appropriations and the House Appropriations Committees. Each year, the committees are required by law to hold a series of public hearings on the governor's proposed budget to give all of you, the citizens, the opportunity to comment on the specific issues of concern to you. Today is your opportunity to talk, and it is our job as legislators to listen. Let me take a moment before we begin to have the other legislators with us today to introduce themselves. Staff will call out your name, and then you will state your name in the district you represent. I'm going to start out with a few simple ground rules that will help our hearing today go smoothly and at the same time give everyone the opportunity to be heard. Occurred in a reasonable amount of time. First, when you signed up to speak, you received an email with a link for the hearing. As of this morning, the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Appropriation Committee websites were updated to include a list of each speaker who signed up to…
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