Gun violence, education, mental health guide conversations during McEachin-McClellan town hall meeting

Gun violence, education and mental health were all issues at the forefront of a telephone town hall event U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-4th District) hosted alongside state Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-9th District) May 27.

Following the shooting deaths of two high-school students during the past month in Henrico County, McClellan said she introduced a bill to create a gun violence intervention and prevention center as part of the General Assembly’s biennial budget.

Several constituents raised questions and concerns with McEachin and McClellan about the threat of gun violence, asking if there was a possibility of banning those under the age of 21 from buying assault weapons in Virginia.

While both McEachin and McClellan supported the idea, they noted it was unlikely such a bill would get passed anytime soon.

“I am not concerned with our ability to get a bill like that out of the house. The concern is the Senate because we don’t have 60 people in the Senate who would support that and get around a filibuster,” McEachin said.

“We’ve tried and were unsuccessful to get this bill passed with the majority,” McClellan said. “So unfortunately, we're going to have to wait until we get the majority back to try again.”

Even though the General Assembly did not agree on a biennial budget when its 60-day session adjourned in March, McClellan predicted the budget would be available for public release on Monday and a vote would take place on June 1.

To address chronic underfunding of Virginia’s K-12 education, the budget includes a pending bill to implement the Board of Education recommended quality standards, McClellan said. The budget also includes proposals for a 5% raise for K-12 teachers and staff, investments in improving literacy for students from kindergarten through third grade as well as $500 million in one-time cash for K-12 school construction and modernization, she said.

“We have too many schools in the commonwealth that in some cases are literally falling apart,” McClellan said. “We know our children can't learn if they are in a building that's not conducive to them learning.”

Children's mental health was another focus with a proposal to provide $10 million in school based mental health services, she said.

McClellan noted the General Assembly also made significant progress on several other issues including: climate change, protecting access to reproductive health and abortion, workers’ rights, civil rights and voting rights.

McEachin and McClellan also addressed concerns on how they would deal with rising gas and rent prices in Richmond.

“With the addition of increased gas prices and increased grocery bill and everything else that's increasing on top of rent,” one constituent said. “It just looks like you're going to have a whole lot of homeless people unless something changes.”

To address gas prices, McEachin pointed to a bill he proposed called People Over Petroleum. The bill will offer a $500 tax credit, with an alternative advantage for those who don’t pay taxes, to help alleviate the financial burden of rising gas prices, McEachin said.

When a constituent spoke about how their rent jumped 48% in one month, neither McEachin nor McClellan had a solution ready but said they would research the issue.

“We have not done anything along the lines of what would help someone like yourself deal with a drastic and draconian increase. That’s got to be close to price-gouging in my judgment,” McEachin said.

He urged anyone with a question or concern not addressed during the town hall to reach out to his office.

“Government can work and only make life easier for you, not more difficult,” McEachin said. “Our purpose is to make sure that the government works for our constituents. And so, we want to make sure that we're doing that as best we can.”