This year’s General Assembly session is only 45 days long, so things are moving along quickly. We were happy that our bill to provide business input on the Board of Education passed the House this week. Many anti-business bills have already been defeated as well, including minimum wage increases and paid sick leave requirements. You can read more about these bills below.
On Wednesday, we hosted nearly 300 Chamber and business leaders in Richmond for Chamber Day at the Capitol. This year, House and Senate leaders held panel-style discussions led by Dr. Bob Holsworth on a wide variety of topics, including education and workforce, legal reform, regulations, Virginia’s economy, and the budget. Participants from the House included Speaker Bill Howell, Delegate Kathy Byron, Delegate David Toscano and Delegate Mark Keam. The Senate panel participants were Senator Steve Newman, Senator Bill Stanley and Senator Jennifer McClellan. You can view videos of both panel discussions here–please feel free to share these with your colleagues as well. At the Chamber Day luncheon, we heard from the new President and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Stephen Moret, on his vision for the organization. You can view Mr. Moret’s remarks here.
That evening, over 500 people joined us for the Old Dominion Assembly legislative reception, including the Governor, First Lady, and many General Assembly members, members of the Governor’s Cabinet and state agency heads.
Also on Wednesday, Dennis Treacy, President of the Smithfield Foundation was elected to serve as Chairman of the Virginia Chamber Board of Directors. Suzy Kelly, CEO of Jo-Kell Inc. was elected first vice chair. 19 new board members were also elected. A full announcement of the new Chamber leadership and board members can be found below.
