Delegate Mark Keam Announces Legislative Agenda

From the Office of Delegate Mark Keam: On Wednesday, January 10, Delegate Mark L. Keam (D-Fairfax) took the oath of office to begin serving his fifth term in the Virginia House of Delegates.

“I am deeply grateful to the residents of the 35th District for entrusting me once again to represent them in our state’s government,” said Keam. “I will continue to put the interests of our constituents first by working on solutions to their problems and to make sure Virginia remains a great place to live, work, gain an education, and to retire.”

To date, Del. Keam has introduced over 20 bills and Constitutional Amendments to address various issues impacting the lives of Virginians.

As in previous years, Del. Keam developed some of these legislative ideas when constituents let him know about problems they were facing. Other bills were drafted on behalf of the Town of Vienna and other government agencies as well as in collaboration with advocacy groups.

The full list of Del. Keam’s legislative agenda can be found here. A few highlights include the following bills:

· House Joint Resolution 46 would establish a right to vote in the Virginia Constitution so that this fundamental right of Virginians cannot be eroded by discriminatory rules or regulations that impose undue burdens on voters.

· House Bill 384 would require the Secretary of Transportation to make recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly on the best ways for Virginia to partner with our neighboring jurisdictions to manage the Metro System, including options for Virginia to be better represented on the Interstate Compact Board.

· House Bill 392 would declare that it is in the public interest for Virginia to derive ten percent of its electrical supply from solar power facilities, to incent consumers and businesses to increase the use and access of solar power.

· House Bill 400 would allow local governments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to require land developers to plant replacement trees in a manner that ensures maximum tree canopies in order to preserve and to protect the environment.

· House Bill 389 was drafted by Delegate Keam as a member of the Virginia Commission on the Youth to require local social service agencies to notify school superintendents if any teacher is subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect.

· House Bill 781 would create the Virginia Open Data Initiative Act to increase public awareness of and access to the data created by and available from state agencies.

Finally, Speaker Kirk Cox appointed Del. Keam to remain serving on the four House committees where he has developed significant experiences during the previous legislative sessions: Commerce and Labor, Education, Finance, and Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources.

Delegate Mark Keam (www.DelegateKeam.org, @MarkKeam) represents Virginia’s 35th House District located in Fairfax County, which includes Tysons, the Town of Vienna, Dunn Loring and portions of McLean, Oakton, and Fairfax.

Image courtesy of the Office of Delegate Mark Keam