NORFOLK, Va. — For the final two years of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration, Virginia’s state branch of the NAACP has a new list of priorities it hopes can move forward under a different political landscape in Richmond.
In a legislative priorities news conference Monday, NAACP leaders said it will focus on seven key topics for 2024:
- Education
- Environmental and climate justice
- Healthcare
- Housing
- Racial justice
- Workforce labor
- Voting and elections rights
RELATED: The first bills of Virginia's 2024 General Assembly have been filed. Here's what they would do.
Between the ongoing process to update the state's history standards of learning and the concerns about the process to restore a formerly incarcerated person's right to vote, the Virginia NAACP has weighed in on several of the more high-profile headlines across Virginia over the last two years.
A slew of bills are already pre-filed for the 2024 session. Some of the specific bills that the organization is looking to support are bills to protect African American history, protect LGBTQ+ students, expanding gun safety laws and voting access, according to Tyee Mallory, Virginia NAACP's Legislative coordinator.
“Once Virginians enjoy a right, it doesn’t make any sense to take that away," Mallory said, in response to a House-filed bill aiming to drop the in-person absentee voting period from 45 days to 30 days before an election.
Constitutional amendments will also be key this session according to Mallory, including one proposed to further protect reproductive rights and another to protect the automatic restoration of rights for those who have been formerly incarcerated. Constitutional amendments do not need the Governor's signature to take effect but therefore are much more lengthy of a process to pass through.
Constitutional amendments require one pass through both chambers of the General Assembly, followed by a second approval that commences after the next state legislative election. With the next state-level election in 2025, it wouldn't be until 2026 when voters in Virginia have the chance to vote on any constitutional amendments according to political experts.
Virginia’s top Democratic lawmakers will hold an introductory press conference Wednesday morning before the session begins. A spokesperson for the state’s Republican party told 13News Now those details on the Republican party are still being worked out.