David Toscano – Page 39

Toscano and Deeds to Hold Joint Town Hall

April 18, 2015 by David Toscano

[su_row class=””][su_column size=”1/2″]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carmen Bingham, (434) 220-1660
carmen@davidtoscano.com [/su_column][su_column size=”1/2″]

Del. Toscano and Sen. Deeds to co-host constituent town halls to share insights from the 2015 General Assembly

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — Delegate David Toscano and Senator Creigh Deeds will co-host two town halls this spring to discuss the 2015 General Assembly. The first town hall will be held Tuesday, April 21stat Piedmont Virginia Community College in the auditorium located in the Main Building, Room 229. The meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and there will be a question and answer period for individuals who wish to comment or ask questions. Individuals will also have the opportunity to submit written comments and questions. Visitor Parking is available in Lot 2 (overflow in Lot 3) , with entrance into the Main Building at the South Entrance.

A second town hall will be held on Tuesday, May 5 at the Northside Branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in the main meeting room. For more information you may call Carmen Bingham at 434-220-1660, or email carmen@davidtoscano.com, or Tracy Eppard at 434-296-5491 or email district25@senate.virginia.gov .

Update on ABC / Martese Johnson Case

April 1, 2015 by David Toscano

April 1, 2015 – Given the interest in the Martese Johnson case, I want to provide you an update of my understanding of its status. Like many of you, I was very disturbed to see the graphic photos and watch the video of this recent incident at the UVa Corner. Many of you have seen my recent statement, and have heard a number of comments I have made about prospective legislation that can remove the ABC agents from enforcing laws that more properly should be province by local law enforcement. Most of you know by now that the actions at the UVa Corner were taken by ABC agents and not by the Charlottesville or University police departments.

Since this incident, several important events have occurred:

The Governor immediately called for an investigation and administrative review. An administrative review is conducted by the Commonwealth’s office of Professional Standards. It is my understanding that the same office and the same personnel investigated the Elizabeth Daly incident several years ago.
Very significantly, however, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Charlottesville, Dave Chapman, immediately requested a criminal investigation. That request has been fully supported by the Governor’s office and will be conducted by the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations. This is significant because it is a higher level of review than occurred in the Daly case. A Professional Standards administrative review looks at the law enforcement documents as they find them. Very little additional inquiry occurs; rather, the investigation focuses on whether the law enforcement personnel conformed to Professional Standards. A criminal investigation is a much higher level of inquiry and involves interviewing and collecting evidence from a wide variety of sources. This is significant because it is a higher level review than the Daly case, and I think it reflects the sensitivity and concern that many of us have about this incident.
Also, unlike the Daly review, the Governor issued an executive order requiring the ABC to review its process, and authorized creation of a group that will determine what, if any, statutory changes need to be made. The Governor’s order requires retraining of ABC officers and the development of memoranda of understanding (MOU) between ABC and local police departments. So far as we know, there is presently no such MOU between the Charlottesville police department and the ABC. We know that some of the Charlottesville police officers knew that the ABC agents were working the Corner that night, but it was an informal notification and one that I do not believe went to the leadership of the police department. The Charlottesville police department does not have “veto power” on whether the ABC can conduct an investigation, and that is certainly one of the issues that would need to be defined in any MOU. Secretary of Public Safety, Brian Moran, is in the process of determining who will be on the review board. There are many persons who have interest in this and it will be a statewide panel. I expect that there will be student representation from UVa on the panel, but we will have to see.
I understand that the restaurant involved in this incident has a hearing forthcoming for alleged violations of ABC regulations. That is something worth monitoring.
There has been a suggestion that ABC agents be equipped with body cameras. That is an issue that is being discussed by the Commonwealth Preparedness Panel, who will likely report out in the next six months.
Martese Johnson appeared in the Charlottesville General District Court on March 26, 2015. This was a “first appearance” and usually nothing happens on those court dates. It is not uncommon for a trial date to be set the way it was in this case. The trial date has now been set for May 28, 2015, to enable the State Police to complete their criminal investigation in this case. I doubt that any decisions will be made about prosecuting the case until the investigation has been completed.

I have heard many calls to immediately dismiss the charges against Mr. Johnson. While this certainly seems reasonable given what many of us have seen, it is not likely that any decisions will occur in this case until the criminal investigation has been concluded. It is very important for eyewitnesses to come forward with any information that they saw that night or to provide names of people with whom they have come into contact that might have information related to this incident. If they have such information, they can call the Virginia State Police at 804-674-2000.

I will try to keep constituents informed about other developments as they become available to me.

Sincerely,

David Toscano

P.S. In 2014, I introduced HB 922, a bill to prevent ABC agents from using or threatening to use deadly force in the arrest or detention of a person suspected of underage drinking. The bill was tabled on a voice vote by the Committee on General Laws. I expect to introduce legislation this year to again address problems with the ABC.

Appearance on CNN

March 21, 2015 by David Toscano

On March 20, 2015 I was on CNN to talk about the ABC situation and steps the General Assembly should consider to ensure these situations do not happen again.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/03/20/tsr-dnt-todd-uva-arrest-controversy.cnn

Toscano Statement on ABC Arrest on the UVa Corner

March 19, 2015 by David Toscano

[su_box title=”FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” box_color=”#336699″]Contact: Carmen Bingham
(434) 220-1660
carmen@davidtoscano.com[/su_box]

“I am very concerned about the events that occurred at the UVa Corner in the early morning hours of March 17, 2015. The photos are very disturbing, as are the videos that I have viewed. At this point, it is unclear why the ABC agents took this action against this young man. I fully support the independent investigation that has been initiated by the Governor and the Secretary of Public Safety. The Governor’s office has assured me that this will be conducted and concluded expeditiously.

“All of the information I have to date suggests that these were actions taken by ABC agents and not by the Charlottesville Police Department or UVa Police Department. So far as I know, Charlottesville and Albemarle officers arrived at the scene after the ABC agents made the arrest and were engaged in helping calm the crowd. I know how much attention the leadership of our Charlottesville, Albemarle, and UVa police departments pay to the civil rights of our citizens. The continued overreaction by ABC law enforcement personnel in these cases is key question that requires an answer.

“It is clear, based on the 2013 incident involving ABC actions against a student at the local Harris Teeter as well as from the recent events, that ABC policies, protocols, and training are inappropriate for dealing with these kinds of cases, and state and local leaders must take all efforts to enact reforms to protect the civil rights of our citizens as they enforce the laws of the Commonwealth.

“The young man himself has called for civility and calm, and I agree. But we must remain vigilant in gathering the facts and readdressing the legitimate concerns raised by this incident.”

Delegate David J. Toscano represents the 57th District in Virginia’s House of Delegates, which consists of the City of Charlottesville and parts of Albemarle County. Since 2012, Delegate Toscano has also served as House Democratic Leader, elected by his fellow Democratic delegate peers.

Adjournment — in a Blaze of Ethics Glory

March 4, 2015 by David Toscano

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned on Friday, February 27, 2015, at approximately 9:00 p.m. In most sessions, the last minute negotiations surround the budget. This year, it involved ethics reform. As you may have noticed from numerous news reports, Senate Republicans threatened to block any ethics bill from being passed. At the last moment, however, they relented, and we were able to pass modest ethics reform that improves the law somewhat on what had previously been in place. While this law goes farther than previous efforts, it does not tackle the critical issues related to campaign finance reform, including the role of major contributions in election campaigns. That being said, the bill lowers from $250 to $100 the value of gifts, meals, and travel that an elected official can receive from a lobbyist or a person seeking a contract with the state. It also includes any dependents living in the official’s home, such as a spouse, child, or other relative. The bill clearly could have gone farther; the Ethics Advisory Council does not have much enforcement power and there are certain exemptions to the gift ban for legislators’ travel to “widely attended” events such as conferences. I voted for the bill because it is better than our laws were two years ago, but I believe there is still much to be done.

The last days of the session saw a number of measures passed that I had proposed and strongly supported. Included in these were the expansion of the DNA database, a campus sexual assault reporting bill that protects survivors while providing increased encouragement to them to report perpetrators of these crimes, and a bill that requires notations be placed on college transcripts when students are discharged for violations of the codes of conduct. These measures were proposed as a result of The Rolling Stone article on UVa and the Hannah Graham case, and I believe that they will bring a higher level of protection for our citizens while encouraging more reporting of sexual assault on campuses.

During the final days, we also passed:

A bill to increase safety of daycare facilities (HB1570). Homes serving five or more children will require licensing. There will be national fingerprint background checks for employees, and a requirement that unlicensed providers tell parents in writing that they are not licensed or regulated by the state. This will undoubtedly increase safety in our daycare facilities.
A bill that will further professionalize the Virginia ABC operation (HB1776). ABC will now be an authority that is run more like a business and less responsive to political appointees.
A bill that extends health insurance coverage for autism treatment to about 5,000 more children (HB1940).

This session brought changes to extend mental health benefits to about 22,000 low-income Virginians, increased funding for free clinics, legislation to de-criminalize the use of oils derived from marijuana to treat severe epilepsy, and the defeat of a measure that would have shrouded Virginia’s lethal injection process in secrecy by preventing public disclosure of the drugs used in execution.

Little progress was made on common sense gun legislation; the House rejected my bill that would have allowed private gun sellers to voluntarily ask state police to conduct a background check of anyone who sought to buy firearms from them at a gun show (HB2370). Universal background checks and the return of one-gun-per-month were also defeated. At least we were able to defeat a bill that had been offered by some Republicans to put guns in schools and airports.

2015 House of Delegates Democratic Caucus — 2015 Virginia House of Delegates House Democratic Caucus – Back Row (left to right): Vivian Watts, Mark Sickles, Mark Keam, Daun Hester, Lionell Spruill, Luke Torian, Kaye Kory, Scott Surovell; Middle Row: Monty Mason, David Bulova, Eileen Filler-Corn, Alfonso Lopez, Joe Preston, Patrick Hope, Joseph Lindsey, Ken Plum, Rip Sullivan, Matthew James, Marcus Simon; Sam Rasoul, Mike Futrell; Front Row: Jeion Ward, Delores McQuinn, Betsy Carr, Roz Tyler, Jennifer McClellan, Toscano, Mamye Bacote, Kathleen Murphy, Charniele Herring, Johnny Joannou, Rob Krupicka.

We passed a bill that will allow home-schooled children to participate in public school athletics, and a bill that will allow Uber and other transportation ride-sharing services to operate in Virginia. We passed bills that will establish two new veteran care centers in the Commonwealth and to allow veterans to receive certain academic credits at community colleges for training and educational programs they completed during their military service.

For those interested in music, we passed legislation that would designate not one, but two state songs. “Our Great Virginia” will be considered the traditional state song and “Sweet Virginia Breeze” will be considered the popular state song.

The big disappointment continues to be our failure to pass Medicaid expansion.

The Governor has until March 30 to sign, veto or send amendments to legislation, including the budget. We return to Richmond for the one-day Reconvene Session on Wednesday, April 15, 2015, to address his vetoes and amendments.

Several of my floor speeches from this year’s Session can be viewed here via YouTube:

I have now returned to my law practice, but remain willing to assist you with any issue involving the Commonwealth. Please feel free to call my office at (434) 220-1660, or email me at david@davidtoscano.com with questions or concerns. It is a pleasure serving you in the General Assembly.