By Larry Hypes
Contributing Writer
BLACKSBURG – “The General Assembly has been a whirlwind through these first 45 days,” laughed District 41 House of Delegates member Lily Franklin, “but I can tell you that I have worked hard to represent this area and make sure that Southwest Virginia’s concerns have been heard in Richmond.”
Franklin (D-41), one of 18 freshmen in the 2026 House, hosted her first town hall meeting at the Blacksburg Community Center Saturday to a crowd of more than 100 local citizens. A video review, question-and-answer session with the audience and informal discussions with constituents took place.
She noted that some 4,000 bills were introduced and at “Crossover” (the halfway point of the 60-day session on Feb. 17) fewer than 2,000 bills remained. She noted that 88 percent of those were bipartisan and many are virtually unanimously supported.
“Although some media make you think the political parties never agree, that is not true in Richmond,” she said.
Franklin said there was a lot to celebrate in the House budget including help for education and health without raising taxes including $577 million for childcare subsidy funding, oversight to help ensure the lowest prescription costs, passing 12-week paid family medical leave for the individual, or family members who are ill and require care and children and a version of collective bargaining (the Senate version is different) rights.
“The collective bargaining issue is not just about salaries but about having enough leave days, making sure that employees are not working back-to-back 12-hour shifts with only four hours in between and similar issues,” she said. “We believe this will help recruitment of the very best people for these critically important public jobs. There is still much work to be done between the House and Senate on this.”
She said the three constitutional amendments which will be on the ballot this fall including marriage equality, restoration of voting rights (noting that Virginia is the next-to-last state to provide restored rights to those who have served their time and paid all related fees. Currently the governor can decide if those individuals can have their voting rights restored) and reproductive health care issues are ones that she can be proud to support.
Franklin, who is working hard with newly-elected Democratic governor Abigail Spanberger, nevertheless said an early highlight for her was during the speech of outgoing Republican governor Glenn Youngkin.
“He said, ‘We want to make sure that Southwest Virginia soars like the rest of Virginia,’ and when he said that, I was the first one on the floor applauding that statement.”
Franklin opened with her personal legislation that passed the House including HJ34 – a study to determine steps that would need to be taken to repeal the car tax; HB 943 – a bill to provide campus police transponders to pass through toll booths; HB 1385 – Reform of College and University Boards of Visitors; HB 1467 – Pilot Program for Southwest Virginia Virtual Power Plant in cooperation with Appalachian Power to utilize existing energy infrastructure to leverage excess supply to both meet demand and lower costs; and HB 1469 – Expand Rideshare Background Check, emphasizing additional scrutiny for Uber and Lyft riding.
Franklin revealed that the Rideshare bill was her first to pass the General Assembly. She did point out that three of her proposals did not cross over for Senate consideration, including one to improve assistance for disaster relief, especially for Southwest Virginia, another for a landlord tax credit to help keep rents more affordable in rural areas, and one to assist farmers in securing computer information to help them in repairing equipment and she will continue to work on these issues in 2027.
She said she was very proud that the House of Delegates passed on its budget without any increases in state taxes.
In response to citizen questions about why the car tax could not simply be immediately repealed, Franklin said, “This (car tax) is a $4 billion portion of the state budget and it funds police departments, fire departments, our teachers and those critical pieces of our operating infrastructure. I love good schools and public safety and we must make sure Virginia is adequately served in those areas.”
Another area of local concern is the Board of Visitors review, with emphasis on the major impact that Virginia Tech has on Montgomery County and the surrounding region.
“We have heard of several issues regarding Boards of Visitors and we want to ensure that we have good governance and effective oversight rules in our universities, clarifying some of the ways we appoint Boards, changing of some terms of Boards of Visitors, making sure that no governor can overturn an entire Board or the majority of a Board in their term.”
Franklin said this is a major issue across the state, observing, “This (Board of Visitors) issue is still in conference and there a lot of major players involved. I imagine there will still be a lot of edits to come out of the legislation.”
In reference to rising energy costs, Franklin said that regulations greatly increase the time it takes to put facilities in place for various energy types and she along with other legislators are studying how rooftop solar, battery storage and related citizen efforts can be coordinated with power companies (specifically APCO in Southwest Virginia) to help use any locally stored energy at the most needed time to help with usage and costs.
Franklin said legislators found ways to provide money to backfill federally-reduced CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) and Medicaid, $1.7 billion for public education in part to ensure a two percent raise for teachers and staff, including $400 million in flexible funds for school divisions, and $200 million for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), all without raising taxes.
She said that one of her “hardest votes” was not to vote for the ban on assault weapons but that she voted in favor of a host of gun-safety measures.
Franklin was assisted by her chief of staff Eleanor Rogers and legislative assistant Gabriel Lynn. Franklin can be contacted in Richmond at 804-698-1041 or at DelFranklin@House.Virginia.Gov and Rogers is available at 804-698-1041.
