ISSUES | Alfonso Lopez

ISSUES

TOP-NOTCH SCHOOLS
FOR EVERY CHILD

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Fought for teacher pay raises, including a 5% raise passed in the 2019 session.
Worked to defeat legislation allowing the State Board of Education to impose charter schools on any school district in the Commonwealth.
Led the fight against legislation that would have created a backdoor for mandatory censorship of educational materials, regardless of the context in which the material was being taught.

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will:

Increase participation in Pre-K programs. Science tells us that 90% of a child’s brain development occurs before age five. We must expand voluntary Pre-K programs for more four-year-olds.
Provide funds to reduce class sizes and meet Virginia’s Standards of Learning.
Create programs to help special needs, non-English-speaking and gifted students.
Expand opportunities for Northern Virginians in the state colleges and universities.
Increase funding, access and support for Virginia’s vibrant community college system.
Ensure that teachers are paid a quality, professional wage—not just in Northern Virginia—but all over the Commonwealth.

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Fought for the expansion of Medicaid to over 500,000 new Virginians—including over 45,000 residents of Arlington & Fairfax counties—and put an end to the practice of surprise billing.
Passed legislation to grant Medicaid coverage to immigrant mothers and children.
Worked across the aisle to preserve funding for critically important free health clinics across the Commonwealth, including the Arlington Free Clinic.
Defeated Republican legislation that would limit women's reproductive choice.

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will:

Protect access to reproductive healthcare including abortion.
Expand healthcare access and affordability to low income Virginians and immigrants.
Fight to ensure that no Virginian should live under the fear of financial ruin, should they or a loved one get injured or become ill.

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Helped pass Virginia’s first increase in dedicated transportation funding in over 27 years.
Fought to secure dedicated funding for the Metrorail system.
Championed legislation protecting bicyclists in Virginia from being followed too closely by motorized vehicles.

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will:

Provide a tax-break to businesses that initiate and document tele-work, tele-commuting and flex schedule plans. Virginia should emulate the innovative plans that the U.S. General Services Administration are initiating at the Federal level.
Enhance funding mechanisms for transportation and transit infrastructure and maintenance in Northern Virginia.
Provide tax incentives to individuals and businesses to encourage increased use of mass transit options.
Adjust the road maintenance formula allocations to better reflect the realities of 21st century Virginia.
Require planning and provide dedicated funding for bicycle and trail improvements.
Provide localities with more power to manage development and require that land-use decisions take into account traffic congestion considerations.

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Founded and served as one of the first co-chairs of the Virginia Environment and Renewable Energy Caucus in the General Assembly.
Fought to address Climate Change by championing the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Authored and passed the Solar Freedom Act, which institutes a series of reforms intended to promote the establishment of distributed (“rooftop”) solar, extending the Virginia Green Jobs Tax Credit, among other things
Negotiated a landmark Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Reform Bill between environmental activists and industry officials to secure $800 million in funding to overhaul Virginia’s wastewater treatment policy and keep harmful pollutants out of the Chesapeake Bay

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will:

Protect and expand the The VA Clean Economy Act (VCEA_, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), VA Clean Car Standards, and the other progress he helped Virginia make.
Create a mandatory renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of at least 35% by 2025.
Provide incentives for the use and implementation of advanced electrical metering infrastructure and grid modernization technologies.
Create incentives to use more of Virginia’s resources such as offshore wind and solar.
Establish energy efficiency efforts standards in Virginia to reduce electricity use by at least 25% of 2006 consumption levels by 2025.

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Passed legislation abolishing the death penalty, which disproportionally affects African Americans.
Championed sensible gun violence prevention, including closing the "Charleston Loophole" for gun purchases and creating a tax credit to incentivize the purchase of gun safes, gun cases, and other gun safe storage devices.
Passed legislation legalizing cannabis for adult use, expunging records, and ending some mandatory minimums.

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will:

Instate universal background checks, reinstate the one-gun-a-month rule, close gun sale loopholes, and make it more difficult for people to get a concealed carry permit in Virginia.
Promote safe storage of firearm and prevent children from accessing firearms.
Limit mandatory minimums and increase efforts to remove bias and racism from our justice.

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Worked with the labor community to remove language added to the State Budget prohibiting the use of Project Labor Agreements on interstate transportation projects.
Organized legislators in Northern Virginia to successfully push the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to increase the minimum wage for contract employees at our local airports.
Passed legislation creating the Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which has already invested millions our region and across the Commonwealth.
Fought to pass legislation strengthening protections for tenants against retaliatory evictions and from bearing the costs of mitigating pest infestations when the cause of the infestation was undetermined.

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will:

In the General Assembly, Alfonso successfully:

Passed legislation creating an LGBTQ+ advisory board to make sure the LGBTQ+ community has a say in policy and outreach in the state of Virginia.
Helped pass the Voting Rights Act, which makes ballot dropboxes permanent, allows optional Sunday voting, makes curbside voting easier, and more.
Expanded access to in-state tuition and financial aid for DREAMer students in Virginia.

As Delegate, Alfonso will support legislation that will: