RICHMOND — Members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus called on Gov. Ralph Northam to sign legislation that would raise the minimum wage, protect the environment and fight racial disparity even as the cost of the coronavirus crisis pressures him to hold off.
The letter, sent Thursday, puts Northam (D) on the spot just before a deadline of midnight Saturday to act on all 1,291 measures passed during this year’s General Assembly session. The Black Caucus has been a key political ally of Northam’s, particularly in the year since a blackface scandal nearly caused him to resign.
In recent days, business groups and local governments around the state have urged Northam to at least delay some of the signature accomplishments passed by the new Democratic majorities in the legislature, particularly raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 by 2023.
State Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne has said the cost of responding to the coronavirus outbreak will reach in the hundreds of millions this fiscal year and hit at least $2 billion over the next two years. The state’s economy is on ice under Northam’s order for residents to stay home to halt the spread of the disease, with businesses shuttering in droves. A record 147,369 Virginians filed initial unemployment claims last week, according to figures released Thursday — more than 67 times greater than the same week a year ago.
“Delaying the enactment of legislation that will increase the cost of doing business in the Commonwealth will go a long way to improving conditions for Virginia’s businesses to recover,” a consortium of 27 business associations and chambers of commerce wrote Northam recently.
Northam’s office has said he is considering a freeze on all new spending as the state takes stock of the pandemic’s impact. The General Assembly will return to Richmond on April 22 to take up any vetoes or amendments issued by Northam, with reconsidering the state’s two-year, $135 billion spending plan now atop the agenda.
“The Governor is grateful for this letter from the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, and for their continued partnership,” Northam’s spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said in an emailed statement. “He is working closely with legislators on many aspects of pending legislation, and will continue to review these important issues over the coming days.”
The caucus made clear in its letter that it views the legislation as crucial for helping individuals get through the health crisis. They point out that many of the jobs deemed essential by the state, in which workers continue to be exposed to possible infection, are low-wage or minimum-wage — such as people who stock grocery stores and clean hospitals.
“It would be inhumane,” Bagby wrote, to delay support for such workers at a time when the state and federal government are providing tax breaks, grants and loans to businesses. If Northam delays the wage hike, “these essential workers will be left to struggle under less than a livable wage with minimal labor protections and labor rights during a global health crisis and an impending economic crisis,” he wrote.
The letter added that a disproportionate share of such workers are black.
The caucus also called on Northam to enact measures requiring the state to transition to clean energy, allowing some public employees to unionize, and cracking down on predatory lenders. In addition, it urged Northam to preserve extra funds included in the General Assembly’s budget for historically black colleges and universities.
Members of the Black Caucus were among the first to urge Northam to resign last year after a racist photo from his 1984 medical school yearbook came to light. Instead of stepping down, Northam vowed to spend the rest of his term in office fighting against racial inequity.
He has followed through, purging state law of racist language, creating new state offices to support diversity, and funding programs to address disparities in health and housing among African Americans. Along the way, members of the Black Caucus have stood by Northam and helped him regain his political stature.
Thursday’s letter, Bagby said, was designed to encourage Northam to stay on course.
“I appreciate his judgment up to this point. I suspect it will continue,” Bagby said via text message. “Groups that oppose these efforts to help Virginians are aggressively lobbying the Gov. and we felt it was important to provide our unwavering support.”
