Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, has introduced a bill that would establish a fund to support gun violence prevention programs, and the funding would come from a 15% sales tax on firearm and ammunition sales.
Winning a primary often guarantees winning an election. That’s because many districts are so heavily red or so heavily blue. Delegate Sam Rasoul wants to change all that. He has a plan that would create ranked choice voting and open primaries, sending four of the top candidates to the November ballot regardless of which the candidates are from. He acknowledges party leaders on either side probably won’t like the idea.
A group of Democratic lawmakers announced legislation on Thursday to phase out carbon pollution from Virginia’s electrical grid by 2050. The plan is in line with targets set by Governor Ralph Northam in an executive order earlier this year but less ambitious than the Virginia Green New Deal, which is sponsored by Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke).
The Green New Deal has got people talking in Washington, and now it looks as if it will in Richmond, too. Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, has filed a Virginia Green New Deal Act, which aims to move the state away from fossil fuels.
Roanoke Del. Sam Rasoul will run for majority leader in the House of Delegates, one of a handful of leadership positions Democrats will decide on Saturday....Currently, the only Southwest Virginia legislator in a leadership position is Del. Nick Rush, R-Christiansburg, who serves as the whip for the House Republicans. Morgan Griffith, now a Republican in Congress, was the last majority leader from Southwest Virginia. Griffith, of Salem, served in the role from 2000 to 2010. Richard Cranwell, of Vinton, served as majority leader for House Democrats from 1991 to 2000 and then was minority leader until 2002.
Del. Sam Rasoul is bringing back his program for people interested in writing their own pieces of legislation to submit to the Virginia General Assembly.
Local governments have the authority to enact zoning ordinances to regulate the location of businesses that sell firearms, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring wrote Friday in an opinion spurred by a gun shop that opened in Roanoke County. Herring issued the opinion in response to an inquiry from Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke
Dominion Energy is gradually retiring its high-emissions coal-fired plants in favor of more efficient natural gas plants. But some Democratic delegates say those facilities are still heavy polluters and are advocating a statewide push to renewable energy. Delegates Sam Rasoul and Delores McQuinn are sponsoring legislation for the upcoming General Assembly session that would require the state’s energy suppliers to move to 80 percent renewable energy by 2028. It would also place a moratorium on state approvals for almost all new energy infrastructure related to fossil fuel beginning in 2020.
Del. Sam Rasoul is one of the five Democrats interested in becoming the next minority leader in the House of Delegates. The 49 Democrats in the House of Delegates will meet Saturday in a closed-door meeting in Richmond to elect their new leader. Rasoul, 37, has represented Roanoke since 2014.
Natasha Harper's son died nearly three years ago in the Roanoke City Jail from killing himself. She's been raising awareness about issues related to mental illness and jails since then, but now she wants to see some changes through legislation. Sitting with a three other people at a table at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Roanoke Tuesday night, Harper presented issues she thinks need to be addressed.