SOCIAL ACTION LINKING TOGETHER (SALT)---2019

Candidate Survey – 2019

THIS QUESTIONAIRE REQUESTS YOUR POSITIONS ON SALT’S TOP LEGISLATIVE ISSUES FOR 2020.  Your responses will be shared with our members and others via mailings and our website (www.salt.org) as a helpful guide in their choice of candidates.  Your answers will not be abbreviated or taken out of context.  Please return your answers by May 15th  e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you for your commitment to public service and for your willingness to share your opinions with SALT.

Candidate:   Richard L. Saslaw

District:        SD-35

Social Action Linking Together urges you to support the following:

1. Solitary confinement goes by a variety of labels, but is commonly understood to mean incarceration of a person in a small cell for more than 20 hours a day.  Human rights and mental health experts recognize prolonged solitary confinement as a form of torture.  Scientific studies show that permanent changes in brain chemistry can occur after as few as 15 consecutive days in solitary confinement.  This limit has been incorporated in international human rights standards.  Prolonged solitary confinement is the antithesis of rehabilitation.  It undermines a person's ability to return to society as a healthy and productive citizen.  What measures would you support to limit the use of prolonged solitary confinement?

Last year I was the chief patron of the bill that required the Department of Corrections to collect and report data annually to the General Assembly on the frequency, longevity, and demographics of solitary, and to adhere at a minimum to the standards of the American Correctional Association. I would support further legislation that specifically limits the use of solitary.

2. Do you support ending the Federal Life-Time Ban on Food Stamps and TANF for persons with drug felony records? These bans impose a lifetime penalty after prison time is served; It is not part of their sentence!! And, it penalizes the children of persons with drug records. Do you support extending TANF & Food Stamp program eligibility for drug offender persons who return to their families and take responsibility for their families? Please explain.

Yes. I have continuously voted to extend TANF eligibility at the state level to those who have drug-related felony records. Once a person has completed their sentence, we should not be restricting their access to resources that help them feed their family and avoid poverty.

3. Do you support a Budget Amendment to Consolidate the two existing locality groupings for (TANF) into a single group, using the Group III benefit rates, with the resulting increase being Funded from the Federal TANF Block Grant? This would help to move Virginia from the lowest toward the middle range, nationally. Yes or No?

Yes, the locality groupings were created in the 1970’s and have only occasionally been updated since that time. I have supported this budget amendment in the past and will continue to do so.

4. SALT supports Governor Northam’s proposal to make the Virginia EITC “Refundable,” in order to help low-income families; because the federal tax changes, mainly, have already helped the high income filers and corporations. Do you support Yes/No.  Please explain.

Yes. I support this proposal and expect this will be one of the first tax changes we make when Democrats take back the Majority.

5. Housing Trust Fund:Virginia remains the most expensive state for renters in the southeast and the 10th most expensive state in the nation and is identified as one of the least affordable states in the nation according to the “NLIHC  Out of Reach Report.“  This is based on actual wages and rents in the Commonwealth. Do you support a designated/ongoing source of revenue for the state housing trust fund that would be used to address subsidized housing for the most vulnerable families as well as for workforce housing?

Yes, we need to have greater resources and incentives to encourage the construction of affordable housing throughout Northern Viriginia. Additionally, we need to work with local governments to encourage them to support these housing options.

6. We should care about what happens behind prison walls. Prison pay to prisoners for prison mandated jobs vary from “not paid by DOC” and range from .23 cents per hour to $2.00 per day to $6.00 per week in Virginia. The inability to make a real wage harms the chances of success after release. Would you support a prison Minimum Wage bill to recognize the labor, goods and considerable revenues incarcerated people contribute and to respect the dignity of their work?  What hourly wage would you support?

I think job training and work programs are an important tool to help improve morale of those who are incarcerated, improve safety in prisons, and to reduce recidivism. We should establish a specifc policy on prison wages. I would like to see some research on how to structure wages that both encourage work and training, and also take into account costs of living such as commissary expenses and phone calls.

YOUR ISSUES:  What are some issues you feel strongly about that you would like to share with your SALT constituents?

1) Reducing gun violence through commonsense reforms is one of my top priorities in the General Assembly. Virginia needs to pass universal background checks, a red flag law, a ban on trigger accelerators, and an assault weapon ban.

2) It is imperative that Virginia increases the minimum wage to ensure that hardworking Virginians earn what they’re worth and don’t have to work teo or three jobs just to make ends meet. I have co-sponsored the bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and will continue to support this.

3) The best way to improve the lives of Virginians is through a high-quality, affordable public eduaction system. Increasing teacher pay, funding early childhood education, promoting investments in STEM studies, and shoring up our education infrastructure are important priorities for the next General Assembly session.

4) There are several criminal justice reform measures that I feel Virginia should adopt to ensure the system is not disproportionately affecting low-income individuals and people of color. These include: reforming the cash bail system, juvenile justice reform, and decriminalizing marijuana. These are important tools to end mass incarceration and stop the school to prison pipeline.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!