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.s a l t.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: Barbara Favola

District: Senate District 31

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?

I sponsored a bill to require that data be reported to the General Assembly on the profiles of individual who have been given solitary confinement and the frequency and length of time that solitary confinement was used. I intend to introduce legislation that would make solitary confinement very rare and only for short periods of time in extraordinary situations where an individual is a danger to himself or others. My expectation is that individuals needing to be segregated most likely are suffering from mental health issues. The real remedy to solitary confinement is providing mental health treatment programs in our jails and prisons.

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.

Absolutely. In fact, I have sponsored legislation to remove the TANF ban on persons released from prison because of felony drug convictions after they have served their time. My legislation even required periodic drug testing in the hope of swaying moderate Republicans to vote for the measure. The fact is TANF is an important re-entry program. Those eligible for TANF benefits are primarily mothers with children and those mothers need to be able to support their families while they are looking for jobs and attempting to create a better life. It is worth noting that individuals released from prison for far more serious crimes such as murder and assault are eligible to receive TANF and Food Stamps.

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

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. The Earned Income Tax Credit is an effective way of creating a more progressive income tax structure and should be recognized as such.

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?

This is in response to question #5. Yes. I think a small recordation tax on real estate transactions paid by the seller at the time of the sale could be dedicated to the affordable housing trust fund. This would go a long way in increasing the availability of affordable housing and provide a guaranteed annual source of funding. This certainty would enable the VHDA to better plan for the allocation of dollars and more actively engage private developers and others earlier in the process.

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 would support a prison minimum wage bill and would like to do some research on best practices in other states.

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

One of the most important things we can do is provide home-based baby well visits for new moms, especially low-income moms. These visits help stabilize families, promote healthy parenting skills and improve child development outcomes. Dollars could come from TANF and the new federal Families First program.

I also believe that child care subsidies for low-income families need to be more readily available and the subsidies should be tied to certain quality of care standards. In fact, the quality of care issue is currently getting a lot of attention at the Federal level, so Virginia will have to follow the more rigorous regulations. These subsidies need to be available when TANF moms are continuing with workforce training or attending an institution of higher education. I made some progress on this issue in 2019 but more needs to be done.

Another important tool in reducing the income disparity gap is making college more affordable. I will continue to fight for debt free community college for high-need workforce tracks. These tracks include early childhood educators, teachers, nurses, computer analysts, computer assistants, certain trade programs, cyber security specialists and artificial intelligence specialists.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!