VCJC supports this Bill. I am available to testify this afternoon. Please excuse this late submission.

I would like to update my posted remarks of January 15 to the Transportation Committee. On November 23 my daughter, son-in-law and 6-1/2 year old granddaughter arrived for Thanksgiving. Their first visit here since the Pandemic. We filled our days with river walks, zoos, museums and restaurants, too busy to pay attention to the news. So, we were blissfully unaware that 4 blocks from my home a speeding driver on Semmes Avenue hit 3 other cars, flipped two of them, injured 4 people and almost hit a walking neighbor. Thankfully, there were no deaths this time. It takes a long time for families to heal from the trauma of a car crash. News or views of one bring back the horror. Fate spared our family from revisiting Shawman’s death. I have learned that a Corvette can achieve 100mph within one city block. Driving at that speed is not an accident, it is a choice. I think HB2036 clearly delineates a concise pathway to establish charges, convictions and penalties for irresponsible driving. Potential perpetrators will have knowledge of what is unacceptable and the penalties if they choose to disregard this law. Police will have a clear understanding when to cite or arrest. Prosecutors can decide what to pursue. And, Judges can deliver swift justice for both the accused and the victims and their families. This is a good law that is needed.

I support HB 1664, HB 1666, HB 1673, and HB 2041. As a Richmond resident who lives on a busy street, I am shocked at the disregard of many drivers for speed limits, traffic safety, and human life. We need to control speed limits, but police departments have other demands on their time that, understandably, make traffic enforcement a lower priority. Please help make our streets safer by supporting these bills.

In the early morning hours of August 28, 2022, in Chicago, Shawman Detterman Meireis was struck by a 103mph, speeding Corvette while waiting to cross the street. She and her boyfriend were among a small group of people who had just left a concert.. In a split second, 2 blocks up the street, 2 Corvette drivers revved their engines and slammed down their accelerators, careening toward the group. One driver lost control. Only Shawman was hit and died within minutes. In a moment, gone was my son-in-law's sister, his mother's daughter, his wife's sister-in-law, and the beloved aunt of his 4-1/2 year old daughter and teen-aged nephews. A loss solely because 2 men needed a moment's cheap thrill. It took months to identify and track down both drivers, bring them to court and years to result in a sentence of only probation and community service. Years of heartache for Shawman's family. By amending Virginia's laws we can help prevent this occurrence from happening here. I live in the City of Richmond where I hear the sounds of racing, screeching vehicles nightly as joy-riders do wheelies, weaving races, and jack-rabbit starts, competing with other drivers across the Belvidere (Lee) bridge, down Riverside Drive, up side streets and back-and-forth along Semmes Avenue. Two deaths due to speeding and racing have occurred right in front of the fire station. One vehicle actually hit a rescue truck. When I wait in traffic to turn onto my street, I hold my breath. When I cross the street at a nearby light or crosswalk, I wait to make sure everyone has completely stopped, and even then, scurry as quickly as I can. The local precinct police have described to the Woodland Heights Civic Association how difficult it is to catch these drivers, prosecute them, and get a judge who will exact significant repercussions. Passing HB2036 would be a step in the right direction.

Do not criminalized pro-Palestine speech, demonstrations and written material.

I write in support of HB2654 because as a victim advocate and policy expert, I see every day the devastation that image-based sexual abuse causes. Survivors deserve protection and justice. It is critical that survivors have full relief with enhanced protections that HB2654 ensures that the crime is centered on the consent of the victim and not the intent of the abuser. It enhances penalities and fully recognizes that image-based sexual abuse is sexual violence, full stop. This bill also expands protections for vulnerable groups. Increasingly, our digital lives intertwine with our offline lives as we find jobs, engage with peers and find intimate partners and friends. Increasingly, the very technology that enables these advancements is being used to facilitate sexual violence online. The use of terms like sextortion, deepfake abuse and spycams are some forms of image-based sexual abuse and each define a specific form of sexual violence online. We know 1 in 7 people are victims of sextortion, with 93% of cases being reported by adult men. Women are 28 more times likely to be be violated by image-bases sexual violence and 99% of deepfake abuse harms women. LGBTQ+ individuals are 4x more likely to experience this abuse. The act of producing or rendering, recording, storing and distributing another person’s intimate images and videos without their consent is not simply a breach of privacy; it is an infringement on human rights that leaves lasting trauma on survivors that impact the rest of their lives. The psychological ramifications of such violations can result in long-term emotional distress, depression, and in some cases, suicide. Abuse that initially plays out online quickly bleeds into the fabric of survivors lives leading to shame, fear and isolation. Over 50% of survivors report thoughts of suicide and there are dozens of reported cases of those survivors who could not survive. Survivors often also face loss of jobs and educational chances that lead to the drowning out of their dreams and goals. This is why HB2654 simply must pass. Thank you.

A swastika is a particularly potent, hideous, and chilling tool of intimidation. When coupled with an intent to intimidate, it communicates a sinister threat of violence and causes deep harm. For these reasons, I am respectfully asking you to support a policy of equipping our communities and law enforcement with authority to prosecute such acts of intimidation. I am writing to you as a Virginian, a concerned member of the Jewish community here, and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. The swastika symbol has been irrevocably associated with the atrocities of the Holocaust, and represents a profound threat to the Jewish community. We know what a sinister use of a swastika means. A swastika painted on a synagogue or religious school, for instance, is not graffiti—it is a threat of looming violence. It is menacing. And it is designed to instill fear and terror. Particularly now, when, acts of hatred and violence against Jewish Americans have reached historic highs in the United States and globally, leaving so many of us feeling vulnerable and fearful, understanding this context is crucial. As is drawing a clear red line that such acts of intimidation are impermissible and will not be tolerated. Thank you for your kind consideration, Irina Manelis

Good Afternoon, my name is Rachel Loria. and I am the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust Survivors, which makes me a second generation survivor. I am also the granddaughter of a native Virginian and a WWII recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross who liberated concentration camps. After surviving D Day and Battle of the Bulge, the experiences and the horrors he saw in the Concentration Camps left him unable to speak. I thank you for reading my testimony and experiences regarding the contents of this bill. I would be with you in person, but I am currently leading Holocaust education sessions at Swift Creek Mill after students watch a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. The first thing that struck me about this bill was how sad it is in 2025 that this type of bill is needed. When I was in high school. I walked into my social studies class one morning to find a swastika etched on the bottom of my assigned desk. This was such an isolating experience for me. I felt that in a community where I should be safe, my own school, I couldn't safely be a Jewish person. This is a feeling that a lot of Jewish people are feeling right now. With the rise of anti-semitic activity, many Jewish people are feeling unsafe and unprotected. This bill will help to create a little bit of safety. It will bring some consequence to those who believe that they can use the swastika, a symbol of hate, freely to hurt others. This week marked the 80th commemoration of the freeing of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. If that commemoration is to be more than an empty gesture and words, help to support this bill and create justice for one of our marginalized communities. The swastika is not only a threat and insult to Jewish people. The swastika spits on the sacrifices of our armed services. In Judaism and Christianity, there is a famous phrase in Deuteronomy 16:20: "Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof" meaning “justice justice shall you pursue.” Help to support this bill as an act towards justice and protection for the Jewish people.

I encourage your support of HB2783 - Placing swastika on certain property with intent to intimidate; penalty. The Nazi flag, adorned with the swastika, flew for over a decade in Germany and throughout Europe, one country after another. It represented the evil intent of the Nazis then and still does today. 6 million Jews were killed only because they were Jews, along with millions of others. The swastika, a symbol of people's inhumanity to one another, is personal. I write in memory of my grandfather murdered in the Ukraine after deportation from Vienna in 1939. I write in memory of my grandmother, enslaved in a Polish ghetto, interned in Auschwitz and then in Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp, finally liberated only to perish from disease and starvation two weeks after liberation. I write in memory of my mother who, as a young girl, survived the unthinkable. But mostly I write as a grandmother on behalf of my grandchildren. They are the fourth generation since the SHOAH, the Holocaust, since the allies, led by the US, defeated this attempt to rid the world of all Jews. These children, all children, should NOT be seeing the swastika etched into their school property. They should NOT hear SIEG HEIL in their suburban Middle School in Central Virginia or anywhere else. But they are seeing and hear this. I hate to see where this might go if we don't intervene NOW. This is happening in real time and your support of this bill may be the start of the Commonwealth speaking out and stating enough is enough! As we saw in the 1930's we must act to be sure that we made an effort at NEVER AGAIN. Thank you for your consideration in support of HB2783.

This bipartisan legislation provides an additional tool for law enforcement to fight antisemitism and hate crimes. The Nazi swastika, the flag that represented the murderers of 6 million Jews and the Holocaust - is the quintessential symbol of Jew-hatred and white supremacy. At a time when Jews in our community are increasingly targeted, this bill incentivizes law enforcement to investigate threatening behavior and stop clear aggression by making it a Class 6 felony to place a swastika on property. In addition, this bill tells the Jewish community that Virginia will not tolerate the intimidation and aggression that has been increasingly aimed at us.