I’m a RIF’d federal government employee. Foreign Service. I have a lot of experience and skills that I can bring to the Virginia state government. Employment with the state will help keep my skills and economic activity in Virginia. You have a lot of highly skilled former federal government employees in VA. It’ll make VA look good and benefit the state economy

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) strongly supports House Bill 494, which establishes a hiring preference within the Commonwealth of Virginia for former federal employees who were terminated as a result of federal budget reductions or administrative restructuring. Federal employees—including members of the Foreign Service—bring extensive experience in public administration, policy implementation, fiscal management, and service to the public interest. When these individuals are involuntarily separated due to broad budgetary or organizational decisions, Virginia stands to benefit by ensuring their skills and institutional knowledge are not lost to the workforce. AFSA represents some 12,400 U.S. Foreign Service personnel serving overseas and in the United States from six U.S. Government agencies, including nearly 4,000 retirees. We are both a professional association and the official representative for members of the U.S. Foreign Service. Our members include Foreign Service employees from the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Foreign Commercial Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Thank you.

I'm writing on behalf of HB 494 which provides Virginia hiring preference for those federal employees who have lost their jobs. While I am a retired fed and this would not impact me, I spent 34 years in the U.S. Foreign Service working for the Department of State. My colleagues were some of the most highly trained, skillful, and dedicated people in the workforce today. If they have the opportunity to bring their problem-solving skills and work ethic to the state of Virginia, our fellow residents can only benefit. Foreign Service officers in particular possess unique skillsets in foreign languages as well as management in crisis situations. Most federal employees have gone through extensive clearance and training processes. They are ready to make a contribution from the first day and represent an amazing potential resource for the state. I hope that this bill would allow the state to take advantage of this terrific opportunity.

As a federal contractor who has personally witnessed the chaos and harm caused by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), I am writing the General Assembly to voice my strong support for HB494. DOGE-driven budget cuts and contract cancellations have displaced thousands of highly skilled federal employees and contractors through no fault of their own. These workers, many of whom I call friend, provided essential public services, maintained critical infrastructure, and upheld national security- all for their love of mission and country. The arbitrary firings have destabilized families, damaged American soft power, and nearly tanked Virginia’s economy, all in service of tax cuts for the oligarchy. HB494 offers a sensible solution to Northern Virginia's new skilled labor challenges by granting hiring preference in state government to qualified former federal employees who were terminated due to DOGE initiatives or federal budget reductions. This bill ensures that Virginia can retain and enjoy top-notch professionals in its state government while helping families remain financially stable amidst the chaos coming from Washington. HB494 is a necessary corrective action that will strengthen the Commonwealth's workforce, and restore dignity to public servants who were displaced by the oligarchy. General Assembly members, I respectfully urge your passage of HB494.

I have personally benefited from Virginia's past teleworking policies, and I have also been at the mercy of its ever-changing interpretations. I can say with the utmost certainty that as a previous teleworker who has been unjustifiably stripped of the privilege, my productivity, morale, and home life were all improved when I had the option. The current teleworking policies are unfair in their nature and implementation. To apply different rules amongst people that share an office space, and similar duties creates undesirable working conditions. HB 554 will create specific policy to address these inconsistencies and allow for a better working environment with higher morale, retention, and productivity. I ask that you approve this bill to improve the quality of life of Virginia state employees and the lives of their families along with all of the benefits it provides the Commonwealth.

Hello. I am writing in support of HB 554. Along with many others I have seen and felt the positive impacts that teleworking has for the State of VA. Unfortunately I have also seen and felt the negative impacts of it being taken away. Disgruntlement, employees leaving, quiet quitting, and money loss are all things that have been experienced in recent years. I am hopeful that there may be a more positive outlook on teleworking in the near future. Poor implementation leads to greater confusion and frustration both personally and professionally. Correct implementation is key, I believe that the language in this bill helps achieve that. I ask that our elected officials support this bill and I look forward to its implementation to making State agencies a more efficient and better place to work.

We support this bill and thank the Delegate for bringing it forward. Ensuring meaningful access to language access services is critical in protecting the lives and safety of LEP survivors and their families.

Voices for Virginia's Children supports HB 1009, which strengthens language access across state agencies serving families and children. When parents can communicate effectively with caseworkers, healthcare providers, and other public servants, children benefit from more informed decision-making and better outcomes. This bill also ensures multilingual state employees are fairly compensated for the critical skills they bring to their roles. Investing in language access is an investment in equity for Virginia's increasingly diverse families.

LAJC supports HB 1009 because it helps create language accessibility in all public facing agencies to better serve limited and non-English speaking community members in the Commonwealth. Virginia is a linguistically diverse state. According to the American Community Survey in 2024, approximately 18% of Virginians speak a language other than English at home. This percentage is even higher is some parts of the state. Improving language accessibility in our government systems would ease a major barrier for Limited English Proficient community members (many of whom already experience other major challenges in accessing services). This bill would overall not only improve the quality of the experience these community members have but also build improve their trust and familiarity with our government systems in a vital time.

I am a Virginia resident and a language access professional whose work focuses on supporting educational institutions in the development of language access processes. My work involves helping schools establish systems that support meaningful, equitable communication between institutions and families who speak languages other than English. In my experience, clear and consistent language access processes and/or policies in educational settings often emerge only when there is internal expertise or when external guidance is introduced after challenges arise, including through the Department of Justice involvement. In the absence of strong proactive guidance, school are frequently left to interpret language access requirements on their own, resulting in uneven practices and uncertainty about what "meaningful access" should look like in day-to-day educational contexts. This is why HB1009 is important at the legislative level. Requiring state agencies to develop language access plans and establish clear expectations helps create stronger, more consistent guidance for educational institutions. State-level planning provides schools with a framework to build appropriate processes before problems arise, rather than relying on reactive measures or isolated expertise. In practice, when clear guidance on language access is not established at the state level, educational institutions are often left to determine expectations internally. Responsibility for language access planning may be assigned to departments or individuals whose primary roles related to instruction, student services, or family engagement, but who may not have specialized training in language access laws, policy development, or service design. This creates an additional burden for staff who are asked to build processes without sufficient framework or support, and can lead to inconsistent practices across schools and divisions. Over time, this lack of structure affects not only staff capacity, but also families and bilingual personnel who must navigate unclear or uneven systems. This need for clear guidance is becoming even more important as educational institutions explores new tools, including artificial intelligence, to support communication with multilingual families. Without established frameworks, schools may feel pressure to adopt emerging technologies without fully understanding their limitations, risks, or appropriate role within a comprehensive language access strategy. State-level planning helps ensure that innovation is grounded in principles of meaningful access, human oversight, and equity, rather than replacing thoughtful processes with fragmented or unvetted solutions. HB1009 helps shift language access planning from an individual or ad hoc responsibility to a coordinated, statewide approach. This strengthens sustainability, improves consistency, and better supports educational institutions in meeting their obligation to provide meaningful access for linguistically diverse families. For these reasons, I support HB1009 and encourage the committee to give it thoughtful considerations. Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony.