Legislative Record

As a young Black woman, mother and higher-ed professional, I've experienced the same struggles as many across the district. I grew up experiencing and overcoming hardship firsthand, and I've seen personally how gun violence affects our communities. I know how destructive failing schools can be on educators and especially our children. And to this day, I myself know so many dealing with the crushing weight of financial instability.

In the House of Delegates, I fought to provide more funding for our schools, more economic opportunities for our communities, and I pushed to make our criminal justice system fairer. The people of this district deserve leadership they can be proud of, and leadership that understands their struggles. With the challenges that families face growing daily, I remain committed to service and will always work to deliver for the people of Senate District 13.

Education

Representing one of the most challenging school districts in the Commonwealth in Virginia, since day one of being in office, Lashrecse has championed education. Arranging a special agreement with the state to ensure supplemental funding ($350,000) for PCPS to attract and retain the best executive leadership team. In 2021 the Virginia Education Association named her Legislator of the Year because of her leadership to address the perennial underfunding of Virginia’s Standards of Quality. In addition, she helped organized crumbling school tours, to bring public/private  leaders together to imagine funding models to replace school buildings in disrepair. Professionally, having worked over 10-years in higher education, she also continuously fought for increases in financial aid to make college more affordable and to rethink the role institutions play in workforce development.

Environmental

As a leading voice on environmental justice, representing one of the most energy burden communities in the Commonwealth, her legislation created the first ever Clean Energy Advisory Board, she passed language to declare access to water a human right and when a derelict landfill operator abused regulations in the only poor minority community they represented, she led the fight to have them shut down. When the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) was being proposed in Union Hill, she traveled outside of her district to hear directly from the people being impacted and to stand with them. She will continue to stand for environmental justice once in the Senate.

Criminal Justice Reform

During her time in the General Assembly she led criminal justice reform, making history with the passage of the nation’s first Breonna’s law (prohibiting the use of no-knock search warrants); successfully banning-the-box on employment and college applications, ensuring people incarcerated have access to supports and resources to transition back into society and requiring the impact on racial and ethnic disparities within the Commonwealth be assessed in all future criminal justice legislation with racial impact statements. And, to ensure we understand how law enforcement interacts with Black motorists, she joined Del. Torian in passing the first Virginia Community Policing Act.

Workers & Union

It was unimaginable to learn that workers in the Commonwealth were not legally obligated to receive records of their compensation (pay-stubs), which are intrinsically linked to their livelihood. Lashrecse proudly passed legislation requiring wage statements to be provided to all workers effective 2019. In addition, during one of the few votes on record on repealing right-to-work, she was one of only ten members that voted in support of this repeal. And, in 2021 when SEIU members needed a champion for a pay raise, collaboratively she got their nearly $400-million salary increase approved. 

Housing 

Because of her own life experience moving frequently and living in subpar homes, access to safe and affordable housing has always been a priority for Lashrecse. During her time in the office she led on eviction reform, changing how we treat those dealing with evictions and establishing an eviction diversion pilot program. 

Healthcare

Casting her vote in support of medicaid expansion in 2018 will always be a proud moment, but during her time in the General Assembly she is proud of advancing many health-related policy initiatives. Including, leading Virginia to become the first southern state to declare racism a public health crisis; establishing the certification of community health workers; passing legislation and budget language to combat maternal and infant mortality with the development of a registry for community-based doulas, recognizing their certification in the Commonwealth, along with budget language that created the first-ever medicaid reimbursement for doulas. Lashrecse also worked to address mental health challenges in our communities, serving on the Deeds commission and working to assess how to streamline the temporary detention process.

Sustaining & Growing Business

The recipient of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Free Enterprise Award, Lashrecse has been recognized for her bipartisanship in creating the first of its kind tax incentive for economically disadvantaged communities and education. Tax incentives are a critical tool to attract new industries to regions where a workforce infrastructure needs to be built, and provide an economic boost to these communities in need.