Adele believes that every Virginian deserves access to stable, safe and affordable housing, providing residents with a firm foundation where they can succeed at work and school and maintain their mental and physical health.

As a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Adele has introduced legislation to increase the amount of multi-family units while using land more efficiently, expand the Diversion Eviction Program to curb disruptive evictions for families, protect and expand tenants’ rights, increase funding for essential housing services, and more. 

Outside of the House of Delegates, Adele continues her housing advocacy as a member of the Arlington Continuum of Care Leadership Board. 

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• Appointments 
• House General Laws Committee
• Virginia Housing Commission
• Bills signed into law
• HB368 – Begins the process of allowing smaller residential buildings to be constructed with a single staircase, instead of requiring multiple stairway exits. This safe and effective approach is widely used across the world and will allow for more efficient use of land, more space for multi-family units, and will eventually lead to lower rent for tenants. This bill garnered national attention and others around the country have reached out to Adele’s office for advice on how to pass similar legislation in their state.
• HB1623 – Expands the Eviction Diversion Court Program and makes it permanently available to any locality that wishes to participate. The program provides a payment plan option for qualifying tenants who may be experiencing a temporary crisis and are unable to pay rent on time, thereby reducing the number of evictions across the Commonwealth.
• HB1867 – Requires landlords who own more than four rental dwelling units to give 60 days’ written notice if they decide not to renew a tenant’s lease.
• Budget amendments
• Increased funding for the Virginia Eviction Reduction Program and the Virginia Housing Trust Fund
• Increased support for the Medicaid 1115 Waiver for Permanent Supportive Housing
• Increased funding for Continuum of Care lead agencies to expand their organizational capacity to serve the growing population of Virginians at risk of or experiencing homelessness

Adele knows that a strong, fully-funded, public education system allows our students to thrive. Her mother spent over a decade as an early childhood educator and Adele saw firsthand just how hard her mother worked. Adele witnessed the profound impact that dedication had on students and their families.

Adele also knows that strengthening Virginia’s education system also includes supporting our colleges and universities, uplifting our HBCUs, and taking steps to improve student mental health. As Delegate, Adele has worked with her colleagues in an effort to fully fund educational mandates and support high quality public schools, retain world-class teachers by increasing their pay, attract new educators, and support efforts to provide our students with critical wrap-around services. 

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• Budget amendments
• Introduced a budget amendment for School-Based Mental Health Integration Pilot Program 
• Continues to advocate for a State Government Internship Coordinator

Thanks to the work of Democrats in the General Assembly, Virginia has emerged as a leader in the Southeast in the fight against climate change. But more progress is needed, which is why Adele has continued to advocate for stronger energy efficiency standards in our building codes, increased funding for low-income solar and energy efficiency programs, and much-needed reform to how our utilities are regulated to end the hundreds of millions of dollars Dominion overcharges Virginians each year.

Adele knows that we can protect our shared environment and combat the effects of climate change, all while building a more diverse, nimble economy. 

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• HB405 (vetoed) – would have evaluated the infrastructure needs to support electric vehicle charging stations in new residential developments. Based on current trends, Virginians will be increasingly reliant on electric vehicles in the near future, and this bill would have broken down barriers and would have given us the necessary tools to prepare for this complex undertaking.

Adele is committed to making quality healthcare, behavioral healthcare, addiction recovery resources, and other services more accessible and equitable for every resident of the Commonwealth.

Facing uncertainty and harmful cuts at the federal level, Adele is also dedicated to protecting access to Medicaid and ensuring Virginians receive the healthcare services they deserve.

As a member of the House of Delegates, Adele has supported legislation to make prescriptions more affordable and carried a bill creating a model policy and training standards for law enforcement officers to prevent opioid overdose deaths using Narcan.

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• Healthcare
• Supported legislation to establish Prescription Drug Affordability Board
• Introduced HJ466 – Resolution officially designates the month of May as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Awareness Month
• Behavioral & Mental Health
• Appointed to serve on the Virginia Behavioral Health Commission
• Secretary of the Virginia Addiction and Recovery Council
• HB586 (signed into law) – Creates a model policy and statewide training standards for law enforcement officers to prevent opioid overdose deaths using Naloxone (commonly referred to as Narcan).
• Serves on the Arlington Substance Use Disorder Committee

Adele stands as an immovable force against any regulatory or legislative effort by Republicans at the local, state, or federal level to infringe upon reproductive healthcare and freedom. 

A person’s right to bodily autonomy is fundamental and Adele believes we must not only protect these inalienable rights, but strengthen and expand them. That is why Adele is a proud co-patron of the constitutional amendment to safeguard reproductive rights. She has also championed legislation that increases the number of postpartum doula visits covered by Medicaid and extends the period of time these services can be used, closing a critical gap in maternal healthcare. 

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• HB1614 (signed into law) – Increases the number of postpartum doula visits covered by Medicaid from four to six, and extends the period of time to utilize these services from six to 12 months postpartum. This bill closes a critical gap in maternal healthcare.
• Co-patron of HJ1 – constitutional amendment to safeguard reproductive rights

Adele believes it is essential that every working resident of Arlington and the Commonwealth is able to earn a living wage with affordable, high-quality healthcare, childcare, paid sick/family/medical leave, retirement security, and strong workplace protections.

Adele is committed to ensuring that all Virginians, if they wish, are empowered to join with their co-workers to form a union and secure their economic independence. Adele believes in strengthening worker power by repealing the so-called “Right To Work” law.

In the House of Delegates, Adele has championed the rights of working families, including carrying a bill to protect consumers from hidden “junk” fees and fighting to make childcare more affordable by incentivizing employers to contribute to the childcare costs of their employees with matching state funds. She has also carried a bill to provide our essential farm workers with minimum wage protections – a bill she intends to carry every session until it is signed into law.

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• HB1625 (vetoed) – Introduced this bill two years in a row (and will continue to do so) to finally remove the discriminatory farmworker exemption from the Virginia Minimum Wage Act. In 2024, Adele got this bill passed out of the General Assembly and onto the Governor’s desk for the first time in Virginia’s history.
• HB2515 (signed into law) – Consumer protection bill that bans hidden “junk” fees by requiring businesses to disclose all mandatory junk fees in the advertised and displayed price of any good or service.
• Budget amendment (vetoed by the Governor) – Secured $25 million in the General Assembly budget to implement the Employee Childcare Assistance Pilot Program, which will incentivize employers to contribute to the childcare costs of their employees by providing matching state funds. This public-private partnership will enable businesses and communities to support the success of Virginia’s early learners and uplift our hardworking families.

Adele is passionate about preventing gun violence. She believes that to have an impact, we must invest in proven community intervention and prevention efforts and programs.

As a Delegate, Adele has promoted life-saving measures like a bill that requires licensed firearm dealers to provide a locking device when selling or transferring a firearm. She also championed and  spoke powerfully in support of her legislation to close the dangerous “dating partner loophole,” which prevents those convicted of assault and battery against an intimate partner from accessing firearms.

Adele has served on the House Firearms Subcommittee for two years in a row and is proud to have earned the endorsement of Giffords, Brady, and Moms Demand Action.

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• Serves on the House Public Safety Committee and the House Firearms Subcommittee
• Introduced (and vetoed) 2 years in a row:
• HB2064 – Requires licensed firearm dealers to provide a locking device when selling or transferring a firearm. It also requires dealers to include a specific written warning that guns should be locked and kept away from children, and that there may be civil and criminal liability for failing to do so.
• HB1869 – Closes the “dating partner loophole” – Prevents individuals convicted of assault and battery against an intimate partner from accessing firearms.
• Adele spoke on the House floor last year about the seriousness of domestic violence, her personal experience, and the importance of closing the dating partner loophole in our law. Watch here.
• “Gun violence prevention continues to be an urgent and deeply personal issue for me and my Democratic colleagues. Every person in every corner of the Commonwealth has felt the impact of gun violence, and our communities are reeling from the damage it continues to cause.”
• Endorsed by Giffords, Brady, and Moms Demand Action

Adele knows that true justice means reforming both the criminal justice and immigration systems while restoring and protecting the civil rights of every Virginian. She believes in investing in supportive, not punitive, responses to behavioral health, mental health, and substance use disorders.

As a Delegate and former Election Officer, Adele has fought to end the Jim Crow legacy of voter suppression and expand true access to justice and civil rights. Adele firmly believes that we must also do more to expand the statewide protections we have in place for LGBTQ+ Virginians, especially as we continue to see hateful rhetoric and policies pushed at the state and federal level.

Adele is committed to building restorative systems that confront Virginia’s history of disenfranchisement and ensure fairness, dignity, and opportunity for all.

RELEVANT INFORMATION:

• Co-patron of HJ2 – Constitutional amendment for automatic restoration of voting rights for returning citizens, ensuring that people who served their time have their right to participate in democracy restored.
• Co-patron of HJ9 – Adele is proud to co-patron the constitutional amendment to overturn Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage and uphold current federal law to protect the fundamental right to marriage equality.
• Bills introduced
• HB893 (signed into law) – Improves the quality of legal representation for parents in child dependency matters, and raises the pay for court-appointed counsel in these cases for the first time in over 20 years. These changes are expected to save the Commonwealth millions of dollars on foster care by promoting family reunification and safely reducing the length of time children remain in the system.
• HB1252 (vetoed, despite passing the General Assembly with widespread bipartisan support) – This bill would have fixed a loophole in our probation law that has resulted in unnecessary increased jail time for nonviolent technical violations. 
• HB1886 (vetoed) – Removes the imposition of paying court fees as a required condition for deferred dismissal, which is a way to give defendants (typically first-time offenders) a second chance by allowing them to complete certain court-ordered conditions instead of receiving a conviction. This is a bi-partisan effort to ensure that our criminal justice system functions the same for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status.