I’m not back writing my newsletters weekly yet, but I have been busy. We have been vetting potential city council candidates in Lynchburg because we have a good chance of winning all three seats up for election in November, and if we do so, we will have a 5 to 2 majority on Council. In fact, it would be the first Republican majority on council in 22 years.
We have done serious work toward election integrity in Lynchburg that played a major part in our 20-percent positive swing between the 2020 election and the 2021 election.
We just elected a dynamic and determined Republican chair for Lynchburg, Veronica Bratton. She headed up our election integrity efforts last November and did a fantastic job. I can’t wait to see what she can accomplish for Virginia as chair of Lynchburg.
And it looks like I have a chance to be elected to the State Central Committee again, this time from the Fifth District. They have a vacancy due to a resignation, and the District Committee meets April 2nd to fill it. I’ve gotten a lot of support from the voting members, so we shall see.
But that isn’t why I am writing to you. I need your help. Senate Bill 591 has gone to the Governor’s desk, and it is a bad bill as written. It purports to stop marijuana sales in Virginia. I’m okay with that part. However, they have rolled into the bill a prohibition against CBD, which is a non-toxic, non-mind-meddling by product of the hemp plant.
CBD has a number of quantifiable health benefits, and for some people, it is the ONLY thing that helps. People often use CBD for their pets for the same reasons. That would all end if Senate Bill 591 is signed into law as is.
I am asking you to contact the governor’s office and ask him to send SB 591 back to the General Assembly and remove any prohibitions on CBD from the bill. You can reach his office at 804-786-2211 and leave a message. Or you can go to https://www.governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/ and send an email via the form provided.
In full disclosure, my son owns one of the seventeen businesses that will have to close in Lynchburg alone. (I have invested in his business.) It will also harm a lot of other businesses in the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Districts.
Someone in the General Assembly got over-zealous in creating this bill. Please contact the Governor and ask him to send it back to the General Assembly to rectify what would be a major economic disaster for quite a few small business owners in Virginia.
Hopefully, you will be able to find the time TODAY to make the call or send the email. It is on the Governor’s desk, and I have no idea when he plans to sign it.
Thank you for your support over the years and your help today.
Cordially,
Steve “Doc” Troxel, Ph.D.