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LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

HIGH QUALITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING

  • As the representative of Virginia’s most diverse House of Delegates district, Alfonso has proudly fought for and delivered results for affordable housing in the Commonwealth.

  • Alfonso succeeded in creating the Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund and has worked to increase its budget to over $100 million. The Housing Trust Fund served as a critical backstop during the COVID-19 pandemic for preventing evictions and for providing rental relief for families all across the 49th district and the Commonwealth.

  • Alfonso passed legislation strengthening protections for tenants against retaliatory evictions.

  • Alfonso successfully championed legislation protecting tenants from bearing the costs of mitigating pest infestations when the cause of the infestation was undetermined.

  • In 2019, he worked across the aisle to ensure that funding for the Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund was increased up to $14 million over the biennial budget to address critically important housing assistance and homelessness prevention projects.  

  • Alfonso was honored to be given the Virginia Housing Coalition’s Legislative Leadership award in 2013 for his legislation creating the Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund that year

FIGHTING FOR WORKING FAMILIES

  • Working with the labor community, Alfonso led the charge to eliminate language prohibiting the use of Project Labor Agreements on state projects, giving unions more protection and bargaining power.

  • Alfonso organized legislators in Northern Virginia to successfully push the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to increase the minimum wage for local airport employees.

  • Alfonso is proud to have earned the support of every Northern Virginia labor union that has endorsed in recent campaigns, including Arlington Professional Firefighters and Paramedics, IBEW Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 23, and EAS Carpenters.

  • In 2020, Alfonso led the charge to increase Virginia’s statewide minimum wage.

  • Alfonso strongly supports efforts to repeal Virginia's so-called "right to work" laws and is a co-patron of the legislation in the House of Delegates.

  • Alfonso has fought to secure collective bargaining rights for Virginia’s public employees.

SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES

  • Alfonso successfully passed legislation streamlining the Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned (SWaM) certification process in Virginia to reduce unnecessary paperwork and help truly small businesses compete for contracts with the Commonwealth.

  • He introduced and helped pass legislation creating a Small Business Investment Grant Fund. 

  • Alfonso successfully fought against drastic changes to the Machinery & Tools tax structure without a way for localities to make up critically needed revenue.

PROTECTING IMMIGRANTS
AND NEW AMERICANS

  • Driven by his father's personal experience as an undocumented person, Alfonso championed and passed the Virginia Dream Act expanding college in-state tuition to all Virginia students regardless of immigration status.

  • Building on the success of the Virginia Dream Act, Alfonso authored and passed the Virginia Equity in Financial Aid Act to expand college financial aid to all Virginia students regardless of immigration status.

  • He introduced and helped pass legislation to expand Medicaid coverage to immigrant mothers for prenatal care.

  • Alfonso worked across party lines to pass legislation cracking down on Notario Fraud in Virginia.

  • Alfonso successfully passed a resolution recognizing April 14th as Chagas Disease Awareness Day to increase awareness in the United States about this terrible disease affecting New Americans from Central and South America.

  • Alfonso has been regularly recognized by his colleagues as the champion in the House of Delegates defending against divisive and ugly legislation that would target and demonize immigrants and New Americans. He has regularly worked with his colleagues to ensure the defeat of unnecessary legislation addressing 287(g), sanctuary cities, and the anti-Dream Act. 

  • Alfonso is the founder and Co-Chair of the Virginia Latino Caucus - the first caucus of its kind in this history of the General Assembly.

  • He was honored to be awarded the Virginia Interfaith Center’s Legislator of the Year award in 2014 for his work on immigration issues and in-state tuition for Dreamers.

  • In response to the Trump Administration's harsh and discriminatory immigration actions, Alfonso championed the Virginia De-ICE Bill to repeal immigration reporting mandates in state law that put undocumented Virginians in peril.

  • Alfonso worked to pass legislation allowing undocumented Virginians to receive driver privilege cards and state IDs.

  • In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alfonso authored and championed legislation expanding Virginia's Emergency Medicaid program—intended for residents who aren't eligible for Medicaid due to income restrictions or immigration status—to ensure coverage for COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccinations.

EXPANDING HEALTHCARE ACCESS
AND THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE

  • Alfonso fought for the expansion of Medicaid to over 500,000 additional Virginians—including over 45,000 residents of Arlington and Fairfax.

  • He has also been a steadfast supporter and advocate for reproductive rights and regularly worked with his colleagues to defeat Republican legislation that would limit women's reproductive choice and health options. 

  • Alfonso is proud to have maintained a 100% lifetime rating from NARAL Virginia.

  • In 2012, Alfonso fought strongly against a measure intended to prohibit state funding for abortion procedures in Virginia.

  • n 2020, Alfonso co-patroned and helped pass the Reproductive Health Protection Act, which rolled back restrictive and politically motivated measures on access to abortion and reproductive health in Virginia.

DEFENDING THE RIGHT TO VOTE

  • He passed legislation to ease congestion at polling places on Election Day.

  • Alfonso worked with the State Board of Elections to increase election transparency and performance data collection so we can fairly evaluate how our elections are being conducted. This helps the Commonwealth identify problems on election day and better protect the right of everyone to vote.

  • Alfonso worked with Governor McAuliffe to restore the right to vote for convicted felons who served their time and paid their debt to society. 

  • Alfonso successfully worked to expand voting rights through no excuse absentee voting by 2020.  

  • He worked with Members on both sides of the aisle to pass the first stage necessary to create a commission to reform the redistricting process in Virginia.

  • Alfonso worked with the House Democratic Caucus to pass the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, the first statewide Voting Rights Act in the United States, making the ballot box more accessible than ever.

  • Alfonso passed legislation that allows 16 and 17 year old Virginians to pre-register to vote, making it more likely that younger generations will make voting a lifelong habit.

STRENGTHENING OUR SOCIAL SAFETY NET

  • Alfonso worked to improve the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program so that those in need can earn lifelong jobs skills in apprenticeship programs without fear of losing their assistance.

  • He successfully fought to preserve the funding for critically important free health clinics across the Commonwealth such as the Arlington Free Clinic.

  • Alfonso led the fight to save funding for Child Advocacy Centers, which address the needs of child abuse victims across Virginia.

PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT
AND INCREASING RENEWABLE ENERGY

  • Alfonso is the founder and co-chair of the Virginia Environment and Renewable Energy Caucus in the General Assembly.

  • Alfonso made it easier to build more environmentally friendly vehicles in Virginia, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.

  • Alfonso closed loopholes in our statewide renewable energy goals to encourage investment in new renewable energy in Virginia.

  • Alfonso expanded the limit on non-residential solar net-metering projects in Virginia to incentivize more solar projects throughout the Commonwealth.

  • Alfonso introduced and helped pass legislation to strengthen the building codes for Virginia’s public buildings so they are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. 

  • Alfonso worked with VDOT to replace trees lost on current and future VDOT projects in our District.

  • Alfonso successfully fought to increase funding for the Storm Water Local Assistance Fund and the Agricultural Best Management Practices program to reduce polluted run-off into the Chesapeake Bay.

  • Alfonso successfully passed a resolution recognizing the last Saturday in September as Public Lands Day in Virginia to celebrate this important natural resource.

  • Alfonso passed the Virginia Green Jobs Tax Credit that supports the creation of jobs in the field of renewable energy.

  • He was honored to be presented the Virginia League of Conservation Voters’ Legislative Leadership award in 2015 and the Virginia Sierra Club’s Energy Freedom award in 2013.

  • Alfonso is one of the few legislators with a lifetime 100% rating from the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.

  • Alfonso helped pass the Virginia Clean Economy Act which accelerates the commonwealth’s transition to clean energy and establishes energy efficiency standards.

  • Alfonso helped pass the Solar Freedom Act which allows Virginians to get more of their energy from a renewable method.

STRENGTHENING PUBLIC EDUCATION

  • Driven by his father's personal experience as an undocumented person, Alfonso championed and passed the Virginia Dream Act expanding college in-state tuition to all Virginia students regardless of immigration status.

  • Building on the success of the Virginia Dream Act, Alfonso authored and passed the Virginia Equity in Financial Aid Act to expand college financial aid to all Virginia students regardless of immigration status.

  • Alfonso worked to defeat legislation allowing the State Board of Education to impose charter schools on any school district in the Commonwealth.

  • He also led the fight against legislation creating a backdoor for mandatory censorship of educational materials regardless of the context in which the material was being taught.

  • He worked with members to give teachers in Virginia a 5% pay increase which will help raise keep pace with the national average and address the shortage of educators across the Commonwealth.

  • He was proud to be named the 2012 Virginia Education Association Rookie of the year—and has maintained a 100% lifetime voting record on education issues every year in the House of Delegates. 

  • In 2021, Alfonso supported legislation increasing funding for public education: $80 million to freeze in-state tuition costs at public colleges and universities and $90 million to expand the state’s public preschool offerings.

INVESTING IN
TRANSPORTATION AND TRANSIT

  • Alfonso helped pass Virginia’s first increase in dedicated transportation funding in over 27 years. 

  • Alfonso successfully championed legislation protecting bicyclists in Virginia from being followed too closely by motorized vehicles.

  • Over the course of two years, he ensured that predatory towing companies were not able to increase fines and fees on Northern Virginia communities.

  • Alfonso helped successfully fight for the first dedicated source of revenue for the Metro system in Virginia history. 

IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY
AND CYBER SECURITY

  • Alfonso worked with Attorney General Mark Herring to pass legislation banning the sale of powdered alcohol in Virginia, which was being marketed as a way around alcohol restrictions for children and at commercial establishments. 

  • Alfonso successfully challenged legislation that would have made it easier for children to gain access to exotic weapons such as switch blades, throwing stars, and brass knuckles.

  • He worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to increase the felony threshold in Virginia for the first time in over a decade.

  • Alfonso passed legislation ensuring that companies in Virginia are required to notify an individual when their names passport numbers or military ID numbers are stolen in a security breach. In Virginia, companies are required to notify someone when their Social Security number, driver's license number, or bank account information has been stolen in a security breach. In a Commonwealth with over 115,000 residents who are active duty or reserve military personnel, it is unacceptable that we would not guarantee the same protections to their identifiable information that we provide for others. This bill fixed that hole in the Virginia Code.

  • Alfonso has worked tirelessly to advocate for sensible gun violence prevention legislation in Virginia. Among other things, he has supported universal background checks and closing gun sale loopholes. His own legislation has closed the "Charleston Loophole" and created a nonrefundable tax credit for the purchase of gun safe storage devices.

CONSTITUENT SERVICE
AND COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT

  • Alfonso negotiated to keep and expand Arlington’s DMV on Four Mile Run Drive when plans were made to move the facility out of the 49th District.

  • Alfonso organized bilingual healthcare enrollment events to help constituents sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act ensuring that hundreds of families have the peace of mind that comes with health care coverage.

  • Alfonso worked with VDOT and Arlington County to reach an agreement on a bike path in our community that would reduce the number of trees that needed to be removed while extending multimodal transportation options for residents of the 49th District. 

  • Keeping his constituents at the top of his decision-making, Alfonso was the only Delegate representing Arlington County to vote against the state's 2019 economic incentive package for Amazon's HQ2 development, due to his concerns about the lack of allocated funding for critical community needs like affordable housing.

  • Responding directly to constituent concerns, Alfonso worked with Arlington County to author and pass legislation in 2021 that improved local oversight for nuisance businesses and other properties that pose a threat to the safety and security of residents.

  • Alfonso and his team regularly address constituent service needs in the community. They have a record of successfully helping constituents address agency concerns, local benefits and tax questions, and issues surrounding transportation and public safety. From keeping the heat on in the winter to fixing traffic issues to ensuring that a tax refund check arrives on time, no constituent issue is too small for his team to work tirelessly to fix.

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