In 1993,he served as a Governor's Fellow in the administration of Governor L. Douglas Wilder. Surovell worked for DMV Deputy Commissioner Bill Leighty,who later served as chief of staff under governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. He also interned in Washington,D.C.,for Representative Jim Moran of Virginia and then-congressman Ron Wyden of Oregon.[2]
Surovell earned a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996,where he served as executive editor of the Virginia Journal of Environmental Law.[3]
Surovell is a trial lawyer specializing in criminal and traffic defense,domestic relations,personal injury,consumer class action and commercial litigation. In 2002,Surovell founded Surovell Markle Isaacs and Levy PLC,a firm which specialized in representing individuals and small businesses throughout Northern Virginia with four other attorneys. Former state delegate and senator Chap Petersen was a member of the firm from 2005 through 2017.[citation needed]
In 2007,Surovell successfully blocked an insurance company from paying a man convicted of killing his wife $100,000 of life insurance proceeds from his wife's policy.[4] In 2010,Surovell also won a $4.80-million jury verdict in favor of a Vienna family who was permanently injured in a fireworks accident in the Town of Vienna.[5]
Political career
In 2003,Surovell was elected Chairman of the Mount Vernon District Democratic Committee of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. In 2008,he was elected Chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee where he organized and led local campaign activities for the Obama-Biden,Warner,Moran,Connolly and Feder campaigns.[citation needed]
In 2009,Surovell resigned as Chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee in order to run for the House of Delegates.[citation needed]
Surovell has served on the Counties,Cities and Towns Committee (2010-2015),the Science &Technology Committee (2010-2015),and the Militia,Police &Public Safety Committee (2012-2015). In 2014,the Speaker appointed Delegate Surovell to the Virginia Broadband Commission.[citation needed] In 2014,Surovell was elected Caucus Chairman by the Virginia House Democratic Caucus.[6]
For several years Surovell has written a blog,entitled The Dixie Pig,named after a now-defunct restaurant on U.S. Route 1 in his district that was his grandmother’s favorite.[7]
Surovell was appointed to the General Laws and Technology Committee,Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee and Local Government Committee. In 2016,Surovell was also appointed to the Virginia High Speed Rail Commission.[9] In 2018,Surovell was elected Senate Democratic Caucus Whip.[10] In 2019,Surovell was elected Vice Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.[11]
In 2016,Surovell passed legislation requiring government officials to redact public documents instead of withholding entire records and passed similar legislation applying to homeowner,condo and cooperative associations the following year.[12] He also passed legislation creating civil penalties for destroying public records to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests.[13]
Starting in 2016,Surovell has pushed and passed various legislative initiatives to clean up coal ash ponds in Virginia,one of which is in Dumfries,Virginia.[14] In 2019,he was the Chief Sponsor of legislation that prohibited coal ash in the Chesapeake Bay watershed from being stored in existing partially-lined ponds,required at least 25% to be recycled into products,and the remainder stored in modern lined landfills in excess of Environmental Protection Agency minimum requirements. The ultimate cost will exceed $3.2 billion or approximately $1.5 billion more than Dominion Power's original proposal.[15]
In 2018,Surovell carried legislation that authorized $3.4 million of payments from the Commonwealth of Virginia to pay for the wrongful incarceration of the Norfolk Four if the funds were matched by the City of Norfolk.[citation needed] That same year he also carried legislation he had introduced nine times which raised Virginia's threshold between misdemeanors and felonies to $500.[16]
In 2020,Surovell carried legislation that allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver privilege cards.[17][18] He also was Chief Sponsor of successful legislation to make Virginia the first Southern state to ban conversion therapy,[19] passed legislation banning driving with a handheld mobile phone,[20] and fracking for natural gas anywhere east of Interstate 95 in the Commonwealth of Virginia.[citation needed]
In 2021,Surovell was chief sponsor of legislation to repeal Virginia's death penalty after four centuries of it being legal.[21] He also led the efforts to reform Virginia's restrictive law prohibiting expungement or sealing of misdemeanor and felony convictions,[22] and led the study and legislation that expanded the Court of Appeals of Virginia from 11 to 17 judges and provided of right of appeal in every civil and criminal case like every other state.[23]
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