Conservatives bend to the will of special interest group; Governor loses on amendments with bipartisan majorities
May 21, 2012

The conservative right-wing attack-machine has been in full mode in the General Assembly session since January. Most of their efforts had been focused on attacking women’s reproductive rights and expanding the ability of citizens to carry guns into more public places, from public parking lots to airports. But the low-point came on May 15, 2012 at 1:00 a.m., when the Republicans denied the appointment of a highly qualified prosecutor to the General District Court judgeship for the City of Richmond. Tracy Thorne-Begland, a Navy veteran and hard-nosed prosecutor in the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney office, was denied appointment simply because he was gay, and was willing to say so.

The Thorne-Begland application has an interesting history. He was thoroughly vetted and approved through a rigorous process by the House Courts of Justice Committee, including its Judicial Subcommittee, which is controlled by conservative Republicans. He was certified by both of those committees to be a judge and was listed among the nominees that were submitted to the full House of Delegates. At the eleventh hour, however, the Virginia Family Foundation, a group with substantial influence in the General Assembly and which pursues a vigorous anti-gay and anti-women’s rights agenda, issued a statement calling on delegates to deny the appointment. Most Republican delegates fell in line and decided to deny the appointment. To their credit, however, several Republican attorneys who sit on the House Courts of Justice Committee and had previously voted for Thorne-Begland, stood on principle to support the application. But most others simply reversed their original approval, falling prey to the pressure of the conservative interest group. Others left their seat rather than have a vote recorded, and still others abstained. Even Gov. McDonnell was unwilling to clearly support Thorne-Begland’s appointment. This was simply one of the more disappointing votes that I have seen in my seven years in the House of Delegates.

Earlier in the day, we also considered an unprecedented number of Governor’s recommendations to change the budget, many of which were rejected by lopsided bipartisan majorities. The Governor appears to have been spending too much time running for Vice President and not enough time working with legislators of both parties to develop coalitions to pass his agenda. Many of the recommendations that he made were either sloppily drafted or made no financial sense, and these were summarily rejected by both parties. Among those rejected were the Governor’s proposals that would have made it more difficult for state employees, including university faculty and staff, to receive bonuses in the event that the state generated a surplus in the next year. This will help many in our area receive some additional compensation to make up for years of lack of raises.

I was pleased to support a successful effort that will increase funding for a life science initiative that will help the University of Virginia and our region continue efforts to become a biotechnology hub in the Commonwealth. You can see some of my comments on that item below.

I will continue to press for greater investments in our research institutions and the commercialization of ideas that create good jobs for our local economy.

As always, it is an honor to represent you in the General Assembly. I encourage you to let me know your thoughts and concerns about how we are doing as a Commonwealth. Sincerely, David

Special Session on Budget ended with $85 billion two year spending plan, but no plan for transportation
April 23, 2012

After a series of last-minute machinations, the General Assembly approved a two-year budget on April 18, 2012. The $85 billion, two-year budget took an additional 39 days to approve and ended speculation about a possible state government shutdown.

Most observers, myself included, never believed that we would come close to a shutdown and viewed this as a specter raised largely by Republicans to avoid discussing the real issues in the budget: education, adequate funding for the social safety net, and transportation.

When Governor McDonnell’s budget was initially proposed in December, it shortchanged K-12 education, the social safety net, and transportation. Albemarle and Charlottesville City schools would have faced serious shortfalls in their funding, and those most vulnerable would have been affected by draconian cuts in the McDonnell budget. The Governor’s only plan for transportation was to take monies from public education, mental health and public safety. This was unacceptable. Largely because of Democratic efforts, the initial House budget passed in March was far superior to the one proposed by McDonnell. Nonetheless, it was still inadequate and was, therefore, rejected by the Senate. You can view my comments on the initial House budget during floor debate here.

After a series of negotiations, monies diverted from education, mental health, and public safety to fund transportation were restored to the budget. Additional monies were also found for what is called “cost-to-compete” in Northern Virginia localities, which would allow them to recruit and retain teachers and other critical public employees.

Senate Democrats continued to exert pressure for transportation funding for projects in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia. The Governor agreed to provide an additional $100 million to delay tolls on various tunnel and bridge projects for two years. The Governor, however, was not willing to advance additional monies for the Dulles rail project, where tolls are even higher. This prompted Democrats in the Senate to initially reject the new budget. The votes were tied until Senator Chuck Colgan, a Democrat from Prince William County, decided to vote with the Republicans in order to obtain a budget.

You can view my comments on the budget conference report proposal here.

During the debate in the Senate, the Route 29 bypass was mentioned several times, though there was no serious effort to move money from that project to the Dulles rail project. I had initially proposed taking some money from a project in Suffolk to fund Dulles rail, but the Route 29 bypass was never discussed in any of the House debates.

Democratic advocacy in the House made the final budget much better than the one proposed in January. We were able to secure substantially more money for K-12 education, a fact that will greatly help schools in Charlottesville and Albemarle. We secured an additional $45 million to provide the service and care to those who are unable to care for themselves through no fault of their own.

Democrats also succeeded in creating an Advanced Manufacturing Fund so that more jobs, especially in economically disadvantaged regions of the state, could be created. Funding for the Commonwealth Research and Commercialization Fund was restored. We successfully argued for the capitalization of Virginia Housing Trust Fund, and to close the so-called “Amazon Tax Loophole” (see my statement on the Amazon issue here).

The Governor still has an opportunity to modify the budget, which we will consider again in early May. With the exception of that meeting, our legislative sessions are now completed for the year. I will now be devoting my time to constituent service for this district, and will continue my role as House Democratic Leader.

Your support has been important to me throughout this year where the demands of my time have been even greater in this new leadership role. I am honored to represent you and appreciate your input and support.

Sincerely,

David

Regular Session Adjourned but Special Session on Budget convened
March 12, 2012

The General Assembly adjourned at 9:28 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, 2012 without a budget. We simply ran out of time. We immediately convened a Special Session to address the budget, which will hopefully occur within the next month. This is the fourth time since 2001 when the General Assembly has not been able to reach agreement on a budget before the session ended. In my first session (2006), we went 100 days into overtime before we passed a budget.

Fortunately, both sides appear close enough that a budget can emerge soon. If you recall from my previous posts, Governor McDonnell’s budget made cuts in the social safety net and shortchanged education. While we were able to argue successfully to restore some of the cuts and to enhance funding for education, the House budget was still inadequate and therefore I could not support it.

Senate Democrats have also argued for additional monies for the social safety net and education. Virginia per pupil spending has been declining in recent years and now is on par with 2007 levels. Teacher salaries have also not kept pace with the national average. In addition, our system of higher education, while likely to receive an increase in this year’s budget, has been neglected for the last decade. Many observers believe that we face substantial budgetary challenges in the coming years and may not be able to maintain our priorities without an influx of revenue.

As the clock wound down for end of session, we considered two initiatives that the Governor had been promoting. The first was his transportation bill, which would have diverted money away from schools to transportation. The Governor’s proposal was soundly rejected, and the resulting bill had little left in it. Transportation funding will remain a challenge for us to address. The second was a major overhaul of VRS, which was presented to us at the last minute. House Democrats objected to voting on a bill so quickly and without the benefit of public input, but the measure was passed nonetheless. I will have a future post on this, and will continue to advocate for positive changes in the bill to protect employees between now and the veto session in April.

In the end, this session is likely to be remembered for the socially divisive bills forced through by conservative Republicans. These bills deflected our attention from critical issues like adequately funding our public schools, creating jobs, and solving our transportation challenges. While the Governor is already claiming several “successes”, they pale by comparison to the challenges that we continue to face in the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

David