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

 

The need for a better budget
March 7, 2012

Much of the focus this General Assembly session has been on the socially divisive legislation that has been pushed by conservatives in the House of Delegates. However, the most important piece of legislation that we consider each biennium is the budget. Since Governor McDonnell introduced his flawed budget proposal in December, which would have short changed our educational system substantially while shredding the social safety net, many of us in the House have been advocating for a reallocation of priorities and spending that will enhance education, encourage job creation and protect those most vulnerable.

In the House, Democrats have been more successful than we initially thought, but the budget that emerged was still deficient in many respects. When the House budget went to the Senate, Senate Democrats rejected it and indicated that it required substantial reform before it could be passed. In an attempt to increase pressure on the Senate Democrats, the House Republicans forced through another budget last week that was almost exactly the same form as the one passed previously. I took the floor to analogize the process to the movie starring Bill Murray titled “Ground Hog Day.” In the movie, Murray portrays a weatherman who goes to bed each night only to awake the next morning as if it was the previous day. He goes through the same experiences day after day. Eventually, he learns that he must change his behavior in order to escape from reliving the same day. Last week was an experience in “Ground Hog Day” in the House of Delegates. We received the same budget, had the same debate, and had the same result as we did one week earlier. As I inquired of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, why would the Senate approve the same budget that they had simply rejected last week? I suspect we will see the same outcome from the Senate and be no closer to having a budget than we were a week ago.

In other news, we won a great victory for tax fairness and for main street retailers with the passage of SB597, a measure designed to have Amazon collect and remit sales taxes from internet purchases in Virginia. You may recall my statements on this issue after the Governor announced a deal with Amazon last fall. The bill has now passed and was sent to the Governor. This will level the playing field for local retailers and provide some additional revenue to help fund schools, public safety, and human services.

I have also been pushing a bill that will allow us to evaluate tax preferences, many of which go to the largest corporations in Virginia, and which transfer billions of dollars that might otherwise be used to fund education and other core services through a process that is often not evaluated. This is not to say that some tax credits are not beneficial to the economy or assist in support of useful social policy. The Earned Income Tax Credit, for example, helps low and moderate income persons by allowing taxpayers to recover monies that they have already paid in taxes. The Land Preservation Tax Credit preserves thousands of acres of land in Virginia for future generations. Nonetheless, all tax credits should be subject to periodic evaluation to see whether they work for their intended purpose. As you are aware, I have been critical of the  coal tax credit and believe that a full discussion of the value of that credit is justified.

My bill to assist Habitat for Humanity in negotiating of a land swap with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) for land in the Biscuit Run Park has passed the Senate and hopefully will be signed by the Governor. HB1113 will permit Habitat to begin negotiations on a land exchange that will help the county and the region develop more recreation facilities south of the city and assist Habitat in the redevelopment of the Southwood Trailer Park.

We are scheduled to adjourn on March 10, 2012, but the budget negotiations could go on for awhile, so I will keep you informed of further developments.

Sincerely,

David

P.S. For those interested in my statement on the arrests of protesters on Capitol grounds, you can view the clip here.