General Assembly Update (Feb 27, 2012)

The eyes of the nation have been focused on Virginia. And it is not for any special recognition for job creation or economic activity as it was under the Warner and Kaine Administrations. Instead, the country has been riveted on the debate on social issues that has occurred during this session.

In the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth address, he advised Republicans not to overreach. But overreach is what we have gotten. The most recent example has been the passage of an extremely intrusive bill designed to compel women against their will to have a transvaginal ultrasound prior to an abortion. The House bill passed last week and brought a firestorm of opposition from around the country. Democrats have railed against this bill, which would require doctors to invade a woman’s body with a vaginal probe, as an unnecessary and unconstitutional invasion of a woman’s privacy rights. During our debate on the same bill passed by the Senate, the Governor, who has had this bill to review since January 10th changed his position at the last minute. He then presented new language, which we were given less than one-half hour to review prior to passage. This is not the way to carefully consider major changes in social policy. I continue to have serious concerns about this modified bill. The bill is now in the Senate, and I will continue to oppose it.

The so-called “personhood” bill, which would have granted constitutional rights to an unborn child passed the House. The Senate, however, recognizing the far reaching legal complications of the measure, voted to recommit the bill to the Senate Committee on Education and Health, essentially killing the bill for this year.

As the Democratic leader in the House, I am proud of the House Democrats who have fought hard to protect women’s health and the assault on women’s rights.

We finally were able to debate the budget on Thursday, February 23, 2012. Over the last few weeks, I have been pushing for changes in Gov. McDonnell’s budget, which included draconian cuts in the health care safety net and substantial changes in education funding. We are able to prevail in restoring many of the cuts to the safety net, including funding for the free clinics and community health centers. In addition, because of our advocacy, many, though not all, of the cuts for the school divisions and localities were inserted into the House budget. Nonetheless, I could not support a budget which diverts hundreds of millions of dollars from the fund that assists schools, public safety, and health care to fund transportation. Transportation should be funded on a user-fee approach, and the Governor has unfortunately refused to exercise sufficient leadership to fix the problem.

Due to our efforts, Charlottesville and Albemarle, will receive more money than what is in the Governor’s budget, but not as much as they received only several years ago. The result has been a greater burden on the local taxpayer and, as you can see in the debates in Albemarle County, increased pressure on the real estate tax rate. At some point, the Commonwealth needs to honor its obligations to adequately fund public education, and we will continue to fight to insure that it does so.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my telephone town hall meeting on Thursday. We had a good conversation and more questions than time to answer. I received great input from these calls and look forward to hearing more.

Thank you for this opportunity to serve you in Richmond. Your input is important to me and I invite you to share your thoughts and concerns with me on all matters before the Commonwealth. I look forward to hearing from you.

General Assembly Update (Feb 16, 2012)

We have now hit the mid-point of the General Assembly session. Known as “crossover,” this is a date by which each body needs to pass its legislation over to the other body for consideration. What that means is long sessions in which hundreds of bills are considered in a single day.

As has been the case throughout the session, the debate has been fierce and the conservative agenda of the House Republican caucus has largely prevailed. The House has passed the so-called “personhood” bill, which defines life as beginning at conception, extending rights to “unborn children.” Even if this measure is found to be constitutional, the potential exists for all kinds of unintended consequences. The word “person” is used more than 10,000 times in the Virginia Code, and many thoughtful observers are concerned about the implications of this legislation for everything from Medicaid eligibility for unborn children to inheritance law.

The House rejected an amendment to ensure that the measure would not compromise a woman’s ability to use lawful contraception, a fact that raises serious questions about how far the proponents wish to take their efforts to deny families the ability to plan when they wish to have children.

The House also passed a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before they can have an abortion. The “ultrasound” bill is yet another example of how some legislators have decided to increase the government intrusion into the private lives of Virginia families by requiring doctors to perform an invasive procedure which is not medically necessary and, in some cases, could actually involve the penetration of a woman’s body without her explicit consent. During debate, one Republican member suggested that the termination of a pregnancy was a “matter of lifestyle convenience,” a comment for which he later apologized.

I voted against both the “personhood” bill and the “ultrasound” bill.

The House passed two bills designed to reform the Virginia Retirement System. The first makes some minor changes to the benefits for employees hired beginning January 1, 2013 in an effort to shore-up the financial viability of the system. The second involves the creation of an optional defined contribution plan by which individuals could opt out of the defined benefit plan in exchange for participating in a new arrangement. I remain concerned about the financial implications of such an approach, but am also aware that there is a bill coming from the Senate that takes a slightly different approach. My focus in this debate is to ensure the fiscal viability of the plan for employees to whom we have made promises, and to retain the choice for those who wish to remain in the defined benefit plan. I hope that we will have several bills that allow us to meet these two goals.

The House passed a bill to extend the death penalty to another category of persons, that is, those who are involved in capital murder, but did not actually commit the killing. I voted against this, as I have done in the past.

The House passed a series of bills providing tax credits to a wide variety of groups, primarily larger companies, despite a recent JLARC report that indicates that some of the credits no longer serve their original purpose. I argued for the elimination of the coal tax credit, a measure that costs the taxpayers $31 million a year and which does little to create jobs in the coal industry. Instead, the General Assembly decided to extend the credit for another two years. I was able to prevail in getting a commission appointed to study all of these credits in greater detail. Perhaps that commission will provide sufficient political cover for the legislature to make some very hard decisions to eliminate some of these credits, which, after passed, provide a continuing drain on the State’s budget.

Now that crossover is done, we will focus on the budget and see whether we can protect and expand education funding for all levels.

On February 19th, the House and Senate will release their revisions to the Governor’s proposed budget. We will have two days to review the proposed revisions before we begin the process of debate on the House floor to offer amendments to reflect our priorities for education, jobs and healthcare.

On Thursday, February 23 beginning at 7:00 pm, I will conduct a live telephone town hall to discuss the budget. Joining me will be Michael Cassidy, President and CEO of The Commonwealth Institute, and we will discuss more closely how the budget affects our schools, VRS, transportation and the safety net. Sign up here with your name and telephone number to join the conversation on Thursday, February 23.

Thank you for this opportunity to serve you in Richmond. Your input is important to me and I invite you to share your thoughts and concerns with me on all matters before the Commonwealth. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David

General Assembly Update (Jan 23, 2012)

Our state budget reflects the priorities of the Commonwealth, and the Governor’s proposed budget raises several concerns.  The Governor’s budget proposes transferring a portion of the sales tax revenue that would otherwise go to fund schools and public education into the transportation budget.  Transportation is important but it should not be funded at the expense of schools.  Republicans in the House argue against new sources of revenue for transportation, stating we should not increase the costs to Virginia families during a time of economic challenge.  Democrats agree with this principle, however, because of our lack of transportation investment, Virginia families may actually pay more under the Governor’s plan.

First, the Governor continues to place more and more emphasis on tolls.  Tolls cost real money to Virginia families.  We are fortunate in our area that tolling is not being proposed, but in other areas of the Commonwealth – most notably in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia – tolls are an increasing concern to residents.  In some cases, an individual’s toll bill over the course of a year could be in excess of $400.00.   Contrast that to cost that would be incurred if we were to impose a 5% wholesale gas tax, which is estimated to cost a family approximately $200.00 per year.

Second, since we are not properly maintaining our roads, the costs to families due to flat tires and realignments caused by hitting potholes will continue to mount.  These are real costs imposed on Virginians because of our failure to act.

As the Governor’s proposed budget receives more careful review, it discloses major cost shifting onto Virginia families.  The Governor proposes to defund community health centers and free clinics, such as the Charlottesville Free Clinic, and dramatically decrease reimbursements to teaching hospitals like UVA and MCV, which provide care to indigent citizens.  As we contemplate our budget and potential cuts, we should focus on preserving existing jobs whenever possible, retaining those programs that are most efficient, and protecting those most in need.  The Governor’s healthcare budget does not do that.  Many seniors who rely on certain programs likely will not qualify if the Governor’s proposals are enacted.  In addition, efficient programs such as free clinics and the community healthcare system often access other resources using state monies.  Without these monies, these organizations will have to seek new funding sources, which may result in fewer people receiving the care they need.

The Governor suggests that he is increasing funding for education.  If you look closer, however, the per pupil spending is actually declining.  And, if one considers that school divisions will have to send back a portion of their appropriations to fund required increases to VRS, some school divisions will actually see a net decrease in funding.  Albemarle schools project their additional costs for VRS will create a loss of approximately $1.36 million.  Charlottesville schools estimate they will have to transfer $1.4 million from their local funds for VRS – monies that would otherwise be used for classroom resources.  This will mean fewer teachers, fewer resources, and some places may actually need to consider closing some schools.  My number one priority is to restore these funds.

Start of a New Year and 2012 General Assembly

As the new Democratic Leader in the House of Delegates, my responsibilities have increased dramatically. When the session convened on January 11, 2012, I began to focus on a number of critical themes for the session. You can view the video of my opening day floor speech here.

First, in response to the advocacy of the House Democrats, changes were made in the House Rules that will improve the budget process. Legislators will now receive the budget conference report earlier, and will receive more information with that report. This includes a list of all non-state agencies included in the budget, as well as any language that represents legislation that was defeated by either chamber. This tracks many of the changes I requested in my 2010 bill, HB62, and were some of the measures the House Democrats proposed in our December 12 press release on Government Transparency.

Second, support continues to build for the creation of the Virginia Health Marketplace, a system that would allow consumers and small businesses to have access to better information about healthcare plans and their costs, thereby increasing competition and driving down costs.  Legislation authored by Delegate Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) and Delegate Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), and co-patroned by me, would accomplish this goal. It is important to do this now because federal monies are available to help Virginia, and if we do not establish such a marketplace, it is possible that the federal government would impose its own system on the Commonwealth. The House Democrats issued a press release on January 10, 2012, on establishing the Virginia Healthcare Marketplace.

Finally, I remain active in developing approaches to the Governor’s proposed budget. I am very concerned that the Governor’s proposal to take monies from the General Fund that would otherwise go for education, public safety, and health services, and use them for transportation. Transportation is important, but it should not be purchased at the expense of teacher salaries and resources in the classroom.

I am also concerned about the deep cuts in human services in the second year of the Governor’s proposed budget, particularly, the Governor’s proposal to reduce funding for free clinics around the Commonwealth.

Thank you for this opportunity to serve you in Richmond. Your input is important to me and I invite you to share your thoughts and concerns with me on all matters before the Commonwealth. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

David