General Assembly 2013

I received many letters and emails regarding the transportation bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly on February 23, 2013. After considerable thought, and consultation with the Governor’s office and my colleagues in the House and Senate, I decided to support this bill, because it represents a significant step forward in our efforts to address transportation funding challenges in the Commonwealth.

Unlike the Governor’s proposal, the bill retains gasoline taxes as the basis for funding transportation, though not to the extent that I desired. It is not a perfect bill, but is substantially better than what the Governor proposed in January of this year. It accomplishes many important things, not the least of which is the raising of approximately $1.4 billion per year in new money for construction, maintenance, transit, and rail. For the first time in Virginia history, we will have a dedicated source of revenue for intercity passenger rail, something many of my constituents believe is very important, in light of the efforts we have made to support the Lynchburg-Charlottesville-Washington train. This dedicated source of revenue will ensure that the Northeast Corridor train, so important to Charlottesville travelers, will continue to operate for many years to come. But beyond that, it opens up the possibility of rail service to Roanoke, and enhanced train service in the Norfolk to Richmond and I-95 corridors.

The bill also provides substantial new monies for transit operations, which are key to assisting people in getting to work and providing critical support to urban areas in the Commonwealth.

The bill provides significant dollars to the Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads areas of the state, by allowing them to raise additional revenues for transportation that they can use in these regions.  It enhances economic activity, most notably by creating, for every $1 billion of construction spending, approximately 35,000 jobs.

While I do not believe the bill is ideal, it represents a solid step forward and one we would have thought impossible a month ago.  We will have the opportunity to modify the bill in the years ahead, and one change I hope to be able to make is to eliminate the tax on hybrids and to restore some of the emphasis on gasoline tax that has been lost in the bill.

In the bill’s final version, the 17.5¢ per gallon gasoline tax was eliminated, and instead a new tax at the wholesale level was substituted. There is some belief that this may lead to a minor reduction in gasoline prices at the pump, but that remains to be seen, and we will only know after the bill takes effect on July 1, 2013.

Despite my opposition, the bill also transfers some monies from the General Fund that we typically use for education, health and public safety, but in lesser amounts than what the Governor proposed. This is an area that we need to revisit in the coming years, because we need to increase our funding for education and we need sufficient funds to do so.

If you are interested, the text and video of my speech given during the debate on the transportation bill can be found on my here.

I appreciate your input on this critical issue, and look forward to any further questions you may have on the initiative.

Yesterday was crossover, the day upon which bills introduced in one chamber of the General Assembly have to be approved and sent to the other, or they are defeated for the year. Our sessions are long and the debates intense, and many of these bills are controversial. Much of recent debate has focused on the Governor’s proposed transportation bill. This plan, which I believe does not provide enough money to solve our problems, would eliminate the gas tax and move funding of transportation to a slightly increased sales tax. The measure passed by a small margin in the House but was sent back to committee in the Senate, leaving its fate in doubt. In the aftermath of the Senate’s decision, the only way for a transportation plan to emerge will be through extensive negotiations among leadership in the House, Senate and the Governor’s office. I voted against the Governor’s transportation bill in the House, but I still have some hope that a robust plan can emerge that can address the needs we have for construction, maintenance, rail and transit. One of the reasons I opposed the Governor’s plan was that it diverted money that typically would be used to pay for education and public safety into the transportation fund. At a time where we are spending less per student now than we were in 2008, we cannot afford to reduce money for education.

At the end of a nearly 12-hour, marathon session this week, House Republicans pushed through a series of resolutions designed to appeal to the most conservative elements of their base. HJ654 places the House on record as opposing Agenda 21, a so-called “radical plan” adopted by the United Nations that purportedly threatens “infringement on the American way of life…” HJ653 asserts states rights under the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution, in the light of perceived “continuing assault.” Another measure, HJ590, authorizes an $18,000 study to see whether Virginia should establish an alternative currency. Finally, HB2340 seeks to prevent the federal government from enforcing gun control laws in Virginia. At this time of year, we always see these resolutions, which have little to do with policy and everything to do with politics.

Of the 12 bills I have proposed this session, six have been passed by the House and are now before the Senate, including bills that will help people with their child support responsibilities, clarify the effective date of elective school board salary changes, allow residential care facilities to admit their former employees, and permit builders on new residential lots in Charlottesville to pay into a sidewalk fund as an alternative to paying to build an unwanted sidewalk in front of their home.

One disappointment was the failure of my proposed “Virginia Vulnerable Adults Protection Act” which was tabled last week. There is much support for the concept embodied in the bill, which was designed to provide another vehicle to return assets to elderly citizens who are financially exploited. I intend to revise the bill for next year.

As you may have read, the Uranium Mining issue is dead for this year, as no bills passed either the House or the Senate. It is difficult to predict whether a new measure will emerge next year.

Finally, today the Speaker of the House ruled that the Senate amendments to HB259 – which would have unconstitutionally redrawn Senate district lines to dramatically favor Republicans (see my statement on this issue) were not germane to the original legislation, thus killing this Republican grab for power in the Senate.

The session concludes on February 23, and there are important issues still before us, such as Medicaid expansion, workplace discrimination and transportation. Stay tuned.

It is a pleasure and honor to represent you in the Virginia House of Delegates. As always, please feel free to contact me to share your thoughts and comments on legislation that will be before us so I may better serve you in Richmond.

Sincerely,

David

The first week of the General Assembly has come to an end. The big news of the week involves the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth address. In that address, he unveiled a new proposal to fund transportation. For the last decade, we have done little to provide an adequate source of revenue to fund investments in our roads, bridges, transit, and rail. The Governor proposed an innovative plan that requires careful examination.

A key piece of this involves repealing the gas tax and substituting a sales tax increase in its place. Virginia would become the first state in the country to repeal the gas tax. This represents a fundamental shift away from a “user fee” approach of funding transportation. A number of us are very concerned about the transfer of the burden of funding transportation from those who use the roads, including a large number of out-of-state drivers, to the general public. This proposal could place further burdens on low income Virginians, many of whom do not even drive. I am also concerned that when the 17.5 cents -a -gallon tax is eliminated, Virginians will not likely see a similar reduction in the price of gas at the pump. This would mean that all of us pay more sales tax and yet continue to pay similar costs at the pump. Gas companies are likely to have a windfall as a result. The Governor also makes certain assumptions about $250 million per year in additional money for transportation coming from the passage of a bill by Congress to tax internet sales, something that has failed to pass for almost 10 years. Finally, there is an effort to transfer monies that would otherwise fund education and public safety to the transportation budget. It is always important to carefully consider all of these initiatives before finally making a decision on whether or not to support them, but there are serious questions that exist about this proposal.

One of the most interesting announcements in the State of the Commonwealth address was the Governor’s proposal for a constitutional amendment that would allow the civil rights of non-violent felons to be automatically restored upon completion of their sentences and payment of restitution and fines. This is a huge break from the Virginia tradition and will be very controversial. I have supported “restoration of rights” for years, and Democrats will likely support the Governor in his proposal. It is not clear, however, that all Republicans will vote for it, and it is likely that this proposal will be killed in a House subcommittee early next week. While the Governor made very clear his view that this “was the right thing to do” and that he believes strongly in redemption, I am not optimistic that this bill will ever get to the House floor for a vote.

I was honored to give the Democratic response to the State of the Commonwealth address and for those of you who have not yet had a chance to either see it, you can find it here or on YouTube.

None of my bills have yet to be heard. Among the most interesting bills that I have proposed this session is the Vulnerable Adult Protection Act. The bill, if enacted, will create the ability for private individuals to recover monies from those who exploit the elderly and incapacitated. This was modeled after an Arizona statute to address an increasingly serious problem in our society, that is, the exploitation of elderly and incapacitated citizens by those whom they have gained their trust. In our increasingly mobile society, many elderly are separated physically from their family. They come to rely on persons who are not related to them. In some instances, people take advantage of that relationship of trust to extract money from their bank accounts or transfer assets out of their name. This bill will allow private actions to recover some of these monies and protect the elderly in the process.

I have now submitted all of my bills related to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors. They involve changing the way the Board of Visitors is appointed and making provisions for the better operation of that body when it meets. We also have before us the reappointment of the Rector and the approval of the Governor’s recommendation for new Board members. The appointment process will begin in the Senate in late January and will arrive in the House soon thereafter. I have indicated my decision not to support the reappointment of the Rector, but the vote on this issue is not yet clear.

Finally, Democrats in the House unveiled some important legislative initiatives at press conferences this week. These include efforts to protect and expand the right to vote and efforts to repeal some of the disturbing reproductive health legislation of last session that interpose government between a women and her doctor. We also are advancing a number of education bills designed to increase funding for teachers in the classroom and resources available to students.

It is a pleasure and honor to represent you in the Virginia House of Delegates. Please contact me to share your thoughts and comments on legislation that will be before us so I may better serve you in Richmond.

Sincerely,

David