General Assembly 2016

Virginia General Assembly building in Richmond

The Last Week of the Session

March 8, 2016 by David Toscano

The 2016 Session of the Virginia General Assembly is scheduled to end on Saturday, March 12, and there is significant work remaining. Most efforts are now focused on reconciling the House and Senate budgets. The good news is that there is a lot of common ground; both bodies supported much of the Governor’s introduced budget, and have provided substantial increases for K-12 education, higher education and job creation. Some specifics on how to implement certain investments in higher education and job creation remain to be resolved. In my view, the House budget has erected an overly cumbersome screening process for some research and economic development projects that may make it difficult to respond quickly and nimbly to opportunities. Universities, for example, may need to move quickly to attract talent from other states with funding packages that will ensure they will relocate to Virginia; too many bureaucratic hoops may make recruitment more problematic. The same is true for efforts to recruit and retain businesses in the Commonwealth. These issues are likely to be resolved, and I expect the House and Senate conferees will reach agreement on a budget in the next several days.

Challenges remain with the so-called reform of the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) process. The COPN system is designed to protect hospitals from being undercut by medical providers who seek to establish stand-alone clinics offering only the more profitable areas of medical care. This would create greater fiscal uncertainty for hospitals, which might need to charge more for other services in order to continue to provide costly indigent care. A compromise that would have allowed some reforms in exchange for contributions to a fund designed to assist uninsured Virginians fell apart Monday afternoon, but it is worth a careful look in the future. COPN reform represents a significant change in how we provide medical services in the Commonwealth, and deserves thoughtful scrutiny before adoption.

Funding for Planned Parenthood continues to serve as a lightning rod for Republicans who seek to undo Roe v. Wade and undermine reproductive rights. HB1090 would prevent any non-Medicaid money from being provided to Planned Parenthood; this would take away much of its resources for family planning counseling and birth control, the major services it offers. Defunding this organization is a symbol to House Republicans, but I will continue to defend against those efforts.

I recently gave a floor speech about the Coal Tax Credit, which you can watch immediately below.

I also gave a statement on the Republicans’ refusal to reappoint Justice Jane Roush to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Several of my measures are making steady progress. My bill to allow our own Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) to compete for neighborhood assistance tax credits was passed by both bodies and is being sent to the Governor for signature. The bill that I introduced to make it easier to hold drivers accountable when they pass a stopped school bus (HB915) has been rolled into another measure, and is now in a conference committee on which I serve. I trust we will vote to approve this measure in the next several days. Finally, my bill to give greater flexibility to school divisions addressing challenges for English Language Learners (ELL) was passed by the House. In the Senate, however, the committee simply decided to send a letter to the Board of Education requesting that they study the issues and determine whether the problems which generated my bill should be addressed at the state level or by local school authorities.

Throughout this session, I have greatly appreciated all of the emails and phone calls from constituents providing very useful advice about how I should vote on bills. In most cases, our views have been similar, but even in those cases where we have differed, the input has been critical and makes a difference in how I think about these issues. Please do not hesitate to continue contacting me about the issues before the General Assembly.

A Note on the Gun Compromise

March 1, 2016 by David Toscano

Shortly after I was elected to the General Assembly in 2006, I offered a bill designed to protect victims of domestic violence and help Commonwealth’s Attorneys prosecute cases. Under the bill, I proposed the insertion of a simple word — “possession”– into the list of prohibitions targeted at people who were subject to a protective order. Under Virginia law at that time, if you were subject to a protective order, you could neither own nor transport a firearm. You could, however, possess one, a critical problem for the police and Commonwealth’s Attorneys. Consequently, I offered my bill and naively believed that since I had the support of the State Police, Commonwealth’s Attorneys, and Sheriffs, the bill would easily pass. When it got to a subcommittee of the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee, and a representative from the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), an extremely conservative gun rights group, testified against it, the bill met a quick death by unrecorded vote.

On February 26, 2016, after nearly a decade of effort and numerous failures by many Delegates and Senators in attempting to pass this bill, Gov. McAuliffe signed this measure into law. Congratulations are due to the various patrons of this bill over the years, who can now celebrate a great victory.

Governor Terry McAuliffe signing gun safety compromise bills into law, February 26, 2016. Copyright Michaele White, Governor's Office

Last year, I carried the Governor’s bill that would have allowed voluntary background checks at gun shows. That bill also experienced an unceremonious death in subcommittee without a recorded vote. On February 26, 2016, the Governor also signed this bill into law, part of the gun compromise negotiated in this General Assembly session. While voluntary background checks at gun shows don’t go as far as would universal background checks, the bill is a step in the right direction: it creates a new “standard of care” that can be applied to gun sellers in the event that a purchaser of a firearm from an unlicensed dealer commits a crime or injures an individual with that weapon.

The so-called gun compromise has drawn criticism from gun safety advocates as not going as far as we need to go. I agree that there is much more to do. Nonetheless, the two bills that the Governor signed last week have failed in the General Assembly many times, and it was highly unlikely that they would pass this session. The difference in 2016 was Attorney General Mark Herring and the Governor. Without the pressure that Herring placed on the gun lobby with his decision several months ago to question the reciprocity agreements we had with other states to permit concealed carry in the Commonwealth, these laws would never have been seriously considered. We have much to do to address gun safety in our country, but we need to take victories when we achieve them, being ever mindful of the work that still needs to be done to make citizens safer in our communities in the face of gun violence.

Good Choices and Missed Opportunities

February 26, 2016 by David Toscano

The House and the Senate acted on their respective budgets on Thursday, February 25, 2016. The Governor’s proposed budget includes many good items, such as substantial increases in K-12 and higher education, and for the most part the House budget embraced the Governor’s approach. Many of us have pushed to dramatically increase our investments in public education and the House budget increases K-12 funding by $897 million. For Charlottesville and Albemarle, this means hefty increases in the monies going to the localities, and some increased flexibility in how money gets spent. The House budget includes a 2 percent pay increase for teachers, something I have been pushing for years. Virginia has lagged behind other states in K-12 teacher salaries, and we are finally rectifying this situation.

There is also good news in this budget for higher education. Funding for our universities has lagged behind during the last decade, and the House has now recognized the importance of further investment by increasing funding by $290 million over the biennium. University faculty and personnel can also expect a raise if the House budget is approved. Beyond that, there is substantial money designed to spur research and to encourage the commercialization of creative ideas generated from our universities. This is a tremendous opportunity for the University of Virginia to further increase its impact, particularly in the area of bioscience. Many of you know that Charlottesville has become a mini-hub for bioscience research, both at the University and in the private sector. A number of biotech firms have emerged over the last several years here in Charlottesville. There are many provisions in this new budget that will further encourage collaboration between public and private entities. We have the opportunity to take the first step towards making the Commonwealth a prime location for creative minds from around the country who want to develop therapies and scientific breakthroughs to treat a variety of diseases, from pancreatic cancer to brain disorders.

While the House budget presents good progress in a number of areas, it also includes some significant deficiencies. The most apparent is the failure to embrace Medicaid expansion. Once the House Appropriations Committee rejected that approach, it created a $157 million deficit in the Governor’s introduced budget that had to be replaced with other monies. If we had taken Medicaid expansion, this $157 million could have been allocated to other important budgetary items, such as environmental protection, public safety, or pre-K education. My floor speech on these missed opportunities can be viewed below.

At this stage in the process, the House will consider the Senate budget and the Senate will consider the House budget. Those budgets will then be placed into a conference committee and various issues will be ironed out. We will continue to advocate for Medicaid expansion to address this essential missed opportunity. While this is perhaps the best House budget that I have seen in the last ten years, it is my hope we will continue to work towards creating an even better one that can be supported at the end of the Session.

Two Supreme Court Justices Lost

February 23, 2016 by David Toscano

I gave remarks on the floor of the House of Delegates. The prepared text is below and is followed by a video of my remarks.

TOSCANO STATEMENT (AS PREPARED) ON DEATH OF ANTONIN SCALIA AND FAILURE TO CONFIRM JANE ROUSH – FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen of the House.

This past weekend, we lost two Supreme Court Justices, one due to events over which we have no control the death of Antonin Scalia – and the other one due to factors over which we have much more control, the failure to approve Justice Jane Roush to sit on our Supreme Court.

Say what you want about his politics, Antonin Scalia was nonetheless a man of engaging personality and towering intellect. He was the first Italian American to be placed on the Supreme Court and he made his mark. Some of us got to know a little about him while he was a University of Virginia faculty member and resided in Charlottesville, but the true force of his conservative ideals did not emerge until his later appointments. His passing leaves a vacancy and in the U.S. Constitution – yes, the U.S. Constitution, says “the President shall nominate…” another Justice.

Scalia was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and unanimously confirmed. We certainly did things differently back then! It took about thirty days from the time hearings commenced on Scalia’s nomination until his confirmation. As of this date, we have about 340 days until a new President takes office to succeed President Obama, and yet, within minutes of Scalia’s passing, Republicans in the Senate were stating that there was no way they would approve any nominee of this President. Any nominee? Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, even said that we need to let the public have a voice in the decision and that we should wait until the next President is installed until any nominations are even made. Again, that is 340 days away. 340 days for cases to pile up before the court. 340 days for critical decisions to be ignored and avoided. 340 days during which Republicans in the Senate can attempt to dictate to the rest of the country how justice shall be served.

Justice Scalia, the jurist perhaps most closely associated with literal and plain meaning interpretations of the Constitution should be screaming. Article II Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution says “the President shall nominate…”. It does not say “the next President”, “the future President”, or “a Republican President”. It says the President, and Barack Obama will be President for over ten months. The failure to acknowledge that clause in the Constitution is yet another example of how Republicans simply avoid an interpretation of that document which is not in sync with their political ideology, and drives us further down the road of politicization in the judicial selection process and the judiciary.

Very similar things are happening in Virginia. In our Commonwealth, we talk a lot about the Virginia way, but, with our failure to retain an eminently qualified Justice of the Supreme Court, Jane Roush, we are beginning to lose our way. No one has questioned her qualifications. And she has been sitting on the Court for seven months. The failure to retain her, or even to interview her in the Senate, means that she has been essentially fired for no reason other than Governor McAuliffe was exercising his right under our Constitution to make a recess appointment. Yes, again, the Constitution says that the Governor has the ability to make a recess appointment and the Legislature should then act to confirm that appointment when the session reconvenes.

In Virginia, we have typically ratified gubernatorial appoints. In fact, there have been thirty-one consecutive appointments made by the Governor and then approved by the Legislature. And no sitting Supreme Court Justice has been fired for over one hundred fifteen years. One has to wonder about the extent to which Potomac Fever has been moved down I95 to the Capitol in Richmond.

Two weeks ago, the House Courts of Justice Committee even unanimously approved of Justice Roush as being qualified to serve on the court. In response, how did the Republican-controlled Senate respond? Deafening silence!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Justice Antonin Scalia will never return, but we have the chance to return Justice Roush to the Virginia Supreme Court. I encourage us to do so, sooner rather than later.

Crossover has Passed: the Budget Awaits

February 19, 2016 by David Toscano

With crossover behind us, the next major event will be the release of the House and Senate budgets on Sunday, with the debate to occur next Thursday. In the last several days, the House considered two controversial measures: the so-called Government Nondiscrimination Act and a bill to extend the coal tax credit for another four years.

WHEN NONDISCRIMINATION BECOMES DISCRIMINATION

Under the misnamed Government Nondiscrimination Act, the Commonwealth of Virginia would be prohibited from taking any action against any person who discriminates against another person so long as the discriminator believes that the other person is gay, transgendered, or has engaged in sex outside of marriage. Although it was presented as a cure for recent celebrated news stories, such as the two Oregon bakery owners who declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, the bill is far reaching and probably unconstitutional. It nonetheless passed the House 56-41. Interestingly, a number of younger Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with every Democrat against the bill. We are seeing a generational shift in the House of Delegates, and the younger Republican members are showing more tolerance on social issues than their elders. Nonetheless, the fact that this bill passed by such a large majority, should give us all pause. It now heads to the Senate, where it faces an unpredictable future. The Governor will likely veto the bill, and given the strong “no” vote by the House, that veto would likely be sustained.

The Coal Tax Credit has been on the books since 1988, and it has cost Virginia taxpayers more than $630 million. The monies go primarily to coal mine operators and electricity generators. Since the credits were enacted, coal production has dropped precipitously and industry employment has gone from 11,000 workers to about 2,800 today. A JLARC report published five years ago indicated that the coal tax credit had outlived its initial purpose, which was to provide jobs and maintain coal production. Since then, the market has changed dramatically, and natural gas has largely replaced coal as an energy source. Some coal is still exported overseas, but prices for other fossil fuels have dropped so low that it is hard for coal, especially Virginia coal, to compete. Those of us who argued against extending the Coal Tax Credit suggested that it is inefficient to use taxpayer monies to prop up an industry that is in steep decline. When there are critical needs for public safety, education and job creation in Virginia, millions of dollars that we send to a few large companies could be better spent elsewhere. Southwest Virginia is in serious economic decline, but it would be better off if we invest monies in the region to grow educational credentials and support new businesses. The extension of the credit was passed on a 75 to 23 vote; I voted no. The Governor may veto the bill; if that happens, there will be another vote as to whether to sustain his veto.

UPDATE ON BILLS

Among the bills that failed in the first half of the session were:

An effort to end the requirement that a woman undergo a fetal ultrasound before an abortion. You may remember the controversy when that law was enacted several years ago. We tried to repeal it, which the Republicans blocked.
A measure that would prohibit abortions after twenty weeks went to Committee, but was removed from consideration for this year by Republicans who were concerned about the optics of passing such a bill.
All efforts to redesign the redistricting process.
Efforts to increase the minimum wage to the Federally-mandated level of $7.25 per hour.
My effort to prohibit discrimination in public employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
An effort to require public school restrooms and locker rooms to be restricted to males or females on the basis of their anatomical features at birth.
A bill to allow those over the age of 65 to vote absentee or early.
An effort to reduce the required gross receipts ratio for mixed-beverage restaurant licensees, calculated from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages consumed on premises, from 45 percent to 25 percent of total receipts.
Creation of a Casino Gambling Commission.

Items that passed the House included

The requirement that the Department of Environmental Quality seek approval from the General Assembly before creating our state’s Clean Power Plan. This will likely be vetoed by the Governor.
The gun compromise trio of bills that give greater protection to victims of domestic violence, provide for voluntary background checks at gun shows, and remove the reciprocity prohibitions that would prevent Virginians from carrying concealed across state lines.
My resolution on religious freedom and tolerance.
A repeal of the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) regulations. This bill will likely be changed substantially as it goes through the Senate.
An expansion of the definition of stalking to include circumstances after a victim notifies the stalker that the victim does not want to be contacted or followed.
My bill that will allow localities to fine motorists who have passed a stopped school bus by sending them a summons in the mail.
A bill to prohibit the tolling of highways, bridges or tunnels without approval of the General Assembly with certain exceptions in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Please remember that for all of the above passed bills, it is necessary for it to clear the other house and be signed by the Governor before they become law.

THE BUDGET AWAITS

On Sunday, both chambers will release their respective budgets and I will write to let you know what is in them.

General Assembly 2016

WHEN NONDISCRIMINATION BECOMES DISCRIMINATION

UPDATE ON BILLS

Items that passed the House included

THE BUDGET AWAITS

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