Financial exploitation of elderly

Doing the People’s Business During a Challenging Time

February 5, 2019 by David Toscano

We are now in the busiest week of the legislative year. On Sunday, the House and Senate budgets were unveiled. Today, February 5, is “crossover,” the day on which all bills must be passed in one legislative body to cross over to the other side of the Capitol for consideration. We debate the budget this Thursday. All of this work is, of course, going forward in the shadow of the turmoil surrounding the Governor. I posted my thoughts (you can read it here) about this still-unfolding situation as of Saturday morning on social media, and will probably have more to say later. For now, however, we legislators are focused on doing the job our constituents elected us to do.

STATUS OF MY BILLS

Eight of my bills have passed the House and will now be considered by the Senate. Four initiatives address rising health insurance premiums and health care costs, and are directly related to the spike in insurance premiums that occurred in Charlottesville in late 2017 during the ACA Marketplace open season to purchase 2018 health care insurance. [Read more…]

Crossover

February 12, 2014 by David Toscano

We are now at the midpoint of the General Assembly session, a time that we call “crossover,” aptly named for the process by which bills passed in one house “crossover” to the other body. The hours are long and the debates frequently heated as many controversial bills get considered during this period of the General Assembly session.

Medicaid Expansion

The biggest issue of the session continues to be whether or not to close the health care coverage gap by accepting federal dollars that would be used to add between 275,000 to 400,000 Virginians to the Medicaid program. The Senate has proposed a bipartisan option that would allow Virginia to take the federal dollars and work with the private sector to provide insurance for our citizens. Republicans in the House continue to oppose the expansion of Medicaid, insisting on reforms and an audit of the system to occur before we can accept these federal dollars. Democrats in the House argue that expansion and reform can occur at the same time, and point to the reforms that have been enacted over the last several years that have created millions of dollars in savings. We are losing $5 million a day by refusing federal monies that will initially pay 100% of the costs of expansion. Taking the federal dollars makes good business sense and it is one reason why the Virginia Health & Hospital Association and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce support it. If you want to see some of the debate on this, you can watch the video on this page.

Ethics Reform

In other news, the House Ethics bill, on which I am a chief co-patron, has passed and will move to the Senate. This bill places a cap on the soliciting or accepting of tangible gifts over $250, increases the disclosure requirements for assets and debts held by legislators, creates an Ethics Commission to address specific ethical issues, and closes many of the loopholes in the present law. The bill is not perfect, and we will continue to work on it as it moves to the Senate. It is impossible to legislate ethical behavior, but this bill is a major step forward in cutting down on some of the behavior that has affected the public’s trust in their leaders.

Mental Health Policy Reform

Several bills have passed both the Senate and House addressing mental health. There are differences between Senate and House versions, but both will increase the time that citizens in crisis can be held while we look for a bed for them, create a bed registry to assist in locating beds, and insure that our state hospitals can accept patients if a bed cannot otherwise be found.

Other Notable House Bills

Delegate David Toscano with UVa Student Council leaders

Some actions taken by the House which have not drawn substantial publicity but are nonetheless interesting and significant include the following:

HB973 – The House Transportation Committee defeated HB973, a measure that would have eliminated the use of photo red cameras at intersections in the Commonwealth.
HB331 – This measure will establish a first time “home buyer’s savings plan” by which individuals who want to save for a house can deposit money into a specialized account and the interest earned on the account would not be taxable. While this would not likely generate a huge benefit to savers at the present time, it creates a vehicle for providing some tax incentives over time.
HB1229 – This measure postpones the A-F grading system for rating schools for an additional year. I supported a three year extension, but that amendment was defeated. While A – F may sound good, it is fraught with unintended consequences.
HB930 – This reforms Standards of Learning high stakes testing, by reducing the number of assessments students take through 8th grade from 22 to 17 and establishing a study that will review all of the accountability standards. This measure is not only good policy, but will save localities and the Commonwealth money.

Finally, a number of my bills will be heard in the Senate in the next week. Included in those is HB312, a measure that will provide greater assistance to elderly persons who have been financially exploited, and HB121, a measure that will increase the accountability of tax preferences provided to corporate entities by requiring full disclosure of the value of those credits.

As always, I enjoy hearing from you during the assembly session with your concerns and views about specific bills. Please do not hesitate to contact my office. It is a pleasure serving you in the General Assembly.

David Toscano

Medicaid Expansion and Ethics Reform Lead the 2014 Session

January 22, 2014 by David Toscano

We are two weeks into the General Assembly and the dominant issue remains Medicaid expansion. Almost every interest group in Richmond, from the Chamber of Commerce to the Medical Society of Virginia to the Hospital Association to various anti-poverty groups have supported efforts to bring federal dollars to Virginia to help insure up to 400,000 people who presently do not have coverage. Gov. McAuliffe stands firmly behind the principle of accessing these federal dollars and bringing them back to Virginia to both spur our economy and provide coverage to more Virginians. Republicans in the House generally have been skeptical of this approach, arguing that the federal commitment to reimburse the state 100 percent of the cost of new enrollees will ultimately be eliminated, with the result that Virginia taxpayers will have to pick up the tab.

I gave two floor speeches on this topic in the last week. The first was a general exploration of the issue. I emphasized how we have 1 million uninsured Virginians (many of whom are using the hospitals’ ERs as their primary care) and how we are sending our taxpayer dollars to other states which have decided to use federal monies to insure their citizens. You can watch the speech here.

The second speech involved the challenges faced by our hospitals because of cuts in federal spending. This is particularly troubling for rural hospitals who are often the centers of economic activity in their localities. Many of these hospitals will face extremely difficult business decisions that may require layoffs, acquisition, or possible closure in the event that we do not access this money. Virginia is refusing $5 million per day in federal monies that could otherwise assist us in insuring the uninsured and supporting our hospitals. We must find a way to bring these dollars back to Virginia. You can see my speech on hospitals here.

In other news, the House continues to work on bipartisan ethics reform. I am part of the subcommittee that is writing this bill. I believe that we need to have a cap on gifts that can be taken by legislators and a strong Ethics Commission that has the ability to enforce the rules and sanction legislators who transgress.

Mental health continues to be an important topic for the General Assembly. Later this week, we will consider a number of bills that could provide assistance to a person in crisis. There are additional monies in the budget to help serve more people with serious mental illness, particularly persons under the age eighteen.

A bill to eliminate the $64 annual tax on hybrid vehicles has passed the state Senate and a similar bill appears poised to pass the House of Delegates.

Several of my bills are moving through the House, including one that will provide additional tools to help elderly citizens who are victims of financial exploitation; a bill that will require additional financial disclosure of tax preferences provided to large corporations; and a resolution that condemns the ABC for their role in the incident in Charlottesville last April.

As always, I enjoy hearing from you during the assembly session with your concerns and views about specific bills. Please do not hesitate to contact our office. It is a pleasure serving you in the General Assembly.

David Toscano

New Virginia Laws in Effect as of July 1, 2013

July 10, 2013 by David Toscano

July 1, 2013, marked the date on which legislation passed in the previous session took effect, including any changes in the budget. Included in these are the following:

Various fees and taxes will be reformed as part of the recently enacted bipartisan transportation bill. As part of the bill, the gasoline tax of 17.5 cents per gallon has been replaced with a percentage based tax of 3.5% for gasoline and 6% for diesel (an equivalent of ten to eleven cents per gallon). Some have argued that this will mean that the price at the pump will decline, but since the price of gas is based more on the market than on the tax rates, it is hard to predict. Citizens will see a small increase in sales tax that is now designated for transportation. In Hampton Roads and NoVA, there will be additional taxes and fees, with the revenue designated for transportation initiatives in those regions. The bill also, for the first time, provides a dedicated source of monies for passenger rail. The result of the bill will be greater assistance for road and transit improvements throughout the state, including Albemarle and Charlottesville. One downside is the imposition of larger fees on hybrid vehicles, something which makes little sense to me and which we will likely try to repeal in the next legislative session. This is not a perfect bill, but is nonetheless significant as creating the largest influx of transportation money in two decades.
Citizens can now be stopped and ticketed for texting while driving. Unlike the seatbelt safety law, it is now a primary offense meaning a police officer or sheriff can stop a driver if they see a driver texting while driving. Fines for first offenses will range from $25 to $125. So stop texting and driving.
A two percent (2%) teacher pay increase goes into effect on July 1, conditioned on localities providing a local match. A raise is also included for University personnel.
School divisions will be eligible to apply for school safety grants of up to $100,000.00 to purchase security equipment and technology.
Businesses will now be able to donate equipment and machinery to community colleges and vocational schools, and be eligible for a grant of up to $5,000.00.
Persons who financially exploit the elderly or incapacitated will be subject to harsher criminal penalties.

The big news of this month was, of course, the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). While this is an extremely significant court decision, it does not overturn Virginia’s constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex marriage, a measure I did not support and favor repealing. Repeal will not be easy so long as the House of Delegates retains its current composition. Some of us are concerned that, in order to ensure they will have benefits derived from marriage, gay partners may now seek to relocate from Virginia into states that either allow gay marriage or recognize it. This would be detrimental to our state, and especially our business climate. To compete in a global economy, Virginia businesses need to recruit and retain talented and productive individuals and couples. Given our presently hostile laws, gay couples may choose to relocate to other states, or not come to Virginia at all. We have a long way to go to ensure that gay rights and partners are protected. I expect to see and support various non-discrimination bills that will be offered in the next General Assembly session, including provisions that will extend state benefits to gay partners.

Full List of New Virginia Laws in Effect as of July 1, 2013

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Power Grab

January 25, 2013 by David Toscano

General Assembly Again Makes Headlines

Virginia has yet again become fodder for late night talk show comedy. It would be funny if it were not so serious. In a dramatic power grab, Senate Republicans passed a wholesale redistricting bill and sent it to the House this week. The bill violates House rules, the Virginia Constitution, and all sense of fair play. Under the Virginia Constitution redistricting is to occur “in 2011 and every 10th year thereafter.” There is an argument about whether small technical adjustments can be made to eliminate split precincts, but there is broad legal consensus that a full scale redistricting is not permitted – precisely what the Senate Republicans have done.

What has gone unnoticed, however, is another bill that would apportion Electoral College votes for president by congressional district. This is a blatant attempt by Republicans to win by legislation what they have failed to win at the ballot box, that is, a portion of Virginia’s thirteen electoral votes. The demographics of the Commonwealth are changing, and some believe that Virginia is likely to become a reliably blue state in Presidential elections. That, of course, is different from its status in gubernatorial elections, when turnout drops. In the winner-take-all Electoral College system contemplated by our founding fathers, the Presidential candidate who takes the majority of the popular vote in the state receives all of that state’s Electoral College votes. But if you were to apportion the Electoral College votes by the partisan-redistricted Congressional districts, the more conservative areas of the state would control more of the Electoral College votes. These initiatives are happening all over the country and seem to be part of the Republican playbook for changing how the electorate chooses its representatives.

The Senate action on redistricting has made the possibility of getting a good transportation bill more problematic. There is a broadening consensus that we need to find more revenue for transportation than the Governor’s plan provides, but the question remains whether enough votes can be cobbled together from Republicans and Democrats to get a good bill passed. In my view, we need to have a bill that raises enough money and does it quickly enough to actually have an effect. If we fail to pass a good bill this year, we will miss an opportunity that may not come again for another five years.

A number of my bills have passed the House and are heading for the Senate. Included in these are a bill that allows courts, when determining child support, to consider including the cost of child care when a custodial parent is attending school to increase their earning potential, and a bill that will allow continuing care retirement communities like Westminster-Canterbury to admit employees of the facility as residents. This latter bill will help fifty-two of these communities around the state allow a broader diversity of residents.

Next week my House Bill 1728, the Virginia Vulnerable Adult Protection Act, will be considered by the full House Courts Committee. This act will provide a higher level of protection to the elderly who might be exploited by others who are in a position of trust. There is another bill moving through the legislature that will apply criminal penalties to those who exploit the elderly; mine will allow a civil action to be brought, which will make it easier to recover lost funds that were taken from the vulnerable adults.

The UVA reappointment saga continues. Helen Dragas was recommended for reappointment by the House Privileges and Elections Committee by a wide margin. The issue will hit the House floor next week, where there will be full debate. I am not optimistic that my opposition to her reappointment will gain enough votes, but it is important to re-tell the story so legislators can understand what was placed at risk during last spring’s events.

Finally, the results of my 2013 Constituent Survey are in, and, not surprisingly, the most important issues for the respondents were education, jobs and health care. On the issue of transportation funding, perhaps the top issue in this session, 80 percent support raising the gas tax .05 per gallon to solve our transportation funding crisis, with 82 percent oppose taking money from schools to do so. On education, 82 percent support raising teacher salaries and support more SOL flexibility for high performing schools; 70 percent oppose vouchers and tax credits for private schools. On public safety, 86 percent want to see us close the gun show loophole on background checks for gun purchases, and 88 percent support civil lawsuits against those who would exploit the elderly. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey.

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