David J. Toscano

Attorney at Law

Adjournment Without A Budget

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The General Assembly adjourned on March 8, 2014 without a budget. This is the third time that this has occurred in the nine years that I have been serving you in Richmond. We have until the end of June to have a budget in place, but most of us want this to occur as soon as possible because our localities need to have firm figures from Richmond as to monies that are coming to them so they can prepare their budgets. The budget impasse is tied up in the Medicaid debate. It is my view that you cannot separate Medicaid from the budget. If we can access more federal dollars as part of Medicaid expansion, we would not have to appropriate monies in ways set forth in the House budget. We could replace millions of dollars in state dollars proposed for indigent care and for hospitals with federal dollars, freeing up state dollars to be spent on education and public safety. This debate will continue to occur when we reconvene in a special session beginning March 24th.

While most press coverage focused on the Medicaid issues, there were several significant actions taken by the General Assembly this session. They include the following:

Mental Health Reform

I served on the Mental Health subcommittee in the House that was able to advance a number of reforms, including the extension of emergency custody orders for citizens in crisis from six to twelve hours, requiring the state hospitals to provide a bed in the event that no other beds are available, and the implementation of a psychiatric bed registry to more quickly find beds for people in need.

Ethics Reform

I was the chief co-patron on a bipartisan bill that enacts a $250.00 cap on tangible gifts, requires that gifts to family members be reported, and ensures that the gift disclosures be made online so that citizens can easily see them. There is still much to be done in this area, but this is the first overhaul of this statute in many years, and represents a good effort to restore some faith in our ethics laws in the aftermath of the McDonnell scandal.

Standards of Learning Reform

We have reduced the number of SOL “high-stakes” tests in Grades 3 to 8, and have created a new committee that will recommend additional reforms.

Transportation Reform

The hybrid vehicle tax that was part of the 2013 transportation reform measure that many of us opposed was repealed.

Utility Service

We passed a bill that will make the undergrounding of utilities easier to accomplish by spreading the costs across the ratepayers. This is a very important measure for older communities like Charlottesville where above ground power lines often fail when major tree limbs fall during storms.

School Reform

We delayed by two years the issuance of the “A-F” letter grades for schools.

Bicycle Safety

We provided some additional protections for bicyclists by enacting a 3-5 foot passing distance around bicycles.

A number of measures were either tabled or defeated that might have some interest. The Virginia Dream Act, which would allow in-state college tuition for children of Virginia immigrants, was defeated, as was an effort to increase the minimum wage. Efforts by conservatives to push a new constitutional convention were passed by the House, but defeated in the Senate.

There were no new attacks on women’s reproductive health passed by the General Assembly, but our efforts to rollback the forced ultrasound requirement were defeated. The proposal to transfer $3 million from the City schools to the County schools was defeated in the House Appropriations Committee.

We have not yet designated a new judge for the 16th Judicial Circuit, which has been pushed back to sometime in April.

We return to Richmond on March 24th to work on Medicaid and the budget. Debates on this issue will likely continue throughout the spring.

As always, it is a pleasure representing you in the General Assembly and I hope that you will contact me with your views on various issues in the weeks leading up to our next session on March 24th.

David Toscano

Winding Down or Gearing Up?

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The General Assembly session is scheduled to adjourn on Saturday, March 8, 2014, and it is not clear that we will have a budget by that date. The stumbling block continues to be Medicaid expansion. Many of us have advocated for a budget that includes closing the coverage gap for over 275,000 Virginians. We support bringing some $1.7 billion of Virginian’s taxpayer dollars back to create 30,000 jobs and bolster hospitals that are experiencing severe financial losses at this time. The Senate’s budget includes a compromise approach to Medicaid expansion called “Market Place Virginia,” a proposal which turns over the coverage of these vulnerable Virginians to the private insurance market. Many thought this compromise might win enough support in the House among Republicans, given that it is based on private sector principles, to obtain passage but that does not appear likely at present. For a recent press conference on this issue, click here. You can also watch several speeches on the House Floor on this topic by clicking here.

While much of the focus this session has been on Medicaid expansion, there are other significant initiatives that will likely pass in the next few days. We are making changes in the mental health system to provide better assistance and infuse monies to serve those most in need. The details of these will be finalized in the next several days, but reforms will likely include implementing an internet bed registry so that finding a bed will be easier and provisions that will allow authorities to detain citizens in crisis for a longer period so that assistance can be provided.

Second, we will pass a legislative ethics reform bill that, while not perfect, represents a modest step forward toward restoring some faith that citizens have lost as the result of the McDonnell scandal. We have reduced the number of high-stakes testing associated with the Standards of Learning (SOL), and have set in place a study group to further analyze what needs to happen in the coming years. Finally, the fee on hybrid vehicles that was imposed as part of last year’s transportation package was repealed. Many of us thought that this was not a good idea last year and we are happy to see it overturned.

I was able to pass a number of bills which you can find summarized here:

  • HB121 – Requires the Department of Taxation to provide to the General Assembly the total amount of credit given for a tax credit regardless of the number of taxpayers who take the credit. Presently, if four or fewer taxpayers take the credit, the Department of Taxation does not release these figures. We allocate approximately $4 billion in tax credits each year. In order to make sound decisions on whether a tax credit is effective, it is necessary to know the total amount of the credit being taken to compare against the economic benefit to Virginia, if any.
  • HB312 – Allows courts to award attorney fees in civil cases of financial exploitation based on fraud or undue influence. This will assist our senior citizens and their families in the recovery of assets that have been fraudulently taken from them.
  • HB890 – Co-patroned with Delegate Chris Peace (Hanover), this legislation corrected oversights in the Code created when some Department of Social Services offices changed the title of their ‘social workers’ to ‘family services specialists’. There were many duties that were specified in the Code to be accomplished by ‘social workers’ by definition that are essential to the delivery of services.
  • HB407 – This measure provides adult adoptees an alternative to the expensive cost of petitioning the Court for identifying information on their birth parents when the parents are deceased by allowing the Commissioner of Social Services to grant their request after the Commissioner has done a full investigation to determine whether or not good cause is shown to release the information
  • HB1110 – This measure allows a locality to recoup the additional cost of educating a non-resident student enrolled in a special education program from the student’s originating locality. This measure is particularly helpful to Charlottesville City Schools who host a number of non-resident students who attend specialized public education programs available in Charlottesville. The additional cost to the local taxpayers is approximately $36,000 per student. This bill allows Charlottesville to be reimbursed for this additional cost by the locality where the student resided with their parents before being sent to Charlottesville.
  • HB1233 – Brought to me by the Attorney General, this measure allows individuals who are the target of stalkers to be included in the Address Confidentiality Program. This program allows individuals to hide their physical address from public records if they have been the victim of domestic violence. This bill would provide protection to those who fall victim to stalkers.

In the next few days, we are likely to determine whether to adjourn and go into a special session for purposes of discussing Medicaid reform or remain in session and continue to debate this issue in the coming weeks.

Finally, Nancy and I want to thank you so much for the outpouring of support that we have received in the last couple of weeks. It has made a huge difference to our family and we are humbled by it.

As always, I enjoy hearing from you during the assembly session with your concerns and views about specific bills. This year, Session is scheduled to adjourn March 8, 2014. Please do not hesitate to contact my office. It is a pleasure serving you in the General Assembly.
David Toscano

Crossover

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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
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

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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

Contact Me

123 E. Main Street
8th Floor
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Email: davidjtoscano@gmail.com
Phone: 434-960-7171

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 501
Charlottesville, VA 22902

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