Reproductive Rights

Democrats Sustain the Governor’s Vetoes

April 22, 2016 by David Toscano

General Assembly Retains Focus on Building New Virginia Economy

In Governor McAuliffe’s State of the Commonwealth address in January, 2016, he made clear his priorities for the upcoming General Assembly session. He argued that our focus should be on building a new Virginia economy that is diversified and robust, and investing in education at all levels to encourage creativity and innovation. He also stated that if Republicans in the House or Senate sent him legislation that was socially divisive or that threatened workers’ rights, women’s ability to control their reproductive health choices, discriminatory measures, or bills that transfer public investments from public schools to private entities, he would veto the bills.

The Governor kept his promises. He proposed a budget that included major new investments in ports, airports, and economic incentives. He proposed almost a billion dollars in additional funding for K-12 education, and substantial new investments in higher education. He supported the initiative of private business leaders called “Go Virginia.” During the General Assembly session, both the House and the Senate adopted most of the Governor’s proposals, and even increased funding for others. That was a wonderful example of finding common ground for the benefit of the Commonwealth.

Along the way, however, Republicans passed, as they have done in recent years, a series of measures that would undermine the rights of Virginia citizens. In response, Gov. McAuliffe vetoed 32 pieces of legislation coming out of this session.

During our Reconvene session of Wednesday, April 20, 2016, Democrats sustained every one of the Governor’s vetoes. Among the vetoes that were sustained (this means that the bills will not become law), are measures that would:

Defund Planned Parenthood.
Undermine efforts of the Commonwealth to produce a clean power plan.
Extend inefficient and costly tax credits to coal producers.
Deny localities the ability to contract with private companies to pay a living wage.
Allow discrimination under the guise of religious freedom.
Reverse the Governor’s executive orders to keep guns out of state administrative buildings.
Remove the discretion of sheriffs and local law enforcement in handling immigration detention requests from the federal government.
Place additional barriers on citizen’s ability to register and vote.
Limit the ability of localities to determine the status of monuments in their cities and counties.

In addition, we passed a number of the proposals made by the Governor to change legislation and include new items in the budget. These included new additional monies for bioscience support and initiatives in cybersecurity.

Our efforts to enact a Solar Tax Credit targeted to investment in Southwest Virginia failed in a party line vote, as did the proposal to build a smaller and less punitive juvenile detention center.

Finally, the Governor’s proposal to make it easier to get drugs for lethal injection was passed by the General Assembly. This proposal arose in response to a bill that would make the electric chair the default execution method in Virginia in the event that the lethal injection drugs were not available. The Governor’s proposal proved very controversial because it would keep secret the identities of companies manufacturing the lethal cocktail as well as the components of the mixture. Civil libertarians argued against the measure and this was one area where I departed from the Governor by voting against it. In my career, I have voted against any measure that would expand the death penalty or make it easier to administer. While lethal injection is perceived as less cruel than the electric chair, it is nonetheless replete with all kinds of problems, and there have been many botched attempts using these drugs for execution. Accepting the Governor’s recommendation means that the death penalty will continue to be carried out in Virginia.

Town Hall Meetings

In the next month, I will be convening several town hall meetings to discuss the General Assembly session. I am also available to speak to groups about what we did and did not do in the 2016 session. We will provide more information about times and locations.

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.

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.

Adjournment Without A Budget

March 14, 2014 by David Toscano

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

Reconvene Session Passes Transportation Plan, More Restrictions on Abortion

April 9, 2013 by David Toscano

The “Veto” Session commenced at noon on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, and finished at 1:00 a.m. the next morning. It is hard to believe that we could take so long, but most of our time was focused on electing new judges around the Commonwealth in a Special Session.

The Governor made numerous recommendations for changes in bills that had been previously passed by the General Assembly. The most notable of these involved modifications in the transportation bill, which had been passed by a bipartisan coalition in the House and Senate. The Governor’s changes reduced the size of the plan somewhat and included a small reduction in the “hybrid tax”; the $100.00 fee was reduced to $67.00. The fiscal impact of that action was not large, but was viewed as a symbolic change designed to mollify some of the critics of the original bill. Most of the major increases in revenue remained, including the provision to create a dedicated source of revenue for passenger rail. I was happy to advocate and vote for this bill as the most significant advancement in the transportation funding that has been made in several decades (my speech on the original measure is available here). The measure raises about $1 billion extra per year and includes greater sums for transit, road maintenance, and passenger rail. Finally, the Governor made some changes designed to address concerns about the constitutionality of certain measures in the bill that provide some additional revenue for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Democrats again provided the margin of victory for final passage, as numerous “no tax pledge” Republicans deserted the Governor by failing to support the measure.

The Governor made some changes in budget language that may assist those of us who seek to expand Medicaid in the Commonwealth. My position continues to be that Medicaid expansion is good because it will create 30,000 new jobs in Virginia, insure approximately 300,000 Virginians who do not have coverage at present, allow the return of billions of dollars in Virginia tax monies that would otherwise go to states throughout the country that have embraced Medicaid expansion, and will be 100 percent funded by the federal government for the first several years of the expansion. It will reduce pressure on our emergency rooms, which have become the “health insurer of last resort” for many of the poorest in our region. Using emergency rooms for primary care is very inefficient and raises costs to taxpayers (the state reimburses hospitals for emergency room bills that are not covered by insurance and that individuals are unable to pay) and to those of us who have private insurance coverage.

A day in Richmond at the General Assembly would not be complete without a debate on social issues. This time it was the Governor who was pushing the social agenda, as he inserted language into a bill that would prohibit private health insurance companies from offering health care coverage for abortion as part of private insurance that would be purchased by individuals within the new health care marketplace. A majority in the House and Senate embraced the Governor’s language, despite the arguments of many Democrats (myself included) and some Republicans that this was an unnecessary and unreasonable intrusion into the marketplace, where private buyers and sellers negotiate the terms of the coverage that companies provide. Our further concern is that it could drive certain citizens away from the health exchange, with the result that either they do not get any coverage at all, or because the insurance pool would become smaller, the cost of insurance would rise for other people who seek it. This is not good social policy in a Commonwealth seeking to lower the cost of insurance for everyone and looking to the marketplace for solutions.

Finally, the 16th Judicial Circuit, which serves this area, got two new judges late in the evening. The first is Dale Durrer, who resides in Culpeper and will serve on the General District Court, replacing the Honorable Roger Morton, who recently retired. The second is Claude Worrell, II, an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in the City of Charlottesville, who will take the seat previously occupied by the Honorable Dwight Johnson, who retired in January. I expect that these gentlemen will make fine judges, and am very pleased that we were able to retain these judgeships for our community.

With the completion of the Session, my attention returns to constituent service, my law practice, and the fall elections. 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 matters before the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

David