Virginia General Assembly Process

The Session Commences

January 13, 2017 by David Toscano

The 2017 General Assembly gaveled to order on Wednesday. This year is known as a “short session” and runs only 46 days, from Jan. 11 to Feb. 25. Virginia legislators will likely consider more than 1,500 bills and hundreds of additional resolutions. Amendments to the current two-year state budget will also be negotiated.

Governor’s State of the Commonwealth

Gov. McAuliffe struck a conciliatory tone in his address to the legislature by emphasizing achievements we’ve made in a bipartisan way to build a new Virginia economy. [Read more…]

Prospects for the 2014 Virginia General Assembly Session

December 19, 2013 by David Toscano

Each General Assembly session takes on its own special character and tone. 2013 was the year of transportation, as House Democrats ensured passage of a bipartisan bill to inject significant monies into road construction and maintenance, rail, and mass transit.

The 2014 Virginia General Assembly session will likely give most of its attention to the following issues:

Budget

This is Governor McDonnell’s last 2-year budget, and his proposal will reflect his priorities. This is the year where we “benchmark for standards of quality,” that is, we determine the costs of providing quality education and hopefully fund it. I will push for additional monies for K-12, higher education, and mental health.

Jobs and Economic Opportunity

The economy is not improving as fast as we would like, and I will be supporting initiatives to create jobs and enhance workforce training to give our citizens greater economic opportunity.

Educational Reform

We will see efforts to reform the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests; I support giving local school divisions more flexibility to innovate and pay teachers what they deserve. We must find ways to challenge our students by fostering creative thinking and problem solving, thereby creating a workforce so our companies can remain competitive in the global economy. All of this, however, will take financial resources, and will require legislators to set priorities in their budget negotiations.

Mental Health System Reform

The tragic events involving Senator Creigh Deeds and his family have cast a harsh spotlight on the gaps in our mental health system. We made progress following the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy but more resources will be needed to improve the system. I support creation of more crisis intervention teams (CITS) and creating protocols to ensure that each person who needs a bed gets one.

Medicaid Enhancement

House Democrats support enhancement of Medicaid, along with many businesses, hospitals and physicians. There are several reasons to support enhanced Medicaid– which means reforming the system to protect taxpayer dollars while expanding service to those who need it. First, it means jobs and economic activity: $9.9 billion would be injected into Virginia’s economy by enhancing Medicaid, and an estimated 40,000 jobs would be created; it will keep our tax dollars here in Virginia rather than sending them to states that voted to expand Medicaid. Second, it protects local hospitals that provide critical services not to just indigent clients but entire communities; many of us worry that without Medicaid enhancement, some of our smaller community hospitals may risk having to close. Third, it would give up to 400,000 Virginians access to quality care that they do not presently have; it would keep them from having to use emergency rooms, thereby lessening costs for all Virginia taxpayers.

Ethics Reform

Following the scandals involving both Governor McDonnell and Attorney General Cuccinelli, efforts will be brought forth to reform Virginia’s reporting requirements for our top elected officials. Governor-elect McAuliffe has already stated he will institute a self-imposed ban of any gifts over $100 for himself and members of his family, and the legislature will consider a number of proposals, including the creation of an Ethics Commission.

Thank you for the opportunity to again serve you in Richmond. Your input is important to me. Share your thoughts — take the constituent survey.

Sincerely,
David

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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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

Session Ends with a Bang

February 26, 2013 by David Toscano

The 2013 session of the Virginia General Assembly adjourned on Saturday, February 23rd at 5:21 p.m., with the passage of what is arguably the most significant legislation with which I have been involved since I took my seat in 2006.

This session will be remembered primarily for two issues – transportation and Medicaid.

Transportation

When this session began on January 9, 2013, few would have predicted that we would ultimately pass the most significant transportation plan since 1986. This was not easy, and it almost unraveled at the last minute due to the intervention of our Attorney General, who had opposed any increases in transportation revenues, even the inadequate proposal that the Governor made in January. The Governor’s initial proposal failed to raise sufficient revenue for transportation, was built on an assumption that we would receive money due to federal action that no one was sure would occur (enactment of the Marketplace Equity Act, a.k.a. “internet sales tax”), and took the wrong approach on policy grounds by eliminating the gasoline tax while raising the sales tax. I originally opposed this proposal, and voted against it when it was first considered on the House floor.

But then things changed dramatically.

Frequent direct contact with the Governor’s office and the willingness of the Democratic Caucus to stick together on what was needed for this package were instrumental in modifying the plan as it continued through the legislative process. What ultimately emerged was a transportation plan which, while not perfect, included significant new revenues, approximating $1.4 billion extra per year for transportation construction, maintenance, transit, and rail. I have described this package in greater detail in a letter that I have sent to those who have contacted me on this matter. As a result of these significant and sustainable increases in revenue, I supported this bill. You can view the clip of my speech on the House Floor supporting the bill on YouTube.

One of the most heartening elements of this session was the degree to which the House Democratic Caucus was able to make the difference in passing the transportation plan. Without House Democrats, this plan would not have passed — there were simply not sufficient Republican legislators who were willing to support it. This is one of the untold stories of the 2013 session and one that should not go unnoticed for the future. While our numbers in the House are not as large as we would like, we clearly made the difference in a plan that is the most significant passed in the last twenty-five years.

Medicaid Expansion

On the Medicaid front, many of us argued that Medicaid expansion makes good economic sense for the Commonwealth while allowing more than 250,000 Virginians to get access to health insurance. Many hospitals and medical professionals in the Commonwealth argued for expansion because it would create 30,000 jobs, bring approximately $9.9 billion to the Commonwealth, and would provide a vehicle to discourage individuals without insurance from using the emergency rooms of our hospitals to meet their primary care needs – a costly way of providing care and one that ultimately raises costs for every Virginian who buys private insurance or is insured through their job. You can view my speech here.

The Governor and conservative members of the General Assembly, primarily in the House, vehemently opposed Medicaid expansion, feeling that it would place greater costs on the Commonwealth and would provide legitimacy to “Obamacare.” This is their sentiment despite assurances that 100 percent of the cost would be paid by the federal government for the first 3 years, and then 90 percent in future years. At present, the federal government pays 50 percent of Medicaid expenses.

Many of us further argued that failure to expand Medicaid would mean that Virginia tax dollars would be used to help fund Medicaid expansion in states who had decided to do so. Nationally, many states with Republican governors and statehouses, including Arizona, Ohio, and most recently, Florida, have decided that Medicaid expansion makes good economic and human sense and, therefore, have embraced expansion. Governor McDonnell, however, has consistently said no. What emerged in the final days of the General Assembly session was reform language that was placed in the budget to create a commission to determine whether and when reforms had been enacted sufficient to justify expansion in Virginia. It is not the approach that I would have taken, but it represented the best that we could do to move expansion forward.

At the last minute, however, Attorney General Cuccinelli issued an opinion that he believes such an approach is unconstitutional. This opinion had the effect of almost derailing passage of both the budget and the transportation plan. Cooler heads prevailed, and the Medicaid expansion language was accepted by the House and the Senate, enabling both the budget and the transportation plan to pass.

***

The significance of transportation and Medicaid overwhelmed other measures that were considered during this session. It was disheartening to watch as important bills were not passed, notably measures to restore voting rights to non-violent felons, eliminate workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, and make our streets and roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Future updates will detail these and other pieces of legislation, including changes in energy policy, some educational reforms, pay raises for teachers and faculty, prohibitions against texting while driving, and a new program to allow vital records to be issued by DMV.

I look forward to being back in Charlottesville with family and friends, and resuming my law practice. As House Democratic Leader, I will be traveling the state this year in an effort to increase the number of delegates who share our values in the General Assembly.

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.