[ACDP-Announce] [Toscano2005] GENERAL ASSEMBLY UPDATE

[Fred Hudson]

I hope you enjoy keeping up with the "action" in Richmond. . . .     Fred


GENERAL ASSEMBLY Week 2:  Transparency in Government and the Long and Winding
Road to a Transportation Plan.

Last week saw a dramatic increase in the workload of Delegates and Senators as
we struggled to cope with the large number of bills that have been filed for
this “short session.”  Committee meetings lengthen and the Floor debates
intensify as controversial and non-controversial bills steam through the House
of Delegates.  Most of us are waiting for the “main event,” that is, the debate
on the House Republican transportation plan.  Presented thorough a number of
very different bills, this plan is winding its way through the Appropriations
Committee and will likely hit the House Floor this week.

Last week, we also saw a number of skirmishes on partisan lines.  First, we
tackled the issue of whether Virginia should apologize for slavery. This
garnered national attention as one Republican Delegate suggested that slavery
was something that we should “get over.”  Many of us thought that this was not
the Assembly’s finest hour, and we hopefully will have an opportunity to vote
on a Resolution that will do the Commonwealth proud.  We will have to see.

Last week also found another attempt to change the House Republican rule that
allows unrecorded votes in subcommittees.  Delegate Ken Plum from Reston
proposed a rule change that would require recorded votes.  This was defeated on
a party-line vote.  In an effort to bring more transparency to the governing
process, cameras began to appear in selected subcommittees so that there could
be a recording of the discussions and the ultimate vote.  One of the more
interesting places where this occurred was during the subcommittee debate on
raising the minimum wage.  You can access this debate on-line by going to
http://assemblyaccess.wordpress.com/.  Perhaps partly due to the presence of
the camera, the proponents of the minimum wage change were afforded an
opportunity to present our case in far more detail than last year.  Ultimately,
the subcommittee defeated the initiative.  It was attempted to be resurrected in
full committee, but failed on a 10-10 tie vote.  A minimum wage bill remains
alive in the Senate, after being approved by their Committee on Commerce and
Labor by a 15-0 vote.  Many of us hope that the Congress will preempt state
legislatures and increase the minimum wage nationally.

The debate on transportation will occur in several different forms.   On the
land use front, there are three bills offered by Delegate Athey (HB3196,
HB3197, and HB 3198) that address potential links between land use and
transportation.  The bills are positive in that they attempt to advance some
“smart growth” initiatives.  But many questions remain.  The most important
issue would be to be whether local governments would receive sufficient monies
from the state to maintain roads that would become county responsibility as
part of the legislation.  At present, county roads are maintained by VDOT. 
City roads are maintained by cities with monies transferred from the state
through what is called “the urban allocation.”  The proposed legislation would
have some counties taking over responsibility for maintaining their own roads
in exchange for receiving state transfers similar to how monies are now
transferred to cities.  The problem, however, is that no price tag has been
placed on this transfer and there are serious concerns that counties will not
be given enough money.  The result could be a dramatic increase in county
budgets.  There are no provisions in any bill that provides counties with
sufficient funds to pick up the slack.

The financing piece of the House Republican plan relies on increases in titling
fees, raising the tax on diesel fuel at the pump, increased penalties for bad
drivers, special provisions that would allow Northern Virginia and Hampton
Roads to have differential tax rates for commercial property to raise monies to
spend in those localities, and a sizable commitment from the general fund for
road maintenance ($250 million per year).  This transfer from the general fund
is troubling, primarily because of its size.  $250 million per year is more
than the combined general fund budgets for Radford University, Norfolk State,
Longwood, JMU, Mary Washington, UVa-Wise, and the New College Institute.  It is
also more than the combined general fund budgets of the State Police, the
Department of Emergency Management, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.  It
is, in short, a huge amount of money that would potentially be taken from K-12
education, prisons, and law enforcement.  We should acknowledge that there are
transfers out of the general fund to assist and maintain our highways, but
adding another $250 million per year is too much of a deflection at a time when
we have critical needs in other areas such as education and mental health.

My own bills are moving forward.  HB 1685, a transportation initiative designed
to help congestion on Route 29 passed the House.  Senator Deeds obtained
passage of the same bill in the Senate so it likely that this will become law
of the Commonwealth.  I have two adoption bills that will likely see the House
floor in the next week.  My bill to conform state law to the Adam Walsh Child
Abuse Protection Act passed this week.  My affordable housing bill is being
re-written in hopes that we can get a broad consensus from a number of
delegates who have offered similar bills.  My “transfer of development rights”
bill that will give greater flexibility to counties and cities who seek to work
together to help curtail urban sprawl is on “life support” in a House committee,
but I believe we have a reasonable chance at getting that to the House floor for
potential passage.

As always, please feel free to pass this e-mail along to someone who you think
might be interested.

Thanks to all who took our admittedly non-scientific online survey.  Results are
posted at http://www.davidtoscano.com.  Most notable was general support for
increasing the gas tax, solving transportation by controlling growth, and
increasing teacher salaries.  I will try another survey soon.

Please feel free to contact our office with your concerns and commentary.  We
can be reached in Richmond at 804-698-1057 or by email at
deldtoscano at house.state.va.us.


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David Toscano
P.O. Box 283
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 296-0981
www.toscano2005.com
dtoscano at toscano2005.com
This communication authorized by David Toscano 2005


 
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