With just 45 days allotted in the Virginia Constitution for the General Assembly to accomplish its work this year, I arrived in Richmond a few days early so I could get off to a running start. Except for the opening day of the session where we bused to Jamestown for the State of the Commonwealth address, we have been running at a full sprint.
Of course, our failure last year – after the longest General Assembly session in Virginia’s 400-year history – to deliver a real solution on the transportation funding crisis will still dominate this year’s session. I am one of many co-patrons on the latest iteration of the Northern Virginia regional plan that would deliver more than $400 million in long-term, dedicated, sustained transportation funding that would also keep more of Northern Virginia’s tax dollars here in Northern Virginia. While Jim Webb’s U.S. Senate victory and the fact that the entire General Assembly is up for re-election this year seems to have changed the tone a bit, I am not yet convinced that the extremist House Republicans and more moderate Senate Republicans will work out their differences and let us vote on a reasonable compromise.
Looking beyond transportation, I have introduced 25 pieces of legislation this year on a wide range of issues, from affordable housing, clean air enforcement, and progressive tax reform, to domestic violence, prescription drugs, and equal rights. One of the lessons I learned last year – my first as a legislator – was that many bills pass or fail even before they are introduced. When my bill to help localities preserve affordable housing for elderly and disabled renters was referred to the Virginia Housing Commission, I used the opportunity to build support for the idea among legislators serving on the commission. After tightening some of the language of the bill, the commission endorsed it, and this year I was able to re-introduce it with all three delegates who serve on commission – including its chairwoman, Del. Terrie Suit (R – Virginia Beach) – listed as co-patrons. That is still no guarantee that the bill will pass, but it is a major step in the right direction.
If you have called my office for help over the past year, I hope you know that my aide and I work hard to be as responsive as possible. Those efforts have inspired several of my bills. For example, I am working with the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation on a bill to require the government to notify homeowners when the Federal Emergency Management Agency changes floodplain maps in ways that affect their homes. In the aftermath of the floods that ravaged the Huntington neighborhood last June, some residents discovered that floodplain maps had changed during the years since they purchased their homes, leaving them without the required flood insurance. It only makes sense that we should notify homeowners when FEMA floodplain maps change so they have the information they need to protect themselves.
Three of my bills are in direct response to the Mirant Plant’s continued malfeasance and the Department of Environmental Quality’s continued failure to protect us from the plant’s poison. Currently, data gathered from opacity monitors – monitors that measure the amount of particulate pollution in the air – cannot be used to enforce clean air standards. Even when a DEQ inspector personally witnesses a violation, it rarely results in enforcement action in part because there is no data trail. Therefore, Sen. Patsy Ticer and I are working on legislation to allow DEQ to use data gathered by these monitors to crack down on the plant. Another bill would require DEQ and the plant to notify residents when a transmission line outage will result in the plant operating temporarily at higher capacity — and therefore spewing more concentrated toxins into the air. In an effort to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, the Mirant Plant started injecting the mineral trona into its smokestacks, which residents complain has actually made the air around the plant dirtier, causing respiratory problems. No public health studies exist to tell us whether this experimental use of trona is harming our health, so I am working on legislation to push the Virginia Department of Health to conduct the first such study.
In response to the passage of the anti-gay constitutional amendment in November, I am working with other equal rights advocates to write additional specific protections into the law. One bill I am working on would give hospital patients the right to designate anyone they choose as an authorized visitor without regard to marital status, sex, or sexual orientation. Currently, hospitals have complete discretion to set any policy they want, often to the detriment of same-sex partners.
These are just a few of the bills I am working on this year. For a full list, you can go to the “Legislation” section of my website, www.DavidEnglin.org. While you are there, I hope you will take a moment to complete my 2007 Constituent Survey so your feedback can help me represent you better. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you, and if there is anything I can do to serve you better, please do not hesistate to get in touch at su.av.etats.esuohnull@nilgnEDleD, 703-549-3203, or 804-608-1045.