Alexandria - Delegate David Englin today announced the winners of his 1st Annual Youth Art Contest, held in partnership with members of the local arts community.

“There were many terrific entries, and it was very difficult to select the winning submissions,” said Englin. “The arts are an important part of the economy of the 45th District, and this was a fun way to engage students, let them show off their creativity, and give them a chance to enjoy tangible rewards from their artistic expression.”

Englin partnered with A Show of Hands in Del Ray to administer the contest, and Convoy Skateboards and Burke and Herbert Bank and Trust Company generously provided prizes.

Here are the winners:

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Richmond – The General Assembly today passed legislation sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) intended to make it easier for election officials to staff the polls so that Election Day may go more smoothly, especially in larger precincts and during high-turnout elections. House Bill 1643 will give local registrars and election boards more flexibility over when they may administer required oaths to election workers, allowing them better arrange shifts to staff polls. The bill also includes a provision requested by the City of Alexandria to allow more poll watchers inside larger polling places.

“As a member of the Elections Subcommittee, I work closely with local and state officials trying to identify ways to improve our election system to make it easier for people to exercise their right to vote,” said Englin. “These are not monumental changes, but they are adjustments that will help make elections go more smoothly.”

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Richmond – The General Assembly yesterday passed legislation sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) requiring the State Board of Education to develop guidance to help Virginia schools address the troubling new phenomenon of cyberbullying. While House Bill 1624 began as a more broad effort to strengthen Virginia’s existing anti-bullying law, Englin amended the legislation to target cyberbullying in response to students, parents, and school officials.

“As the legislation moved forward, a number of middle school and high school students explained to me that the real problem they face in our schools is the growing use of new technologies like camera phones, text messaging, blogs, and MySpace for bullying, harassment, and intimidation,” said Englin. “I also heard from parents, teachers, and administrators that they are ill equipped to deal with this new phenomenon and would appreciate some expert guidance.”

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Richmond – The General Assembly today passed legislation sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) that will free local school divisions from an expensive unfunded mandate by creating a one-year moratorium on a particular test some education experts consider to be ineffective and potentially redundant. House Bill 2589 allows school divisions to select a test other than the current state-required test to assess English proficiency among students for whom English is a second language.

“By giving local school divisions some flexibility, we can improve services to these students — ultimately helping them learn English better and faster — and make sure we’re spending our education dollars more efficiently,” said Englin. “This is the only state-required test that the state refuses to pay for, and many education experts don’t even consider it to be the most effective way to measure progress for these kids.”

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Richmond - With a 60 to 39 vote in the House and a 27 to 13 vote in the Senate, the Virginia General Assembly today passed a bill that will ban smoking in nearly all restaurants and bars across the Commonwealth beginning Dec. 1, making history in a state where tobacco was once king and where tobacco giant Philip Morris USA is headquartered.

“This is a major step forward for public health in Virginia,” said Delegate David Englin (D-Alexandria), who introduced the House version of a statewide smoke-free restaurants bill. “Today’s historic legislation is the result of years of hard work by public health advocates and a painstaking bipartisan effort this year in the House of Delegates.”

Englin noted that today’s victory for public health would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of Delegate Chris Jones (R-Suffolk), the new chairman of the House Committee on General Laws, who shepherded the bill through the House of Delegates despite opposition from the majority of House Republicans.

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Now that we are beyond the halfway point of this year’s legislative session, our focus has shifted much more intensely to adjusting the state’s $77-billion biennial budget to address our $3-billion or more revenue shortfall.  With massive proposed cuts to education and health care and still no serious solution to transportation funding, we have understood for weeks that the details of the state budget will depend heavily upon how much funding of various types Virginia receives as part of the Federal stimulus package.  The Virginia Senate very wisely chose to push off finalizing its version of the budget for a few days so it could account for the Federal stimulus.  Unfortunately, the Republican majority in the House chose to push forward the House version of the budget before the Federal stimulus details were complete, which means the entire process was rendered moot once the stimulus package passed.

Setting that small, good-government point aside, the House passed its version of the budget Feb. 12.  I voted against it for several reasons.  House Republicans tacked on objectionable amendments to enact laws that they have not been able to get through the regular legislative process.  For example, they inserted onerous new regulations intended to target and close down abortion clinics, and they cut funding for a variety of reproductive health care services for poor women and men.  Worst of all, they transferred $149 million from the state’s Water Quality Improvement Fund to plug the Medicaid hole left by their rejection of Governor Kaine’s proposed 30-cents per pack cigarette tax increase.  That money has already been obligated to ongoing projects, such as the Alexandria Sanitation Authority’s wastewater plant upgrades, which are critical to Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.  Because of those existing obligations, by the time the budget goes into effect July 1, there will be only $16 million left in the Water Quality Improvement Fund.  Taking $149 million out of a $16 million account means House Republicans passed a budget last week to create a $133 million deficit, which violates the Virginia Constitution’s balanced budget requirement.

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Alexandria members of Alpha Kappa Alpha met with David today to share their priorities about a variety of issues.  Representing America’s oldest African American college sorority, these constituents expressed their strong support for legislation to restore voting rights to ex-offenders, to expand absentee and early voting, to reform election redistricting, and to strengthen investments in services for the elderly and the mentally ill.  As a member of the Elections Subcommittee, David has continually fought for no-fault absentee voting, early voting, restoration of voting rights, and non-partisan redistricting reform.

Richmond - While the main focus in Capitol Square yesterday was the state budget, the General Assembly passed emergency legislation sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) that will save taxpayers $30 million this year and up to $7 million each year into the future.  House Bill 2378 closes a corporate tax loophole that allowed telecommunications companies to avoid paying a particular tax simply by changing their legal form of business.

“This is the kind of esoteric policy issue that isn’t especially sexy, but it’s absolutely critical because of the money it will save Virginia taxpayers — $30 million right now — at a time when we’re slashing budgets to make ends meet,” said Englin.  “I appreciate Governor Kaine entrusting me with the lead on this issue in the House.”

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When I filed House Bill 1692 on Jan. 5 to ban smoking in restaurants and bars throughout Virginia, I had a feeling that a confluence of factors — from a new chairman of the General Laws Committee, to a rule change allowing more legislative accountability, to growing public demand — would make 2009 the year Virginia restaurants and bars would go smoke-free. These factors, along with some delicate bipartisan negotiations, last week resulted in a landmark smoke-free restaurants and bars agreement.

The House of Delegates on Monday passed a version of the smoke-free restaurants compromise with amendments that gut the legislation; such is the messy legislative process. However, between the Senate, which consistently supports strong smoke-free laws, and Governor Kaine’s ability to amend legislation, we are virtually assured that the intact compromise proposal, perhaps even with some further improvements, ultimately will come to a vote on the House floor.

If and when this proposal becomes law, 99 percent of Virginians – customers and restaurant and bars workers alike – will experience completely smoke-free restaurants and bars throughout the Commonwealth. The exceptions are very narrowly drawn so that strictly-defined private clubs, like American Legion halls, and a small handful of establishments in the state with expensively constructed, walled-off, specially ventilated smoking chambers could still allow smoking. While this is a compromise, as a staunch smoke-free advocate, I believe it is a very good comprise that effectively protects nearly all patrons and workers from cancer-causing second-hand smoke.

Four of my other bills made it through the House of Delegates and are now under consideration in the Senate:
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Members of the General Assembly’s Reproductive Rights Caucus joined Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia yesterday at a press conference to discuss a number of pro-choice legislative initiatives.  David is the chief patron of House Bill 2373, the Pharmacy Refusal Notification Act, which requires pharmacies to post public notice if they refuse to fill birth control prescriptions.  Unfortunately, the Pharmacy Refusal Notification Act was killed in committee last week.

David is also the chief co-patron of Del. Kris Amundson’s House Bill 2338, the Birth Control Protection Act, which is awaiting a full hearing in the House Courts of Justice Committee.