Arlington doctors representing the Virginia Medical Society met with David yesterday to share their concerns about a several health care issues facing the General Assembly.  Their top concerns included addressing the proposed cuts to Medicaid in light of already inadequate reimbursement rates to doctors, which put at risk health care access for the poor.  They also expressed their support for any efforts to advance smoke-free restaurants legislation, noting that more than 9,000 Virginians die each year of smoking-related illness, and another 1,000 die each year from illness caused by second-hand smoke.

Richmond - Delegate David Englin (D-45) joined Governor Timothy M. Kaine and key leaders in the General Assembly today to announce a landmark agreement to pass a statewide smoking ban in Virginia’s bars and restaurants.  The legislation will ban smoking in nearly all restaurants across the Commonwealth, allowing very narrow exceptions for private clubs and for restaurants with designated smoking rooms that are completely walled off and independently ventilated from non-smoking areas.

“If this proposal passes, Virginia restaurants and bars will be smoke free after July 1, 2009,” said Englin, who introduced House Bill 1692 to ban smoking in bars and restaurants throughout the state. “The exceptions are very narrowly drawn so that strictly-defined private clubs, like VFW halls, and a small handful of establishments in the state with expensively constructed, walled-off, specially ventilated smoking rooms could still allow smoking.  This is a compromise, but, as a staunch smoke-free advocate, I believe it’s a very good comprise that effectively bans smoking in restaurants and bars throughout the state.”

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Governing is about choices, and a state budget shortfall that now looks like it could run as high as $4 billion or more draws into sharp relief our choices about what matters most.  Virginia is continually ranked the Best Managed State by Governing magazine and the Best State for Business by Forbes magazine in part because we run an efficient operation with strong accountability measures and minimal waste.  Therefore, when the economy falters and revenues drop, there really is not much fat left to cut from the state budget, and we are forced to make some very painful decisions.

While I have proposed some moderate, reasonable measures to bring in more money to reduce the harm to education and health care, the Republican leadership, which still controls the House of Delegates by six votes, apparently has declared all such bills dead on arrival.  [Read more...]

David joined a coalition of public health groups yesterday to announce the results of a new statewide poll which indicates that 72 percent of Virginia voters support raising the state cigarette tax to the national average, which would be an 89 cents increase.  Virginians for a Healthy Future, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored the poll, which was conducted by the Global Strategy Group.

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Yesterday evening, David was the guest on this week’s Virginia Politics On-Demand, a weekly podcast by Republican blogger Jim Hoeft.  Despite coming from different political perspectives, David and Jim enjoyed an intelligent discussion of important issues like the Middle Class and Small Business Tax Relief Act, the state budget, smoke-free restuarants, and absentee ballot reform.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Teachers from Alexandria and Arlington met with David today to discuss the state budget and legislation affecting public schools throughout Virginia.

“In this immensely difficult budget year, I’m committed to doing absolutely everything possible to protecting funding for public education and to ensure than any cuts we must endure are only temporary,” said David.  “Public education is the foundation of our society, and giving our teachers and schools the resources to serve our children well must remain a top priority.”