Archive for January, 2010
Last week, Governor Bob McDonnell addressed a joint session of the General Assembly and laid out his policy agenda for 2010. While there were a few strong points of disagreement, for the most part, he laid out a series of reasonable ideas to spur economic development and job growth in Virginia. For example, he noted the potential for a five-to-one return on investment if we increase state spending to attract the movie industry to Virginia. This was a good idea in 2008 when then-Delegate Brian Moran advocated it — and House Republicans mocked it — and it’s a good idea today. An even better idea would be to expand early childhood education, which has a return on investment of at least seven-to-one (and many times higher than that, according to some research) but has little political support among Republicans in Richmond.
Governor McDonnell also proposed a $500 per job tax credit for companies that create renewable energy jobs, which is nearly identical to the Renewable Energy Job Creation Tax Credit legislation that I developed and have proposed the past two years. Unfortunately, for all of the millions of dollars of new spending Governor McDonnell proposed, he also stated outright that he would veto any tax increases, and he has not yet identified what more he would cut from a budget that already guts core state services. As a newly appointed member of the House Finance Committee, I will be working not only to ensure efficient, effective use of our existing resources, but also to address the revenue side of the balance sheet, as sounds fiscal management demands. We cannot balance the budget merely by cutting, especially if those cuts threaten education and infrastructure, which are the keys to our future growth.
Members of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce met with David today during their annual General Assembly lobby day. They discussed a variety of issues of concern to our local business community, ranging from economic development and investment in education and infrastructure to tax policy and support for small businesses.
In addition to trying to address broader economic concerns, David is working with the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce to change Virginia’s alcohol beverage consumption laws to ensure Virginia hotels are competitive with hotels in D.C. and Maryland.
In what has become an annual ritual in the General Assembly, opponents of a woman’s right to choose brought legislation to the House floor designed to severely limit reproductive freedom by targeting women’s health clinics around Virginia with unnecessary and onerous regulations that do not apply to health care providers who perform other invasive procedures. See below for video of David speaking out against House Bill 393.
The opening week of a new General Assembly always reminds me of the first week of a new school year, with Delegates and Senators from one end of Virginia to the other catching up with old friends, meeting new colleagues, and learning their way around new offices. Add to that the transition from Governor Tim Kaine to Governor Bob McDonnell and the weight of the most challenging budget shortfall since the Great Depression, and it’s no wonder that one of the local hospitals delivered antacid tablets in bulk to each legislator on the opening day.
Three days after the General Assembly convened, Governor McDonnell was sworn in. He deserves credit for setting a reasonably inclusive and pragmatic tone in the transition and his Inaugural remarks. However, his full-throated support of off-shore drilling, despite the uncertain actual return on investment and the Navy’s objections on national security grounds, portends policy battles to come. While his calls for a “Commonwealth of Opportunity” and for personal volunteerism and charity strike appropriate chords, I fear that the open alignment of House Republicans and the new administration with the Tea Party movement’s vehement anti-Federalism is a distracting throwback at a time when we need to look forward.
Nevertheless, I have been reaching out to Governor McDonnell’s policy team hoping to can find bipartisan consensus on some of my budget reform initiatives, which will help us navigate the current shortfall responsibly while protecting core services and our most vulnerable citizens. Continue reading ‘Richmond Report: Legislators hit the ground running as 2010 General Assembly session convenes’
Richmond – Delegate David Englin (D-45) joined Senator Ralph Northam (D-6) and Delegate Charniele Herring (D-46) today at a Capitol press conference announcing legislation in response to the findings of a year-long undercover investigation of the 52 so-called “crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)” in Virginia. The investigation, conducted by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, reveals a disturbing pattern of how these unregulated centers mislead women about their health-care options, posing a public health threat
“It is vitally important that pregnant women seeking care and counseling receive medically accurate information, especially when the groups presenting that information are funded by money collected by the state,” said Englin, who is chief who-patron of the legislation in House of Delegates, with Herring as chief patron.
CPCs are operated by anti-choice organizations. In many cases, as the report confirms, they use deceptive and intimidating practices to prevent women from accessing the full range of reproductive-health options. Last year, Gov. Tim Kaine signed a bill into law that established a “Choose Life” license plate that makes most of these 52 centers eligible to receive state regulated money every time one of these license plates is purchased.
