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. For example, I am working with social justice advocates to create a Statewide TANF Funding Pool that will protect Federal safety-net block grant funds from being diverted to political earmarks, and I am working with the Commonwealth Institute to create a Tax Expenditure Report requirement so the General Assembly will give various costly tax exemptions and loopholes the appropriate scrutiny as we weigh difficult budget choices. With the Commonwealth facing at least a $4 billion revenue shortfall, now more than ever we need to make structural changes to ensure the most effective and efficient use of safety-net dollars to help people struggling to make ends meet.
Beyond the budget, I am working to address key local concerns, like solving our transportation problem while protecting our neighborhoods from HOT Lanes, strengthening public schools by supporting high quality teachers, and reforming our regressive tax structure to help families and small businesses while still protecting money for education and transportation. I am even working to update Virginia’s alcoholic beverage consumption law to allow a Hotel Manager’s Reception License so hotels like the Monaco in Old Town can offer wine and beer receptions for guests and their visitors and compete with luxury hotels in D.C. and Maryland. This is going to be an incredibly challenging year, but I am confident there will still be opportunities for progress.
One issue that has already received quite a bit of attention is my House Bill 264, the Housing Authority Due Process Act. Working with the Virginia Poverty Law Center and advocates of the poor across the Commonwealth, the goal of the bill is to ensure that people who have been barred from visiting public housing protects are afforded some basic due process to appeal. While the initial bill resulted in negative push back from law enforcement officials and homeowners neighboring public housing, I have worked closely with housing authority, legal aid, and law enforcement experts to revise the bill and successfully address those concerns. People who have worked with housing authority residents in our community and across Virginia can attest to the poor treatment of already marginalized citizens. Alexandria ought to be a leader when it comes to balancing public safety with protecting the rights of the poor, and the revised bill will do exactly that.
For more information on my complete list of legislation, please visit www.davidenglin.org/legislation. Of course, I welcome your ideas and feedback, so I hope you will get in touch at 703-549-3203 (which forwards to my Richmond office during the session) or at DelDEnglin@house.virginia.gov and let me know if there is anything I can do to serve you better. It is an honor to represent you, and I am hopeful that over the next two months, my General Assembly colleagues and I will be able to make progress for all Virginians.
