With the General Assembly session in full swing, committees are negotiating and debating scores of bills each day. Many elements of my own legislative agenda are moving forward nicely, and I continue standing up for the interests of our community in a very tough environment.
On a near unanimous vote, the House of Delegates last week passed my House Bill 267, which puts us on the home stretch toward launching the Advanced Health Care Directives Registry. A top priority for groups working to advance equal rights for all Virginians, this service will ensure that health care providers and emergency responders know exactly what your wishes are and who may make medical decisions for you. This is the culmination of a two-year effort that began with my 2008 bill to establish the registry, and it demonstrates that, through creative partnerships with the private sector, we can deliver progress eve during thee tough budget times.
During the recent H1N1 vaccination emergency, some children attending private schools and children who are home schooled complained of difficulty accessing the vaccine compared to their public school peers. Therefore, the Health Subcommittee this week approved my House Bill 270 to ensure that all children are accounted for equally in Virginia’s emergency vaccination planning.
Last year, I led the charge on the Renewable Energy Job Creation Tax Credit to spur the growth of green jobs in Virginia. Unfortunately, the bill was pocket vetoed by the Finance Committee chairman. However, this year, Governor McDonnell has adopted this idea as part of his own economic development program. Therefore, my House Bill 268 has been incorporated into the bipartisan Green Job Creation Tax Credit bill that is now working its way through the legislative process.
Unfortunately, the first of my three bills to protect our community from the I-95/395 HOT Lanes proposal was tabled in the Transportation Committee on a party-line vote. Currently, fines from citations issued by law enforcement officers for HOT Lanes violations go to profit the private corporations running the HOT Lanes. House Bill 968 would have prevented that and ensured that these fines go to the State Literary Fund, like other traffic violations.
The committee chairman stated that “these are desperate times” where public-private partnerships are our only chance for transportation system improvements, and he said that preventing private corporations from receiving money from these fines would make them less willing to engage in the public-private partnerships in the future. Of course, I disagree with his analysis, since private corporations like Flour and Transurban stand to make enormous profits through these projects, even without receiving money from police fines. Moreover, the General Assembly is beholden to these partnerships because it has otherwise failed for nearly 25 years to take the steps necessary to responsibly raise revenue for transportation.
On the House Finance Committee, I continue to vote in favor of various proposals to give our local governments a more diverse range of revenue options, so they are not forced to rely so heavily on real estate taxes. Similarly, I continue voting against proposals that would increase the burden on our local governments at a time when they are facing severe cuts from the state. In my view, it is detrimental to quality of life in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, where we generally enjoy excellent and professional local services, to simultaneously cut funding to and tie the hands of our local governments.
As budget negotiations begin to heat up, protecting public education and safety net programs like Medicaid remain my top priorities. Unfortunately, given that Governor McDonnell has pledged to veto any tax increase and that public education and Medicaid are the two largest budget items that have been spared the most severe past cuts, I expect very painful news over the coming weeks. Since the General Assembly rejected Governor Kaine’s proposal for a one percent income tax surcharge to replace $1.9 billion in revenue lost to car tax relief, we must now find a way to cut that much more from the introduced budget, which was draconian in the first place.
To stay apprised of these and other issues, sign up for my email list at www.davidenglin.org. As always, I welcome your ideas and your feedback at 703-549-3203 or DelDEnglin@house.virginia.gov. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
