Please visit David’s page on Richmond Sunlight, a project of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, where you will find the legislative history of every bill David has ever introduced, including those that did not pass. You can create a free account and use Richmond Sunlight’s Photosynthesis tool to track the progress of the bills you care about.
David is the chief patron of the following bills for the 2010 General Assembly Session:
Statewide TANF Funding Pool: Ends the practice of diverting federal safety net block grant money to political earmarks, creates a performance-based grant system to ensure effective and efficient use of federal safety net block grant money, and limits the diversion of federal safety net block grant funds to other budget areas.
Tax Expenditure Report: Strengthens transparency and accountability in the budget process by requiring the Department of Taxation to report annually on all effective tax exemptions, credits, and other forms of tax relief, including their intended purpose and fiscal impact.
Commonwealth Teachers Program: Establishes the Commonwealth Teachers Program to identify high quality teachers and leverage additional retirement system credits as an incentive for them to serve in schools that did not achieve full accreditation for the previous year.
Hotel Manager’s Reception License: Creates an ABC License to enable hotel managers in Virginia to host daily wine and beer receptions for guests and their visitors, per standard hospitality industry practice throughout the United States. Currently, Virginia law prohibits this practice, putting hotels in Virginia at a competitive disadvantage.
I-95/395 HOT Lanes Environmental Review: Requires that a National Environmental Policy Act environmental study be complete before any construction of HOT Lanes on I-95/395 may commence.
Public-Private Transportation Act Transparency and Oversight Act: Requires that mega projects proposed under the PPTA receive explicit approval from the General Assembly and that an independent study of transit-based alternatives be accomplished and evaluated prior to approval of any HOT Lanes projects.
HOT Lanes Violations: Prevents fines resulting from citations issued by state and local police for HOT Lanes violations from profiting private corporations and directs those funds to the State Literary Fund or the local jurisdiction, per other traffic violations.
Housing Authorities Barment Due Process Act: Ensures constitutional due process for individuals barred from visiting housing authorities.
Medicare Supplement Policies: For disabled people under age 65 who qualify for Medicare, this provides open enrollment to purchase health insurance policies to cover the gap between Medicare and the actual cost of health care services.
Advanced Health Care Directives Registry Modifications: Makes technical modifications to the 2008 Advanced Health Care Directives Registry legislation to facilitate the implementation of the registry at no cost to users or taxpayers under a public private partnership negotiated by the Virginia Department of Health.
Emergency Planning for Vaccination of School Children: Requires the Department of Health develop, with input from the localities, a plan for the prompt vaccination of all children who attend a public or private school in the Commonwealth or who are home instructed but subject to vaccination requirements, upon the declaration of an emergency or epidemic.
Middle Class and Small Business Tax Relief Act: Eliminates the state sales tax on food and corporate income tax for struggling small businesses, lowers middle class income taxes, and fully pays for the tax relief with a 1.1 percent income tax rate increase on individuals reporting more than $400,000 per year in taxable income.
Inheritance Tax: Ensures that Virginia will receive a portion of revenue from the federal inheritance tax if U.S. Congress reinstates it, and partially re-instates the Virginia inheritance tax.
Northern Virginia Gasoline Sales Tax: Increases the rate of the state sales tax on motor fuels in Northern Virginia, which is dedicated to funding mass transit, from 2.1 percent to 4.2 percent.
Renewable Energy Job Creation Tax Credit: Provides an income tax credit to corporations for each “Renewable Energy Job” created and filled.
Marriage Equality Amendment: Removes anti-gay language from the Virginia Constitution that prohibits civil unions, domestic partnerships, or marriage for same-sex couples.
Reconvened Session Constitutional Amendment: Empowers the General Assembly to move the date of the annual reconvened session by up to one week to deconflict with religious holidays and other auspicious observances.
Line of Duty Death and Health Benefits Fund: Establishes the Line of Duty Death and Health Benefits Fund to pay the death and health insurance premium benefits to individuals covered by the Line of Duty Act and the death benefit provided to state and local government employees who have been killed in action after being called to active duty military service.
College Admission for Virginia Military Veterans: Guarantees admission to public institutions of higher education for honorably discharged military veterans who are Virginia residents and graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
Law Enforcement Procedural Guarantee Act: Includes certain employees of a sheriff’s department under the coverage of the Law-Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act, so long as the employees would not be considered exempt employees for purposes of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Law Enforcement and Emergency Responder Retirement Benefits: Permits localities to offer equal retirement benefits to all law enforcement, correctional, and emergency response employees.
Web-Based Political Advertising: Clarifies disclosure requirements in web-based political ads where limited word space makes existing code provisions unfeasible.
Additionally, David is the chief co-patron of the following:
Rental Assistance Pilot Project: Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to establish a three-year rental assistance pilot project and to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Housing Commission.
Limited Service Pregnancy Centers: Requires that limited service pregnancy centers that recieve funds through the “Choose Life” license plate program provide only medically accurate information.
Here is a summary of David’s successful legislation to date:
2008-2009
Restaurant Smoking Ban: Indoor Clean Air Act prohibits smoking in all indoor restaurants, bars, and lounge areas in Virginia. (Combined with substitute to HB1703, then PASSED: House 60-37, Senate 26-13)
Advanced Medical Directives Registry: Requires the Department of Health to establish a statewide registry for living wills and advanced medical directives to help all Virginians — including same-sex couples — specify who may make medical decisions for them if they are incapacitated. (PASSED: House 95-4, Senate 40-0)
Cyberbullying in Public Schools: Strengthens Virginia Anti-Bullying Act to address cyberbullying in Virginia public schools. (PASSED: House 94-5, Senate 40-0)
Military Absentee Voting: Allows military and overseas voters to receive absentee balloting materials electronically, making it easier for them to exercise their right to vote while deployed to far-flung locations around the world. (PASSED: House 97-0, Senate 40-0)
Autism: Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the autism education and training available to law-enforcement and judicial personnel for the purpose of better disseminating such training. (Combined with Del. Shannon Valentine’s broader legislation and passed: House 98-0, Senate 38-0)
Water Conservation: Adds WaterSense qualified products to the items that qualify for the exemption provided during the Energy Star sales tax holiday. (Combined with Del. Margi Vanderhye’s similar bill and passed: House 96-2-1, Senate 39-1)
Unfunded Mandate Moratorium: Frees local school districts from expensive unfunded mandate by creating one-year moratorium on ACCESS for ELLs test as the state-approved limited English proficiency assessment, saving up to $2 million annually. (PASSED: House 98-0, Senate 40-0)
Closed Corporate Tax Loophole: Clarifies that the minimum tax is imposed on telecommunications and electric suppliers that are organized as pass-through entities, saving $30 million this year and up to $7 million annually. (PASSED: House 96-2-1, Senate 40-0)
Free Speech and Election Reform: Reverses ban on political clothing at polls and makes changes to improve administration of elections. (PASSED: House 96-0, Senate 40-0; Clothing provisions combined with HB1878, then PASSED: House 92-2, Senate 40-0)
Infectious Disease Response: Requires rapid reporting to the Department of Health of infectious disease outbreaks at assisted living residences, adult day care centers, child care centers, and certain licensed group homes, saving lives by bringing in public health experts as soon as an outbreak occurs. (PASSED: House 98-0, Senate 40-0)
Pedestrian-Friendly Development: Prevents the Virginia Department of Transportation from denying construction permits after the fact for otherwise permissible pedestrian improvements that already have been negotiated between developers and local governments. (PASSED: House 98-1, Senate 38-1)
Special Elections: Prevents confusion and delay for voters by ensuring that election laws will not change midstream during a special election, solving a problem that occurred during a special City Council election in Alexandria. (PASSED: House 99-0, Senate 40-0)
2006 – 2007
Affordable Housing: When apartment buildings are being turned into condominiums, allow elderly or disabled tenants to assign their existing first right to purchase their unit to a certified non-profit housing organization, which will rent back the unit to the tenant at an affordable rate. (PASSED: House 99-0, Senate 39-0)
Hospital Visitation: Require hospitals to allow each adult patient to receive visits from any individual from whom the patient desires to receive visits, regardless of marital status, gender, or other characteristics. (PASSED: House 97-0-1, Senate 40-0)
Flood Insurance: Requires the government to notify homeowners when FEMA changes floodplain maps in ways that affect their homes, empowering those homeowners to make informed decisions about flood insurance. (PASSED: House 93-5, Senate 39-0)
Prescription Drugs: Authorize local governments to participate in the National Association of Counties prescription drug discount program that delivers significant savings on prescription drugs to all residents of participating localities. (PASSED: House 51-47, Senate 39-0)
Election Reform: Close the loophole that allows a Political Action Committee to form and make an indirect contribution to a candidate in the last 10 days before an election without disclosing who is behind the committee. (PASSED: House 99-0, Senate 39-0)
Minimum Wage: Close the loophole that allows employers to pay less than minimum wage to employees aged 65 and older. (This loophole exists in state law but not federal law, and federal law applies in nearly all minimum wage cases.) (PASSED: House 99-0, Senate 38-0)
Rehabilitative Services: Makes technical improvements to the statewide brain and spinal cord injury registry program, as requested by the Department of Rehabilitative Services. (PASSED: House 98-0, Senate 40-0)
Local Control: Grant Arlington County the same powers as other counties to change the salaries of members of the County Board. (PASSED: House 87-8, Senate 40-0)
Energy Conservation: Exempt all Energy Star rated products (i.e.: energy-efficient products, including light bulbs, appliances, etc.) from the current 5 percent sales tax. (Combined with Del. John Cosgrove’s Energy Star sales tax holiday bill and passed: House 98-0, Senate 39-0)
Election Access: Add state and local elections to the requirement that polling places use handicapped-accessible voting machines, which currently is only required for federal elections. (Combined with Del. Tim Hugo’s bill on voting equipment and procedures and passed: House 82-14, Senate 29-11)
T.C. Williams High School: Allow T.C. Williams High School to begin the school year before Labor Day 2006 to accommodate final construction of the new school building during the summer of 2007. (Combined with Del. Adam Ebbin’s identical bill, then passed: House 99-0, Senate 40-0)
Clean Air Enforcement: Allow data gathered by monitoring devices to be used to enforce air emissions opacity standards around power plants like the Mirant Plant. (Currently, Department of Environmental Quality staff must observe violations in person to issue citations.) (Senate version passed: House 100-0, Senate 39-0)
