Here is Delegate Scott Lingamfelter‘s report on the General Assembly.
Session Update 5: Two Minute Warning, First Half
Believe it or not, we are almost at the midpoint of the 2012 General Assembly Session which is also known as “Crossover”. Crossover is the point where each chamber of the General Assembly has to complete its work with the bills that were introduced in that body and send them over to the “other side” (The Senate). We had about 1,300 bills introduced in the House (down from previous years) and next week we will send all approved bills over to the Senate and the Senate will send all their approved bills over to us. We’ve still got a lot of work to do but we are pushing ahead full steam.
Dispelling Some Liberal Myths
As I am sure you all have seen in the news, many on the Democrat side of the aisle have been spending the majority of their time rattling off sound bites about “divisive legislation” instead of working to craft effective legislation. I won’t spend a lot of time on this because I know that many Virginians see this for what it really is but the truth of the matter is that House Republicans are passing legislation that addresses the issues that you all care about: jobs, education, transportation, and government reform. We have heard you loud and clear and now we are acting on it. I can’t say the same for the other side. In fact, fewer than 3% of the bills passed so far in the House are what the Democrats are calling “divisive”. Their talking points and the reality suggests to me that they are fairly unaware of the legislation that is before the General Assembly.
One final thought. The folks that are rallying against so-called divisive and counterproductive legislation are the same folks advocating for studying the sale of marijuana in ABC stores, taxing plastic grocery bags, and reinstating the death tax.
Here is what we have been working on the past week:
Education
First, I was able to move the Governor’s Charter School bill through the House and to the Senate. This bill will provide more autonomy and accountability, permit charter schools to lease vacant school property, and allow for 90% of the per pupil funding to follow the child to a charter school if the parent desire that the child attend one. Charter schools are working all across the US. There are 5200 of them in the nation, yet only 4 here in Virginia. This bill, hopefully, will stimulate the growth of this innovative and highly successful model. Remember, Charter Schools are public schools that must adhere to the same standards of any public school, but they are given great latitude to experiment and use the latest innovation to help students achieve. Let’s hope our local school boards will entertain solid proposals from Charter School applicants who want to begin a school in your area. In the end, it must be what’s best for the kid, not the education unions that fight Charter Schools.
You can find House Bill 1173 here: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+sum+HB1173
Public Safety
As I reported to you several weeks ago, Governor McDonnell introduced a rigorous public safety agenda to protect victims of crimes, provide critical funding resources to local law enforcement and sheriff’s departments, and protect Virginia from future emergencies. The House Republican caucus also has several important items on their public safety agenda and they are advancing through the General Assembly.
Delegate Rob Bell (R-Albermarle) has two bills: HB 968, which will increase penalties for habitual drug traffickers, keeping our kids away from drugs and drug-related violence, and HB 973, which would impose a mandatory life sentence for raping a child under the age of 12. In the last two years, 228 children under the age of 12 have been victims of these horrific crimes, and only 10 of these cases resulted in a life sentence, with a median sentence of 13 years.
Delegate Dave Albo (R-Fairfax) has put forward two bills, HB 49 and HB 50, which respectively increase the jail time for DUI-maiming and DUI-manslaughter.
Delegate Ben Cline (R-Rockingham) introduced two bills to address strangulation and gang recruitment. HB 752 raises the penalty of assault and battery via strangulation in an attempt to curb the elevation of domestic violence. To help combat gang violence, Cline also introduced HB 751, which will make it a felony to induce criminal activity or recruit a gang member via the internet, a telephone, or text message. With technological developments, gangs are using new methods of communication to recruit, discuss, and plan criminal activities.
Making Virginia the Most Veteran Friendly State
First, three of my veterans’ bills passed the House of Delegates and will be sent over to the Senate. Simply put, our servicemen and women need to come home and be prepared to enter the workforce immediately so that they can support themselves and their family. That is what I had in mind when I introduced House Bills 937 and 938. These are highly skilled men and women who satisfy all the requirements to practice these occupations in Virginia.
House Bill 937 is designed to help military spouses who come here with the active duty military spouse receive expedited treatment for the issuance of a license, permit, certificate, or other documents required for the practice of any business, profession, or occupation they are in as a vocation. The bill also provides for a temporary license up to 6 months.
House Bill 938 does something similar for veterans that requires the regulatory boards within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, the Department of Health Professions, to accept the military training, education, or experience of a service member returning from active military service in the armed forces of the United States, to the extent that such training, education, or experience is substantially equivalent to the requirements established by law and regulations of the respective board for the issuance of any license, permit, certificate, or other document required for the practice of any business, profession, or calling in the Commonwealth.
Keep checking in on these bills as they make their way through the Senate- HB 937: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+sum+HB937 and House Bill 938: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+sum+HB938
House Bill 933, the third bill that I introduced to help fellow veterans, provided that the real property tax exemption for disabled veterans for property acquired after January 1, 2011, begins on the date of acquisition and that the previous owner of the property is entitled to a pro rata refund of any taxes paid for any period of the tax year coming after the date of acquisition. The bill also provided that a veteran or spouse otherwise qualified for the exemption does not lose the exemption solely because of extended stays at hospitals, nursing homes, or other convalescent facilities as long as the real property is not leased to another person.
Also, the House of Delegates passed a handful of bills this week aimed at accomplishing Governor McDonnell’s goal of making Virginia the most veteran and military friendly state in the Nation. On Monday, the House passed HB 719, a bill that allows for a veteran with a permanently disabled service-connected disability to purchase a lifetime hunting, fishing, or combined hunting and fishing license at a discounted rate. The House also passed HB 384 which would give hiring preference for state jobs to members of the Virginia National Guard. This bill builds from last year’s successful efforts to give hiring preference for state jobs to veterans.
From the Governor’s Office: This week, we got word that an analysis of the Governor’s 2011 $4 billion transportation program provided nearly 3,700 direct jobs during their construction, $190.8 million in personal income, $14.8 million in state and local tax revenues and several other benefits. In addition to those benefits, it is important to recognize the less quantifiable impacts of these projects and that is the money that construction firms and their workers spend in our community.
This is great news for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia but I was also glad to read that the economic analysis included studies of construction projects in Prince William County, which is a part of the 31st District. According to the analysis, the project on Interstate 66 in Fairfax and Prince William counties will use changeable message signs, radar detectors and closed-circuit cameras to allow the region’s transportation operation center to detect and respond promptly to incidents by opening shoulder lanes and/or changing the posted speed. During the project’s installation, the economists found it would provide 43 jobs over two years; $2.85 million in personal income; $4 million in gross state product; $245,000 in state tax revenue; and $29,000 in local tax revenue.
As always, please let us know if there is anything we can do for you or if you have any questions about legislation that is before the General Assembly. Give us a call (804.698.1031) or email us (va31st@gmail.com) and we will get back to you as soon as possible
Have a great weekend!
