Posts by: Albemarle County Democratic Party
Delegate David Toscano sends his last update from the regular session of the General Assembly in Richmond.
The General Assembly adjourned at 9:28 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, 2012 without a budget. We simply ran out of time. We immediately convened a Special Session to address the budget, which will hopefully occur within the next month. This is the fourth time since 2001 when the General Assembly has not been able to reach agreement on a budget before the session ended. In my first session (2006), we went 100 days into overtime before we passed a budget.
Fortunately, both sides appear close enough that a budget can emerge soon. If you recall from my previous posts, Governor McDonnell’s budget made cuts in the social safety net and shortchanged education. While we were able to argue successfully to restore some of the cuts and to enhance funding for education, the House budget was still inadequate and therefore I could not support it.
Senate Democrats have also argued for additional monies for the social safety net and education. Virginia per pupil spending has been declining in recent years and now is on par with 2007 levels. Teacher salaries have also not kept pace with the national average. In addition, our system of higher education, while likely to receive an increase in this year’s budget, has been neglected for the last decade. Many observers believe that we face substantial budgetary challenges in the coming years and may not be able to maintain our priorities without an influx of revenue.
As the clock wound down for end of session, we considered two initiatives that the Governor had been promoting. The first was his transportation bill, which would have diverted money away from schools to transportation. The Governor’s proposal was soundly rejected, and the resulting bill had little left in it. Transportation funding will remain a challenge for us to address. The second was a major overhaul of VRS, which was presented to us at the last minute. House Democrats objected to voting on a bill so quickly and without the benefit of public input, but the measure was passed nonetheless. I will have a future post on this, and will continue to advocate for positive changes in the bill to protect employees between now and the veto session in April.
In the end, this session is likely to be remembered for the socially divisive bills forced through by conservative Republicans. These bills deflected our attention from critical issues like adequately funding our public schools, creating jobs, and solving our transportation challenges. While the Governor is already claiming several “successes”, they pale by comparison to the challenges that we continue to face in the Commonwealth.
Sincerely,
David
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Senator Creigh Deeds sends an update to his last newsletter after the General Assembly session adjourned on Saturday:
Update to Sine Die Newsletter:
The General Assembly adjourned, sine die, on March 10, without passing a final budget. The outline of a budget appears to be close, and the General Assembly will reconvene on March 21. I would expect that a budget will be approved shortly thereafter. A couple of important measures dealing with VRS and transportation were passed on the last day of the session, and I wanted to provide some up-to-date information.
One of the big issues this session has been the retirement system. All of the retirement systems, including those for state employees, teachers, local employees, state police and other law enforcement officers, and the judiciary, haveroughly a combined $24 billion unfunded liability. Experts in public pensions suggest that the accounts have to be 80 percent funded in order to be viable over the long haul. Our accounts do not meet this benchmark. This is not a problem that occurred overnight, and we have known for years it needed to be addressed. The quickest way for us to return the VRS to viability is for the General Assembly to fund the various retirement accounts at the level proposed by the VRS Board of Trustees. Historically, the General Assembly and the Governor have reduced the contribution below the suggested amount to fund other priorities. In other words, the contributions have been treated like a credit card.
If the General Assembly began funding the retirement accounts at the VRS Board of Trustees suggested amount this year, we would reduce the unfunded liability to under $18 million in the next decade, and, achieve the 80 percent funding level. This is exactly what Sen. Janet Howell (D-Reston) proposed last year in a constitutional amendment that passed the Senate and died in the House of Delegates. It makes sense for the state to contribute the amount proposed by the Board, which is what we require local governments to do for local employees. However, we would have to shift hundreds of millions of dollars from other core services to VRS or find additional revenue.
On the final day of session, a small group of legislators reached consensus and came out with a compromise proposal. A summary of the changes is available at the Senate Finance Committee’swebsite. For local employees, localities are required to provide a 5 percent pay increase on July 1 of this year. The raise is to offset the new requirement for local employees to contribute 5 percent into retirement, much like we did with state employees last year. In addition, employees will have an option to contribute an additional 1%. If they do, localities will be required to bump their pay up another percent. Localities will still be required to pay a local share at the level suggested by the VRS Board of Trustees.
There are changes with respect to benefits, though there is an argument that the changes are not significant. The multiplier is changed from 1.70 to 1.65 for members with less than five years of service as of January 1, 2013 and benefits are based on the last five years of service rather than the last three years. The bill respecting state employees makes significant changes as well. All new employees will have a hybrid retirement system. Four percent of the employee’s contribution goes into a defined benefit plan and 1 percent goes into a defined contribution plan.
I voted against all four conference reports for a number of reasons. I am concerned that we are imposing on local governments a mandate with an unknown cost. I asked pointed questions during the briefing about the effect of the plans on retirement benefits and about the cost to local governments and did not receive answers that quieted my concern. I am also concerned that we are providing a disincentive for people to work in public service. It is important that we not only maintain trust with those people who are already vested in VRS (and these bills do not affect those people who are vested), but that we provide an incentive for highly qualified and talented people to come to work in public service. The bottom line is that there were too many unanswered questions for me on all of these bills.
While I am committed as anyone to restoring VRS, the quickest way we can restore the health of the system is to simply pay into the system what the trustees propose. The problems we presently have with respect to the retirement system did not arise because of mistakes by local governments or their employees. They arose because the General Assembly and the Governor, over the last number of years, have chosen to underfund the retirement system. I am convinced that we can find a better way to fix VRS.
One of the other major issues we have continued to ignore in recent years is transportation. Prior to the session, the Governor proposed shifting additional general fund dollars into transportation. His plan for transportation also included a proposal to sell the naming rights of our highways, bridges and tunnels. The House and the Senate came up with different approaches for transportation. And those proposals were reduced to a conference report, representing the compromise between the two sides.
The House agreed primarily with the Governor and also included language that assured the devolution of responsibility to local governments. This constitutes a major change in transportation funding in Virginia. The Senate took a different approach, rejecting the idea that we sell the naming rights of our public infrastructure, and also rejecting the ideas that we shift general fund money from public schools, public health and public safety to transportation. Rather the Senate, in a bipartisan manner, chose to index the gas tax which would have resulted in about two-tenths of a cent increase in the gas tax over the next year. Both the House and the Senate views on raising money for transportation were rejected by the conference report. I voted against the compromise because in the end it only does two things, neither of which I think are good ideas. First, the conference report requires an unprecedented interaction between the localities and the Commonwealth Transportation Board with respect to local highway planning. In my view, this sets the stage for the devolution of funding for highway maintenance to local governments. Few local governments have the ability to raise the money necessary to build or maintain highways. In my view, this is a step toward a balkanized transportation system.
Second, the conference report allows the selling of naming rights for bridge, tunnels and highways, which the Governor’s office suggested could potentially generate $100 million a year. I have not seen any evidence to suggest that sort of revenue can be raised by selling the naming rights to our highway infrastructure. Rather I think the idea is demeaning. Traditionally, we have named bridges and tunnels for fallen police officers or Medal of Honor winners or other military heroes. We have named highways after local people or events of significance. In each case, the naming has historical or geographic significance. For these reasons, I voted no. The Lt. Governor served as a tie-breaking vote, so the bill now heads to the Governor for his consideration.
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The Richmond Times-Dispatch as an early review of this year’s General Assembly regular session, which officially ended yesterday. Of course, Governor McDonnell and the Republican controlled Senate and House failed to adopt a budget or elect judges, so now they’re going into a special session to cater to those “small” details.
A few highlights from their article, 20 reasons the legislative session matters:
Virginia’s unresolved state budget leaves crucial issues in the balance, such as funding for law enforcement, education and transportation. For state workers, the budget could mean a 2 percent pay raise, plus a one-time bonus if senators and the governor get their way. Additional changes to state pension plans also are likely. But aside from the budget, lawmakers left town Saturday after passing hundreds of bills that will affect Virginians on issues from Amazon’s sales taxes to eminent domain to voter ID. Below are the 20 reasons this legislative session mattered.
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* Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill that would require a woman to have an ultrasound before she could get an abortion.
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*The governor is expected to sign “conscience clause” legislation allowing state-funded private adoption agencies to deny placement services to prospective parents who don’t share their religious beliefs.
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*Lawmakers approved compromise legislation worked out by McDonnell’s administration under which online retailer Amazon.com would be required to collect and remit sales taxes in Virginia.
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* The state Senate voted down McDonnell’s proposed overhaul of contract procedures for teachers and principals.
* Both houses passed bills to allow tax breaks for businesses that contribute to scholarships for low- and middle-income students to attend private schools.
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*This November Virginians will vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment to restrict government takings of private property.
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*Legislators carried over until next year efforts to set up a state-run health insurance benefit exchange. Under the federal health-care overhaul, a state must establish its own exchange or the federal government will set up one for residents of the state.
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*Lawmakers agreed on a watered down transportation bill. It includes neither the Senate proposal to index the gas tax to rise with inflation, nor McDonnell’s bid, embraced by the House, to divert an additional portion of sales tax revenue to fix roads.
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*The House and the Senate have passed bills that would require a voter who shows up at the polls without an ID to cast a provisional ballot.
Read the full article, review what happened with all legislation this year, and then share your thoughts about other important bills that passed or failed during session in the comments.
Senator Creigh Deeds sends his latest weekly newsletter from the General Assembly Session in Richmond, which ended on Saturday.
The 2012 regular session of the General Assembly is winding down. With hours to go before the scheduled adjournment, at long last, a budget agreement appears to be within grasp.
As I have outlined on this page before, Republicans insisted that they had a majority, organized the Senate, controlled the flow of legislation, and threw Democratic senators off committees; but in fact they did not have a majority. They cannot pass budgets, or elect judges, or amend the constitution without Democratic votes because the Senate is evenly divided. The equal division has left us at a budget impasse that is a product of the complete breakdown of the working relationship which has existed in the Senate.
Earlier this week, my colleagues and I provided a list of items that needed to be in the budget. Those items include recognition of the inflation factor in the Standards of Quality, the primary funding component of K-12 education, the retention of 4500 slots for Medicaid recipients, who would otherwise be out on the street under previous funding plans, and the exclusion of the Governor’s proposal to use additional general fund money for transportation.
In addition, the list included two other key elements that do not impact directly the area I represent, except in the broader sense: the cost of living adjustment for the Northern Virginia region due to the higher cost of living there and toll abatement for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Increasingly, we are shifting to a toll-based system to finance transportation improvements. Tolls along certain roadways in both Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are set to top six dollars per trip. All Virginians should be concerned about a significant transition to toll roads. If the people in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are forced to toll, they will be less willing to assist in funding transportation improvements throughout Virginia. Eventually, the only option for building roads in central and western Virginia will be through the imposition of tolls. We simply do not have the traffic on any highway, outside the urban areas, to sustain our transportation network through the reasonable use of tolls. Reliance on tolls alone would ensure that no transportation improvements occur outside Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and the Richmond area.
A list of budgetary requests was presented to the Governor earlier this week, and discussions are ongoing. It appears that we will adjourn on time and return for a special session in the next few weeks to finalize the budget and elect judges. Failing to pass a budget in advance of the regular scheduled adjournment has become the norm. I would prefer to complete our business on time, but it is more important we get it right.
In this space, in past weeks, I have spoken of many bills and issues before the General Assembly. As of this morning, we have passed over 800 bills, and over 200 have been signed by the Governor. A few of the changes in our laws to take effect July 1, 2012 that I have not covered before are:
- As a condition of a restricted license, a first-time DUI offender must have an ignition interlock installed on his or her vehicle.
- Amazon, and other online retailers, will have to collect sales tax from purchasers if they have a physical presence in the Commonwealth.
- Funeral directors will forward identifying information for unclaimed cremains to the Department of Veterans Services to ensure whether the individual is eligible to be buried in a veteran cemetery.
- The Board of Health will develop guidelines to ensure that women who obtain mammograms have information about breast density and the effects that dense tissue has on mammograms.
- A candidate for elected office and his or her family members will no longer be able to receive interest payments on loans to the campaign.
- All counties and cities in Virginia will be required to develop their own stormwater management programs, which can be funded through fees.
- The list of mandatory reporters of child abuse is expanded to include employees of any public organization dealing with children and employees of colleges and universities. The time limit for reporting abuse is reduced from 72 to 24 hours, and the fines for failure to report suspected abuse are increased.
The Division of Legislative Services will publish a summary of changes to the laws later this spring, and I encourage you to review the information when it becomes available. In my view, the most significant policy change will be decided by the voters in the fall when we vote on the eminent domain Constitutional Amendment. And the most distressing are the added voter identification restrictions and the mandatory ultrasound. The majority of the bills we passed tinker around the edges rather than making significant progress on issues important to people.
It remains an honor to serve you in the Senate of Virginia. Once we adjourn, I can be reached either in my law office at (540) 839-2473 or in my district office at (434) 296-5491. Please do not hesitate to call or email me or my legislative aide, Tracy Eppard, if you need assistance. We can be reached at district25@senate.virginia.gov
. Best,
Creigh
You can signup for Senator Deeds email updates at his web site.
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The race for the nomination in the Fifth Congressional District for a candidate to defeat Robert Hurt is officially underway! Both Peyton Williams and John Douglass will be addressing our monthly Democratic breakfast on Saturday, March. 17th, at 9:30 AM–please plan to attend and meet both candidates!
 Peyton Williams |
 John Douglass |
Save the Date: The Albemarle County Democratic Committee will hold its caucus to choose Delegates to the Fifth District Convention on Monday, April 23, 7pm. The convention is scheduled for Saturday, May 19th. More details to follow.
Note: The location of the breakfast may change, due to a broken elevator at the Central Library, which makes it non-handicapped accessible. We will post any change in location.
Delegate David Toscano sends his latest update on the need for a better budget from the General Assembly Session in Richmond.
Much of the focus this General Assembly session has been on the socially divisive legislation that has been pushed by conservatives in the House of Delegates. However, the most important piece of legislation that we consider each biennium is the budget. Since Governor McDonnell introduced his flawed budget proposal in December, which would have short changed our educational system substantially while shredding the social safety net, many of us in the House have been advocating for a reallocation of priorities and spending that will enhance education, encourage job creation and protect those most vulnerable.
In the House, Democrats have been more successful than we initially thought, but the budget that emerged was still deficient in many respects. When the House budget went to the Senate, Senate Democrats rejected it and indicated that it required substantial reform before it could be passed. In an attempt to increase pressure on the Senate Democrats, the House Republicans forced through another budget last week that was almost exactly the same form as the one passed previously. I took the floor to analogize the process to the movie starring Bill Murray titled “Ground Hog Day.” In the movie, Murray portrays a weatherman who goes to bed each night only to awake the next morning as if it was the previous day. He goes through the same experiences day after day. Eventually, he learns that he must change his behavior in order to escape from reliving the same day. Last week was an experience in “Ground Hog Day” in the House of Delegates. We received the same budget, had the same debate, and had the same result as we did one week earlier. As I inquired of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, why would the Senate approve the same budget that they had simply rejected last week? I suspect we will see the same outcome from the Senate and be no closer to having a budget than we were a week ago.
In other news, we won a great victory for tax fairness and for main street retailers with the passage of SB597, a measure designed to have Amazon collect and remit sales taxes from internet purchases in Virginia. You may recall my statements on this issue after the Governor announced a deal with Amazon last fall. The bill has now passed and was sent to the Governor. This will level the playing field for local retailers and provide some additional revenue to help fund schools, public safety, and human services.
I have also been pushing a bill that will allow us to evaluate tax preferences, many of which go to the largest corporations in Virginia, and which transfer billions of dollars that might otherwise be used to fund education and other core services through a process that is often not evaluated. This is not to say that some tax credits are not beneficial to the economy or assist in support of useful social policy. The Earned Income Tax Credit, for example, helps low and moderate income persons by allowing taxpayers to recover monies that they have already paid in taxes. The Land Preservation Tax Credit preserves thousands of acres of land in Virginia for future generations. Nonetheless, all tax credits should be subject to periodic evaluation to see whether they work for their intended purpose. As you are aware, I have been critical of the coal tax credit and believe that a full discussion of the value of that credit is justified.
My bill to assist Habitat for Humanity in negotiating of a land swap with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) for land in the Biscuit Run Park has passed the Senate and hopefully will be signed by the Governor. HB1113 will permit Habitat to begin negotiations on a land exchange that will help the county and the region develop more recreation facilities south of the city and assist Habitat in the redevelopment of the Southwood Trailer Park.
We are scheduled to adjourn on March 10, 2012, but the budget negotiations could go on for awhile, so I will keep you informed of further developments.
Sincerely,
David
P.S. For those interested in my statement on the arrests of protesters on Capitol grounds, you can view the clip here.
You can signup for Delegate Toscano’s email updates at his web site.
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General John Douglass makes it official with this email announcement:
In the last several days we’ve met with hundreds of Democrats talking with voters throughout the 5th District – there’s a groundswell of support for electing another Democrat to Congress.
After these wonderful conversations, I’ve officially reached a big decision about the future of my candidacy. I prepared a special video message for you with this big news. Check it out>>>
One thing is clear- I will never stop working to help Virginia families. They have been hurt for far too long. Thank you for standing with us now and throughout these next few months.
Thanks to you, the momentum is on our side.
John
Douglass is the second candidate to announce his attention to run in the 5th Congressional District. Peyton Williams announced his candidacy last month. The nomination will be decided at a 5th District Convention in May, with delegates elected to the convention by county caucuses in April. Stay tuned for more details.
White Hall Supervisor Ann Mallek will host three town halls for constituents in the coming weeks:
- Tuesday, March 13th, at 7 PM, at Broadus Wood Elementary School
- Saturday, March 17th, at 1 PM, at the White Hall Community Center
- Monday, March 19th, at 7 PM, at Crozet Meadows.
According to the Daily Progress:
Mallek is asking for feedback on the county budget and any other issues residents are concerned about. According to a news release, Mallek will gather topics at the start of each meeting.
You can find out more about Supervisor Mallek at her web site.
Read other updates from Albemarle’s Democratic elected officials.
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