Month: December 2019
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Way Overdue: Cleanse the State Code of Racist Residue
by James A. Bacon This 1956 law, enshrined in Chapter 59 of the Acts of the General Assembly, is a dead letter, rendered irrelevant by judicial rulings, others laws, and history, but it’s still on the books: Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no child shall be required to enroll in or attend any school…
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Games Still Played with “Conformity Windfall”
By Steve Haner Sometimes you have to start the victory lap, even if you only get halfway around the track. A year ago, on Bacon’s Rebellion and in Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy organs, I was beating the drum for a proposal to double the state’s standard deduction, the amount of family income exempt…
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Virginia tax increases: Outlook for 2020
By Don Rippert Promises, promises. As Virginia’s new Democratic majority in the General Assembly starts to take power, three issues emerge. First, many of the winning Democratic candidates promised deeper and broader social benefits from the state. Expanded Medicaid, more money for K-12, more money for higher education, more money for green initiatives, etc. Second,…
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Virginia’s Tech Roadmap: Space, Biotech, Cybersecurity and More
by James A. Bacon A new study, “The Commonwealth Research and Technology Strategic Roadmap,” has identified six strategic technology clusters exhibiting the greatest potential for Virginia’s economic growth. The report, conducted by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, is not prescriptive — it does not offer legislative recommendations. Rather, the report identifies fruitful…
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…. And a Nod to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
by James A. Bacon As a follow-up to my post about Stephen Moret, whose contributions to Virginia’s economic development have been amply recognized, I’d like to acknowledge the work of an important figure who has largely flown under the radar: Tom Barkin, CEO and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Federal Reserve Bank…
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Mr. Economic Development as Biz Person of 2019
Virginia Business magazine has named Stephen Moret, CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, as its 2019 business person of the year. The recognition is richly deserved. In less than three years, Moret has overhauled the badly dysfunctional VEDP, directed the effort to capture Amazon’s HQ2 project, restored Virginia to a top ranked state for…
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Two Medicaid Updates: Work Requirement, PBMs
By Steve Haner Medicaid Work – Training Requirement Dead Disappointing many, thrilling many, and surprising nobody, the Governor of Virginia has openly broken his 2018 promise to couple expanded Medicaid coverage with a work or job training requirement for able-bodied recipients. Moving people out of poverty is no longer the goal. Governor Ralph Northam was…
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Virginia marijuana reform: Outlook for 2020
By Don Rippert Cannabis certitude. The seemingly inexorable march toward legalized marijuana in the United States continues unabated. A poll of 9,900 American adults conducted by the Pew Research Center from September 3 – 15, 2019 found that 67% of the respondents thought cannabis should be legalized. That’s five percentage points higher than Pew’s last…
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Mo’ Money for Schools Across the Board?
The Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) has published its annual report on Virginia public schools. The report catalogs numerous deficiencies in the state school system, with an emphasis on unequal educational outcomes. And it recommends mo’ money across the board — mo’ money for teacher pay, mo’ money for mo’ teachers and staff, mo’ money…
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How U.S. 15-Year-Olds Compare to Their International Peers
by James A. Bacon Every three years the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development administers standardized reading, math, and science tests to representative samples of 15-year-olds from dozens of countries — 79 in 2018, to be exact. Despite a decades-long effort in the United States to raise standards, the performance of American teenagers has been…
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UVa Gearing Up for Another Hike in Tuition & Fees
by James A. Bacon Later this week the University of Virginia Board of Visitors will consider increasing tuition by 3% to 4% in the 2020-21 school year and jacking up fees between 3% to 6%. Here is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation showing the arguments and data that the administration presented the board in…
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Billions for Coal Ash Cleanup — for What Benefit?
by James A. Bacon The cost of cleaning up coal ash at Dominion Energy’s old coal-fired power plants will run between $2.4 billion and $5.7 billion, the company said at a presentation to the State Water Control Board yesterday. Disposal costs could add $5 to the monthly bill of typical households over the next 15…
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Time to look at the Tobacco Commission again
The Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission (TRRC) has again demonstrated that the legislature needs to re-examine its operations and, perhaps, overhaul it altogether. First, a little background. TRRC was established in 1999 to revitalize Virginia’s tobacco region and compensate tobacco farmers for the decline in tobacco production. Funding for these activities was to come from the…
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Adversity Scores: Great Idea, but Flawed Execution
by James A. Bacon The College Board, which administers the SAT college entrance exams, caused quite the ruckus recently when it published “adversity” scores for high schools across the country. The idea was to give college admissions officials information to supplement the SATs on the theory that a student who overcomes the challenges of a…
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Reasonable Regulations for Scooters
by James A. Bacon So, I was sitting at a stoplight the other day, and some guy came hauling butt through the intersection on a scooter. Like a bicyclist or motorcyclist, he leaned hard left as he took the left-hand turn. I can’t say how fast he was riding, but if he took a spill,…