Author: James A. Bacon
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The Growing Clout of Virginia’s Solar Lobby
by James A. Bacon It may be a while before the solar industry matches the clout of Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, but it has come into its own as a lobbying and political player. The new reality hit me forcefully when the Virginia Solar for All Campaign issued a statement applauding the advance of…
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Right-to-Work Repeal Would Cost “Thousands” of Jobs, Says VEDP
by James A. Bacon The repeal of Virginia’s Right-to-Work law would result in the loss of dozens of economic development projects, “thousands” of manufacturing and supply-chain jobs, and $9 million to $25 million per year in annual General Fund revenue just from the state’s current project prospect pipeline, reports the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP)…
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Private Nonprofit Colleges Need to Adapt or Die
by James A. Bacon With the college-age population expected to drop 15% between 2025 and 2029, Virginia’s 28 private liberal arts colleges are facing hard times ahead. And Governor Ralph Northam’s proposal to make community college free for lower-income students won’t help. The tuition gulf between private colleges and publicly supported colleges will get only…
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Crash and Burn
Lots of truly awful legislation is making its way through the General Assembly, but at least two of the worst bills appear to be dead. No guarantees they won’t be back next year, but we can rest easy for now. Electoral votes still mean something… A bill to award Virginia’s electoral votes to the presidential…
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Bill Broadens Definition of Sexual Harassment
by Hans Bader On January 30, a subcommittee in Virginia’s House of Delegates voted 5-to-2 to adopt a revised version of HB 1418, a bill to expand employers’ liability for sexual harassment. The bill originally applied to employers with six to 14 employees. Now it applies to all employers with more than five. Originally, while…
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How Politically Skewed Is Virginia’s Artista Class?
In my previous blog post, I documented how Virginia’s college and university faculty staff skew leftward in their campaign contributions (at least among those who donated $10,000 or more over the past 20 years). But the imbalance was nothing compared to that of Virginia’s artistic/literary class. Using the same methodology (more than $10,000 in contributions…
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How Politically Skewed is Virginia’s Professoriat?
by James A. Bacon How thoroughly dominated are America’s institutions of higher education by faculty and staff hewing to the left side of the political spectrum? In a survey of 12,372 professors, finds a new National Association of Scholars study, 48.4% are registered Democrats and 5.7% are registered Republicans. The ratio of Democratic to Republican…
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How Democracy Dies in Darkness: “Posting in Progress”
by Hans Bader The Virginia legislature is moving toward passage of bills that could make state employment law far more hostile to employers. But the content of the legislation was hidden from voters for a critical period while it was working its way through the General Assembly. The amended text of the bills was not…
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Taboo Views on Race and Higher Ed
by James A. Bacon The reason for the academic under-performance of African-American students in K-12 and college is a matter of contentious debate in the United States. The dominant narrative holds that African-Americans are held back by racism either overt or unconscious. Conversely, some hew to the view that genetic factors such as IQ are…
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“Virginia Values Act” Devalues Virginia
by Hans Bader The so-called “Virginia Values Act” has been approved by key committees of the Virginia legislature, aided by blatantly inaccurate claims. The VVA will revolutionize Virginia discrimination law, turning what once was a pro-business state into an anti-business state in key areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations law. The media is not…
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Why Navy Hill?
The most controversial issue facing Richmond City Council these days is the proposed Navy Hill project, a $1.5 billion urban renovation project in downtown Richmond backed by the NH District Corp., Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell, and Mayor Levar Stoney. Backers argue that transforming under-utilized land, much of it surface parking lots, into mixed use…
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Rural Broadband Projects Vary Widely in ROI
by James A. Bacon Last week Governor Ralph Northam announced $18.3 million in Virginia Telecommunication Initiative grants to support 12 projects across the state. Leveraging $35 million in local and private matching funds, the projects will connect about 36,000 households, including thousands of businesses and “community anchor” institutions — an average state subsidy of roughly…
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Who’s Got the Power?
Who’s got the power? We got the power! Breaking through the wall, gonna do it all We don’t quit! Who’s got the power? We got the power! — Powerpuff Girls The Virginia Public Access Project compared the committee assignments of 113 legislators returning to the General Assembly this year and graphed the change between 2018…
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Inside the (Pin) Heads of White Supremacists
by James A. Bacon Remember those three white supremacists the FBI arrested four days before the big gun-rights rally? They referred to themselves as “The Base,” peddled their vile ideology online, discussed committing acts of violence, engaged in para-military training, and assembled a “functioning assault rifle.” The FBI, which had been closely monitoring the group,…
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Boomergeddon Update: $31 Trillion Debt by 2030
by James A. Bacon According to the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections, the federal budget deficit will hit $1.0 trillion in 2020 and will average $1.3 trillion annually for the rest of the decade. Deficits will increase from 4.6% of gross domestic product each year to 5.4%. Most alarmingly, chronic deficits will push the…