Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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The Latest Federal COVID Money Pot
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The federal COVID money keeps rolling into the Commonwealth. According to the Secretary of Finance, as of January 13, it was estimated that the state would receive $2.4 billion from the stimulus bill passed by Congress in late December (the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA)). Unlike the earlier COVID…
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More Vaccination Confusion
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I do not know who is to blame–CVS or the state–but the vaccination situation is unacceptable. The Commonwealth seemed to be getting on the right track by enabling individuals to register with their local health departments and the local agencies then using those registration to schedule appointments. Then the federal government changed…
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How the CARES Funding is Being Allocated
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Upon Jim Bacon’s suggestion, Jim Sherlock and I have taken on the task of looking closer at the federal COVID money that is coming the Commonwealth’s way and trying to discern how it is being spent. Unfortunately, this is not an analysis one finds in the general news media. We have taken…
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What’s the Point?
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Republicans in the General Assembly refused to go along at the beginning of the session with the customary practice of extending the “short session” from 30 days to 46 days. They said that the Democrats had a long enough time during the very long special session to enact legislation. Although they were…
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Criminal Justice Scorecard at Crossover
By Dick Hall-Sizemore With the General Assembly at the crossover break, now would be a good time to take stock of the status of major criminal justice and public safety legislation. Not surprisingly, the priorities identified by Democrats are faring well. Below is a summary of the actions taken on selected bills. For a more…
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Where Is the Outrage?
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I have waited all day for the howls of protest on this blog concerning the high-handed action of a House committee chairman who would not allow a bill even to be considered and voted on in committee. She just sat on it. Shades of Ed Willey! And we thought these Democrats were…
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And They SWaM and They SWaM
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Northam is moving to increase the amount of business that goes to companies owned by women or minorities. A little background would help put the pending legislation into perspective. There have long been programs at the federal, state, and local levels that serve to give some preferences to small businesses, as…
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Criminal Law and Public Safety Bills of Interest
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Despite recently having a special session to devote to criminal justice reform, the General Assembly has a healthy docket of criminal law and public safety reform bills to consider this session. I have selected a few to highlight below. Unless otherwise noted, the bills are still in their original committees. Democratic Priorities…
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The Cost of Criminal Justice Reform
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Examining the projected costs of criminal justice reform enacted by the 2020 Special Session may be a bit of old news, but I think it is still useful. The General Assembly has appropriated $27.2 million for the current biennium to support its criminal justice reform initiatives. If one includes the additional $800,000…
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The Speaker Rules
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The Speaker of the House of Delegates is the most powerful position in the legislature. One of her most potent tools is the power to assign members to committees. Eileen Filler-Corn has again wielded that power. Members usually retain their committee assignments during the two years of their terms. However, circumstances leading…
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More Loss of Press Coverage
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In the past two years that I have been posting on BR, I have relied heavily on the coverage of the General Assembly by the Daily Press of Newport News, particularly the reporting by David Ress. It seems that he is now off the Virginia state government beat and now mostly covers…
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Legislative Persistence and Character
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Twenty years ago, a senior member of the House of Delegates introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty. The introduction of such legislation was unusual in itself; even more unusual was the patron: Frank Hargrove, a Republican delegate from Hanover County. Hargrove, who had been in the General Assembly for 18…
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Virginia Republican Congressmen Support Coup Attempt
By Dick Hall-Sizemore After taking an oath on Sunday to support and defend the Constitution, four Republican members of the House of Representatives from Virginia supported an attempt to disregard the votes of about 5 million citizens in a vain effort to keep Donald Trump in office. These Congressmen were Morgan Griffith (9th District), Ben…
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A Giant Wind Turbine, but Not for Virginia
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The issue of wind energy is pretty much out of my field of knowledge, much less expertise. I follow the discussion on this blog with a lot of interest. In this vein, I found a story in today’s New York Times most interesting. It is about a giant turbine that GE is…
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Another Major Judicial System Reform
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Perhaps the most surprising item in the Governor’s recently-presented budget bill was the proposal to increase the size of the Virginia Court of Appeals by four judges, from 11 to 15. It is certainly one of the most controversial. The Republicans immediately decried the proposal as “court packing”. As usual, the issue…