Author: Steve Haner
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The Energy Whirlwind: Here Finally are the Bills
The House Labor and Commerce Committee has now seen (sort of) and passed out two major revisions to Virginia’s energy policies, promising a new clean energy economy and demanding that the two dominant electric power providers reach 100% renewable status in a few decades. Delegate Richard Sullivan, D-Arlington, is patron of both House bills, which…
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Bill Changing Rate Rules on Dominion Advances
By Steve Haner As the energy whirlwind continues to spin at the General Assembly, changing the landscape the way a twister changes a trailer park, one proposal that should be a boon to Dominion Energy Virginia ratepayers passed a notable hurdle late Tuesday night. House Bill 1132, the chance for legislators to repent and make…
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Consistency? Seek it Not at the General Assembly
The Virginia Constitution grants exemption from local real estate taxes for veterans with 100% service-related disability and for the Gold Star families of those killed in action, a move enthusiastically endorsed by voters in 2010. But in a House Finance Committee subcommittee this morning Virginia’s local governments presented the General Assembly with a bill. The…
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Updates: Electoral College, Carbon Tax, Tax Reform
By Steve Haner Catching up on several issues previously discussed, with links to the original posts: Virginia’s 2020 Electoral Votes Still Ours to Award. Pending legislation to enact the National Popular Vote regime has now failed in both House and Senate committees, although nothing is really dead in this process until final adjournment in March. …
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High Cost Detailed, Offshore Wind Support Fades
By Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s massive $7.8 billion offshore wind project received a tepid 5-4 endorsement late Thursday night in a House subcommittee, after legislators were told it would add $13 per month to typical residential bills starting in 2027. In stark contrast to a similar hearing in the Senate Wednesday, both the State…
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Offshore Wind Mandate Advances, Cost Ignored
By Steve Haner Smart lawyers, and the General Assembly is full of them, don’t ask questions unless they know the answer already and want the information included in the debate. Nobody down at the General Assembly is asking what it will cost Virginians on their monthly bills to build massive offshore wind facilities to generate…
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“Fair Share” Extracts Dues From 20,000 Workers
By Steve Haner Twenty thousand working families forced to pull $450 per year out of their tight family budgets may not think it “fair” that they are forced to “share” their earnings with a union they chose not to join. The debate over repealing Virginia’s Right to Work statute, or the more likely step of…
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“No Kill” Bill Returns to Reignite Animal Wars
By Steve Haner Another attempt to impose the “no-kill” philosophy on Virginia’s animal shelters is pending in the Virginia Senate, sponsored by a rural Republican who is the great champion of that (so-far) failed cause. After a long subcommittee hearing Thursday, his bill was put back in the shelter pen to await its fate for…
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Tax Reform Dies at Dawn, Tax Hike Fares Better
By Steve Haner The change in leadership in Mr. Jefferson’s Capitol has left one bad trend intact: The House Finance Committee still worries first and foremost about whether any tax policy change – no matter how meritorious — would interfere with state spending. It was the same under Republicans, unfortunately. New House Finance Chair Vivian…
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Bill to Expand (Pack?) SCC a First Test of Change
by Steve Haner Legislation to increase the size of the State Corporation Commission from three to five judges, giving majority Democrats a chance to pack the panel with their appointees, may provide the first real test of how much things have changed in New Blue Virginia. Freshman Delegate Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, introduced House Bill 1297,…
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Analysis: Only Assembly Can Impose Carbon Tax
By Steve Haner It is illegal in Virginia for a petroleum wholesaler to arbitrarily reduce the amount of product it provides to retailers. The General Assembly has intervened in that marketplace, probably for the reasonable public purpose of preventing price gouging. Regulating the sale of fuel for some other purpose should also require action by…
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At Least Some Legislators Dream of Tax Fairness
By Steve Haner The new chair of the House Finance Committee has introduced a major long-term tax reform proposal that will help most Virginia families, and the former chair of the same committee has offered a significant improvement to it. Both are good bills and combined they are great tax policy. Delegate Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax,…
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Legislative Staffer Files Retirement Mid-Meeting
By Steve Haner I am no longer with the Division of Legislative Services. If you need assistance, please contact…” That is the message you get back if you send an email today to one of the key players in all the energy debates down at the General Assembly, perhaps the key player during the actual…
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Electoral College Vote, Carbon Tax, Labor’s Wants
By Steve Haner The End of the Electoral College Looms The legislature’s new ruling Democrats, having celebrated their adoption of the national Equal Rights Amendment, may continue their Constitutional aspirations next week and try to kill the federal Electoral College. Some believe the will of Virginia voters in choosing presidential electors should be overridden by…
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No $220 Rebate Checks for Military Families?
By Steve Haner More than 400,000 Virginians failed to receive their $110 “Windfall Income Tax Rebate” in 2019 because, for perfectly valid and acceptable reasons, they didn’t file their returns by July 1. That allowed the Commonwealth of Virginia to hold onto $46 million more of the un-legislated state tax increase created by conforming to…