Category: General Assembly
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What Do We Owe To and Expect from a Special Ed Teacher?
by James C. Sherlock On February 16, USA Today published a story by Jeanine Santucci. That is the latest in an excellent series of reports on the shooting of Newport News first grade teacher Abigail Zwerner. Her article, “Virginia 6-year-old who shot his teacher exposes flaws in how schools treat students with disabilities.” raises questions that Virginians…
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Richmond’s Skinny Budget: Low Stakes Poker, High Stakes Rhetoric
by Shaun Kenney Virginia’s General Assembly managed to pass the Richmond equivalent of a continuing resolution to fund the government until Senate Democrats and House Republicans can hammer out a compromise on corporate tax breaks. One will have to pardon me for not getting terribly wound up about tax breaks for corporations while small businesses…
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SCC Oversight Restored, Don’t Expect Lower Bills
by Steve Haner The final version of a regulatory revision for Dominion Energy Virginia restores State Corporation Commission authority over the utility’s profit margin and rates, a major goal for Governor Glenn Youngkin (R). It was also the highest priority in a detailed energy policy put forward by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.…
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Virginia Law Enables School Violence – School Board Policies Can Correct It
by James C. Sherlock In 2019, the National Education Association (NEA) published Threatened and Attacked By Students: When Work Hurts, urging lawmakers to address the crisis of unsafe behaviors in schools. Read about Chesterfield schools in that article. Unfazed, progressives in 2020 in full control of the General Assembly, led by now-Congresswoman-elect Jennifer McClellan, looked…
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RTD Promises Lower Electric Bills? Watch and See.
From this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch: A reduction in Dominion Energy bills is on the way after a compromise on a new approach to regulate the company made it through the General Assembly on the last day of the session…. The compromise on electric bills — in legislation that passed nearly unanimously — would bring an…
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Unconstitutional Viewpoint Discrimination in Virginia K-12 Teacher Evaluation Standards
by James C. Sherlock Progressives, in the fullness of their dogma, oppose the entire Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is specifically structured to limit the powers of government, which progressives find not only unsuitable, but unimaginable. In the Golden Age of Progressivism in Virginia, 2020 and 2021, they controlled the governor’s mansion, the…
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For Your Consideration: An Intellectual Freedom Protection Act
by James C. Sherlock I offer for your consideration the text of a draft Intellectual Freedom Protection Act proposed this morning by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). FIRE is the leading American voice supporting academic freedom, free speech and due process. In doing so they defend democracy itself. They are what the ACLU…
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General Assembly: Status of Selected Issues
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on Saturday, February 25. Time to check on the status of some issues that have been discussed on this blog. Budget bill. The budget bill contains not only the usual appropriations, but also all those tax cuts proposed by the Governor. There is activity behind…
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The Players and the Dispute in the High Level Cage Match at UVa – Can a Racism Charge be Far Behind?
By James C. Sherlock I read yesterday morning on BR “Tragedies in Charlottesville” by UVa professor Loren Lomasky, who wrote: It is reasonable to judge that in either the longer or shorter version of the history of the university, no single individual has done it as grievous a harm as the man who now serves as…
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Peak Insanity: Why Schools Shouldn’t Teach the Dangers of Communism
.@DelJAvoli presented HB 1816, requiring that students learn about the dangers and victims of communism. What did @VEA4kids have to say? Just listen. We can't do it justice. You can't make this stuff up. https://t.co/5Akexs58yD pic.twitter.com/MUabRPOnMe — Virginia House GOP (@vahousegop) February 15, 2023 by James A. Bacon HB 1816 would require the governor to…
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Energy Outcome Cloudy as Adjournment Looms
by Steve Haner With adjournment less than a week away, the 2023 General Assembly is a mixed bag for electricity consumers, with the Assembly seeming to release control to regulators in some areas but continuing to assert its tight control in others. Dominion Energy Virginia’s legislation to sweeten its authorized profit margin, which will not…
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Government Actors Try to Deflect, Deny and “Move On” from Failures During COVID
by James C. Sherlock The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is in full self-defense mode. CDC and the left backed, indeed insisted, upon social isolation during the pandemic. Now they deflect and deny agency in the consequences. They continue to try to insulate themselves from the catastrophic educational and mental health effects on…
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The Bill of the Year: Menstrual Search Warrants
By Steve Haner Now here’s a phrase I never expected to type, even in a blog post: menstrual data. Looks like the 2023 Virginia General Assembly will be best remembered down the road for a silly bill that sparked a very avoidable stumble and then turned into a National Thing. Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) was…
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February: A Month of Celebrations, Awareness, and Daffodils
by Dick Hall-Sizemore February is known for many things. Although it is the shortest month, some have claimed that, with its usually dreary weather (this year being an exception), it actually feels like the longest. To divert us from its normal dark days, in addition to cheerful early daffodils, February offers us Groundhog Day, Valentine’s…
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Want Info? Check Only, Please.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A recent article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch illustrates how governments will fight any attempt to amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in a way that would make it easier for citizens to obtain information. Del. Danica Roem (D-Prince William) has been one of the more persistent legislators seeking to amend the…