Category: General Assembly
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Five Reasons the Assembly Should Cut Taxes
By Barbara Hollingsworth Last week, the Republican majority in the Virginia House of Delegates passed a $1 billion package of tax cuts for individuals and businesses, the centerpiece of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s economic agenda. But Democrats, who have a 22-18 majority in the state Senate, have a laundry list of policies and programs they would…
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Psst! Where Is The Library?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I have been wondering about the possible effectiveness of Del. Tim Anderson’s bill trying to give parents control over their kids’ access to material in the school library that contain graphic sexual material (HB 1379). Therefore, this weekend I asked my 16-year-old grandson, who is attending public school for the first him…
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No, Senator, Cold Kills More People Than Heat
by Steve Haner No more will Virginians have to suffer through hot summer days without the active intervention of Big Government. Virginia’s Senate Democrats are proudly advancing legislation to demand state government develop a comprehensive statewide heat emergency response plan, and then seek to impose its leadership by “coordinating” with other state agencies and local…
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Virginia Senate Committee Passes Second Look Bill
by Hans Bader Do all inmates deserve a chance for release? Even a serial killer, or a serial rapist who has been locked up and released before? They may soon have that chance in Virginia. In the state Senate, the Judiciary Committee has just approved the Second Look bill, SB 842. It would allow offenders…
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Virginia Community Schools Redefined – Part 2 – Stop Trying to Provide Mental Health Services in School
by James C. Sherlock In Part 1 of this series I described the current Virginia Community School Framework (the Framework) and found it not only lacking, but counter-productive. Its basic flaw is that it assumes all services to school children will be provided in the schools by school employees, including mental health services. When you…
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Is It One Hour Back or One Hour Forward?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia General Assembly debates a lot of important bills. Nevertheless, most residents of the Commonwealth probably do not feel most of these bills affect them personally and do not have an opinion one way or the other. However, occasionally, the legislators will take up a bill that is simple, affects everyone,…
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Virginia Community Schools Redefined – Hubs for Government and Not-for-Profit Services in Inner Cities – Part 1 – the Current Framework
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in Attendance, Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Children and Families, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Discipline and Disorder, Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, General Assembly, Health Care, Infrastructure, LGBQT, Mental illness and substance abuse, Political Influence, Poverty & income gap, Public safety & health, Social Services and Entitlements, Threat Assessmentby James C. Sherlock I believe a major approach to address both education and health care in Virginia’s inner cities is available if we will define it right and use it right. Community schools. One issue. Virginia’s official version of community schools, the Virginia Community School Framework, (the Framework) is fatally flawed. The approach successful elsewhere…
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“Strong Words” In Bills Give SCC Power On Rates
By Steve Haner One sentence, if it is the right sentence, can upset the machinations of the powerful. Two bills pending in the 2023 Virginia General Assembly contain such a sentence, and it could upset the plans of Dominion Energy Virginia. Here is the sentence at the heart of both bills: …if the (State Corporation)…
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Is Unnamed Partner on Wind Project Driving This New Dominion Regulation Rewrite?
By Steve Haner Without fanfare and without awakening the drowsy Capitol press corps, Dominion Energy Virginia dropped in legislation last week to set up a partnership on its most massive capital investment, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. Just who that partner might be, what if any benefits that provides to Dominion’s 2.6 million Virginia…
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Return to Bull Run: Pumping the Brakes on Data Center Construction
by James Wyatt Whitehead, V Conflict rages yet again on the site of two major Civil War Battles, Manassas National Battlefield Park, in Prince William County, Virginia. This is nothing new to Northern Virginia residents who can recall the rally cry of “Save the Battlefield.” In 1988, developers fought and lost the battle to build…
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Lab School Process Underway; Youngkin Oblivious to Overfunding
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin’s Lab School initiative is off to a fairly good start, although it is probably not progressing as quickly as he thought or hoped it would. According to the Department of Education (DOE), the department has received two applications for the establishment of a lab school— from James Madison University and…
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School Choice for Poor Still Hard Sell to Democrats
By Chris Braunlich On being told that peasants were starving for lack of bread, Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said “Let them eat cake.” Marie Antoinette had nothing on Delegate Suhas Subramanyam. At a House subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, Delegate Subramanyam was confronted with more than a dozen low-income families and Black community leaders…
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Free at Last
by Jim McCarthy Compulsory K-12 education under state law is a fact often taken for granted since its enactment in 1908 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1984, the state authorized homeschooling initiated by an earlier Supreme Court decision in 1972 (Wisconsin v Yoder), providing for a religious exemption from compulsory attendance in public schools.…
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SCC Term Bill Could Break Deadlock on Vacancies
By Steve Haner A Northern Virginia state senator has introduced legislation to change the terms of the members of the State Corporation Commission, perhaps creating a path to compromise on picking two or more new judges. Political deadlock between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate has stalemated that process for more than a year. Democratic…
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Another Price Virginia Pays for Certificate of Public Need – Mediocrity in Cancer Treatment
by James C. Sherlock In an article titled “60 hospitals and health systems with great oncology programs headed into 2023,” Becker’s Hospital Review gives us a glimpse of one of the greatest costs of Virginia’s decades-long Certificate of Public Need (COPN) program. The hospitals and health systems featured on this list have earned recognition nationally…