Category: General Assembly
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Budget Earmarks for Nonstate Entities
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For many years, the most interesting and fun portion of the state Appropriation Act was a section near the end entitled, “State Grants to Nonstate Entities-Nonstate Agencies.” The 2000 Appropriation Act, appropriating almost $36 million for these nonstate entities, is a good example. It included funding for historic courthouses, local museums and…
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Consequences of the Zero Carbon Fantasy
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Virginians may finally be waking up to the consequences of the headlong rush to adopt utopian energy policies under our previous governor. The issues are getting more attention than ever before, and now people need to realize that all the…
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When Politicians Run Power Companies
by Steve Haner Residential customers of Dominion Energy Virginia will soon be paying 55% more for electricity than they were when the Virginia General Assembly took over micromanaging utility regulation in 2007. The Western Virginia customers of Appalachian Power will have seen their electric bills rise by 92%. Underlying inflation for the period has been…
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Secret Wind Case Documents Are Key to Appeal
by Steve Haner Now comes applicant Dominion Energy Virginia, petitioning the Virginia State Corporation Commission to reverse its recent decision to impose actual financial risk on the company and its stockholders. If a hurricane blows down its planned offshore wind farm in a few years, the related costs should be imposed 100% on its captive…
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Getting Rid of the Bad Apples
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There is a tendency in government to enact reform or establish new programs and then move on. Often, there is little or no circling back, by government or the media, to examine how the changes have been implemented or what effect they have had. Over the course of the next few weeks,…
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Wall Street Journal: Wind Approved “Under Duress”
by Steve Haner With an editorial published yesterday, The Wall Street Journal has now given its readers more insight into the risks inherent in Dominion Energy Virginia’s coming wind project than any Virginia newspaper or broadcast outlet has. It is not the kind of national spotlight Virginia should crave.
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What Surplus? Virginia Doesn’t Allow Surpluses!
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Does last week’s glowing report on Virginia’s state tax collections presage additional tax relief for struggling families? The first question is, was the news really glowing?
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The Left Never Rests (Part 3,783) – Vote Democratic
by James C. Sherlock We have a glimpse into the near future in Virginia. For those of my readers who thought that the left in the U.K. would sit still while the Cass Commission examines and reports on transgender care in Britain, think again. Some transgender activists oppose the requirement for a clinical diagnosis of…
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Hormone Treatment of Transgender Adolescents in Virginia – New Concerns
by James C. Sherlock We have discussed at length the controversial policies of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It is time to consider the impact of Great Britain’s ongoing National Health Service Review of its transgender support to children and young people. It offers new concerns about clinical challenges in the diagnosis and treatment…
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Progressives in Virginia In Position to Overrule Parental Objections to Invasive Child Gender Dysphoria Treatment
by James C. Sherlock The Virginian-Pilot, in an editorial, bemoaned Governor Youngkin’s endorsement of a policy that would require schools to tell parents about their kids’ transexual identity expressions at school. It’s as though the potential consequences of such a policy have never crossed his mind. The sure consequences of opposing that policy were not…
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Higher Ed to General Assembly: More, More, More
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The 2022-2024 biennial state budget that became effective on July 1 included more than $1 billion in general fund appropriation for capital projects for institutions of higher education. This was in addition to at least $1 billion in general fund-supported appropriations in the previous biennial budget. One would think that more than…
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Zombie Legislation
by Jim McCarthy Zombies, having become popular in filmdom and TV, are finding resonance in the nation’s legislative sausage making. Generally, the term zombie legislation applies to statutes negated or consigned to death, often by federal or state court decisions, that remain on the books due to legislative lethargy. Currently, the phenomenon has become more…
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Wind: SCC Rejects Deal Signed By Its Staff
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Rejecting an agreement that its own staff reached with Dominion Energy Virginia, the State Corporation Commission has imposed at least some level of financial risk on the utility’s shareholders should its $10 billion offshore wind project fail to match the…
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Bill to Bury Fauquier Powerline Comes to You
by Steve Haner One of the key skills in politics is to make your constituents happy with money provided from those far, far away. It is happening again as Fauquier County’s leaders want the General Assembly to force all Dominion Energy Virginia’s ratepayers to pay to bury a 230-kv power line out of sight from…
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Five Reasons to Reject Offshore Wind
by Steve Haner Researchers at the University of Virginia are part of an ongoing effort to redesign wind turbines to be both more efficient and better protected from storm-scale winds, as described in this video you can find on a university website. What is the problem to be addressed? Says one of the engineers: As…