Category: General Assembly
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Poll: Bipartisan Support for Scholarship Tax Break
by Chris Braunlich The following was issued today by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy as a news release: As National School Choice Week 2022 concludes, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy today released results of a polling question demonstrating the overwhelming popularity of Virginia’s sole education choice program. Support is particularly strong…
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War of Words in the House of Delegates
By Kerry Dougherty I’ve always thought that it would be a humbling experience — and an immense honor — to be elected to serve in Virginia’s General Assembly, the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. To be part of the House of Delegates is to follow in the footsteps of great men of…
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Showdown at the GA Corral
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares recently announced on the nationally televised Laura Ingraham show that “there’s a new sheriff in town.” That new sheriff was gunned down Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The issue was Miyares’s marquee proposal to broaden the Attorney General’s authority to prosecute criminal cases in circuit court.…
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First Bill to Amend VCEA Buried by Committee
by Steve Haner The first of several pending bills to slow Virginia’s rush to an expensive energy future based on unreliable electricity just failed in a Republican-controlled committee. There is every reason to expect the same fate for two other pending measures with similar goals. In past years energy bills have gone to a subcommittee,…
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Do Not Move RGGI Tax Into Utility Base Rates
by Steve Haner Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) is seeking to get Virginia out of a regional carbon tax compact, yet inexplicably has offered supporters of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) a path to protect it. His proposal would remove the tax on monthly electric bills which has galvanized opposition and move the cost of…
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Youngkin The Deficit Budgeteer
by Dick Hall-Sizemore As reported on this blog earlier by Steve Haner, Governor Youngkin has proposed new tax cuts totaling approximately $3.0 billion for the biennium. But the governor was not content with tax cuts. He also wants to spend more. His proposed amendments to the budget introduced by Governor Northam include more than half…
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Chap Petersen to the Rescue?
by Kerry Dougherty Don’t look now, but Virginia may have its own version of maverick U.S. Senator Joe Manchin. I’m talking about Democratic State Sen. Chap Petersen of Fairfax County. The lone member of Virginia’s General Assembly — from either party — with the stones to stand up to former Gov. Ralph Northam’s despotic executive…
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Poll: Most Democrats Dislike RGGI Carbon Tax
by Steve Haner First published today by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The high consumer cost of Virginia’s forced conversion to a fossil fuel-free economy remains unpopular with Republican and Independent voters, but is supported by many Democrats, a recent poll revealed. Even Democrats, however, dislike a new carbon tax that is now…
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Cages in the Senate of Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Once again, a picture is worth a thousand words. Many of us are hoping that the General Assembly will consider serious legislation this term. And consider it seriously. We need to discount those hopes as we take into account the cages into which Senators have been put. They were erected at…
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The Battle of the Eye Doctors
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the constants over the many years that I have been around or following the Virginia General Assembly has been the fight between optometrists and ophthalmologists. The legislative battles between these two groups provide a good lesson in two aspects of the legislative process: the politics of regulation of professions and…
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Youngkin, Northam Tax Cuts Combine to $5 Billion
by Steve Haner In his final budget bill, departing Governor Ralph Northam (D) proposed a one-time rebate of just over $1 billion to Virginia income-tax payers, and additional policy proposals that would cut another $1.1 billion in state revenue for the remainder of this fiscal year and the next two. New Governor Glenn Youngkin (R)…
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Bill Creates, Protects Right to Natural Gas Service
by Steve Haner Efforts to repeal or amend the Virginia Clean Economy Act are not the only bills pending at this 2022 General Assembly to mount a bit of defense against The War on Fossil Fuels. If the City of Richmond decides in the future to close its municipal natural gas utility, a step its…
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Energy Reliability, Cost Concern Some Democrats?
by Steve Haner First published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. The Department of Energy, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality, shall analyze the life cycle of renewable energy facilities, including solar, wind, and battery storage components. The analysis shall assess the (i) feasibility, costs, recycling and salvage opportunities, waste strategies,…
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Hands Off My Donations!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia Senators wasted little time killing off an attempt to limit campaign contributions. On its first day of meetings, the Privileges and Elections Committee took up Senator Chap Petersen’s bill to place a $2o,000 cap on campaign contributions (SB 44). Voting to report the bill were five Democrats: Deeds (Bath), Ebbin (Alexandria),…
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The Speaker’s Committee Assignments, With a Surprise
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Probably the single most important factor contributing to the power of the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates is the authority, under the Rules of the House, to assign members to committees. The committees to which a member is assigned can often determine the degree of influence he wields in the…