Category: General Assembly
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Virginia No-Limit Campaign Laws = Tax Exemptions for Partners in Venture Capital Firms
by James C. Sherlock Updated Dec 14 at 10:19 AM I just spent some spare time browsing through the Virginia tax code. (I know, get a life.) Lots of interesting items in there. Some tax exemptions make sense for the best interests of the state. Some don’t. This case benefits a very few people a…
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Our Media Trusts “The Smart Ones”
by Steve Haner Not every policy imposed by government is subject to public hearings or votes. That’s one reason to vote for smart candidates who have the country’s best interests at heart and not for those who rant about personal liberty without accepting any social responsibility for individual decisions. That was part of a response…
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It’s Silly Season
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Governor Northam will include $27.4 million in his budget bill for a new Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention in the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). What a dumb proposal! Setting aside the obvious politics surrounding the subject matter, as a budget analyst, I…
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Finally, There Are Redistricting Maps Up for Final Consideration
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The two special masters appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court to assist in redistricting have accomplished in about a month what the Virginia Redistricting Commission (“the Commission”) was unable to do in about nine months: produce single draft maps for the Congressional districts, the Senate districts, and the House of Delegates districts.…
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Protecting Stable Governance — Virginia vs. the Federal Government
by James C. Sherlock An opinion piece by Catherine Rampell in The Washington Post was headlined, “No one in their right mind would design a government that works like ours.” She meant that her preferred changes to American governance were stymied by Senate rules. The “no one in their right mind” was a tell. Anyone…
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Now California Will Control Virginia’s Auto Sales
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Virginia’s automotive sales market is now officially controlled in Sacramento, with the likelihood that no new internal combustion engines can be sold in the Commonwealth after 2035. The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board, acting not with discretion but on orders…
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Youngkin to Withdraw From RGGI, End Carbon Tax
By Steve Haner First published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin told a business audience Wednesday afternoon that he intends to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. His decision came two days after Dominion Energy Virginia filed a petition to increase the RGGI tax on its bills by…
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Budget Maneuvering
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the quirks about Virginia’s governing system is that an outgoing governor gets to submit a budget proposal for the upcoming biennium, when he will not be around to execute it. It would be difficult for any new governor trying to deal with a budget that he had no part in…
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There Will Never Be Enough
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Those of us at the state Department of Planning and Budget (DPB) who worked closely with the capital budget used to marvel at the submissions from higher ed institutions. It did not matter how much had been approved and funded in the recent past; each year there were more and bigger requests.…
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Feds Require Changes to Virginia Health Insurance Law
by James C. Sherlock There are a couple of new issues between Virginia’s Bureau of Insurance (BOI) and the federal Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS). The problems were briefed today by a Board of Insurance representative to the Health Insurance Reform Committee. CMS has told the BOI that the 2020 General Assembly passed a law…
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TCI is Now Dead. Happy to Have Helped.
by Steve Haner You’re welcome. Well, nobody is likely to thank me actually, but why not take a bow. After Connecticut’s governor announced he would give up on imposing the Transportation and Climate Initiative on his citizens, Massachusetts’ governor made a similar announcement yesterday. Governor Charlie Baker of that state was the driving force behind…
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Will Election Fallout Extend to Local Union Push?
By F. Vincent Vernuccio Virginia’s new collective bargaining law is forcing local government officials to deal with a controversial issue fraught with potential errors and legal risks. If the 2021 election showed anything, it was that Virginia voters felt the Commonwealth was going in the wrong direction. The sweep of Republicans for governor, lieutenant governor,…
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Loudoun Public Schools – Suitable for Economically Secure Asian and White Kids Only
by James C. Sherlock If your kids are Asian or white and economically advantaged, Loudoun County Public Schools are worth a try. Otherwise, forget it. At my age I am seldom surprised. The failures of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) to educate so many of their children in the wealthiest county in America have easily…
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What Dominion is Hiding in its Wind Application
by Steve Haner When an applicant at the State Corporation Commission claims certain information is proprietary, or extraordinarily sensitive, a reader not privy to the full document can at least get an idea what is missing. What is missing from the application Dominion Energy Virginia recently filed at the SCC, a document so dense and…
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Turbine Costs Appear on Dominion Bills in 2022?
by Steve Haner Customers of Dominion Energy Virginia will begin to pay for its planned 176 wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach next September, years before the first electricity is produced, if the company’s request for initial project funding is approved by the State Corporation Commission. As with all such projects now, the…