Category: General Assembly
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Redistricting: Let the Lawsuits Begin!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The first draft maps had not been drawn when the first lawsuit challenging Virginia’s redistricting process was filed. Sen. Travis Hackworth. R-Tazewell, along with several other plaintiffs, is challenging 2020 Virginia legislation that required, for redistricting purposes, prison and jail inmates to be allocated to the population counts of the locality of…
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Former Norfolk Sheriff Convicted of Fraud and Bribery
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Here is another name to add to the list of corrupt public officials — former Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe. Earlier this week, a federal jury convicted him of all 11 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. The charges covered actions committed over a 22-year period. They included accepting gift cards to…
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Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia – the New Governor Must Lead
by James C. Sherlock I consider campaign finance reform the foremost issue facing representative government in Virginia. We are one of only a few states with no campaign donations limits at all. We pay for that in legislation enacted and not enacted because of the preferences of huge donors. And in the stink of legal…
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Redistricting is Working – Sen. Barker Threatens to Resign
by James C. Sherlock Something must be going right. Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria, has threatened to resign. Seems he is unable, at least so far, to pick his voters in the redistricting process. Virginia’s new bipartisan redistricting commission is working the details with two months to complete its work. Barker is on that commission. But…
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Republican Senator Quits Redistricting Commission
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg) has resigned from the Virginia Redistricting Commission. He was one of two Republican Senators appointed to the Commission. Newman did not give any reasons for his decision. However, it is difficult to think it was not out of personal pique at the turn the decision process has taken.…
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Redistricting, Part 2: Squabbling Among Democrats, Republicans, and Citizens
by Dick Hall-Sizemore (Author’s note: This is the second installment of my reporting and comment on the Virginia Redistricting Commission. Warning — it is long. I apologize for the length, but it seemed best for interested readers to have a fairly thorough summary of the Commission’s doings up through the end of August in one…
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Redistricting: Say You Want Nonpartisanship?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore (Author’s note: The following is the first of several articles on the redistricting process that is underway in the Commonwealth. There is a lot going on that merits discussion, but it is my sense that relatively short articles, as opposed to long ones with lots of detail, are more appropriate for the…
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Marijuana and Casino Legalization Linked to Increases in Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
by James C. Sherlock We know what is going to happen. Dr. Daniel Carey M.D., Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources, will soon apply to the federal government for funding for substance abuse prevention grants. He knows. He plans to tell the federal government that additional people, mostly poor and Black, are going to…
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Shots and Masks in Richmond Schools
by James C. Sherlock Belt and suspenders? Vaccinations and masks now are both mandatory in Richmond Public Schools. Vaccinations because the school board ordered it last night. Masks because the Governor ordered it last week. The vaccination order, though many oppose it, has science behind it. Vaccinations work. For the vaccinated, though, the mask wearing…
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Return to Autocracy in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock. Updated Aug 13, 12:15 PM It was so easy to predict that I can claim no special prescience. I wrote a week ago: “The Governor’s 15-month emergency powers expired June 30, and, God, does he miss them…. (H)ow long (will the) governor put up with the lack of emergency powers?” If…
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Oyez, Oyez. The Virginia Court of Appeals is Changing.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the General Assembly’s most cherished prerogatives is the election of judges. When one party controls both houses of the legislature, that power is particularly relished. The Democrats had the opportunity in this special session to exercise its prerogative in a big way by electing eight judges to the Virginia Court…
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Solar Industry Poll Favors (Surprise) Solar Industry
by Steve Haner You will never find a better example of blatant question bias in a poll: “Do you agree or disagree that solar farms are better than other types of development because they do not pollute the environment and help lower the cost of electricity for homes and businesses?” They “do not pollute” and…
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DMV Still Hiding Full Gas Tax Amounts
by Steve Haner The Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles is now hiding only 22% of the state’s existing motor fuels tax with misleading website data, not the 26% it was hiding when I wrote about this last year. In the chart you first find searching DMV on motor fuel tax rates, set out below, there…
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Coming to Virginia – a New State of Emergency?
by James C. Sherlock The Governor’s 15-month emergency powers expired June 30, and, God, does he miss them. From The Virginian-Pilot: “School districts that aren’t requiring masks, including several in Hampton Roads, are running afoul of state law, Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday.” OK. The bigger questions are how long the governor will put up…
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RGGI Tax Appears on Dominion Bills in September
by Steve Haner In a polite but clear “the emperor has no clothes” message, a member of the State Corporation Commission has questioned the need to impose a carbon tax to cut carbon emissions from electric generation by 30%, when the General Assembly has passed another law requiring a 100% reduction with no tax. Judge…