Category: General Assembly
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In 2019, 34% of Virginia’s Black 4th graders Could Not Read – Mississippi Offers Hope
by James C. Sherlock Since 2013, Mississippi has made unprecedented, best-in-the-nation improvement in the academic achievements of its children starting as measured in nationwide testing. The improvements were especially pronounced in 4th graders who benefited directly from its 2013 literacy law. I have done a deep dive into those results and traced them back to…
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Virginia Will Mandate and Hold Retirement Savings
by Steve Haner Next week’s reconvened General Assembly session will decide whether only full time employees of Virginia’s small businesses will be pushed into a new state-sponsored retirement savings plan, or part-time workers will join them there.
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Relaxing Restrictions on Pharmacists
by James A. Bacon Under a bill signed by Governor Ralph Northam today, pharmacists will be able to provide a wider array of services to adults such as writing prescriptions for the flu, administering COVID vaccines, and prescribing controlled substances for HIV. A separate bill signed into law will expand the scope of practice for…
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The Real Nursing Home Scandal in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Mike Martz has written three excellent columns that have appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch starting March 19. Headline of one: “Virginia tries to move ahead of national ‘reform agenda’ for nursing homes.” The gist of it was that a couple of national nursing home industry organizations have taken advantage of the…
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Congress to Kill Right To Work, Since GA Didn’t?
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. One key goal for many of Virginia’s new progressive Democrats has been repeal of Virginia’s venerable Right To Work Law, and in 2020 they crossed one milestone by passing repeal in a key committee. But the Democratic leadership, perhaps wary of…
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Rich Jurisdictions Vote with Their Feet on the Virginia Department of Health
by James C. Sherlock A couple of days ago Antonio Olivo broke a story in The Washington Post that told of a law permitting Loudoun and Prince William counties to form independent health departments. It awaits Governor Northam’s signature. Having seen the performance of the Department of Health during COVID, they have decided they cannot…
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Virginians’ Money and Our Tax-Exempt “Public Charity” Healthcare Monopolies
by James C. Sherlock A generally accepted rule of thumb for the minimum profitability required for a hospital to maintain operations and fund its future is 3%. Virginia’s community hospitals as a group in 2019 had an operating margin of 10%. Most of them are filed with federal and state governments as not-for-profit public charities…
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Medicaid and Medicaid Rate Increases Boost Virginia Hospital Profitability
by James C. Sherlock Virginia in 2018 both expanded Medicaid and increased Medicaid reimbursement rates. Those changes orchestrated by Virginia hospitals took effect in 2019 and resulted in a major financial windfall to those same hospitals. I have compared the 2018 and 2019 Hospitals Operating and Total Margins spreadsheets published by the state through…
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We Are Losing Sight of Public Health in Vaccination Debates
by James C. Sherlock We in the process of losing our collective minds. I read a story in the Roanoke Times by LuAnne Rife “One-third of Virginia’s long-term care workers declined COVID-19 vaccinations, as homes reopen to visitors.” We read other stories about teachers refusing vaccinations. They do it pointing to the fact that the…
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Podcast: How the General Assembly Has Changed
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in Agriculture & forestry, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Entrepreneurs and Innovation, Environment, General Assembly, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race RelationsBy Peter Galuszka I haven’t contributed much to BR lately since I am slammed with non-Virginia work. I did manage to help out on a Podcast about how the General Assembly has changed the state over the last two years as Democrats have gained power. This Podcast is produced by WTJU, the University of Virginia…
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VMI Waters Down Drum-Out Ceremony
by James A. Bacon Two Virginia Military Institute students were drummed out at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday after admitting to cheating off each other on a math assignment, according to an email disseminated by the president of VMI’s student-run Honor Court. As in the past, the entire 1,700-member student body was awakened to the beating of…
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Northam Gets an Earful on Marijuana Legalization Bill
by D.J. Rippert Slow burn. The General Assembly passed marijuana legislation and sent it to the governor to sign. However, almost nobody seems satisfied with the bill as it is written. Now Governor Ralph Northam must decide whether to sign the bill, veto the bill, or ask for the bill to be amended. As he…
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Surprise! State Underestimated Carbon Tax Cost
by Steve Haner Virginia has collected its first wave of carbon taxes from the state’s electricity generators, costs which will eventually show up on future bills. The $43.6 million take just about doubles the revenue estimates used when participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was being approved by the Virginia General Assembly last year.…
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The Honor Code Is the Heart of the VMI Experience
by Carmen Villani Honor does not see color of skin. Honor does not see gender. Honor does not see socioeconomic status. What it does see is the “dream” of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — judging a person based upon content of his or her character. Honor is not a casual word that is tossed around…