Category: General Assembly
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Delegate Won’t Correct False Accusation About Israel
by Scott Dreyer On October 17, around noon Virginia time, a missile allegedly hit a Baptist hospital in Gaza. Almost immediately, many US mainstream news outlets blamed Israel for the attack and claimed “over 500” had been killed. As reported here, about four hours after the blast, Del. Salam “Sam” Rasoul (D-Roanoke) posted to X,…
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Court Blocks Pennsylvania from Joining RGGI
by Steve Haner A state court in Pennsylvania has ruled that the regulatory decision to enroll that state in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) exceeded the authority of state regulators. It ruled RGGI is a tax that could only be lawfully imposed by the legislature. It was the Republican majority in one of the…
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The Latest Campaign Finance Reports for State Senate Races
by Jeanine Martin October finance reports are available at VPAP.org. Below is the amount of money raised in the most competitive Senate districts from October 1st to the 26th. Once again, Democrats, the party of the rich, have raised more money than Republicans in almost every race. But the energy we’re seeing around the commonwealth…
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Democratic General Assembly Would Be Much Softer on Crime
from Liberty Unyielding Democrats are slightly favored to win control of Virginia’s legislature in this year’s election, although the election will be very close. If they take over, the legislature will become much softer on crime than it is now, because incoming Democratic leaders are more left-wing than their mainstream liberal predecessors. For example, if…
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The Californication of Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty Does anyone really think fewer gas mowers will make a difference? More importantly, is it the role of government to tell citizens what they must use to trim their fescue? Of course it isn’t. Why should we in Virginia care? Because we’re just one car back on California’s crazy train. During the…
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Electric Vehicles May Be Worse for the Environment than Gasoline-Powered Ones
by Hans Bader Electric vehicles require enormous damage to the environment just to produce their batteries — 250 tons of mining is required for a single battery, according to Real Clear Energy. Switching to electric cars would require a radical expansion of mining across the world, and the minerals for the car batteries will be…
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How Pass Through Tax Rules Raid the U.S. Treasury
By Steve Haner When the General Assembly was briefed on the state’s financial status last week, the $412 million in unexpected revenue growth was dismissed as potentially misleading because of some new quirk in Virginia tax law called the Pass Through Entity Tax or PTET. PTET keeps coming up in these discussions. Approval of the…
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The Impact of Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need Laws on Nursing Home and Home Health Care Availability and Expenditures
by James C. Sherlock I have come across a major study in the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine that made a point that I have not explored sufficiently to this point. It discusses the intersection of nursing homes, home health care, CON laws like Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law, and…
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The High Stakes in Virginia’s Very Close Nov. 7 Election
from Liberty Unyielding Virginia is holding a very close election. The last day to vote is on Tuesday, November 7. If you live in Virginia, you can also vote early, at specified locations, on Monday through Friday, from September 22 to November 3, or on Saturday, October 28 or November 4. Voters are almost evenly…
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State Elections This Fall: What to Watch
by David J. Toscano (This column was first published in Fights of Our Lives!) Halloween is right around the corner and many Americans are considering whether skeletons and hobgoglins should adorn their homes and how their children will dress for this spookiest of holidays. But other scary events are also upon us, in the form…
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Hatred of Jews at UVa – A Pot Brewed in the Faculty Lounge Boils Over
by James C. Sherlock Israel was attacked by Hamas on October 7. On October 8, this letter was issued in Charlottesville. “Events” were “a step towards a free Palestine.” On October 11, President James Ryan issued a strong message condemning the savage Hamas massacre in Israel. He deserves credit for that, but has not gotten…
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Campaign Finance Reports Show the Party of the Rich Is Outraising Republicans
by Jeanine Martin As usual the party of the rich, Democrats, is outraising Republicans in the commonwealth election scheduled for November 7th. The September financial reports for all candidates and committees can be found here. If things don’t turn around in the next three weeks Republicans will have a difficult time flipping the State Senate and…
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Youngkin Team Cautious Despite Revenue Surge
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Virginia’s state budget grew 90% in the past decade, far faster than in previous decades. After adjusting for inflation and population changes, spending still jumped 4% each year, a high rate of compound real growth. At the same time, the…
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The Benefits of School Choice and the Risks in the November Elections
from Liberty Unyielding The debate over school choice has tended to focus on whether students learn more as a result. But learning improvements from school choice are probably smaller than improvements in other dimensions, such as civic participation, law abidingness, and family stability later in life. Jason Bedrick of The Heritage Foundation notes that “School-choice…
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Why are the Poor Still Paying for Dominion Wind?
by Steve Haner Virginia’s new electricity bill subsidy program for customers of Dominion Energy Virginia has cleared its final hurdle at the State Corporation Commission and will begin enrolling participants in time for this coming winter. It is largely following the schedule previously outlined. In a final order issued October 13, the Commission set the…