Category: Government Finance
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Northam Would Save Most of Virginia’s New Cash
By Steve Haner Other states are in trouble these days, but Virginia suddenly has about $1.5 billion in free cash flow to use over the next 18 months, Governor Ralph Northam announced Wednesday. About half of it ($750 million) will be placed into reserves or used to improve the financial health of the Virginia Retirement…
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Utilities Face Paperwork Blizzard to Provide Relief
by Steve Haner Virginia utility customers who are behind on their bills in the COVID-19 recession are closer to receiving government payments toward their debts, but there is one more paperwork hurdle that may trip some of them. A few days ago, the Virginia State Corporation Commission completed a preliminary allocation of the $100 million…
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In Memory of Stuart Connock
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A legend in Virginia government passed away this past Sunday. Stuart Connock dominated state government finance in the 1970s and 1980s. Before that, he was the one that Governor Mills Godwin tapped to implement the new sales tax. His influence was felt long even long after he retired. Stuart (everyone who worked…
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Medicaid Enrollment Reaches 1.5 Million Virginians
By Steve Haner Just under two years into Virginia’s Medicaid expansion, and less than one year into a pandemic-sparked economic crisis, enrollment in the program is now about 1.5 million Virginians. Enrollment has grown more than 25% in less than two years and spending more than 30%. The financial impact on state taxpayers has been…
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Stewart Gets Last-Minute Gift From Trump
Peter Galuszka Corey A. Stewart, a conservative firebrand from Prince William County, is getting a last-minute going-away present from President Donald Trump. As Trump’s administration comes to an end, Trump has created a position on trade at the U.S. Commerce Department that is just for him. In 2016, Stewart headed Trump’s Virginia election campaign before…
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More Falsehoods and Malarkey from Clean Virginia
By Steve Haner The big money behind the Clean Virginia activist group was all earned by a Charlottesville hedge fund manager through the great American system of capitalism. That didn’t stop his organization from a recent attack that could have come from Communist Party USA. This one would have made Bernie Sanders blush. Dominion Energy…
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The University of Virginia Eastern Virginia Medical School
by James C. Sherlock With additional information and thoughts generated by responses to my original posts on this matter, I offer this post as a final proposal before the November 15 release of the Sentara-funded “study” of what I call the Sentara Plan for Eastern Virginia Medical school. The nation is short of doctors and…
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Northam’s Tax Hikes Keeping Virginia Budget Afloat
This column was published originally in the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy newsletter. Steve normally re-publishes it on Bacon’s Rebellion himself, but he is volunteering at the polls today, so I am posting for him. — JAB by Steve Haner One quarter into the new fiscal year, despite the ongoing COVID-19 recession, Virginia state…
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Assembly Protected Utilities, Not Other Businesses
First published this morning (with some slight differences) by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. By Steve Haner Now that the Virginia General Assembly’s “Cops and COVID” special session is all but finished, will it be easier or harder for the state’s struggling economy to recover in 2021? It will be harder, probably, except…
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Finally — a New Budget Bill
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The money committees have reported a “conference” budget bill, which the General Assembly will probably adopt either tomorrow or Saturday. The legislature has backed off the earlier contingency appropriations that drew objections from the Governor. As with any budget, there are numerous moving parts. The legislature would capture savings in several areas…
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Budgeting in the Time of COVID
by James A. Bacon When last we read news reports about the ongoing budget negotiations between the General Assembly and Governor Ralph Northam, lawmakers said they were making “progress” but had not yet come to a resolution. One outstanding issue is how much money to put into General Fund reserve funds to buffer against revenue…
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Is DMV Hiding 26% of Virginia’s Fuel Tax?
By Steve Haner The Division of Motor Vehicles website is not honestly reporting fuel taxes in Virginia on that table above. This cannot be an oversight.
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Yes, the General Assembly is Still in Special Session
by Dick Hall-Sizemore It is time to check in on the progress of the endless session of the General Assembly. It is apparent that it was a mistake for the House to meet virtually. If the Delegates had been required to stay in Richmond the whole time, rather than being able to “attend” committee meetings…
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State Spending Outstrips Inflation, Population Growth and Economic Growth
by James A. Bacon State spending has increased rapidly in Virginia over the past decade — by 2.6 % annually — even when adjusted for inflation and a growing population, according to a recently published Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report, “State Spending: 2020 Update.” In Fiscal Year 2020, the budget reached $62.6 billion.
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More Evidence that Virginia is Becoming New Jersey….
by James A. Bacon Governor Ralph Northam is one of seven governors earning an “F” grade for fiscal policy by the Cato Institute in its 2020 “Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors” report. With that score, he enjoys the company of such gubernatorial luminaries as Governors Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Andrew Cuomo of…