Category: Regulations, Gov’t Oversight
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“No Kill” Bill Returns to Reignite Animal Wars
By Steve Haner Another attempt to impose the “no-kill” philosophy on Virginia’s animal shelters is pending in the Virginia Senate, sponsored by a rural Republican who is the great champion of that (so-far) failed cause. After a long subcommittee hearing Thursday, his bill was put back in the shelter pen to await its fate for…
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Odd Bedfellows: Trump and Northam Administrations Combine to Protect Virginia’s Menhaden
By DJ Rippert Cats and dogs sleeping together. The long running saga of the General Assembly and Omega Protein vs. environmentalists and the Virginia Marine Fisheries Commission (VMFC) took a major turn recently. Our General Assembly (buoyed by campaign cash from Omega Protein) sought to use inaction to thwart the VMFC’s scientific management of a…
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Lawmakers Coddling Hospital Monopolies
by Jim Sherlock My last essay, “Runaway Costs and Hospital Monopolies,” discussed the fact that Virginians who get their health insurance at work and through the Affordable Care Act website pay the highest premiums in the country. We traced those costs to a number of sources, including the Certificate of Public Need (COPN), Virginia Department…
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Virginia Likely to Avoid “Marijuana Legalization Trap” in 2020
By DJ Rippert Reefer madness. Virginia is notably lagging most other states in marijuana reform. Across America recreational marijuana is legal for adults in 11 states and legal for medical use in 33 states. Twenty-five states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. In Virginia marijuana is illegal, criminalized and unavailable for medical…
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Poll Showing Majority Support for COPN Is Meaningless
by James A. Bacon A new Mason-Dixon poll of 625 registered voters commissioned by the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) finds that Virginians prefer to keep the Certificate of Public Need program by a three-to-one margin. “Overall, nearly two-thirds of Virginians (62 percent) express support for the current health care delivery system with COPN…
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Analysis: Only Assembly Can Impose Carbon Tax
By Steve Haner It is illegal in Virginia for a petroleum wholesaler to arbitrarily reduce the amount of product it provides to retailers. The General Assembly has intervened in that marketplace, probably for the reasonable public purpose of preventing price gouging. Regulating the sale of fuel for some other purpose should also require action by…
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Rate Case Bill Offers Repentence to Legislators
By Steve Haner Sinners! The hour of redemption is at hand! For years now some of you have deprived your fellow Virginians of a fair hearing in front of the judges set above them. To deny justice is among the worst of abominations, but a chance for salvation has appeared. Yes, I am talking to…
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Marijuana Decriminalization in Virginia: Issues and Recommendations for Regulators
By Don Rippert Ready, fire, aim. In Virginia, it seems likely that the Democratic Party’s control of the General Assembly and Governorship will result in decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. This legislation will likely be passed in the 2020 session and go into law next summer. But what are the details of decriminalization?…
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Virginia marijuana reform: Outlook for 2020
By Don Rippert Cannabis certitude. The seemingly inexorable march toward legalized marijuana in the United States continues unabated. A poll of 9,900 American adults conducted by the Pew Research Center from September 3 – 15, 2019 found that 67% of the respondents thought cannabis should be legalized. That’s five percentage points higher than Pew’s last…
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Ignore the ROE Decision. Dominion Gets It All.
By Steve Haner After a long, expensive and contentious legal battle producing a huge case record, the State Corporation Commission left Dominion Energy Virginia’s authorized profit margin unchanged Thursday. The return on equity figure did not go higher, as the utility demanded, and did not go lower, as just about everybody else involved in case…
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Northam Appointee Opposes DEV’s Green Tariff
By Steve Haner Is Governor Ralph Northam now on both sides of the electricity retail choice issue? Having sent a strong signal weeks ago that he would oppose 2020 legislation creating competition for all customers, his administration has now intervened in a regulatory dispute asking to protect competitive choice for 100% renewable electricity. You are…
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Getting Serious about Flooding
by James A. Bacon Everybody talks about the weather, as the old saying goes, but nobody does anything about it. Well, here in Virginia, people are getting serious about one aspect of the weather — flooding. Last week Governor Ralph Northam issued an executive order, the Virginia Flood Risk Management Standard, to encourage the “smart…
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Omega Protein Exceeds ASMFC Catch Limit of Menhaden
by Don Rippert What, me worry? Omega Protein has admitted exceeding its menhaden catch limit for 2019 in the Chesapeake Bay. Omega Protein, a Houston-based company and wholly owned subsidiary of Cooke, Inc, a Canadian firm, operates a fishing fleet based in Reedville, Va. Employing about 300 Virginians, Omega Protein has been mired in controversy…
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Orsted Drops Projected OSW Capacity Factors
By Steve Haner The company that will partner with Dominion Energy Virginia to build a massive offshore wind farm off our coast has just cut the energy production forecasts for its own facilities, sufficient to lower its profit margins and drop its stock values. “Our models weren’t sophisticated enough,” Orsted’s chief financial officer is quoted…
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Northam Opposes Coming Retail Choice Bill?
By Steve Haner Governor Ralph Northam is quoted in a Standard and Poor’s Market Intelligence news article Friday as opposing any efforts to change Virginia’s electricity regulations, which presumably would include the 2020 retail choice proposal gathering steam in the background. Reporter Michael Copley wrote about Friday’s state solar and wind power purchase agreements and…