Category: Virginia Law
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Home Price Volatility and Virginia Property Taxes
by James C. Sherlock Housing prices have more than doubled since 2012, reflecting shortages of supply and the resulting speculation. The increasing slope of those curves above is not comforting. Prices have soared over 20% in a year. Mortgage rates are up. What could possibly happen next? Most can figure that out. But this article is…
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Richmond Parents and Taxpayers, Welcome to Chicago Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock The gulf between what the City of Richmond School Board (RSB) and the Richmond City Council (RCC) on what will be negotiated with their public unions is actually an ocean. The RSB has authorized the negotiation of virtually everything about how the schools are run. It leaves nothing off the table…
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Still Time to Limit Governor’s Emergency Powers
by Barbara Hollingsworth First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Should the governor of Virginia have the power to unilaterally declare an open-ended state of emergency that indefinitely restricts Virginians’ civil and constitutional rights without a recorded vote by the General Assembly? The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns raised this serious question.…
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Ten Things Democrats Want Taught in Schools
by Steve Haner What are the most important facts to Virginia Democrats about American and Virginia history? Ask individuals and you get a host of answers, but the Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates focused on ten items last week they want to be sure our public schools teach. The context was the floor…
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Virginia Penalties for Battery Against School and Healthcare Personnel are a Problem
by James C. Sherlock Virginia has a law that, having been amended piecemeal over the years, is inconsistent, inflexible and may not provide the protections that lawmakers or potential victims intended. The law is Code of Virginia § 18.2-57. Assault and battery; penalty. A member of the Fairfax County bar has reported that progressive Commonwealth’s Attorney…
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Bureaucrats Are Not Running Amok
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In a couple of recent posts, much has been made of Governor-elect Youngkin’s comments about reviewing regulations. After thinking about this promise and remembering similar promises by former governors, I decided to undertake one of my favorite exercises: poking around in the Code of Virginia a little bit. I found two items…
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BBB Demise Is Also Labor-Rules Reprieve
by F. Vincent Vernuccio Yesterday, Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, gave an early Christmas present to Senators Mark Warner, D-VA, and Tim Kaine, D-VA, by declaring he would not support the $2.2 trillion Build Back Better Act (BBB). Virginia small businesses, job creators, and workers were wary of what the U.S. House passed in BBB, specifically…
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McAuliffe Lets the Cat out of the Bag
by James C. Sherlock Current Virginia law and Terry McAuliffe cannot coexist. “A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent’s child.” Code of Virginia § 1-240.1. Rights of parents. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Terry McAuliffe, Sept 28,…
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Convicted, But Innocent–Emerson Stevens
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In August, Governor Northam granted a full pardon to Emerson Stevens. Stevens had been convicted of killing a young mother of two in 1985 in a small fishing village on the Northern Neck. The pardon was based on evidence that “reflects Mr. Stevens’ innocence.” Stevens maintained from the beginning that he was…
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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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Where Is a Parents’ Bill of Rights for Virginia?
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes, the simplest and certainly one of the best ways for a public official to serve the public is to inform them about things they care about. The Attorney General of Indiana, perhaps the best governed state in America, has just published a roadmap for parents and caregivers to “exercise their…