Tag: Dick Hall-Sizemore
-
COPN Counterpoint
By Dick Hall-Sizemore James Sherlock has been a welcome addition to this blog. He has brought new insights into the area of health care policy. I appreciate his obviously thorough research and arguments. I am a person that likes to look at issues from different perspectives. I think doing so sharpens one’s understanding. Unfortunately, there…
-
And This is How They Will Spend the Money
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Although the General Assembly, as usual, left most of the Governor’s budget bill untouched, it did leave its mark on it. Its top priority clearly was increasing compensation for state employees and teachers. It also toned down some of the Governor’s initiatives. The revised budget bill for the 2020-2022 biennium reflects an…
-
Drugs in Prison
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) finds itself in a classic dammed-if-you-do, damned –if-you-don’t situation. On the one hand, it is facing a surge in illegal drugs coming into its prisons, enabled by drugs that are increasingly difficult to detect. On the other hand, it is facing popular and legislative outrage at…
-
GA Moves on Two Major Issues
by Dick Hall-Sizemore While Steve Haner is doing his civic duty as a poll worker today, I will step in to provide important updates on two issues that have been discussed on this blog: energy regulation and redistricting. First, energy regulation: Dominion has won again. The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee late yesterday killed HB…
-
Finally Catching Up With Bacon’s Rebellion
It has taken a while, but the Washington Post has finally begin to catch on to what Steve Haner and others have been saying about the omnibus energy bill making its way through the General Assembly: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/va-democrats-push-environmental-change–but-still-in-concert-with-dominion/2020/03/01/ed0c634e-5a40-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html
-
More Angst over SOQ
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Although I am not happy about it, I am going to join, at least temporarily, this blog’s critics of newspapers. Today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch has an article that is significantly slanted and ignores an important aspect of the subject being covered. The article deals with the funding proposals in the General Assembly for…
-
Three Bad Bills
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Each session there are bills that are introduced probably with the best of intentions and approved for those reasons, but are basically bad policy and are likely to have unintended consequences. They are not “big” bills and do not generate headlines, but skate under the radar. I want to highlight three that…
-
Higher Ed Bonds, Fees, and Donations
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Almost totally overlooked or ignored among capital projects in the budget bill are those higher ed projects financed with revenue bonds. They are probably ignored because their passage does not affect the state’s debt capacity and tax revenues are not needed for debt service. Nevertheless, they do have an impact on Virginia…
-
Let’s Build Some More!
By Dick Hall-Sizemore This report on the capital budget section of the budget bill is later than I had planned. There is so much going on with the General Assembly this year. I was familiar with the term “like trying to drink from a fire hose.” Now, I know the experience. Debt Because the vast…
-
Earmarks are Back
The capital projects section of the budget bill is often overlooked by the media. That has been especially the case this year, with all the major initiatives brought forth by the Democrats. I am working on one or more submissions dealing with capital development, but, in the meantime, there is one item that deserves a…
-
Democrats Slow Down on Criminal Justice Reform
by Dick Hall-Sizemore As Steve Haner remarked in an earlier post, the changes being enacted by Democrats in this year’s session are on many fronts and more extensive than many observers had anticipated. It is hard to keep up. The same is true in the criminal justice area, but, perhaps to a lesser extent. A…
-
All Aboard!
Governor Northam has proposed a major long-range expansion of passenger rail service in the Commonwealth. The broad outline was released last December and the means to implement it are included in the administration’s omnibus transportation bill (HB 1414 and SB 890). The Plan The details of the plan are too extensive to set out in…
-
The Speaker Has Ruled
Eileen Filler-Corn has begun to flex her muscles as Speaker. This flexing was evident during a tussle on the House floor yesterday. The subject at hand was HB 980, introduced by Del. Charniele Herring of Alexandria. This is the Democrats’ bill to undo many of the abortion restrictions and procedures enacted by Republicans in past…
-
Highway Safety Provisions Embedded in Omnibus Bill
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Included in the Governor’s omnibus transportation bill, discussed earlier here, are some major highway safety proposals that have proved controversial in the past. The administration probably thought the chance of passage would improve if these proposals were wrapped up in a big package with lots of other stuff. The items are the…
-
Some health insurance good news, maybe?
Sen. George Barker and Del. Mark Sickles have teamed up to introduce legislation that seems to be good for consumers. SB 767 and HB 901 tackle the very annoying practice of “surprise” or “balance” billing. This is what happens when you go into surgery, planned or emergency, and your hospital and doctor are in your…