Judged by the volume of significant legislation passed, this has been a productive session for the House of Delegates. I have major quarrels with the transportation-financing scheme the House wants to adopt, as I have illuminated in numerous posts. But there are other bills that might actually do more good than harm. These descriptions come from a summary issued by the Speaker of the House at cross-over. (My comments in italics.)
HJ 18. Transportation Trust Fund. Marshall, R-Prince William). Passed 96-0. Locks up the Transportation Trust Fund by a Constitutional Amendment securing funds dedicated for transportation cannot be diverted and can only be used for transportation purposes. Remember the constitutional amendment for Transportation Trust Fund? Let’s hope the Senate sees eye-to-eye with the House and can get this passed.
HB 2314. Tolls on Interstates. Lingamfelter, R-Prince William. Passed 76-22 Allows the Commonwealth Transportation Board to impose and collect tolls for the use of any component of the Interstate Highway System, with the proceeds to be deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund and allocated by the Board. If this enables congestion tolls for the purpose of optimizing Interstate capacity and encouraging alternatives to Single Occupancy Vehicles, it’s a good thing. If it’s used just another revenue-raising tool, it’s a bad thing.
HJ 723. Eminent domain. Bell, R-Albemarle. Passed 67-30 Protects Virginians’ property rights by amending the Constitution to establish what constitutes a taking of private property for a public use in response to the 2005 Kelo v. New London case. Prohibits eminent domain use for economic development, increased tax revenue or job creation purposes. Eminent domain is justified when it’s for a legitimate public use; it’s a bad thing when used to increase the tax base — as in Kelo-style decisions.
HB 2954. Eminent domain. Bell, R-Albemarle. Passed 87-10 Safeguards individual private property rights by defining “public use” for eminent domain purposes, restricting it from being used to generate tax revenue. Same as above. I would note, however, that some private-property advocates say this bill does not do enough. I don’t know enough about the issue to have an informed opinion.
HB 2311. Charter schools. Lingamfelter, R-Prince William. Passed 90-8 Establishes Public Charter School Fund for the purposes of establishing or supporting public charter schools in the Commonwealth to stimulate the development of alternative public education programs. This falls far short of the major shake-up we need for public education, but at least it would introduce a modicum of innovation to our sclerotic system.
HJ 729. Universal Pre-K. Cox, R-Colonial Heights. Passed 92-4. Directs JLARC to study the effectiveness and performance results of the Virginia Preschool Initiative and evaluate the cost and effectiveness of universal pre-kindergarten programs. Subject Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s Universal Pre-K initiative to a little cost-benefit analysis before rolling out the idea statewide. Good idea.
. Saving the bay. Callahan, R-Fairfax. Passed 99-0. Provides new, innovative and flexible funding options for $500 million in grants for the installation of nutrient removal technologies at specified publicly owned water treatment plants as part of House Republican’s ongoing commitment to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. Sounds like a good idea. Virginia needs to show flexibility and innovation in finding cost-effective ways to clean up pollution.
HB 2708. Electric restructuring. Hugo. R-Fairfax. Passed 98-0 Requires the electric utility provider to enter into an agreement to purchase any excess electricity generated by an eligible customer-generator upon the request of the customer. Excellent idea in the abstract. Key questions: Should customer-generators get paid retail or wholesale rates for their electricity? Why impose a 0.1 percent cap? One tenth of one percent is insignificant — that’s less than the increase in electricity demand Virginia experiences in one month. I acknowledge that we should proceed cautiously in order to maintain the integrity of the power distribution grid, but 0.1 percent seems awfully small.
HB 2198. Medical records. Nixon, R-Chesterfield. Passed 97-0. Facilitates increased and improved usage of electronic health records systems throughout the Commonwealth by requiring interoperability. This is way overdue. But it’s only a first step. The interoperability extends only to state agencies. The Commonwealth needs to convene a task force that sets standards (voluntary, perhaps) that would enable all health care providers to share medical records.
There’s a whole lot more — including some worthwhile pieces to Speaker William J. Howell’s massive transportation compromise bill, which I have described in previous posts — but these are the provisions that I deem worthwhile.