Category: General Assembly
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Judge Declares Redistricting Amendment Invalid; Democrats Proceed Nevertheless
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A Tazewell circuit court judge has ruled that the attempt by the General Assembly Democrats to amend the state constitution to allow for a redistricting of Congressional districts this year is invalid, both on unconstitutional and statutory grounds. He based his ruling on three issues: Legislative rules of procedure—The original resolution establishing…
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SCC Staff Offers Grim Predictions on Virginia Clean Energy Law
by Steve Haner Dominion Energy is likely to miss its Virginia Clean Economy Act targets, and in a decade, the financial penalties of that law will begin to pile up on the company’s ratepayers, a State Corporation Commission (SCC) staff assessment has concluded. “…despite building 17.5 gigawatts (“GW”) of solar and 3.4 GW of wind,…
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Virginia CNBC Ranking Legislative Analysis – Structural Decline
by Chris Saxman Over the weekend, I was asked by a Virginia business leader how the first week of the General Assembly Session was going. This is my reply. At the outset of EVERY Session, there are bills that are dropped in that, to say the least, grab headlines. With social media these days, it’s…
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Bill Would Let Progressive Legislators Pick most of the Virginia Parole Board
by the Liberty Unyielding staff Does any other state do this? Let progressive legislators — rather than the governor — pick most of the members of its parole board? That’s what Virginia is about to do. On January 23, a Virginia Senate committee voted to do just that. It approved a bill, SB60, to expand…
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Revenue Hungry Democrats Fill a Buffet Table of Tax Bills
by Steve Haner Governor Abigail Spanberger so far is no more clear on her tax and spending priorities than Candidate Spanberger was, but her fellow Democrats in the General Assembly are laying out a smorgasbord of tax increase options for her. Would she like a major “tax the rich” approach? Start with Delegate Vivian…
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Bill Would Effectively Abolish Life Without Parole
by the Liberty Unyielding staff When Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021, Virginians were assured that it wasn’t needed, because the worst murderers could be given life sentences without the possibility of parole. But soon, even the worst killers could be released. Legislation has been introduced to allow all prison inmates serving long sentences…
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Keep RGGI Tax Off Customers? Good Luck With That
by Steve Haner Virginia Democrats are so eager to reinstate a carbon tax on Virginia’s electricity producers that there are now three pathways active to accomplish the goal: a bill, a budget amendment and a motion filed with the Virginia Court of Appeals. There is also discussion in the most recent Inside Climate News report…
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Touching the Third Rail: A Legislative Pay Raise to $45K
An amendment to the introduced state budget, proposed by Senator Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, adds $2.1 million to the Legislative Department plan for the second year (fiscal year 2028). Explanation? This amendment provides $2.1 million GF the second year to increase the salary of the members of the General Assembly to $45,000 a year…
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Is There a Doctor in the House?
Part 1: Medical Directors by James C. Sherlock The active presence of the medical director in a nursing home is vital to maintaining the quality of care. By overseeing medical practices, implementing care policies, ensuring compliance with professional standards, and, if required, butting heads with facility administrators and owners, the medical director plays a crucial…
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Keeping up With Mamdani, Part II
Publicly owned housing is such a roaring success that Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, wants to create more of it.
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“Free” Heat Pumps the Rest of Us Will Pay For
by Steve Haner A free heat pump for thousands of Virginians who are now using oil or propane to heat their homes, paid for by Virginia’s general population of electricity ratepayers. That is the goal of legislation that passed its first hurdle in a House of Delegate subcommittee Tuesday on a bipartisan vote. House Bill 2 is the…
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Keeping up with Mamdani
Like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, some Virginia Democrats want to achieve “affordability” through rent control. by Hans Bader In Virginia, some legislators want to give local governments the ability to impose cumbersome rent controls on housing. That’s a mistake. Rent control killed multifamily housing construction in Maryland’s most populous county. Getting rid of…
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Big Brother Update
Surveillance of some… Senate Bill 84: “Authorizes state and local law-enforcement agencies to place and operate pedestrian crossing violation and stop sign violation monitoring systems in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk speed corridors for purposes of recording pedestrian cross and stop sign violations.” But not of others… Senate Bill 83: “Requires the…
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Alternate Estimates of Battery Bill Cost Still Tens of Billions of Dollars
by Steve Haner A federal renewable energy laboratory’s public website on the cost of building utility battery storage indicates the cost now being paid by Virginia’s two major utilities is well above the average. Predicting future costs is always iffy, but the National Laboratory of the Rockies website does that, too. In earlier posts, Bacon’s…