Bacon's Rebellion

Meanwhile, Over in the House of Delegates….

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by

James A. Bacon
in

According to Kiran Krishnamurthy at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Medicaid and transportation are the top legislative priorities in the House of Delegates.

House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, says that Medicaid, which accounts for 12 percent of the General Fund budget, needs a top-to-bottom reform just like welfare did. Krishnamurthy quotes Howell as follows:

Lawmakers “kind of blew up the [welfare] model and started over, and I really think we have to take a look at Medicaid in that same kind of sense,” he said, mentioning health savings accounts and HMOs for Medicaid participants as possible avenues.

On the transportation side, Howell says he will have “a very full package,” with an emphasis on generating revenue through tolls.

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6 responses to “Meanwhile, Over in the House of Delegates….”

  1. James Atticus Bowden Avatar
    James Atticus Bowden

    Del. Phil Hamilton is in charge of the study group for Medicaid reform. Don’t know how broad or narrow their charter is. I haven’t heard any news from the study yet.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Glad to hear they’ll be taking on Medicaid, but I don’t envy the inevitable demagoguery. On the tolls they’ll face the opposition of the VA branch of AFP. It’ll be a good test of their organizational strength.

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Where’s the abuser fees package? Will that be coming up again? I felt like that was an excellent way to get money to Dave Albo’s lawfirm.

  4. JamesRiverGOP Avatar
    JamesRiverGOP

    Yeah, Albo’s abuser fee bill will be back. But it’s no way to really fund transportation needs.

  5. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    JamesRiverGOP, I think you miss the point of increasing the fines for reckless driving. The revenue flow would be miniscule compared to the size of VDOT’s budget. The reason it makes sense to crack down on reckless drivers is that they contribute disproportionately to traffic accidents. And traffic accidents, especially on Interstates and other arterials, cause the worst incidents of congestion. Enforcing a message of “drive safely” not only makes the roads safer, but it is a weapon against traffic jams.

  6. AWCheney Avatar
    AWCheney

    Perhaps they could use some of the revenue produced by these fines to produce bumper strips for all police patrol cars throughout the Commonwealth which say, “Speed limits ARE NOT a suggestion!”

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