Tag: General Assembly
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The Budget Clock is Ticking and It is not Getting Any Easier
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Due to economic development announcements and actions by Governor Spanberger, the job of the General Assembly negotiators on the biennial budget just got harder. The Governor has vetoed two pieces of legislation which would have produced revenue that each house had built into its budget. =For the Senate, it was SB 542…
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The Governor Strikes Back
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In addition to previously announced vetoes of high-profile bills with Democrat sponsors (Fairfax casino, skill games, and public employee collective bargaining), Gov. Spanberger has announced her veto of 13 more pieces of legislation. All of these bills were ones for which she returned with requested amendments that the Democrats in the General…
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Roller Coaster Casino Ride
by Jon Baliles The road to a casino in the General Assembly is on a roller coaster ride that is careening down the hill and likely to jump the tracks at any minute. Last week alone, the bill that would allow a casino referendum in Petersburg and block a second one in Richmond until Petersburg…
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After Arctic Blast, Do We Still Want to Californicate Our Grid?
by Scott Dreyer An old saying goes, “You don’t miss the water till the well runs dry.” In modern days that might be, “You don’t miss the electricity till you lose the lights. And heat. And hot water. And wifi. And TV. And microwave. And phone charger. And electric blanket, and The Roanoke Star….” Around…
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Youngkin Delivers Early Christmas Gift
by Barbara Hollingsworth (This column was first published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.) Virginians received an early Christmas present this year. For four years, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy has been strongly urging state officials in Virginia to lighten what has become a steadily increasing tax burden on residents and…
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Finished with the Second Amendment Virginia Dems Now Attack the First (and Sixth)
By DJ Rippert Sticks and stones? Del. Jeffrey M. Bourne, D-Richmond, has introduced HB1627. The bill is entitled, “Threats and harassment of certain officials and property; venue.” The proposed legislation strengthens a series of very questionable laws already on the books. The first few sections of the existing law make it illegal to make threats…
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Omega Protein Exceeds ASMFC Catch Limit of Menhaden
by Don Rippert What, me worry? Omega Protein has admitted exceeding its menhaden catch limit for 2019 in the Chesapeake Bay. Omega Protein, a Houston-based company and wholly owned subsidiary of Cooke, Inc, a Canadian firm, operates a fishing fleet based in Reedville, Va. Employing about 300 Virginians, Omega Protein has been mired in controversy…
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Barbara Favola Makes Disingenuous Statements about Dominion Funding
A clarification has been added to the end of this article. Setup. Barbara Favola is the Democratic State Senator from Virginia’s 31st district. That district is centered in Arlington but includes areas of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties as well. Favola is a politician-for-life having served on the Arlington County Board from 1997 through 2012 and…
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Tommy Norment’s Turn in the Yearbook Whipsaw
Da Bomb. The Virginia Pilot is reporting that Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, Republican majority leader of Virginia’s State Senate, was an editor for a VMI yearbook called The Bomb that printed “racist photos and slurs, including blackface”. The yearbook in question was published in 1968. African Americans were allowed to enroll at VMI in the Fall of…
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Five Virginia Politicians Thwart the People and Democracy in Marijuana Reform Legislation
We the people elite. A number of proposed bills to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana were put forth in the ongoing General Assembly session. These bills were systematically killed in subcommittee by a tiny fraction of the General Assembly. Generally speaking, five Republican Delegates decided that the proposed marijuana reform bills should not…
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Justification for Electricity Rate Freeze Melting?
Is it time to reverse the rate freeze on electricity rates in Virginia? If President-elect Donald Trump revokes the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, Sen. Chap Peterson, D-Fairfax, author of SB 1095, thinks it would be. Two years ago, no one knew what to make of the Clean Power Plan, an Environmental Protection Agency initiative…