Category Archives: General Assembly

You May Pay A North Carolinian’s Coal Ash Costs

Posted on February 11, 2019 by | 16 comments

An illustration of the coal ash de-watering and treatment process at Bremo Bluff power station, which is now out of favor. Source: DEQ website.

The cost to Dominion Energy Virginia customers for recycling coal ash or moving it into more secure landfills is growing, because the proposed bill now recognizes that Dominion’s North Carolina electricity customers cannot be forced to pay by the Virginia General Assembly or the State Corporation Commission.

This phrase has been added to the current substitutes for House Bill 2786 and Senate Bill 1355: (v) any such costs that are allocated to the utility’s system customers outside of the Commonwealth that are not actually recovered from such customers shall be included for cost recovery from jurisdictional customers in the Commonwealth through the rate adjustment clause.  

Dominion Energy North Carolina’s customers in the northeastern part of that state depend on Virginia-based generation, including those coal plants, but the General Assembly so far seems fine with billing us for their share of these costs.  Why?  Absent that the company’s shareholders might have to pay it.   Continue reading →

16 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly

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State Cap on Deductions Added To Tax Bill

Posted on February 9, 2019 by | 10 comments

The compromise income tax bill hailed for preventing a tax policy train wreck in Virginia includes one new provision not included in earlier bills, not mentioned in any of the Republican press releases and not yet included in any fiscal impact statements.  Democrats wanted it.

It is yet another departure from the new federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  The bill maintains a formula to reduce or cap itemized deductions known as the Pease limit.  TCJA removed the Pease limit at the federal level but the substitute tax bill voted on in committee Friday restores it at the state level.   Continue reading →

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Posted in General Assembly, Taxes

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Senator Confesses to Post: 72 Years of Blackface

Posted on February 8, 2019 by | 15 comments

The media gauntlet outside the Virginia State Senate Friday morning.

To: Nomination committee, 2019 Pulitzer Prizes. I know somebody will be winning your prestigious award for the deep and insightful reporting we’ve all seen in Virginia over the past week. To finish out the most amazing week in my 35 General Assembly sessions, I have enjoyed the following example of the fine trade of journalism, which I once practiced myself.

I am in possession of a copy of the following email string and would be pleased to share it. Keep reading until you see the Virginia State Senator’s response. I’m sure the prize is now won. The following initial email apparently went to all 140 members of the Virginia General Assembly (and perhaps uncounted local officials statewide).

Subject: Blackface/The Washington Post   Continue reading →

15 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Media, Race and race relations

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Virginia’s Two-Faced Democrats

Commentary - Posted on February 8, 2019 by | 14 comments

A very bad week. One can only assume that Virginia’s Democratic Party is very happy to see this week draw to a close. The Democratic Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General are facing deep scrutiny over revelations that came to light this week. While the specifics of each scandal remain hazy the sudden evaporation of moral outrage from fellow Democrats is crystal clear.

Northam: the expendable man. Govenor Ralph Northam was the first to fall under a thick cloud of disrepute as pictures from his personal page in his med school yearbook surfaced with people dressed in blackface and Klan outfits.  Democrats moved quickly to condemn Northam and call for his resignation.  Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner were joined by the Virginia Black Caucus, former Governor McAuliffe, national Democrats and (most interestingly) Attorney General Mark Herring in calling for Northam’s resignation. Appearing in blackface is intolerable they all wailed in unison. Blue Virginia touted the calls for Northam’s resignation as proof of the ” … VAST moral difference between Virginia Democrats and Republicans …” Continue reading →

14 Comments

Posted in Commentary, General Assembly, Governance, Politics, Scandals, Uncategorized

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Tommy Norment’s Turn in the Yearbook Whipsaw

Posted on February 7, 2019 by | 22 comments

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 1968, presumably just after the “Norment yearbook” was published.

Full disclosure. The VMI 1968 yearbook included a statement authored by Norment in his position as an editor. His missive included the somewhat ironic line, “Work on the Bomb has permitted me to release four years of inhibitions.”  Hmmm …  Maybe sometimes remaining inhibited isn’t such a bad thing.

Judgement lapses. While it’s fair to debate whether including pictures of white people in blackface in a 1968 yearbook was a lapse in judgement or a sad practice of the day, Mr Norment has been no stranger to continuing controversy.  He was charged with DUI, attempted to chase reporters off the senate floor (where they had worked for a century), exposed as a customer of the adultery website Ashley Madison, and had an inappropriate “relationship” with a lobbyist. Norment hasn’t faced a competitive election in three senate campaigns but still receives large campaign contributions from “the usual gang of suspects”.

— Don Rippert

22 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Money in politics, Politics, Race and race relations

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Virginia Voters Should “Clean House” this November

Posted on February 7, 2019 by | 25 comments

State of affairs / affairs of state.  Multiple scandals have rocked Virginia’s state government this week.  All three of our state’s top officials stand accused of substantial wrongdoing.  Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have admitted to dressing in blackface during their college / medical school days. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is being accused of sexual assault.  The stories have become national news – read the New York Post article here. Given this chaos one wonders how the good people at Amazon feel about their decision to put one-half of their new headquarters in The Commonwealth of Virginia. I’m guessing we’ll hear more about that in the near future. In the meantime, Virginians need to ask two key questions – how did we get here and what can we do about it.   Continue reading →

25 Comments

Posted in Education (K-12), Elections, General Assembly, Politics, Public corruption, Scandals

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ACP Cost Bill Passes House With Bipartisan Vote

Posted on February 6, 2019 by | 5 comments

Five House Democrats joined 35 House Republicans in voting against the legislation reinforcing the State Corporation Commission’s authority to decide just how much captive electricity customers must pay once the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is supplying Dominion Energy Virginia generators.

Delegate Lee Ware’s House Bill 1718 passed Tuesday with 57 positive votes, 42 from Democrats and 15 from Republicans, including Ware. The bill now moves to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, which has proven a challenging environment for bills Dominion does not want.  Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, General Assembly

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TCJA Remains A Big Revenue Gain for State

Posted on February 4, 2019 by | 18 comments

Neither the House nor Senate Republican tax plan returns more than half of the TCJA windfall.  The House GOP does propose to set aside another $517 million in the first year for some form of added tax relief, to be determined later this year.

The tax relief proposals advancing in both the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate return at most half of the estimated additional state revenue created by the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) over six years.

As Virginia leaders have debated what to do about the situation, all have been working off an estimate of the additional revenue provided by an outside economic consultant last year.  It projected $1.2 billion in the first two years and more than $4.5 billion in the first six years as the addition revenue Virginia would collect from conforming to the TCJA, absent changes in Virginia tax policy.  Continue reading →

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Posted in General Assembly, Taxes

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Updates: ACP Customer Charge, M&T, Competition

Posted on February 2, 2019 by | 9 comments

The following updates three pieces of legislation previous featured on Bacon’s Rebellion. Each headline links to the previous posts for background.

SCC Review of Customer Pipeline Costs

Two legislators flipped their votes from subcommittee and voted no in the full House Commerce and Labor Committee, but legislation to reinforce State Corporation Commission authority to review the costs of natural gas pipelines survived on an 11-8 vote.

Delegate Israel O’Quinn, R-Bristol, and Margaret Ransone, R-Northern Neck, had supported House Bill 1718 but reversed themselves in the full committee vote Thursday afternoon.  Ransone complained that she was now confused about the impact of the bill.  Even more curious, new House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Springfield, abstained, which normally indicates a financial conflict of interest.   Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Taxes

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SCC: RGGI To Cost Dominion Customers Billions

Posted on February 1, 2019 by | 39 comments

Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which would require the state’s utilities to pay a carbon tax on their fossil fuel power plants and to reduce operation of those plants, might cost the ratepayers of Dominion Energy Virginia $3.3 to $5.9 billion over the first decade, according to a State Corporation Commission staff estimate.

During a House of Delegates subcommittee hearing a week ago, a member of the SCC staff told legislators that joining RGGI would add $7 to $12 to the monthly bill of residential customers. He provided no details that day and a request to the SCC’s communications staff didn’t produce clarity.   Continue reading →

39 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly

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General Assembly Acts to Curb Evictions

Posted on January 31, 2019 by | 4 comments

by Richard Hall-Sizemore

Virginia has made another “top-10 in the nation” list. But this one is not one to be celebrated. Last spring, using national eviction data, researchers at Princeton University released eviction rate rankings of large cities in the United States. Cities in Virginia comprised five of the ten cities with the highest eviction rates. Those were Richmond (2), Hampton (3), Newport News (4), Norfolk (6), and Chesapeake (10). By going down a little further on the list to no. 15, one would find a sixth Virginia city, Virginia Beach.

These findings sparked a flurry of activity and commentary in the Richmond area, including Bacon’s Rebellion. The Center for Urban and Regional Analysis of VCU’s Wilder School set up a program, RVA Eviction Lab, similar to the Princeton program that produced the national report, to examine issues related to eviction in Richmond and has recently released a series of reports.

Perhaps most significantly, the General Assembly and the Governor have swung into action. Shortly after the Princeton report was issued, the Virginia Housing Commission took up the issue. The Housing Commission is one of those permanent legislative bodies established by the Code of Virginia for examination of specific areas. Its membership is drawn from both houses of the General Assembly. The commission recommended legislation dealing with about six primary issues. Those bills were introduced in both houses with a bipartisan set of chief patrons. So far, most of the bills have encountered no opposition, having been passed unanimously by the original houses in either their original or amended forms. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Housing, Poverty & income gap

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House, Senate Tax Policy Shootout Starts

Posted on January 30, 2019 by | 9 comments

The Best Friends of the Taxpayer Face Off

The numbers to remember as the Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate start voting on income tax conformity bills, perhaps beginning tomorrow, have nothing to do with the hundreds of millions of dollars on the table or the millions of taxpayers waiting to file returns.

The key numbers are 32 and 80.

With an emergency clause on one of the two House bills, scheduled for debate Thursday, and on the only Senate bill that came out of committee today, a full 80 percent of the members of either chamber need to vote yes or they fail.   Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Taxes

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20th Century Tax Meets 21st Century Economy

Posted on January 30, 2019 by | 14 comments

Click for clearer view. The revenue table from the state fiscal impact statement on the internet transaction sales tax bills, about $1 billion over six years.

Both chambers of the General Assembly are on the verge of passing bills expanding the duty to collect state sales tax to internet retailers selling into Virginia, a once controversial idea that is generating far less heat than before but is still hitting resistance.

Senate Bill 1083 and House Bill 1722 still have a few differences that need to be ironed out as the session proceeds, and are proving to be a great example of that famous law of unintended consequences.  Uber Eats, of all companies, is worked up about the bill.  Orbitz keeps expressing concern.   Continue reading →

14 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Taxes

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Bible Teaching Should Be a Local, Not a State, Issue

Posted on January 29, 2019 by | 15 comments

I may be an atheist, but I believe the Bible to be the greatest work of literature in Western Civilization and, thus, the entire world. No person can style himself literate without at least a passing knowledge of its contents and the great themes it explores. Even secular humanists who reject the Bible as the word of God owe a vast debt to the ethical teachings expressed in the New Testament. Most humanist values can be traced directly back to the sayings of Jesus, whose values were rooted in the Judaic tradition of the Old Testament.

That said, SB 1502, submitted by Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson, is a terrible idea.

The bill would require local school boards to offer an elective, for-credit course on “the Hebrew scriptures/Old Testament of the Bible of the New Testament of the Bible or a combined course on both.” The courses, the bill says, shall not favor or promote hostility toward any particular religion or religious perspective. Continue reading →

15 Comments

Posted in Education (K-12), General Assembly

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A Rack Of Increases Coming To Your Electric Bill

Posted on January 28, 2019 by | 39 comments

More rate adjustment clauses (RACs) on your power bill than points on this buck? Soon.

Here they go again, using your electric bill to pay for government spending programs and blurring the distinction between utility costs and taxes.

Everybody heard Thursday about that new coal ash management program adding to the pantheon of rate adjustment clauses (RACs) driving up electricity bills.  Later in the day, with far less notice, a House of Delegates subcommittee approved yet another RAC and allowed potentially major new costs to inflate an existing one.

Continue reading →

39 Comments

Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Taxes

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