January 13, 2012

 From the Delegate’s Desk

Greetings from Virginia’s Capitol Hill.

This is our first week of the 2012 General Assembly Session. It has been a week of completing legislation deadlines, reviewing a 458 page budget document, and reorganizing committees.

Once again, I am serving on Health, Welfare, & Institutions (HWI) and was appointed vice chairman of a sub-committee. I am also reappointed to Counties, Cities, & Towns (CC&T) and once again chairman of a sub-committee. My third assignment is Science & Technology Committee.

On Wednesday Governor McDonnell gave his State of the Commonwealth Address to the joint Chambers. He honored police, first responders, and veterans, including Officer Deriek Crouse and Trooper Michael Hammer. The Governor indicated he wanted to increase Virginia’s efforts to become “The Energy Capital of the East Coast.” And an increase in funding for K-12 education of $438 million is proposed in his budget to allow a stronger Virginia Retirement System for teachers and school employees. He has laid out an aggressive agenda. As with any agenda it will change when both chambers debate each issue, some items will unanimously pass, others will have opposition. In transportation our budget has $4 billion in new funding for six-year plans and rail projects. I have put in a budget bill requesting $194 million be put into six-year local plans. This has been unfunded too long.

In transportation our first priority, by law, is maintenance of existing roadways. Next we must continue debt repayment on a yearly plan. Our third priority is interstate construction. Then we work on primary, secondary, and urban roads. Secondary roads include those in the counties, while urban roads include incorporated towns. It is secondary roads that I am fighting to reinstate six-year plan funding.

We are still in economically tough times, but our Governor wants us to continue eliminating budget shortfalls, not by raising taxes, but by government reform and reduced spending. We are looking at some tough decisions this session.

We have 260,000 Virginians currently unemployed. Governor McDonnell is asking for $38 million to be targeted to spur job creation.

He spoke at length on education changes. I urge you to visit www.governor.virginia.gov to view the video, hear the audio, or read the text of the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth Address.

I will look forward to hearing the views of my constituents. I have appreciated those who answered our survey and I will base my votes on a combination of your views and values.

I appreciated seeing our local bankers from Southwest Virginia, as well as Debbie Clark of Wytheville Community Hospital, and Blake Edmunds on Bankers Day. It is always nice to see home folks.

This year my legislative aide is John Matthews. My secretary is Judy Miles, and we have a part time intern, Britney Weber.

Beginning next week, I will keep you updated on specific legislation as it comes before the House. Please feel free to write, e-mail or call with your concerns and questions and keep us in your prayers.



January 20, 2012

  From the Delegate’s Desk

Greetings from Virginia’s Capitol Hill.

The 2012 General Assembly Session is in full swing as we wrap up our second week at the Capitol. 

This has been a memorable week when retired Senator and Statesman, the Honorable John Warner, visited the House Chamber. As it turns out, he was there to surprise another Southern Gentleman and the longest-serving State legislator in America (fifty-one years), the Honorable Lacey Putney, who heads up appropriations. I felt honored to be sitting in the Chamber with those two great legislators.

I had several bills come to subcommittee this week.

HB 304 was created to eliminate the DMV $5 fee for transactions made in the local office including license and tag renewal. It was referred to a transportation sub-committee and was defeated. The DMV does not receive general funds, and the $5.00 fee helps meet their funding. I was told it costs $9.50 to serve a customer locally and $3.83 to help a customer by phone or internet. The fees would encourage more customers to contact the DMV by phone or internet, which in turn would cut wait time from 24 to 16 minutes.

HB 308 would have reinstated the production of photo ID’s such as drivers’ licenses in local DMV offices. Currently all Virginia photo ID’s are produced in Danville and have features that help prevent fraud such as raised lettering and a transparent photo. However, the cameras are too expensive to put in 73 locations so the state centralized production to South Side where unemployment is highest to provide jobs. Also, HB 310 ensured that the DMV provided notification to customers concerning the option of listing diabetic status on one’s driver’s license or ID. Those people with diabetes already have the option to call the DMV if they need the appropriate symbol displayed on their license, and I withdrew the bill contingent on the DMV’s voluntary notification to customers and inclusion of the option on license and ID applications.

HB 307 waives the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries usage fee at Rural Retreat Lake Park for land-based recreational activities. I made an effort to include the Big Survey Wildlife Management Area in that legislation. While Rural Retreat Lake is state owned, it is unique in that it is the only county-maintained property in the state and operates through a co-operative agreement with DGIF. Big Survey is operated by DGIF through licensing revenues, such as hunting and fishing, and is one of 39 wildlife management areas in the state. They would not accept the Big Survey amendment because it would set precedent for 38 more areas to ask for an exemption. The fees have been added because there has been so much littering and destruction of property that the $4 user fee will allow the state to have the operating funds for oversight and maintenance. DGIF reminded the committee that it was hunting and fishing license dollars that allowed them to buy Big Survey to preserve as a recreational wilderness.

We had a variety of groups and individuals visiting this week to voice concerns and advocate for and against bills. We were glad to meet with folks from the 6th district. West Hurst and Orrin Agney from Hillsville, and Bob Gary from Galax came by. Dana Chamberlain visited from Marion, and Kara Davis from Salvtille. Rita Phillips, Nathan Houchins, and Emma Cleveland came by from Wytheville, and Becky Hanks from Rural Retreat. I also met with Annie Harvey, the new director of Red Cross for the New River Valley.

I was invited to a 75th anniversary and reception for our Virginia National Guard, which also welcomed home returning troops. John went to breakfast with Virginia Tech, while I joined UVA at the same time. Higher education is always a high priority.

We have put in several 14 hour days this week. Anticipation, concentration, and frustration over legislation are just part of the day. As always, please feel free to write, e-mail or call with your concerns and questions and keep us in your prayers.



January 27, 2012

 From the Delegate’s Desk

Greetings from Virginia’s Capitol Hill.

Things are moving at a quick pace as we move towards crossover.

On the floor of the House this week, we passed a controversial bill to repeal the requirement that young girls entering the 6th grade must receive the HPV Vaccine. There has remained the concern about the rush to require this when it had not been tested for young girls under the age of 15. Researchers who have studied it 20 years still have concerns for its effectiveness and safety for children under fifteen. Only California and Virginia have mandated this drug on young girls. In the past five years the Food and Drug Administration has reported over 20,000 cases of adverse reactions. Most were not serious. However, some were severe. Another reason it has been controversial is that it is not a communicable disease. Unlike typhoid, polio, measles, mumps, etc., it is not caught through casual contact. The House members who voted to repeal it as a mandatory drug simply believe that the HPV vaccine should be a decision made by parents of children and their doctor, not government–mandated. Like all bills which go through the House, this will have to pass the Senate and go to the Governor to pass.

One of my bills has passed the House this week: It was an update on Virginia’s Institutional crisis and emergency plan that I carried after the Virginia Tech tragedy. It was just putting into code that colleges and universities would review and conduct a functional exercise and certify the same to the State Department of Emergency Management. The State wants to assure that we keep our students safe.

We received a letter this week from Congressman Morgan Griffith to let us know that the Cedar Bluff Post Office, which was slated to close, will remain open.

I have also been pleased to sponsor a Resolution for the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America.

This Saturday the General Assembly will meet in Williamsburg at the House of Burgesses. This is done every four years. I am looking forward to it. As I sit on those log benches hewn so many years ago, I like to wonder if I am sitting where Patrick Henry or Thomas Jefferson sat. It is such an honor you have afforded me to serve in the oldest continuous governing body in the United States. 

We had several visitors from the 6th District this week. Billie Taylor, Bennie and Margie Quesinberry, and Helen Beamer stopped by from Carroll County to discuss Farm Bureau issues, as did Archie and Darleyne Atwell, and Patsy Waddle from Smyth County and Eric Crowgey from Wythe County. We also spent time with educators Denise Davis, Kim Aker, and Vic ? of Wythe County, Betty Webb and Thelma Massie of Smyth County, and Trina Crouse, Anita Dalton, and Brenda Collins of Carroll County.  

I do not like to end my news to you on a less-than-happy note but today I must:

Governor McDonnell announced yesterday the following settlement negotiations with our US Dept. of Justice:

In 2008 the US Department of Justice began investigating Virginia’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This investigation included all five state training centers, as well as community-based services. The Department of Justice submitted a findings letter to Governor McDonnell, concluding that Virginia was not providing the most integrated and appropriate services. Virginia, at that time, began good-faith negotiations to reach an agreement to address the findings.

“The Settlement agreement reflects Virginia’s long-term goal of improving treatment for intellectually and developmentally disabled Virginian’s,” said Governor McDonnell. “For decades we have said we ought to move to a community-based system for individuals with developmental disabilities and reduce our dependence on state-run training center, the most costly and restrictive form of services available. In fact, when I was a delegate, I patroned legislation to help set the policy to ensure Virginia was providing the most compassionate, least-restrictive, community-based care for these individuals to ensure their highest possible quality of life.”

Virginia is to provide the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committee Chairmen with a plan to discontinue residential operations at four of Virginia’s training centers. This is in-line with Virginia’s policy of transitioning individuals from institutions to a community-based model of care. The number of training center residents has dropped from 6,000 to about 1,000. Virginia projects to have fewer than 1,000 residents by March 31, 2012, and less than 600 by 2015.

The plan will include 4,170 new Intellectual Disability (ID) waiver slots over 10 years to transition training center residents to community services, and allow slots for individuals in the community who are on the waiting list for waiver slots. Also, the plan is intends to strengthen quality and risk management systems for community services.

Closure plans have been established for the for training centers. Southside Virginia Training Center in Petersburg is set to close by June 30, 2014, Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax by June 30, 2015, Southwestern Virginia Training Center in Hillsville by June 30, 2018, and Central Virginia Training Center in Lynchburg by June 30, 2020. Southeaster Virginia Training Center in Chesapeake will downsize to 75 beds.

I am very concerned with this announcement. I strongly feel that our Southwest Center is not only a beautiful location. It has been staffed with excellent caregivers. It has provided much more than minimum services. Through the past two decades I have gone to events there and seen the wonderful caring relationships. IT IS HOME for some precious citizens in our Commonwealth. I fear the unknowns for them. Southwest Training Center has provided jobs in our district. It has touched us deeply. My one comfort in this is that we have six years for compliance. That gives us room for Hope that things could change and time to do what we must do in a caring way if this plan remains on target.