Press Release
Lieutenant Governor Bolling's 2008 Legislative Agenda
Thursday, January 10, 2008
EDUCATION
* 65% Solution - HB 60 (Frederick) - Over the past ten years, state funding for public education has doubled. During this same period of time, enrollment in Virginia's public schools has increased by just 10 percent. Unfortunately, we have not always invested our education dollars in the best possible way. For example, almost 40% of Virginia's educational expenditures are directed to the central office, as opposed to the classroom. This must change. By requiring that at least 65% of our educational dollars be directed to the classroom, we can redirect more than $400M a year in existing educational dollars to important priorities like increasing teacher pay, reducing class sizes, and improving textbooks and other curriculum.
PROPERTY TAXES
* Homestead Exemption - HJ 4 (Albo) - In recent years, rapid increases in residential property assessments have resulted in significant increases in real estate taxes. These rapid tax increases have made it difficult for many Virginia families, particularly senior citizens on fixed incomes, to pay their taxes and remain in their homes. To reduce this tax burden, Virginia should enact legislation to allow localities to exempt up to 20 percent of the value of residential or farm property that is the owner/occupant's primary dwelling from taxation. A constitutional amendment (SJ 354, 2007) to accomplish this has already cleared its first hurdle, having secured the first of two constitutionally required approvals by the General Assembly. If approved again by the General Assembly this year, this Constitutional Amendment will appear on the election ballot in November of 2008.
* Real Estate Tax Notifications - HB 1009 (Hugo) - I support legislation to require local governments to notify taxpayers of the specific impact that property reassessments and the adoption of revised real estate tax rates will have on their individual taxes before these revised tax rates can be adopted. Under current Virginia law, real estate taxes cannot increase as a result of a reassessment. Current state law requires that the tax rate be reduced, or "rolled back", to make certain that total tax collections are not more than 1 percent greater following a reassessment than they were prior to the reassessment. Unfortunately, many localities subsequently adopt a tax rate that is less than their prior tax rate, but more than the required "rolled back rate." They then try to make property owners believe that their taxes have been decreased, when in fact their overall tax burden has increased. This legislation will prevent this type of hidden tax increase and provide transparency in the assessment and tax process.
* Burden Of Proof In Tax Appeals - HB 602 (O'Bannon) - To level the playing field between homeowners and local government, I support legislation to shift the burden of proof to the locality when an individual property assessment exceeds 20 percent in a single year. Under current Virginia law, if a homeowner objects to an assessment against their property the burden of proving that the assessment is excessive rests with the homeowner, as opposed to the local government enacting the assessment. This is a very difficult burden for a homeowner to meet, and as such, it is very difficult for a homeowner to successfully challenge an excessive assessment.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Legal immigration has always been an important part of the fabric of America and always will be. While I support legal immigration, and efforts to make it easier and simpler for people to come to our country for legitimate reasons like getting an education or finding a job, I oppose illegal immigration. While dealing with the problem of illegal immigration is primarily a federal responsibility, there are steps that state governments can take to help address this problem. Because of my belief that illegal immigration is a major problem facing Virginia, I will support the following legislation for consideration by the General Assembly this year:
* Confirmation of Legal Presence - HB 103 (Albo) - Requires that all local law enforcement officials, upon lawful arrest for a crime, confirm a person's legal presence in the United States using the nationwide databases of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This will streamline and strengthen statewide immigration enforcement.
* Jail Immigration Training - HB 441 (Rust) - Requires that at least one person on duty in every jail at all times has been certified under federal 287(g) authority. This change means that, upon a positive identification of an illegal alien, there will be a person with federal authority readily available to detain that person and begin deportation proceedings as soon as they have served their sentence.
* Presumption of No Bail - HB 47 (Cole) - Creates a presumption of no bail for any person who has been charged with an offense punishable by jail or prison time and who has been determined (through ICE databases) to be illegally present in the United States. This will help prevent "catch and release" activities, one of the primary ways criminal illegal aliens currently pass through existing government systems unchecked.
* Suspension of Business License - HB 926 (Byron) - Makes a federal conviction for hiring illegal aliens grounds for suspension of a business license issues by the Commonwealth of Virginia. This will serve as an effective deterrent to the unlawful hiring of illegal aliens.
* College Admission - HB 14 (Peace), HB 123 (Hargrove) - Prohibits illegal aliens from attending Virginia's colleges and universities unless they have a valid student visa. Recognizing that college entrance slots are limited, this change will preserve state benefits for Virginia citizens and their families.
HEALTH CARE REFORM
One of the major health care issues currently facing Virginia is the rapidly increasing size and cost of our Medicaid program. During the upcoming biennium, it is estimated that Medicaid costs will increase by $200M without any corresponding increase in services. We must continue looking for ways to reduce Medicaid spending. To accomplish this goal, I support legislation to:
* Implement the remaining recommendations of the Medicaid Revitalization Commission. These reforms, intended to control costs and streamline the delivery of services, include Enhanced Benefits Accounts for Medicaid recipients, Electronic Health Benefit Cards, increased use of electronic health records and the implementation of a web-based claims submission system.
* Provide financial incentives to primary care physicians to encourage them to increase the number of Medicaid patients they treat and provide similar incentives to hospitals with primary care physician practices on hospital grounds. By doing this access will be improved and the use of costly Emergency Room care will be reduced.
MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
As a result of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech in April of 2007, various state agencies have undertaken a detailed review of Virginia's mental health system to determine where improvements should be made. I support implementing the following mental health care reforms recommended by the Virginia Tech review panel:
* Standard for Involuntary Commitment - HB 559 (Bell) - Refining the standard for involuntary commitment, making it more understandable and comprehensive, including criteria for those persons who evidence a likelihood of future danger to self or others. This change will end the deficient application of the current standard of "imminent danger to self and others," ensuring that the most serious cases of mental illness will be handled correctly and not fall through the system.
* Mental Health Commitment Hearings - SB 75 (Cuccinelli) - Requiring a representative of local Community Service Boards (CSB) to attend all mental health commitment hearings. Enacting this change will clarify the current intent of the Code of Virginia, and ensure that this critical step in the commitment process has sufficient accountability.
* Crisis Stabilization Center - Budget Amendment - Expanding the number of crisis stabilization centers throughout the Commonwealth to improve access for those patients in greatest need.
* Mental Health Records - HB 782 (Kilgore) - Amending current Virginia law relating to the confidentiality of mental health records in accordance with the recommendations of the Virginia Tech review panel.
While a primary focus of my 2008 Legislative Agenda has been avoiding the implementation of new programs with a fiscal impact or expanding the size and cost of existing programs, I do believe that significant additional resources for mental health care reform are warranted in the upcoming biennium to help address these issues.
CAMPUS SAFETY
Following the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech in April of 2007, Governor Kaine appointed an independent commission to make recommendations on steps that should be taken to better prepare our colleges and universities to respond to a tragedy of this nature. I have chosen to include the following recommendations of the commission in my 2008 legislative agenda:
* Early Warning Notification Systems - SB 538 (Obenshain), HB1449 (Crockett-Stark/Nutter) - Require every college and university in Virginia to design and implement a first warning notification and emergency broadcast system for their students, faculty and staff. Such systems would be activated in the case of emergency, and would rely on web site announcements, email notices, phone/cell/text messages, alert lines, PA systems and other means of communication.
* Threat Assessment Teams - HB 1449 (Crockett-Stark/Nutter) - Require every college and university in Virginia to have a threat assessment team that includes representatives from law enforcement, human resources, student and academic affairs, legal counsel, and mental health functions. These teams would be empowered to take actions, conduct additional investigations, gather background information, identify additional dangerous warning signs, establish a threat potential risk level, prepare a case for hearing, and disseminating warning information.
ABUSIVE DRIVER FEES
During the 2007 legislative session, the General Assembly approved legislation to increase fines and penalties against drivers who commit the most serious traffic related offenses. Unfortunately, it has since become apparent that the legislation inadvertently applied the abusive driver fees to a number of less serious traffic related offenses, and the Governor's amendments, which exempted out of state drivers from the abusive driver fees, made the legislation terribly unpopular. Both of these problems with the legislation are unacceptable. In addition, a recent report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission reported that the fees have not generated anywhere near the $60M a year they were initially projected to generate. Because of these deficiencies, it is my belief that the abusive driver fee legislation should be repealed, and I will support legislation during the 2008 legislative session to repeal these fees. I am pleased to report that Delegate Lacey Putney, Delegate Mark Cole and Senator Ken Cuccinelli have agreed to introduce legislation calling for repeal of the abusive driver fees. Other legislators will most likely introduce similar legislation.
STATE BUDGET
* Governor's Budget Recommendations Governor Kaine has recently released his budget recommendations. Unfortunately, the Governor has made a number of recommendations that are not in the best long term financial interests of the Commonwealth.
In the current fiscal year the General Assembly should stand in strong opposition to the Governor's recommendation to remove $261M from the state's savings account, or rainy day fund, to help eliminate an ongoing budget shortfall. In addition, the General Assembly should resist the Governor's recommendation to redirect $180M that had previously been earmarked for transportation construction to other government programs.
In the 2008-2010 biennial budget, the General Assembly should revise the budget to reflect more modest economic growth in the 2010 fiscal year and make certain that adequate resources are available to pay for the $3B in new bond projects the Governor has proposed.
* Abstinence Only Educational Programs - Budget Amendments (Cuccinelli) - Earlier this year, Governor Kaine unilaterally eliminated $275,000 from the state budget that had previously been allocated for abstinence only educational programs. This money, combined with $275,000 in federal matching funds, provided the resources necessary to run five abstinence only educational programs in various parts of Virginia. At a time when teen sexual activity and teen pregnancy rates are at crisis levels, eliminating this funding makes no sense. I will therefore propose a budget amendment to restore this funding.
SECOND AMENDMENT
* Protect Confidentiality of Concealed Carry Permit Holders - HB 982 (Nutter) - In 2007 a regional newspaper published the names and addresses of various persons in their area who had obtained a lawfully issued concealed carry permit. The paper showed very poor judgment in doing this, but their actions vividly demonstrate the need for legislation to protect the confidentiality of concealed carry permit holders. Therefore, I will support legislation during the 2008 General Assembly session to prohibit the discovery of any personal identification information under the provisions of Virginia's Freedom of Information Act for persons who have obtained a lawfully issued concealed carry permit.
GOVERNMENT REFORM
* Gubernatorial Succession - HJ 37 (Purkey) - Virginia is the only state in the nation that limits its Governor to one term in office. I believe that this diminishes a Governor's ability to oversee long-term change. I therefore support legislation to allow a Governor to seek re-election to a second four year term or extend the Governor's term of office to six years, as opposed to four years.
* Establish An E-Budget Web Site - HB 1360 (Cline), SB 585 (Cuccinelli) - The Virginia state budget is currently posted on-line, but citizens can only obtain very general information about budget expenditures, as opposed to detailed and specific information. To better enable citizens to understand how their tax dollars are being spent, I support legislation to require the Commonwealth to design and implement a budget website that displays a clear, detailed and understandable issue level budget.
* Cost Recovery for Zoning Appeals - SB 519 (Watkins) - Under current Virginia law, citizens can appeal an adverse land use decision by a local governing body to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and ultimately to the Circuit Court. However, if the citizen prevails in such appeals there is no mechanism for them to recover the costs they incur as a result of the appeal. Because these appeals can be very expensive, the lack of a cost recovery process serves as a deterrent to citizens in appealing adverse zoning decisions, even if those decisions adversely impact their private property rights. To correct this, I will support legislation to enable citizens to recover the costs associated with such appeals from the local government if their decision is reversed by either the Board of Zoning Appeals or the court.
* Allow voters to Register by Political Party and Close Primary Elections - HB 20 (Lingamfelter) - Party registration is essential to maintaining the integrity of the party nomination process. Simply put, Republicans should decide who the Republican candidates are and Democrats should decide who the Democrat candidates are. Through party registration, all candidates will be able to more effectively identify voters and efficiently communicate with them.
For additional information contact Randy Marcus at 804-814-7117 (cell) or randy.marcus@ltgov.virginia.gov.
