Category: Virginia

DMV to collect titling fee

According to The Virginian Pilot, HB649 passed the Senate yesterday on a 39-0 vote. The bill would shift the burden of collecting the new 1% car titling tax fee, imposed by the last year's transportation bill, from the car dealers to the DMV. The change required by HB649 would increase collection costs for the DMV … Continue reading DMV to collect titling fee →

45

Congratulations to Al Pollard, who won the special election held today in the 99th House district. With this win, the Democrats now have 45 seats. From the DPVA: "Albert's win tonight is just one more sign that Virginians are looking for the kind of commonsense leadership our Democratic candidates are offering," said DPVA Executive Director, … Continue reading 45 →

Oh, no they didn’t!

Last Friday, the House P&E committee killed HB38, the bipartisan redistricting bill. I understood that Del. Jim Scott planned to try to revive the bill this coming Friday at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Rather than wait until Friday, I'm told that the committee called a meeting Monday afternoon with 15 minutes notice to hear … Continue reading Oh, no they didn’t! →

Proposed budget amendments presented

The House and Senate presented their proposed amendments to the governor's biennial budget on Sunday. The remarks of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Lacey Putney can be viewed here (pdf) and those of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Colgan can be viewed here (pdf). I had a chance to chat with House conference committee member Johnny … Continue reading Proposed budget amendments presented →

Friday update (02/15): Verifiable voting

Weekly update of my legislative agenda issue. Also in the House P&E subcommittee on Elections this morning were some verifiable voting bills. I'm told that SB69, which would have allowed absentee voting without any reason, failed. SB62, which deals with registration receipts, passed the subcommittee as well as the full committee but was referred to … Continue reading Friday update (02/15): Verifiable voting →

Voting: why not reprogram the machines?

A couple of letters to the editor today in the Virginian Pilot raise the issue of privacy in voting [1, 2]. I'll ask the same question I asked back in 2005: given that we have computerized voting machines, why can't they be programmed to allow the voter to choose whether they want a Republican or … Continue reading Voting: why not reprogram the machines? →

Redistricting bill dead

By a 3-2 voice vote this morning, the House P&E subcommittee on Elections killed SB38, the bipartisan redistricting bill that passed the Senate last week. An attempt by Del. Jim Scott to have the bill heard by the full P&E committee was shot down on a 10-8 vote, which I understand was also unrecorded. Too … Continue reading Redistricting bill dead →

Opinion, please: Republicans voting for Obama

I've been hearing about Republicans crossing over and voting in the Democratic primary for Obama. Since I didn't witness such behavior at my own precinct while I was there (and, in fact, my precinct captain called me later in the evening to say he hadn't seen any of the usual Republicans at our precinct), I … Continue reading Opinion, please: Republicans voting for Obama →

ALERT: House P&E subcommittee Friday 7AM!

The House P&E subcommittee on Elections meets Friday morning at 7am. On the schedule are a number of bills that I have been following, including bipartisan redistricting, verifiable voting, absentee ballots and recount procedures. These bills have already passed the Senate. It is critical that we contact the members of this committee and ask for … Continue reading ALERT: House P&E subcommittee Friday 7AM! →