UPDATE: As expected, all of the voting rights bills have been defeated. UPDATE 2: Also as expected, the repeal of the "marriage" amendment has been defeated. The vote was 6-1 against, with Norfolk Del. Algie Howell the only one in favor of letting the bill go to the full committee. UPDATE 3: Tracy Thorne-Begland was … Continue reading On the GA docket today
My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Thursday. The report (pdf) which sparked my interest was prepared for the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. In my research, some of which appeared in my op-ed last week, I was struck by the fact that Virginia ranks 48th in per capita Medicaid spending while being … Continue reading ICYMI: The clear benefits of expanding Medicaid
In his State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday night, Governor Bob McDonnell touted his record of restoring rights to those convicted of non-violent felonies and called for a process to automatically restore those rights. From his prepared remarks: While we have significantly improved and fast-tracked the restoration of civil rights process, it's still an executive … Continue reading The face of voting rights legislation
On the eve of the opening of the General Assembly session, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday his plan for providing funds for transportation. Grabbing the headlines was the plan to eliminate the gas tax and replace it with an .8 cent increase in the sales tax. Both taxes are regressive, meaning they hit the folks … Continue reading McDonnell introduces transportation proposal
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government recently reviewed how many clicks it takes for a citizen to get to the budget on his or her locality's website. It seems few make the budget available on just one click. In Norfolk, for example, it takes 5. But that's not all that VCOG looked at. They tried … Continue reading Clicks to budget
The debate on uranium mining in Virginia is destined to be a part of the General Assembly session, which opens Wednesday. The Virginian-Pilot had a front page story today about it. Included with the story is a list of the Hampton Roads lawmakers and their stances on lifting the ban, as follows: Against mining Undecided … Continue reading Uranium debate coming
My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Thursday. The recent release of a report on Virginia's fiscal health, one of six states reviewed by the State Budget Crisis Task Force, starkly lays out the challenges that the state faces going forward. Perhaps the most important piece of the review came in the summary … Continue reading ICYMI: Virginia’s many budget challenges
LG Bill Bolling does not support arming teachers. Perhaps he really is considering an independent run for governor. Moves like this could make him an attractive alternative to Ken Cuccinelli. But would Bolling run just to spite him? He certainly could get the moderate Republican vote. But he still has a long way to go … Continue reading Mr. Independent strikes again!
My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Wednesday. The General Assembly session starts soon and in this short session, I look at a few topics which will likely dominate the discussion - or, at least, the headlines. When the General Assembly is in session, the emphasis is supposed to be on policy as … Continue reading ICYMI: Transportation, mining and more
Congratulations to the newest delegate from Norfolk, Daun Hester. In a low turnout special election Tuesday, Hester won 93.5% of the vote. The seat in the 89th House district became vacant when former occupant, Kenny Alexander, was elected to the Senate to fill the remaining term of Yvonne Miller, who died in July. Hester will … Continue reading Congratulations, Del. Hester!
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 