Bob and I have always figured our readership was in the mid two figures. Apparently, according to a new survey reported on NLS, more of you are reading than we thought. Thanks.

This afternoon, the House Commerce & Labor Committee reported Sen. Colgan’s minimum wage bill. This was the last minimum wage bill alive for the session. More information as it comes available . . .

UPDATE

The final vote was 12 – 8, with Democrats Ken Plum, Joe Johnson, Johnny Joannou, Ken Melvin, Ken Alexander, Mark Sickles, and Jenn McClellan spearheading the effort. They were joined by Republicans Bob Purkey, Bob Tata, Vince Callahan, and Frank Hargrove in a series of procedural votes that set up the final vote. On the vote to report, Chairman Harvey Morgan also voted yes.

This was a case of Democrats knowing the rules and using them. It’s a real victory for working Virginians.

(NOTE: Our 7 West neighbor, Delegate Mark Sickles, offers his analysis of the funding mechanism for the transportation plan the House passed this week. Bottom line: “it is very bad transportation policy.”  What do you think?)

The majority leadership transportation plan approved by the House of Delegates is commendable for allowing, for the first time, the two hottest economic corners of the Commonwealth to provide for themselves in order to make up for years of underinvestment in public infrastructure.  As good as the Northern Virginia bipartisan plan is, it provides little more than half of the needed construction funds to build our constrained 2030 plan if the revenues are approved by all nine local jurisdictions. 

Northern Virginia still needs a robust statewide plan to fill the statewide maintenance backlog so that construction funds under existing programs are no longer siphoned off the top for repaving roads.  The bill that passed the House raises the lion’s share of the new statewide funds from a “commitment” in perpetuity of $250 million annually from “General Fund” income, corporate, and sales tax revenues.  Until now, almost all of the money spent on transportation has come from “Non-General Fund” sources, meaning user fees and dedicated transportation taxes. 

The often heard opposition to using general funds for transportation comes from the fear, not irrational, that education re-benchmarking, or nursing home care, or Medicaid waivers, or natural resources, or public safety will be shortchanged in the future competition with transportation for scarce funds.   

The bigger worry, however, is that it is very bad transportation policy.  In good economic times like these, taking $250 million off the top for transportation may not do significant harm to vital state programs.  We can prioritize with greater overall state revenue—in theory, there will be more for everybody. 

What happens with the next economic downturn?  It is much more likely that transportation will be cut before touching K-12 education, or Medicaid reimbursement (since we already rank 48 of 50), or cost of living adjustments, or the number of prison guards.  Transportation spending will certainly be first up on the chopping block, since—as we have impressively proven—investment can be delayed.  The costs of delay simply show up later in quality of life measures as we continue to grow in the shadow of the Nation’s Capital. 

Finally, without new, reliable, sustained sources of dedicated revenue, it will be hard to plan and execute our transportation future.  The General Assembly’s commitment to $250 million will only be known with the passage of each two-year budget.  Our six-year plans, if we assume the revenues, will once again not be worth the paper they are printed on.  How can you build a reliable long term transportation program using a two-year budget?  In 2000, the General Assembly tried to use general funds with disastrous results.  The economy went sour.  All of the general funds were pulled out of the six-year program and the state had to sell nearly $1 billion in debt, simply to prevent total chaos.  Even with the new debt, the program was cut by 27 percent or $2.7 billion in 2002.

It is conservative, and often preferable, to provide public services with user fees when you can.  (Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is wholly funded by non-general funds known as hunting and fishing licenses.)  If we adopt the House bill, it will mark the beginning of the abandonment of a conservative policy that served Virginia and all other states well for decades.  Unfortunately, our collective elected leadership has, for the last 21 years, simply allowed our non-general funds to be eaten away by inflation while that Commonwealth has grown by two million people, and the number of Virginia drivers has increased by 74 percent.  I hope we can enact a plan that puts the entire state on solid footing for the next twenty years, and not simply a bill to get us through the November elections.

Third grade is tough. It’s the year that children stop learning to read and start reading to learn.

That’s why it’s so important to ensure that all children read on grade level by third grade. Virginia has had a terrific program to do just that. Studies show that providing struggling readers with just 30 minutes a day more of reading instruction will help them catch up. That’s a smart investment. 

To date, the Commonwealth has paid 100 percent of the cost of providing remediation to all students in kindergarten. But at grades one and two, only half the students were covered.

Yesterday, the House adopted a budget amendment that cut the funding to extend those services to all the little struggling readers. 

The reason? Third grade reading test scores are going up.

Well, yeah. The third grade reading scores are going up because of the early reading program.

Compare the cost of a little prevention with the costs–both human and financial–of a kid repeating a grade. This wasn’t smart public policy.

When last we visited the subject of Virginia’s enormous diversity …

Here’s further proof. The issue was Del. Ed Scott’s HB 2635, which provided “that a person who maliciously removes an electronic radio transmitting collar from a dog is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor; however, if the animal wearing the collar is lost or killed as a result of the collar theft, the person is guilty of a Class 6 felony. ”

Now, I love dogs as much as the next person. But it seemed to me (and to many other suburbanites) that we really shouldn’t create a felony for someone who removes those little collars that keep Fluffy from running into the street.

Well. Turns out those are radio receiving collars. The radio transmitting collars cost tens of thousands of dollars. Sounds like a felony to me.

As Emily Litella said, “Never mind.” The bill passed 92-6

January 28, 2007

Dear Friends:

Three weeks down, four to go in the Short Session. The pace is picking up as we move toward three milestones: presentation of House and Senate transportation plans, the unveiling of the two houses’ budgets, and, on February 7, Crossover. By midnight on that date, all legislation that is going to make it to the finish line has to have been reported out of its House of Origin. That means long days, figuring out how to be three places at the same time, and probably a weekend session to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday.

One of my regrets is not being able to spend more time with visitors from Area Code 703. My staff and I were pleased to see familiar faces – Sue Zajak, Terri Lynch, Wendy Rahm, David Briggs, Erica Wood, Frank O’Leary, Mike Staples, among many others – as they toured the halls in support of their groups and causes: Arlington schools, retirees, firefighters, the arts, the medical professions community colleges . . . the list goes on and on. While all of the Members would like to be able to give each of these visitors the time they merit after having driven hundreds of miles to present their case, often the most we can squeeze in is a few minutes of hallway time or a hurried conversation waiting for the elevators.

Deck the Walls
The areas outside our offices, where visitors gather, feature bland carpeting and expanses of putty-grey colored walls. The only decoration is the occasional map of a Member’s district, and, on our doors, the seals of the jurisdictions we represent. (Mine has only the Arlington seal; some of the Members who represent sparsely populated areas downstate, containing many counties and small towns, have as many as eight.)

To brighten up the surroundings, we seek artwork from groups back home. This year I asked Denise Phalan, Arlington’s lead secondary art teacher, to provide some works done by Yorktown students. The results are terrific.

Taryn Riley of the Class of 2006 painted “Hanging Objects” (charcoal on paper) during her senior year. It was the Gold Key Portfolio winner in the Scholastic Art Awards last year. Taryn is in her freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis.

Two renderings of the Stars and Stripes, both oils on pastel, make a great backdrop for photographs with visiting constituents.

“American Flag,” by the Class of 2007’s Paul Bohannon, was a regional Gold Key winner in the Scholastic Art Awards.

“Americana,” by Claire Furbush of the Class of 2008, was produced in her sophomore year. Both Paul and Claire are planning on pursuing art in college.

“Boy Chief Exemplar, after George Catlin,” is an acrylic paint on stretched canvas by Alexa Leister-Frazier of the Class of 2006. It was a regional Honorable Mention winner in the 2005 Scholastic Art Awards and a regional Gold Key Portfolio winner in the 2006 Scholastic awards. Alexa is a first year art major at VCU.

Finally, Ting Ting Qian, a Yorktown graduate who now is in her second year at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London, produced two works of acrylic paint on stretched canvas: “Yakity-Yak” and “Gabby.”

Thanks to all of these Yorktowners for brightening our halls!

The Library of Virginia
In 1823, the General Assembly created the Library of Virginia to organize, care for, and manage the state’s growing collection of books and official records dating back to the early colonial period. They located the Library on the third floor of the Capitol. In 1895, a new library was erected on the eastern side of Capitol Square and again in 1940, the library moved into a new art-deco structure where it remained until 1996.That building was renovated and renamed the Patrick Henry Building, and is now home to the Governor’s working offices and, during the Capitol renovations, the House and the Senate.

In 1997, the Library of Virginia moved into a new six-story building across from our offices in the GAB. The new Library houses a comprehensive collection of material on
Virginia government, history, and culture, and is wired and equipped to accommodate the most sophisticated technology. In addition to managing and preserving its collection, the Library supplies research and reference assistance to all state officials and agencies, as well as all of the Commonwealth’s public libraries.

During the Legislative Session, members frequently cross Broad Street to attend receptions held in the spacious foyer of the Library, to shop at the gift store that offers a variety of Virginia-related items, and to view the exhibits on display. This month and until February 3rd, the Library is featuring an exhibit of The Dottie Schick Collection of Political Memorabilia. Dottie, a native Arlingtonian and graduate of Washington-Lee High School, was Chair of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee for many years and went on to serve on the Democratic National Committee. For nearly four decades, many of us have gathered in Dottie’s back yard for the Mason District Crab Feast.What started as a small fundraiser grew to a nationally famous campaign event that drew not only all local elected Northern Virginia Democrats, but presidents, governors, candidates and party hopefuls.

Artwork and the Library of Virginia: that’s your Culture Moment for the week. Now, back to more mundane things like transportation and the budget.

I miss Molly Ivins already.

Here are just a few of my favorite Ivins observations:

“Our very own dreaded Legislature is almost upon us. Jan. 9 and they’ll all be here, leaving many a village without its idiot.”

“If you think his daddy had trouble with ‘the vision thing,’ wait till you meet this one.” (On the Current Occupant of the White House.)

“Unfortunately for us and for the world, the people from the first Bush administration who initially joined this administration were Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Not exactly the most diplomatic, forward-looking, helpful people to be guiding Dubya.”

It was the damn breast cancer that eventually prevailed. As a surviver of the same disease, I always loved her honest description: “Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that.”

Reading the newspaper will never again be as much fun.

The statistics are alarming. The younger the voter, the less likely he or she is to vote.

Over the next four days, I will be working with the government teachers in my district to create a “web dialogue”–a town meeting in cyberspace. This discussion, facilitated by teachers, will bring students into contact with key decision-makers here in Richmond.

Our focus: the budget. I believe that a budget is a statement of priorities. Each year legislators are faced with a series of competing budget needs. Each may be worthwhile, but not all can be funded. The first step in creating a budget is to identify needs and to begin to weigh their relative importance.

Over the next two days (scheduled so all government classes can participate), students will identify needs in three key areas: transportation, education, and human services.

A distinguished group of panelists will serve as experts for the students:
Isis Castro, Member, Virginia State Board of Education; Douglas Koelemay, Commonwealth Transportation Board; and Deborah Oswalt, Executive Director, Virginia Health Care Foundation.

Then on Thursday and Friday, they will grapple with the same issues we are facing in Richmond. How can we prioritize? Do we need additional revenue? If so, from where should that revenue come? Should we expand programs? Cut programs?

The second discussion will include Del. Tom Rust, Del. Bob Brink, and other elected officials, all sharing thoughts on how we make those tough decisions.

Thanks to the Equal Footing Foundation for making this dialogue possible. We hope this dialogue will serve as a national model to involve other legislators across the country in bringing the real world of government into government classrooms.

Dear Friends:

MORNING HOUR

Our days usually start with several hours of subcommittee and committee meetings (some convening as early as 7:00 am). Sessions of the full House customarily open at high noon (on Fridays, when we’re all anxious to get out of Dodge and on the road for the weekend, we often go into session a bit earlier). After a prayer offered by a visiting religious figure, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the roll call, we go into “Morning Hour” (since it’s 12:10 or so by that point, why it’s called “Morning Hour” is an unsolved mystery).

WORDS

Morning Hour consists of procedural motions affecting pieces of legislation that are on the calendar, announcements by Members that his or her seatmate is absent that day due to “pressing personal business,” introductions of constituent groups that are visiting the Capitol, and “Points of Personal Privilege,” which often take the form of brief speeches commemorating notable events or people.

On Monday, the House observed Martin Luther King Day with an eloquent tribute delivered by Richmond Delegate Jennifer L. McClellan. Noting that Dr. King was much more than a great civil rights leader, she praised him as “a noted scholar, prolific writer, peacemaker, humanitarian, consummate pulpiteer, theologian, philosopher, and servant who decided early to give his life to something eternal and absolute.” Delegate McClellan went on to quote Dr. John Kenney, Dean of the School of Theology at Virginia Commonwealth University, who was the principal speaker at an earlier breakfast.

After discussing Dr. King’s dream, Dr. Kenney repeatedly asked the question “Are we there yet?” – “Have we arrived at Dr. King’s destination – the fulfillment of the ‘Beloved Community,’ where people are judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin?” Most of us felt we had come a long way, but the echo of “Are we there yet?” stayed with us.

As of Tuesday, the answer to that question seemed to be, “Umm . . . not quite yet.” Responding to a reporter seeking his views on the advisability of passing a resolution apologizing for the institution of slavery in Virginia, one of my colleagues objected and pointed out that no living person in Virginia was involved in slavery. He suggested therefore that “our black citizens should get over it,” and then compounded the folly by asking, “Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?”

The two events at the beginning of the week – the invocation of Dr. King and the furor over my colleague’s remarks – show the positive and negative power of a public figure’s words. Decades later, Dr. King’s 1963 speech still carries the moral force that moved our nation in a better direction. More recent utterances have demonstrated careless words’ destructive power – damaging the speaker’s reputation and sometimes his career, and casting those he represents in an unfair shadow.

This is the third time in six months that a Virginia politician’s thoughtless comments have put the Commonwealth on the map, on the front pages of newspapers across the nation, and on 24-hour cable networks. Those remarks feed the stereotype of Virginia as just another insular southern backwater and undermine those who believe in a 21st Century Virginia that recognizes, accepts, and embraces its newfound diversity. We’re not there yet.

NOT READY FOR REFORM YET, EITHER
Another procedure of Morning Hour involves reading proposed changes to the Rules of the House for five consecutive days. Last week, I wrote about Delegate Ken Plum’s attempt to add a little sunshine to the legislative process by requiring that bills receive a recorded vote at subcommittee meetings. The majority leadership argued that killing bills in subcommittee has made the process more efficient, winnowing out frivolous bills before they reach the full committee. Delegate Plum pointed out that 615 bills, roughly 30% of last year’s total, were killed without being given much of an audience, and without any recorded votes. Among those were ones that banned smoking in most public buildings and reinstated the use of cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. I guess “frivolous” is in the mind of the beholder. Many citizen groups and newspaper editorial boards around the state supported Ken’s reform proposal, but on Friday the rules change went down by a 39-59 vote.

THERE TO HERE
Several folks (including Arlingtonian Bob Atkins) have asked the most direct way to get to our Richmond office from Arlington. The first part is easy: just get on Shirley Highway and stay on I-95 for about 100 miles (after nine years, every mile marker is engraved in my memory). Once into Richmond, you exit onto Broad Street (Exit 74-C), literally 4 blocks from the General Assembly Building which is on the south-east corner of 9^th Street and Broad. To park, you get in the left lane, overshoot the GAB which is on your left, pass the Library of Virginia which is on your right, and go left on 8^th Street (there is a left turn light) where in the second block you will find several parking garages.

Walk east one block to Capitol Square, and enter the GAB at the doors facing the Square near the ornamental clock. Unless you have the misfortune to arrive at the same time as huge busloads of visitors, security at the door is very efficient – and the Capitol Police are always friendly. Take the elevator up to the seventh floor, and welcome to 7-West. Jean and Sean will greet you at 712-A. We look forward to seeing you!

Until next week –

How to Reach Me:

Voice: 804-698-1048
FAX: 804-643-0976
Session E-Mail: delrbrink@house.state.va.us

Kenton, the prodigy of Virginia bloggers, is at it again. This time, he has posted a map of Virginia’s predominant religions by county.

Take a look. Never again will you ask us, “Why DO those downstate folks vote that way?”