As the General Assembly convenes today, Delegates Richard “Dick” Black (R-32) and Joe May (R-33) each have more than a dozens bills they want to see pass.
During the two-month legislative session, Black plans to introduce House Bill (HB) 188 to adjust the allocation of highway funds “to be more favorable for Northern Virginia,” he said. Currently, the state distributes funds according to a formula with 70 percent for vehicle miles traveled, 25 percent for primary road lane mileage and 5 percent for primary road need.
“The new one distributes money on vehicle miles traveled per lane mile. It focuses on the density of traffic,” said Black, who serves on the Courts of Justice, Education, Privileges and Elections, and Transportation committees. “If it were enacted, it would shift funding to areas where there is a high density of traffic.”
HB 139, as Black proposes, will change the state’s allocation formula to help increase Northern Virginia’s share of education funding. Under the bill, the state will pay an additional 3 percent a year until the state carries 35 percent of funding required under the Standards of Quality. Currently the state’s share is 28 percent.
Black’s Canadian drug bill, or HB 190, will allow Virginia to purchase for its state employees low-cost prescription drugs imported from Canada. Black introduced the bill in an effort to drive down prescription and health care costs. If the bill passes, Virginia will join at least 13 other states in a grass-roots rebellion against the Federal Drug Administration’s prohibiting the importing of prescription drugs.
“It begins to break down the trade barriers that prohibit importation of drugs from overseas,” Black said
Black is proposing several other bills addressing “family values,” he said. One of the bills, if passed, will require abortion clinics to provide statistical information on abortions performed. Another bill will propose reestablishing subsidized housing restrictions of the Virginia Housing Development Authority.
“Up until this year, we had a rule in place that said that anyone receiving public housing assistance had to be married or blood relatives,” Black said. “The governor changed the regulations in order to address homosexual activists who wanted taxpayer assistance. What my bill does is restore the family rule.”
MAY, WHO serves on the Appropriations, Science and Technology, and Transportation committees, is proposing a house bill that would make the failure to use a seatbelt while driving a primary offense instead of a secondary offense. “It will be one of my higher profile ones,” said May, whose bills had not been assigned house bill numbers by last Friday.
Another of May’s bills addresses impact fees, an amount developers are required to pay for each housing unit they build in order to help jurisdictions cover new infrastructure costs. Both Clarke and Loudoun counties requested May submit such a bill, a request that the new Loudoun Board of Supervisors has since rescinded.
May proposed a bill to address identity theft by requiring the removal of all but the last four numbers of social security numbers from public documents. In addition, May proposed four bills for various university programs to allow universities to take to market the products they produce in laboratory settings. “It’s an effort to make us more competitive,” he said.
May expects the legislative session, which is scheduled to end on March 13, to be a “marathon session because of the financial considerations we have to give to raising revenues and where we’re going to spend them,” he said, adding that after cutting $6 billion from the state’s budget, “We felt we were done. … This is the toughest financial situation we have faced in the 11 years I’ve been in session.”
IN RESPONSE, Gov. Mark Warner (R) proposes increasing the cigarette and gasoline taxes, adding one cent to the sales tax and increasing fees to help raise $1 billion in new tax revenue in the next two years.
“If we can get through this year, we don’t need additional taxes,” said Black, adding that he hopes the state avoids increasing taxes this year. “The economy will generate a great deal of new revenue next year, so we can rely on revenue growth to fund roads, schools and things we need. If we can just get through this year, we won’t need those taxes in coming years.”
Black pointed out that Virginians pay 40 percent of their total wealth in local, state and federal taxes. “I’m just not anxious to see a higher percentage,” he said.
However, the shortfall in the state’s budget cannot be addressed by cutting spending further, May said. “We have to increase the revenue,” he said.