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General Assembly Update
January 31, 2010
Dear Friends:
As
the 2,000+ bills work their way through committee and if
passed, onto the Senate floor, the General Assembly is
preparing to deliberate the budget in the money committees.
To bridge the $4 billion shortfall, there is talk in the halls
about the possibility of tax increases. Governor
McDonnell has made it abundantly clear that he would not
support any general tax increases and would veto any bill that
contained a tax increase. The House has carried out the
Governor’s stance by defeating former Governor Kaine’s
bill that replaced the car tax with a 1% income tax surcharge,
without a single negative vote. With job creation as a
means for stimulating economic development in Virginia,
raising taxes is inconsistent with this goal. I have
heard from many of you, and placing the burden of covering the
shortfall on your backs is not a popular idea. Rest
assured, I will not support a general tax increase. If
you watched Governor McDonnell’s remarks following the
President’s State of the Union address last Wednesday, you
know that the Governor offered a positive vision for America
based on job creation, development of alternative and
renewable energy, and reduced government spending and
interference as we struggle to jump-start the economy.
The
two energy bills that I am carrying for Governor McDonnell,
Senate Bills 600 and 601 will be heard in the Senate Finance
Committee this coming Tuesday. These bills forward the
Governor’s agenda to make Virginia the energy hub of the
east coast, which is the also the vision I outlined in the
Virginia Energy Plan in 2006. I was pleased to join the
Governor at his press conference last week, where he announced
his legislative priorities. I also joined the members of
the Conservative Caucus at their press conference last week,
where the bills the Caucus is endorsing were unveiled.
One of my bills the Caucus is supporting is the Governor’s
SB 601, which states that any royalties from offshore natural
gas and oil that Virginia receives (should we ever be allowed
by the federal government to explore for and recover domestic
resources off our coast) will be split as follows: 70%
to the Transportation Trust Fund, 20% to the Virginia Coastal
Energy Research Consortium and 10% to affected coastal
localities for improvements to infrastructure and
transportation necessary for support of the offshore natural
gas and oil drilling industries. With monies going to
transportation, research and development of offshore projects,
job creation and infrastructure development, this bill is a
win-win. The Commonwealth of Virginia supports offshore
efforts and the City of Virginia Beach supports offshore
efforts. Now, we need the federal government to support
offshore exploration and drilling off our coast. I would
ask that, if you are of like mind and believe we should have
the opportunity to find and recover our own domestic energy
resources instead of spending $700 billion per year to import
foreign oil, you write to Congressman Nye and Senators Warner
and Webb to ask that they support this initiative at the
federal level.
My
Senate Bill 398, the Water Safety Zones bill that beefs up
Homeland Security patrols on our waterways, passed the Senate
and has been communicated to the House of Delegates for
action. You can follow the progress of my bills, or any
other bills of interest, through the General Assembly website:
http://legis.state.va.us.
Last
week I had the pleasure of greeting visitors from home who
came up to discuss a variety of issues with me and to advocate
for organizations in which they participate. Among those
were visitors from several of Virginia Beach’s Catholic
Churches, including St. Matthew’s, St. Gregory’s and Holy
Spirit on Catholic Advocacy Day; folks from Chartway Federal
Credit Union on Credit Union Day; and constituents
representing the Arts, the Virginia Auto Dealers, the
Commissioners of the Revenue and the Chamber of Commerce.
Finally,
I am receiving a large volume of mail from many of you
regarding your concerns about Medicaid cuts and how these cuts
will affect both patients and jobs at our local hospitals,
including the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters,
which we are so fortunate to have in our area. I can
only stress to you that Medicaid is the most critical part of
the state budget, as for every dollar cut we actually lose $2
due to the federal matching funds. Although I had hoped
to be appointed to replace Sen. Ken Stolle on Senate Finance,
that did not happen. So, I have no direct impact on the
budget items that will be hashed out in Finance—only one
vote, up or down, on the final budget as presented.
However, I will most certainly talk to my colleagues who do
serve on the committee to emphasize the importance of
maintaining the Medicaid funding level.
I
hope you will contact my office with any concerns you may
have. I depend upon you, my constituents, to keep me
informed on the issues of the day. If you visit the
Capitol, please come by Room 312 to say hello.
Sincerely,
Frank Wagner
Contact
Information Jan. 13, 2010 – Mar. 13, 2010:
804-698-7507-Richmond
Office
District07@senate.virginia.gov
PO
Box 396, Richmond VA 23218
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