The following is from Delegate Dave Marsden (D-41st). Dave will be available at 4 PM tomorrow (Tuesday) to answer your questions. Please feel free to leave them here starting right now. Thanks!
This year's General Assembly session adjourned on Saturday, February 24th. We were fortunate not to have a budget deadlock this year and we made great progress in funding our core priorities: education, public safety and health care. As well, we took a terrific leap forward for mentally retarded and developmentally disabled Northern Virginians by providing waiver slots that will allow those individuals to access the services they need to lead "a life like yours". With this investment, fewer of Northern Virginia's parents will find themselves with the agonizing decision of either leaving their communities or sending their children to other parts of the state to receive the services they require.Transportation continues to be a challenge for us. A transportation bill, albeit flawed, passed both houses of the General Assembly and Governor Kaine is currently in the process of amending it. I am optimistic that he will provide us with a viable piece of legislation that will both meet our needs and be fiscally responsible. I have supported moving the process of finding a transportation solution forward at each turn. The funding provided by House Bill 3202 is insufficient and sustainability of these funds is in question. But these are both problems that we can fix working together during the upcoming veto session and next year. We cannot fix next year our failure to start this year. Our quality of life depends on us taking action now. I will continue to support Governor Kaine's efforts to make this bill work for Northern Virginia and get our traffic moving.
One of the most significant legislative achievements for me this year was changing Virginia's "once an adult, always an adult" law. Currently, if a child 14 years of age or older is transferred to adult court, he merely has to be "treated or tried" in that adult court to be considered an adult for all subsequent offenses. For example, a child transferred to an adult court for auto theft and found to be innocent would be an adult for life all subsequent charges. This is fundamentally unfair because it penalizes the child by putting him or her in jeopardy of facing incarceration with adults for something as minor as shoplifting. This has been one of the rare occasions where what was originally thought of as "get tough" legislation has been rolled back in deference to common sense and effective treatment of children. Word of this legislation has spread through the National Juvenile Justice Coalition and youth advocates have been very encouraged by its passage. I'm thankful that we'll be doing better by our children with HB 3007 as law.My Green Buildings Bill (HB 2656) was the most aggressive offered in the General Assembly this year as it held construction of state buildings to the LEED Silver standard. Many in the sustainable development and green building community were excited about this bill as well as others being introduced this year. The Administration was anxious get a bill passed this year and asked that I roll mine into Delegate Adam Ebbin's bill which was then referred to the Housing Commission. We moved the ball on this issue a few yards further down the field and I'll continue to be an advocate for doing what's both environmentally conscious and fiscally responsible. Green buildings save money!
I introduced a bill (HB 2663) this year to hold the lawn care industry accountable for broadcast spreading pesticides and fertilizer on hard surfaces such as sidewalks, streets and driveways that our children often play on. They do this to save time and the result is that chemicals wash directly into our water systems and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. This common sense bill met furious opposition from the Agribusiness Council, even after I acknowledged their initial concerns and addressed all of them in an amended bill. The bill was defeated on a straight rural-urban split, with rural delegates apparently yielding to pressure from that powerful industry in their districts. After I calmed down from having been upset by this utter disregard for the health of our Bay, I called a meeting of every conceivable industry and government agency that is affected by this form of water pollution. It was a successful meeting and all the stakeholders agree this is a practice that must be stopped. We are reconvening the group in August and I expect to hear about the progress these groups have made. If I do not, you'll be hearing a LOT more from me on this issue. Amazingly, for the first time in recent memory, my lawn service managed to keep their products on my grass instead of distributing them on the sidewalks and street in front of my house. I strongly encourage you to monitor your lawn service and that of your neighbors so we can do our part to stop this as well. If we can't do this kind of simple, common sense, no-cost adjustment to the way we operate, I'm terrified for the long term health of our Bay.
Thank you Lowell for this opportunity and I look forward to everyone's questions.
The challenge for Governor Kaine is to amend the bill or provide an amendment in the nature of a substitute that enough House Republicans can live with. This will not be easy because many of them have made the disastrous decision to sign "No Tax" pledges. These pledges are severely limiting the General Assembly's options in setting responsible policy. Because of these pledges, they have committed us to long term borrowing and forcing taxing decisions to regional collaborations, which are tenuous at best. The interesting thing is that as he travels the state, Governor Kaine has been finding a great deal of willingness on the part of Virginians to pay more in order to adequately address this problem. Those experiences would seem to contradict the Republicans's contention that the people don't want to pay more for transportation. If that's the case, the Governor has a laundry list of options that he can employ to raise the necessary revenue. My preference is for a broad financing plan that doesn't overburden any segment of the population.
My question is about what other environmentally friendly measures are coming up. Either that you hope to introduce or that you've heard others are considering. Even if you're not at liberty to disclose specifics I'd love to hear that more is on the way.
An angle I'm particularly interested in is what Virginia could do in terms of incentives (most likely tax break related) to encourage individuals to invest in green friendly solutions such as hybrid cars, home solar panels, energy efficient appliance upgrades, and home insulation improvements. Given that Republicans hate taxes anyway, is there any chance of getting tax breaks for such green personal investments?
And thanks for blogging with us!
Just this past session, we saw bills pass the House that provided net electric metering (which incentivizes solar panels) and a tax holiday for energy efficient appliances. Of course, here in Northern Virginia we have been extremely successful in encouraging the purchase of hybrid vehicles by allowing them in HOV lanes, to the point that unfortunately we've clogged our HOV lanes with them and have had to add restrictions. One of the really exciting and I think unanticipated consequences of this has been that hybrid cars have become trendy, further spurring demand.
I believe there have been tax credits available for home improvements that increase energy efficiency, but I'm unsure as to how that has worked. Thanks for that suggestion, I'll look into that further with an eye towards next year.
Ward Armstrong may be the best strategist in our caucus. He is clearly one of the most gifted defenders of caucus positions we have when he stands up on the floor. Along with Ken Melvin from Portsmouth, I think we have the most effective one-two punch for conveying our positions in the legislature. Ward will bring far-ranging strategic planning that will be witnessed on the House floor every day. I believe that we are putting together a caucus leadership team that will give us a great boost towards reaching the majority, starting next November. This is all about having our vision for Virginia prevail over that of the Flat-Earth caucus in the Republican party. Make no mistake about it, the House Democratic caucus is committed and resolved.
-Dave