By Delegate Rob Bloxom
HI! This is Rob Bloxom with this week’s Capitol Report.
Crossover Day has passed, and I have one more bill to explain.
HB2170.
This is a bill to allow Soil and Water Districts to reallocate funds between districts to allow more agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) to be implemented. This bill passed the House of Delegates and is now heading to the Senate.
Crossover is also when each chamber discloses its spending priorities with adjustments to the Governor’s budget. I had four budget amendments specifically for the 100th District. I had hoped to get the Experiment Station pulled from the planning pool for construction, but I was unable to get that project funded. A large project at Virginia Tech took precedent over other projects. Hopefully if the Senate has other ideas, I can resurrect the hope of getting this project started.
I had better luck with my amendment for permitting and detailed engineering for a natural gas pipeline to supply the industrial needs to Accomack County. I also was fortunate in getting funding for dredging so that large barges with heavy payloads may reach Wallops Island. Another project that has been on my radar is the renovation at the Hare Valley School complex that houses the Eastern Shore Agency on Aging as well as other valuable services that are applicable to the middle of the Eastern Shore. The first two were included in the Senate budget, although at a different funding level. The Hare Valley renovation was not included. It is my hope that all three will be included in the compromise between the two budgets.
I will find out later this week if I am appointed by the Speaker to be a conferee. A conferee is one of six delegates that get to negotiate the budget with our Senate counterparts. I have been a conferee when I was in the majority when there were four Republicans and two Democrats and the minority with four Democrats and two Republicans, so I hope that appointment by the Speaker continues.
The last topic I will discuss this week is the broad array of bills that I group into categories that are being pushed by the Majority. Most government procurement bills show some type of preference for utilizing Union Labor. A lot of bills control wages and put new programs in place such as paid sick leave. These would be a burden on employers to comply with. The Majority party also held onto the Virginia Clean Economy Act which is sure to increase the cost of electricity as the supply does not keep up with the demand. The good news is the Governor will veto all these bills that I consider bad for business and Virginia. The sobering news is that we have elections this fall, and the control of the house and the Governor’s Mansion are in the balance.
Divided government is not a bad thing in my opinion as it forces the two sides to talk and compromise. If all these bills were enacted, I am not sure anyone would recognize Virginia.
To give you a sense of the workload, two thousand, four hundred, seventy-five bills and resolutions were introduced this year. This does not include the bills or resolutions carried over from last year. Eight hundred five passed the House and six hundred thirty passed the Senate. One thousand, two hundred, eight have failed and the remaining ones need to be acted upon by February 22nd. This is a forty-five day session, so all Delegates and Senators have bill limits. This means they can only introduce a certain number of bills. This is only half the work due to the fact that every year now seems to be a budget year.
The constitution of Virginia requires a balanced budget, so in the odd year of the two-year budget, spending must be adjusted up or down to match the revenue. Virginia has been fortunate, as well as conservative, in its spending. This has resulted in excess revenue at the end of the first year, and each year I have served on the Appropriations Committee. This is a much better scenario than what we see in our northern neighbor.
The other interesting thing about being on Appropriations is that a lot of bills are sent here to die. The committee hearing the bill does not want to vote against the bill or perhaps against the patron, so they pass it and refer it to Appropriations. This is letting someone else do the dirty work. When one votes, sometimes it might be thought that the bill is a bad policy, but the patron often has a vindictive nature as well as a good memory. These actions seem especially true on the Senate side. The senators seem to take personal affront to your voting against their bills. This is also the time when bills are held “hostage” in order to get leverage on the Senator or Delegate so that something is received in return. It could be a budget play or a fair hearing on your bill. I have always tried to avoid these “hostage” situations but it is inevitably going to happen, especially the closer you get to the finish line.
I will continue to keep you updated on the progress here at the General Assembly as the next weeks bring us to a close February 22nd. As always, I welcome any questions or concerns you have. Please feel free to contact my district office in Mappsville at (757 824-3456), the Richmond office during session at (804)698-1000 or you may email me at [email protected]. Thank you.
After writing this update, Delegate Bloxom received word he had been named as a conferee by Speaker Don Scott.
