By Del. Charles Poindexter
This week and next week are what I call ‘crunch time’ as the House work runs from pre-dawn to way past dark while we press hard to get all House bills processed through full and sub-committees. The surviving bills make their way to the Floor for consideration and votes in order to meet the mandated February 13 deadline to complete House bills.
With seven subcommittees and three full committees plus the House Chamber sessions to attend, I rush from one to another, often holding conversations with visitors and others as we walk together from here to yon.
One of my major bills in 2016 was HB 587, which would have strengthened the existing law currently protecting all war monuments and memorials regardless of which war or the year the monument or memorial was erected. This year, House Democrats filed four bills that would have permitted removal of our monuments and memorials. These bills were defeated by a wide margin in the House Counties, Cities and Towns Subcommittee #1, a subcommittee I chair. Similar bills were defeated earlier in the Senate.
Also this week, my House bill HB 698 passed 99-0. This bill would allow VDOT to issue a permit for sewer and water pipes for a private residence or business to cross a state highway where there is no other viable way to, for example, reach a qualified septic drain field when the current drain field has failed.
The House Commerce and Labor Committee passed my HB 1270, which is now scheduled for debate on the Floor this coming Monday and Tuesday. This bill prohibits the governor or any state agency or political jurisdiction from adopting any regulation, rule, or guidance document establishing a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program and prohibits bringing about the participation by the Commonwealth in a regional market for the trading of carbon dioxide allowances.
The bill provides that the Commonwealth shall only be allowed to participate in such a cap-and-trade program or regional group(s) if the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia each adopt a resolution approving the regulatory text proposed. Electricity is too important to the people, businesses, hospitals, everything for major, far-reaching decisions to be made without the legislative processes and authority vested in the people’s elected representatives to the Virginia General Assembly.
Many other bills of major interest were taken up this week. Among them were:
The Democrat proposal to tax video streaming services was killed in the House.
The remaining anti-gun bills were defeated. The bill to remove the prohibition against weapons in churches passed the Senate and was reported to the House Floor for consideration.
The bill to prohibit nuisance lawsuits against farms passed the House and was sent to the Senate.
The House passed HB 1405 (Margaret Ransone, R-Westmoreland) to reform the State Board of Elections to ensure fair and transparent elections. For decades, the political party occupying the governor’s office has had a majority (2-1) on the board and the chairman has been appointed by the governor. This legislation will even the membership at 3-3, sets terms at six years to help with continuity from governor to governor, and requires the board’s chairman to be selected by the board.
We also passed HB 344 (Steve Landes, R-Augusta) to ensure free speech on public university and college campuses.
Related to elections, for decades the General Assembly has passed bills subsequent to redistricting to make technical and split precincts adjustments. The latter was an issue in November because former Governor McAuliffe vetoed those bills that would have prevented the situation from ever occurring. Recall that local governments also redistrict concurrently with the state. Thus, the legislature ends up with split precincts because it cannot know final precinct lines at the time it is required to set state office lines.
So, we passed a bill to permit technical changes such as these, even though we have been doing so for years. The intent is if we pass a law permitting corrections, in the future the governor would have to allow adjustments.
Among our visitors who signed in this week were a Patrick County tourism delegation that included Director of Patrick County Tourism Sandra Belcher, Patrick County Board of Supervisors member Jane Fulk, Stanburn Winery’s David Stanley, Ararat’s Mary Dellenback Hill, Dan River Ruritan Charlie Bowman, and Primland’s Steve Helms.
Visits from citizens such as this group serve as excellent reminders to all legislators of the economic and cultural values resulting from our tourism initiatives and programs, especially in our Blue Ridge and Southwest Virginia regions. I extend my appreciation to all who came to show support and showcase Patrick County! I am a strong supporter of both legislation and funding for tourism and am pleased to serve on the SWVA Cultural Foundation Board.
To arrange a Capitol Tour or schedule a meeting with me, please call or email my Legislative Assistant, William Pace, at (804) 698-1009, DelCPoindexer@house.virginia.gov or write to me at Pocahontas Building, Room E304, 900 E. Main Street, Richmond VA 23219. To see photos and read my posts, check out my Facebook page.
