Richmond Roundup
February 2, 2005
The General Assembly's opening on January 13, 2005, brought members of the legislature face to face with numerous important issues. The Governor's State of the Commonwealth address opening the Session noted the welcome growth of Virginia 's economy, while recognizing that economic revitalization in the southern and western part of the state must be enhanced. He also made clear that while state coffers are growing, Virginia cannot rely solely on an expanding economy, but must also exercise prudence in its fiscal management.
Transportation will be a dominant state issue, starting with Governor Mark Warner's proposal for $824 million in funding for roads, bridges, transit, and project debt retirement. Legislators have proposed significantly higher fines for major traffic offenses to help fund transportation improvements, but many analysts believe that revenues from such an unsteady source will be insufficient. I have supported the use of a portion of insurance premium taxes as one source of revenue to back bonds for transportation. This approach was proposed in 2001, but these funds were never actually used for this purpose.
Numerous issues have taken their place at the head of the line. For example, social issues play an important role in the Assembly's business. As the session began, Delegate John Cosgrove (R) of Chesapeake proposed that all women who have miscarriages must report such incidents to the police (HB1677). A bi-partisan outcry resulted in the delegate's striking the bill. A series of constitutional amendments will be coming before the General Assembly this Session. These proposed amendments (HJ528, HJ584, HJ586 and HJ615) are designed to enshrine in our constitution "traditional marriage;" a proposition that even President Bush has said he will not promote in the U.S Congress. A similar amendment (SJ337) is on the Virginia Senate floor awaiting passage. I will not vote for any of these amendments.
With respect to my own efforts, I have an eclectic group of bills that I have introduced as chief patron. These measures include:
HB814 -
This bill would prohibit an outrageous practice among a few insurance companies which cancel homeowners' policies and report the owners to a national register if they ask a question about their policy, but have filed no claim nor reported a loss. This legislation passed the House by an overwhelming vote and is now in the Senate awaiting further action.
HB1854 -
This bill would give permission to hospitals to donate unused, unexpired and unopened pharmaceuticals to pharmacies which in turn would dispense the drugs to free clinics and to indigent persons. This measure passed the House of Delegates with only one negative vote, and awaits Senate action. The current law provides for nursing homes and other medical entities to donate such pharmaceuticals. My bill adds hospitals to the list. The amount of donated drugs will likely be small because of the way that medical entities manage and dispense pharmaceuticals. Still, this measure is expected to fill a niche in getting needed drugs to people in need.
HB1857 -
I carried Arlington County 's request to extend the "Transient occupancy tax" for another four years. This tax (1/4% on hotel stays) directs money to a county fund to promote its vital tourism and business travel industry.
Arlington needs to remain competitive with the District of Columbia . The business community, including all 40 of its hotels, strongly endorsed this extension. The measure passed the House with 71 votes -- 67 were needed.
HB1851 -
I also am chief patron of Arlington County's request to use a zoning tool-the transfer of development rights from one site to another-to ensure that the best development is encouraged on certain parcels to take best advantage of our smart growth policies and successes. This legislation passed the House with only six dissenting votes.
HB1852-
I offered legislation to require that individuals who own guns that use .50 caliber ammunition must be registered with the Virginia State Police. This bill is titled "the Anti-Terrorist Weapons Public Safety Act." The U.S. Government Accountability Office has documented the easy purchase of such weapons by drug cartels, gangs and violent groups. Terrorists like al Qaeda have purchased these weapons in the U.S. This bill was defeated in the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety.
HB2912-
I introduced a bill requiring school boards to adopt policies for voluntary employee donation of sick leave and access to unpaid leave to school employees with debilitating or life-threatening illnesses or injuries. This legislation would require that school boards create these policies without regard to the employee's length of service. This bill, which has 54 bi-partisan co-patrons, addresses an unfortunate situation in which a teacher (not in the Arlington Public School System) needed cancer treatments, but only had a few months on the job, was refused a request for the donation of sick leave or access to unpaid after she had exhausted her own meager sick leave. The superintendent ordered her to resign or she would be fired. A public outcry resulted in her being rehired, but our research showed that numerous school districts around the Commonwealth have similar, or even more unfriendly leave policies. At a time when we a struggling to retain good teachers we need to be more sensitive to their needs. Following an amendment removing the provision for the donation of sick leave, this bill was reported from the House Education Committee.
HB2121-
This bill would require the state's law enforcement agencies to develop written hot pursuit policies aimed at reducing the terrible death toll from such pursuits. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, between 1992 and 2001, more than 3100 people, including 40 police officers, were killed as a result of hot pursuits. Three young people were killed in Arlington in 2002 in such a pursuit. In fact, 40 percent of these victims in these pursuits had no connection to the pursuit. Virginia has had 60 such deaths in that ten-year period. Many others have suffered injuries. My bill was unanimously recommended by a subcommittee of the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee, but failed in the full committee on a straight party-line vote.
HB2122 -
Another bill I am championing would allow in-state tuition at Virginia's public colleges and universities for certain undocumented immigrants seeking political, religious, or other refugee/asylum status. To qualify under this bill a student must have applied to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for such status, have legal presence in the U.S. , reside in Virginia and pay taxes here, and have a high school diploma. Meeting these conditions would allow the student to enter a Virginia public college paying in-state tuition while he awaited the Federal government's determination of his status. This bill derives from the experience of a family who fled Guatemala to Arlington to escape death squads. The oldest son has a driver's license, work permit, Social Security card, and legal status here, but after 14 years has yet to receive a decision on his asylum application. The bill was tabled in the House Education Committee. The members wanted no immigrants to have in-state tuition privileges at Virginia public universities.
HB2124-
This bill would provide tailored packages of social services to frail elderly persons in four multi-family projects in the state (one project per year for the next four years) to help them remain independent, saving the state $8031 per resident per year. The bill was reported by the House Committee on General Laws Committee and was sent to the Appropriations Committee for funding.
HB2897-
I introduced a bill at the request of Dr.Rose, the President of James Madison University . This legislation would simply allow the governing boards of Public Universities in Virginia the power to establish their own rules and regulations regarding the possession of certain weapons,
including firearms, on their own property. Currently, public institutions of higher education are not given the authority to develop such policies. Incidents have occurred on the Commonwealth's college and university campuses in the past that have resulted in injuries and deaths. This bill is supported by every one of the Presidents of Virginia's public institutions of higher education. I am working hard on this legislation in order to ensure the safety of our students while they are at school. I find it interesting that on an application to these universities a student may request a non-smoking roommate, but that same student may not request a non-packing roommate.
There are more bills to tell you about, but I want to save some of that for my next report. I am the most disappointed by the loss of HB2125 a bill that I have worked on for two years. This bill would have allowed people with disabilities more control over their care with the supervision from registered nurses. While passage of this bill would have allowed these folks to receive these services 18 months earlier, the administration is committed to following the necessary steps to produce these regulations.
On a sad note, the news that Delegate Marian Van Landingham of Alexandria would not be coming to Session, and that she would not be running for reelection due to reasons of health has distressed our Northern Virginia Delegation and all who know her.
I am grateful for the opportunity, along with the other members of the Arlington delegation, to serve and represent you in the Virginia General Assembly. If you wish to reach me during the Session you may call my Richmond office at 804-698-1047 . You may also reach me through my legislative email at: del_eisenberg@house.state.va.us.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Al Eisenberg
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