Update From Richmond - News and Annoucements - Delegate Jackson Miller - 50th Virginia District - Prince William County, Manassas, Manassas Park

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Hello from Richmond! The 2010 General Assembly Legislative Session is underway here at the Capitol, and the first week was full of events. On January 16, Governor Bob McDonnell was sworn in as the 71^st Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The weather for the ceremony was wonderful and Governor McDonnell gave a first class speech (for text of his speech, go to http://ow.ly/XcEV). He highlighted the fact that he will not resort to raising taxes in order to fix the problems with our budget, and instead he asked the General Assembly to pass measures and changes to the budget that will strengthen Virginia’s economy. The members of the House of Delegates proved that they agree with him on this measure by rejecting former Governor Kaine’s plan to raise the income tax by a vote of 97 to 0 last week. Not a single member of the House voted to raise the income tax.

Since this is an even-numbered year, the General Assembly has embarked on the complex task of crafting a new two year budget. This year, however, is expected to be particularly difficult considering the tough economic realities placed on the Commonwealth and the nation. We must continually weigh all factors involved when drafting a budget that balances the most efficient services provided by government with the tax burden already weighing heavily on our citizens.

While the state’s budget will receive most of the attention in news pages during this session, we are considering a lot of other legislation as well. Among the hundreds of bills that will be considered by the General Assembly are several that I have submitted. Below are a few of these bills:

HB 682: Gang-free zones; penalties - Expands current "gang-free school zones" to the broader "gang-free zones" and includes any school bus stop or the property, including buildings and grounds, of any publicly owned or operated community center, park, library, or hospital. Engaging in criminal street gang activity in a gang-free zone is a Class 5 or 6 felony and may include a two-year mandatory minimum sentence, depending upon other aggravators.

HB 688 - Using transportation district trains without a valid ticket - Rewrites the code section that punishes unlawfully riding on a transportation district train. The bill punishes failure or refusal to pay the posted fare, or failure to properly validate a train ticket, as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a validated ticket outside of the zone of the ticketed ride as a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill punishes use of a fraudulent or counterfeit ticket as a Class 2 misdemeanor. The bill limits the amount of recoverable costs to the same amount as the maximum fine.

HB 695 - Virginia Retirement System; retirees hired as school board security personnel - Provides that retired persons who are members of the Virginia Retirement System, the State Police Officers' Retirement System, or the Virginia Law Officers' Retirement System may be hired as local school board security personnel without interruption of their retirement benefits under the following conditions: (i) the person has been receiving such retirement allowance for a minimum period of time as jointly determined by the Virginia Retirement System and the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission; (ii) the person has not retired pursuant to an early retirement incentive; and (iii) the person did not voluntarily resign or voluntarily retire under the Workforce Transition Act of 1995.

Also, I have signed on as a co-patron to 12 bills/resolutions. Below are a few of these:

HB 10 - Health insurance; Virginia Health Care Freedom Act - Protects an individual's right and power to participate or to decline to participate in a health care system or plan. The bill prohibits any law that will infringe on an individual's right to pay for lawful medical services. The bill further prohibits the adoption of any law that imposes a penalty, tax, or fine upon an individual who declines to enter into a contract for health care coverage or to participate in a health care system or plan.

HB 49 - Purchase of handguns; repeal one-gun-a-month limitation - Repeals the prohibition against purchasing more than one handgun in a 30-day period.

HR 5 - State sovereignty; Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution - Urges Congress to honor state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and claims sovereignty for the Commonwealth under the Tenth Amendment over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the United States Constitution.

These bills and resolutions that I have listed are just a few of the issues we are dealing with here in Richmond that I have decided to focus on during this Session. You can see a complete list of bills and resolutions that the General Assembly will be considering over the next two months by going to http://legis.virginia.gov/.

My legislative aide, Kathryn Rawley, is staffing our office here in Richmond again this year. We are in the same office (Room 418) in the General Assembly building. You can contact us here by sending an e-mail to deljmiller@house.virginia.gov or by calling us at 1-804-698-1050. Please call us ahead of time if you will be visiting the Capitol so that we can schedule a meeting. It is always good to see faces from home while we are down here.

Look for more updates from the Capitol over the next 7 weeks. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, or concerns.