News

EDITORIAL: General Assembly 2011: Generally Good...

March 2, 2011

via The Loudoun Times-Mirror

After 47 days in session and about 1,600 bills adopted, the Virginia General Assembly completed its 2011 cycle this past week.

First of all, we welcome home all of our county legislators who served nobly in the House of Delegates and state Senate. Being a citizen legislator is no easy task and entails year-round efforts beyond the six-week legislative session. In addition to long days, they spent time away from family and work to fulfill the obligation entrusted them by Loudoun voters.

And they had results to show for it, as we outline in a news story today on the front page. Not only did our lawmakers, such as Joe May, Tom Rust and Mark Herring, deliver on key transportation issues, but others delivered on tangible results as well. Among them, Tag Greason on a landmark autism health insurance bill, Herring on a bill to outlaw synthetic marijuana and another to provide for a new research and development state tax credit, and Jim LeMunyon on a “clean government” bill to ensure that all floor votes are published by lawmaker name on the state government website.

Overall, the session yielded significant progress on key legislative items. Transportation will be infused with almost $3 billion in bonded funding. Education will receive about $100 million in aid to school districts, while the manner in which the state will fund public schools and colleges will be reformed. Some key children’s and health measures will also be funded.

All this is being accomplished with no new taxes or fees, while the state’s Rainy Day Fund will be replenished with $64 million for the year when harsh economic times return, as they cyclically always do. It sure helps that state tax revenues have increased in 10 of the last 11 months.

But what was most notable about this session is marked by what it did not yield – and a contrast.

First, for all the talk about “divided government” and a deeply partisan dynamic at play – in triangular form – between the Republican Governor, the GOP House and the Democratic-controlled Senate, it was by and large a tame and civil affair since the legislature’s inception in mid-January. Ironically,  arguably more partisan barbs presented themselves prior to the session than throughout its duration, especially over road funding and the plan to privatize the state’s ABC liquor monopoly.

The symbiotic relationship between one chamber controlled by the Republicans and another controlled by Democrats would have pleased the commonwealth’s founding fathers.

Some of the more strident legislation coming from the GOP-controlled House perished in the Democratic-controlled Senate, such as a plethora of harsh immigration-related proposals and an idea to give states the option to invalidate federal laws through a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Conversely, some measures coming from the Senate that would have pushed spending levels to heights we can’t afford right now saw their fortunes snuffed out in the House.

One area gives us great pause – a late and successful push to regulate women’s health clinics where abortions are performed in the same way as hospitals. This is nothing but a crass, political attempt to subvert a woman’s Constitutionally protected right to a first-trimester abortion via onerous, burdensome and unnecessary government intervention and political intimidation. It’s wrong and will have a much broader and adverse impact on the full range of health services that many facilities provide. Shame on the General Assembly.

Second, the contrast between the way our state assembly comported itself and the way the U.S. Congress has run its show these days could not be more stark. That could not be more true on the issue of fiscal responsibility. Of course, it helps that the commonwealth has a balanced budget amendment as part of the state Constitution – ensuring that the tough and hard choices get made annually and bring us to a zero balance (or surplus) every year. It’s not easy, but Virginia does it. Is anyone in Washington watching?

If they were, they’d also note that even in an election year, Republicans and Democrats can – for the most part – get together to do the people’s business without partisan rancor and vituperation.

Virginia served very much as a role model this year on bipartisanship, on fiscal responsibility, and on the benefits of a checks-and-balance system in government. Not bad.