The General Assembly is in full swing.  Committee meetings are starting around 7:00 am and going late into the night.  Bills are getting amended, passed and killed.  This time of year I am always frustrated in my role as a generalist.  No matter how much homework I do, the best I can hope to do is become reasonably conversant in an issue before I am pulled into the next.  And, in honesty, the real challenge is not to get jaded.
There were a bevy of bills addressed last week, a couple that died and some that are in various states of stasis. My measures which were defeated were the “big picture” bills.  HB1736 would have rolled back future rate increases for utilities, like Dominion Power, which were granted in 2007.  It would have stricken an extra 2% they get for building coal, renewable energy or nuclear power plants on top of their 10% or so guaranteed return.

HB1938 would have moved Virginia from a two year budget to an annual budget.  In today’s world, forecasting more than 12 months out is extremely difficult.  Additionally, I believe that a biennial budget leads to a lack of transparency and, thus, accountability.
While I am disappointed that both of these measures failed, I am not surprised.  They were both meant to ‘push the envelope’ on an institution that can become stale or complacent.  Hopefully, these measures instilled some deeper reflection by those on the committee and they will be more open to the ideas in the future.
I did have six bills pass the House of Delegates last week, from HB1735 that designates the entire length of Route 3 in Lancaster County as a Blue Star Memorial Highway to HB 2389 which allows the Virginia Resources Authority to lend money to local governments for the purpose of generating renewable energy.
Among these was a bill inspired by vendors at the King George Farmers Market.  Several egg sellers there discovered that Virginia requires them to pay a litter tax of $25 and remit a sales tax even if they only sell a hundred dollars worth of product a year.  Ironically, the litter tax is fiercely protected by the bottling lobby which would prefer to pay $25 a year rather than have a bottle bill.  Thus, powerful industry lobbyists were opposed to my measure cutting taxes on the little guy.
Fortunately, DeLaura Padovan, King George Farmers’ Market Manager, and Amy Robie, vendor, came to Richmond and “turned” the committee just as things were leaning toward the industry lobbyists.  There is nothing like a mom selling $300 worth of eggs a year to get a bunch of jaded politicians to think about what the laws of the Commonwealth are actually doing to real people.
Thank goodness.