Weekly Column: $100 Million for Undergrounding U.S. 1 Utilities; General Assembly Session Ends

The following is my column that will appear in this week's Mt. Vernon Gazette in the week of February 27, 2023.  

 $100 Million for Undergrounding U.S. 1 Utilities; General Assembly Session Ends

           We have completed the 2023 Session of the General Assembly, but our work is not done.  Legislating has ended for now, but we did not finalize the state budget and will likely return for a special session to compete that work.

Of my 31 bills, 19 are with the Governor and one additional bill could be considered in a special session.  All of my bills passed with bipartisan support and I am hopeful that the Governor will sign them.

           Most importantly, we made significant progress in obtaining funding for undergrounding utilities on U.S. 1.   Delegate Paul Krizek, Senator Adam Ebbin and I amended a bill addressing a new Fauquier County transmission line to add a first-ever pilot program for an underground electric distribution line on the U.S. 1 Corridor if Fairfax County requests the funding as part of the U.S 1 widening and bus rapid transit project.  The bill is now on the Governor's desk.  

Weekly Column: Newport News Shipbuilding and Virginia's Port, Important to the Entire State

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and The Potomac-Stafford Local in the week of November 25, 2015.

Newport News Shipbuilding and Virginia's Port, Important to the Entire State

Last week, I joined the Virginia Senate's Finance Committee in Portsmouth for briefings on   Virginia’s economy, revenue projections  and other important issues facing the state legislature.  More on that later.  While in Portsmouth, I toured two significant and under-appreciated Virginia assets. 

While neither the shipyard nor the Port is located in Northern Virginia, both have a significant impact on our quality of life and the entire state’s economy.  A healthy Port of Virginia has beneficial ripple effects across the whole state.

Newport News Shipbuilding

Newport News Shipbuilding, dating to 1886, is the only facility in the United States capable of constructing an aircraft carrier and one of two in the country that can build a submarine.

Port of Virginia: A Big Asset Off NOVA's Radar

One of the things I've come to appreciate since being elected is the impact major pieces of public infrastructure has on Virginia's economy.  Dulles Airport tends to grab much of the attention in Northern Virginia.  Access to an international airport creates all kinds of possibilities in attracting business. 

Another asset that most Northern Virginians are not familiar with is the Port of Virginia.  The Port of Virginia was dates back to the 1700's, but was officially created by the 1982 consolidation of the Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth Terminals along with the creation of the Virginia Inland Port (Intermodal Transit Facility off I-81 where containers are initially shipped by rail). 

Weekly Column: Should Virginia Put Its Port on the Auction Block?

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of October 1, 2012. 

Should Virginia Put Its Port on the Auction Block? 

Largely out of sight in the Northern Virginia media, there has been a controversy raging in the Hampton Roads area about the privitization of Virginia's Port.

Governor McDonnell is very passionate about privatizing government functions. Everyone is familiar with his effort to privatize the state liquor stores. He has also announced multiple efforts to privatize Virginia's roads by selling tolling rights to foreign investors for I-95, US 460 and a new tunnel between Portsmouth and Norfolk.

In May, APM terminals offered Virginia $540 million to run the Virginia Port for 48-years. Governor McDonnell is now soliciting proposals from other private entities. After a flood of criticism about the timing of the proposal, the lack of information provided to elected officials, and the short timeframe for accepting proposals, the Governor slowed the process down a bit.

Is Virginia Open for Business?

It has been almost thirty days since the General Assembly Session ended. I have not been posting as much because I have been mostly focused on trying to resusicate my law practice so we can still pay our mortgage, but the latest out of Richmond has me worried.

Economists are predicting 1.6 million new jobs and 700,000 new houses in the D.C. Metropolitan Area in the next 20 years. Are we going to capture these jobs, people, and growth or will we lose it to Maryland and the District?

The news since the end of session has proven to be a serious impediment to Virginia sustaining its image as open for business. Consider what has happened in the last thirty days, plus or minus:

• The Attorney General sued the Federal Government over healthcare, carbon dioxide, and CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) Standards and while the Governor criticized these policies.
• The Governor issued a new Executive Order regarding non-discrimination that excluded discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
• The Governor issued his now-famous proclamation lauding the Confederacy while ignoring slavery because it "wasn't significant enough" to include in the resolution.
• The Governor issued a new policy making it more difficult for felons who have served their time to restore their voting rights and sat silent while the Fairfax County Electoral Board voted to prohibit the distribution of non-english voter registration forms.

Businesses look at a lot of different factors when trying to decide where to locate. Among other things location is important, adequate public infrastructure, tax policy, the state's workforce and educational infrastructure, the state's culture, and its government.

Virginia sits at the apex of the crescent of the East Coast. We have access to ports, international airports, and the Nation's Capital. In many ways, we are an international gateway.

Northern Virginia is very symbolic of that. We have led this state in economic growth because of job growth. Northern Virginia has the highest paying jobs, access to vibrant culture, and an educational system that is the envy of most other localities in the country, we have two major airports, and some access to mass transit.. The 2000 Census showed the 27% of Fairfax County residents were foreign born.

Northern Virginia did not build this success limiting the employment rights of gays, bashing our largest employer (the federal government), and limiting the voting rights of minorities. We built our local economy by being open to new ideas, forward-thinking in our political policies, and being welcoming to newcomers and entrepreneurs. Economic powerhouses are built on public infrastructure, human capital, and an open culture, not nostaligia, exclusion, and hostility to change.

Our future prosperity is limited by Richmond's outright refusal to invest in Northern Virginia's transportation and education infrastructure. We are billions of dollars behind in where we need to be on roads, Metro, VRE, trolleys, and intercity high speed rail in Northern Virginia alone. Many in Richmond seem to have zero interest in putting any actual money towards this problem. Our schools are increasingly dependent on increasingly limited and depleted sources of revenue due to Richmond's Dillon Rule restrictions.

What is the news out of Richmond these days? Budget cuts to our schools and otherwise deafening silence. The latest out of Richmond leaves me frustrated and concerned about when our needs are going to been addressed.