Weekly Column: The 2020 General Assembly: 39 Surovell Bills Passed

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of March 8, 2020.

The 2020 General Assembly:  39 Surovell Bills Passed

 The 2020 General Assembly finished work on all legislation this past Sunday, except we did not pass a final state budget or elect new judges to fill vacancies.  We will return to Richmond on Thursday, March 13, to complete that work and adjourn for this year.

                This was my most successful session in passing bills in my eleven years in the General Assembly.  The legislature sent 39 of my bills to Governor Ralph Northam.  We carried over nine bills and  referred them to study commissions.  The legislature also carried over my legislation to abolish the death penalty to be potentially considered over the summer. 

                I will highlight some of the other major bills we passed and discuss more bills and the budget in future columns.

Weekly Column: Big Changes Coming in Energy, Civil Justice, and Labor Laws

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of February 10, 2020.

The Sixth week of the General Assembly brought us to “Crossover” – the day each chamber is required to cease work on their own bills and work on bills from the other Chamber.

The last two days brought furious action on many major bills.  Forty-three of my own bills crossed over to the House of Delegates.  Last week, the Senate passed my legislation creating driver privilege cards for undocumented immigrants for the first time and on a bipartisan basis.  We still have work to do in order to reconcile the House and Senate bills, but it will change the lives of over 100,000 Virginia residents.

We also passed my legislation authorizing state-level class action lawsuits.  Forty-eight other states and the District of Columbia already allow similar lawsuits.  The lack of such remedies in Virginia mean that corporations can steal money from Virginians in smaller amounts and never face justice. 

Weekly Column: The Virginia Legislature Is Addressing Many Concerns

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of February 10, 2020.

The Virginia Legislature Is Addressing Many Concerns 

In the fifth week of the Virginia General Assembly session, the Senate passed my legislation increasing the requirement for auto insurance minimum liability from $25,000 to $35,000 and minimum property damage covered from $20,000 to $40,000.  These minimums have not been adjusted since 1975 when cars cost $4,400 on average and medical bills were much lower.  The failure to raise these means that many injured people are not receiving fair compensation for their injuries or property damage.   

The Senate passed a bill to repeal Virginia’s requirement that people produce a photo identification to vote.  This was Virginia law prior to 2012.  Upon enactment, after July 1, 2020, voters will need to show specified identification at the poll check-in, but if they do not have any of the proper forms of identification, they will still be allowed to vote after signing an affirmation of their identity, subject to violation of a felony for lying.  This system worked fine for decades without any incidents of voter fraud.  We should not assume that every person, like some of our seniors or the permanently disabled, has a government-issued, photo identification.

Session Interviews with Cable Reports

Every year, I interview with Cable Reports to preview the General Assembly Session.  This year, I did two interviews - one focusing on Fairfax County and the other on Prince William and Stafford Counties. During these interview we were able to cover a wide array topics from the Governor's agenda to items that specifically affect the constituents within my district. I was glad to discuss the coal ash removal bill that was supported by the Governor. We went on to discuss my legislation on predatory lending, the urgency of passing tax conformity, underground utility lines, the tolling situation on I-81 and bi-partisan redistricting.

Fairfax County

Prince William County

Weeky #4: A Week of Highs and Lows in the State Legislature

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of February 3, 2019.

A Week of Highs and Lows in the State Legislature

The fourth week of this session of the General Assembly brought some of greatest highs and greatest lows I have ever experienced in my 10 years serving in the General Assembly. 

In a Monday, January 29 press conference with Governor Northam, we announced a new agreement with Transurban to start the immediate construction of a new lane southbound on I-95 between VA-123 and the Prince William County Parkway. Transurban agreed to waive any compensation event or penalty payment on their existing contract.  With this agreement, we much closer to removing the worst bottleneck in all of Northern Virginia, the most frequent transportation complaint I receive - a traffic nightmare that costs millions of Virginians millions of hours of lost productivity. 

Report on Coal Ash Hearing #2

Nate Benforado with SELC Addressing Committee

Spent the day today in Richmond for the second meeting of the Joint House/Senate Commerce and Labor Committee meeting on resolving Virginia's coal ash situation.

Dominion Briefing
Dominion was first to the podium.  They briefed the committee on a recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that reversed a Richmond federal judge who held that their Chesapeake Coal Ash landfill was violating the Clean Water Act.  The appellate court held that the trial judge was wrong and that although the landfill was leaking toxic metals, it was not leaking it in a way that violated the Act.

Next, Dominion talked about the status of their request for proposals on coal ash recycling.

• 86 people from 51 firms attended Dominion's initial information session
• 26 suppliers indicated interest in bidding
• They held tours at four sites where 57 people from 23 firms attended
• They received 115 questions and issued 12 clarifications for the bid process
• They ultimately received 12 bids with 2,100 pages of information
• They are currently asking questions of the bidders and then expect to have a report to the legislature by November 15, 2018

Dominion also noted that they are exploring have multiple solutions are multiple sites and not unitary solutions at each site.

It's Coal Ash Day in Virginia

Today, Dominion Energy released its long-awaited coal ash assessments mandated by my legislation last session - Senate Bill 1398.  You can read the entire 800+ page report below, or just the executive summary.

Coal Combustion Residuals Ash Pond Closure Assessment (November, 2017)

Dominion's Possum Point Power Station has about 4 million cubic yards of coal ash stored in 120 acres of coal ash ponds in Dumfries in the 36th District.  Several constituents have polluted groundwater wells. Some are reporting health problems that they attribute to groundwater pollution from these coal ash ponds.

TOMORROW - Coal Ash Disposal Hearing

PUBLIC INFORMATION HEARING REGARDING DISPOSITION OF COAL ASH DUMPS

Wednesday, November 18, 20157:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
VA Department of Environmental Quality
Northern Regional Office
13901 Crown Court
Woodbridge, VA 22193Official Meeting Notice

 

           Tomorrow, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will host a public information hearing at its Woodbridge office regarding the future of five large Dominion Virginia Power coal ash dumps dating to the 1950's less than 1,000 yards from the Potomac River near Quantico and Dumfries. 

 

           Four ponds are entirely unlined.  All contain large amounts of coal ash waste which is well known to contain high levels of hazardous metals including lead, boron, cadmium, selenium, arsenic, and hexavalent chromium. 

 

           DEQ is proposing to allow Dominion Virginia Power to release treated industrial wastewater and storm water at a combined rate of 172 million gallons per day from eight outfalls from these ponds into Quantico Creek and the Potomac River. They are also proposing to allow Dominion to cap existing coal ash waste deposits in place instead of remove them to locations well away from the Quantico Creek and the Potomac River.  

 

            You can read more information about the coal ash problem on my online newsletter, the Dixie Pig here:

 

The Dixie Pig: Quantico Area Coal Ash Remediation to Move Forward (Apr. 18, 2015)
Dam Breaks, Tainted Wells Prompt New Look At Coal Ash Dumps that Escaped EPA Review (Dec. 14, 2014)
Washington Post, In Northern Va., Environmentalists Concerned About Disposal of Coal Ash (July 2, 2015)

 

            It will be one of very few opportunities for the public to obtain information and ask questions before a decision is made to leave this waste in place in our community for generations.

 

            Please attend this hearing and contact my office if you have any questions or need further information!

Weekly Column: More Access to Clean Solar Power for Virginians

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 September 1, 2015.

More Access to Clean Solar Power for Virginians

Last week, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) approved an innovative solar program proposed by Dominion Resources, a project that will enhance consumer choices and facilitate clean, renewable energy production for many Virginians.

 

As Virginia implements the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, the state's utilities  need to transition to systems that reduce carbon emissions and deliver reliable, affordable power to  homes and businesses.

Quantico Creek Area Coal Ash Remediation to Move Forward

Picture of coal ash on hand of Amy Adams from
Appalachian Voices during Dan River Spill (NBC News)

Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new rules on the construction, maintenance and remediation of coal ash ponds which are used at coal-fired power plants.  This has consequences for the 36th District and communities along the Potomac River and other areas of the Commonwealth.

There are currently five old coal ash ponds at Dominion Resources Possum Point Power Station in Quantico, Virginia which is in the 36th District.  Coal ash or fly ash is the end product of burning coal to create electricity.  Decades ago, it was common practice to mix it with water and store it in ponds into a "slurry."

If ponds are not properly lined with impermeable barriers, then they can leach toxic metals into ground water and surface water.  According to some sources, depending on the coal used, they can leach toxic elements such as arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with dioxins and PAH compounds.  Metals like this store in the fatty tissues of fish and can aggregate in fish consumers such as birds or humans.  Modern practice is to store ash in dry landfills. 

Solar Gets a Jumpstart in Virginia

There was big news on the Virginia renewable energy front this past week.

Virginia has been one of the slowest states to invest in solar or have any meaningful amounts of solar energy go live on its grid - either utility scale (big) solar installations or community level solar.  Earlier this week, Dominion Resources made a big announcement, but it barely received any press.  You can read their release here:

Press Release - Dominion Virginia Power Planning Commonwealth of Virginia's First Large-Scale Solar Project



 

First, they are building a utility-scale project that will be a 125-acre solar project in Fauquier County hearing Remington containing 90,000 panels that can power 5,000 residences.  This is a huge investment and a major commitment to renewable energy.

Second, they are also investing in community solar.  This is something that I have been fighting for over the last three years.  Current Virginia Law only allows Virginia homeowners to count the energy generated by a solar panel against their usage on a utility meter if it is connected to the system at their home - this is called "net metering."  Therefore, if you don't own your roof - apartments, condominiums, and small businesses - you cannot purchase solar power.  Also, if you live in an established community with significant tree cover - such as most communities near the Beltway - solar power just doesn't work.  Here's how you solve that problem. 

 

Weekly Column: Education, Gun Violence Prevention, Budget Shortfall and Redistricting on Legislature’s Agenda

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette and The Mt. Vernon Voice in the week of January 7, 2015.

Education, Gun Violence Prevention, Budget Shortfall and Redistricting on  Legislature’s Agenda

The Virginia General Assembly will convene on January 15 in Richmond for a 45-day “short” session. This article is an overview of the session and my article next week will cover my legislative agenda.

First, be sure to complete my 2015 constituent survey at www.scottsurovell.org/survey.  You can also share your suggestions to the entire 25-member Fairfax County delegation on Saturday, January 10, 9 a.m., at the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax 22035)..

Since we adopt a budget on a two-year cycle, the legislature will only make adjustments to the existing budget this session. Because of a flat economy, the revenue projections used last year were off by $2.4 billion. Last September, the General Assembly reached an agreement with Governor Terry McAuliffe to address a significant portion of those reductions, but we still need to cut $300 million to balance the budget.

Weekly Column: Session Midpoint: Twelve Bills Marching On

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of February 10, 2014.

Session Midpoint:  Twelve Bills Marching On 

As we approach the midpoint of this session, I have more good news.  Twelve of my bills have passed the House, are poised to pass, or are causing changes:

• Repeal of the tax on hybrid vehicles passed two weeks ago. 
• Legislation to allow parents to “freeze” their children’s credit through age 16 passed the House unanimously.  I introduced this after my 13 and 11-year-old daughters received credit card solicitations. Children are easy targets for identity theft because it is not discovered until they are much older. Virginia is now poised to be the sixth state to adopt such legislation.
• My bill clarifying who controls a real estate brokerage on death of a broker passed unanimously. This will help protect consumers and the deceased owner’s family.
• Legislation to add Marines and members of the Coast Guard to serve on juries passed unanimously.  I noticed that current law only includes active duty, non-Virginia domiciled members of the Army, Navy and Air Force.  
• My legislation to allow Fairfax County to charge $5 per traffic ticket to purchase electronic traffic ticketing systems passed last week and will save taxpayers millions of dollars.   

Passage of several others bills by Tuesday looks promising: 

Hybrid Tax Petition Delivered - Two Days Till Decision

Last Monday, Senator Adam Ebbin and I delivered nearly 7,000 signatures on our No Hybrid Tax Petition to Governor Robert McDonnell at the State Capitol in Richmond.  You can read more about it here:

Washington Post, Prius Tax Foes Urge McDonnell to Kill It
Richmond Times Dispatch, Hybrid Tax Foes Take Tax Fight To the Governor

Virginian Pilot - Tea Party Seeks Road Bill Veto, Others Want Hybrid Fee Gone

Roanoke WDBJ7 - More than 6,800 Signatures Against Hybrid Tax Dropped Off at Governor's Office

We delivered the petition to the Governor and his staff told us that he did review the petitions and the over 6,000 comments. 

As of noon today, 7,195 people have signed the petition.  You can still sign up here:

No Hybrid Tax Petition 

The hybrid tax fails to make sense on a number of levels:

• It punishes people for doing the right thing - conserving energy.
• The $100 tax bears no relationship to the gas taxes that are avoided (at most $30/year on a 45 MPG vehicle)
• The Federal and State Government have been encouraging people to purchase hybrid technology while this punishes people.
• Hybrid owners already pay their fair share of taxes including (1) 10% higher price for the car, (2) greater titling taxes, (3) greater personal property taxes, (4) $25/yr. for clean energy license plates, and (5) $3,000+ for a new battery after 150,000 miles.
• The tax is irrational.  There are other vehicles that get better gas mileage than many hybrids such as motor cycles and mopeds.  There are also gas vehicles that get better mileage than most hybrids, and many hybrids that get worse gas mileage than many gas powered cars. 
• It also inordinately punishes Northern Virginia where 82% of hybrids are registered in Virginia.

The Governor has to act by Monday, March 25, 2013. 

Hopefully, he will do the right thing and offer an amendment deleting the hybrid tax from the legislation. 

Weekly Column: General Assembly Preview Part II

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of January 8, 2013. 

Legislative Preview Part II: Budget Cuts, Road Shortfalls, and Uranium

Last week, I wrote about a few of the bills and budget amendments I’m going to be carrying this session.  This week, I am going to write about some of the broader issues in play this session.

First, the State Budget has dominated legislative sessions since I was elected in 2009 and that is not likely to change.  Although revenues are up over the last year by $340 million, due to the constitution and laws on the books, most of that money is already committed to the “Rainy Day Fund,” transportation, water quality improvement, and repaying the state retirement that was not funded in the 2010-2011 budget biennium.  The remaining amount is $40 million or about $400,000 per delegate seat – that’s it.

Weekly Column: Some of My 2013 Legislative Agenda

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of January 1, 2013. 

Some of My 2013 Legislative Agenda
The 2013 Virginia General Assembly will convene on January 8 in Richmond for a 45-day or “short” session.

I would like to share with you some of the bills and budget amendments that I will propose. Next week, I will talk about some of the broader issues in play this session. 

When I requested suggestions from my constituents, I received over 50 ideas and I considered all of them in putting together my agenda. Thank you. 

I covered one of my bills in my column two weeks ago , a bill to prohibit use of a mobile phone while driving for any purposes other than a voice call.

Weekly Column: Should We Bury Our Power Lines In Mt. Vernon & Lee?

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of September 5, 2012.

Should We Bury Our Power Lines in Mount Vernon and Lee?

Two months ago, my wife and children were out of town so I decided to work at my office in the City of Fairfax until about 9:30 p.m. As I drove home from Fairfax, I was listening to WTOP and didn’t notice anything unusual other than a thunderstorm warning for the far western suburbs.

Around 10:30 p.m. the wind started blowing and the power went out. I called my wife after our generator didn’t turn on and looked outside. The 100 year-old trees in my yard were swinging around like Hurricane Isabel and it didn’t stop for fifteen minutes. That’s when I knew this was no ordinary storm.

The next day, as I disseminated information and checked out Dominion’s outage map, it was obvious that we had a major situation on our hands. As I walked my dog through Hollin Hills, I had to repeatedly dodge downed lines. Multiple streets were closed. Trees were down everywhere. For some reason, the west side of Mason Hill got clobbered as that storm rolled in.

Dominion Power’s response was initially slow. There were multiple reasons for this, but the primary reason was that the Derecho was a complete surprise. Hurricanes or snowstorms usually allow for \one or two weeks of preparation. Then, as the week went on, I started to receive a lot of constituent contacts about burying power lines.

This was not the first time I heard this. In the summer/fall of 2011, I knocked about 4,000 doors including doors in two precincts that were returned to the 44th District in redistricting – Hayfield and Kirkside which contains most of Hollin Hills. Last summer, we were hit by a Tropical Storm Lee, an earthquake, and then Hurricane Irene within about forty-five days.

As I walked through Hayfield Precinct, I noted that about half the lines were buried and half above ground. In Kirkside Precinct, the Mason Hill neighborhood was buried and the rest were mostly above ground. On the doors, many people told me that the loss of electricity was a real problem in their community.

Another complaint that I hear is that many people feel we are one of the last places in Northern Virginia to have our service restored whenever a mass outage hits. After the recent Derecho, if you looked at the outage map, you would have seen that the western part of Fairfax County have relatively fewer outages compared to the neighborhoods closer to the Beltway so this is not entirely inaccurate.

There are several reasons for this. One reason is that our neighborhoods are older and we have more big trees which cause more outages. However, the second reason is because Fairfax County did not mandate the burying of power lines on new development until the 1970’s so the “newer” part of the County has less above ground lines and less outages.

2012 End of Session Sine Die Letter

Every year I send out a letter summarizing the General Assembly Session.  Most of us call it our Sine Die Letter named after the motion that is made to adjourn sine die at the end of a session. 

My letter for 2012 appears below the fold.

Also, check out my end of session summaries and my voting record with the following links:

The Dixie Pig: 2012 Session Wrap Up (Minus a Budget)
The Dixie Pig: 2012 Budget Misses the Mark

The Dixie Pig: Movie Star Tax Credits, A Gay Judge & the Session Ends

Delegate Scott A. Surovell's 2012 Voting Record

2012 Session Legislative Wrap Up (Minus a Budget)

You would never think that two seats in the State Senate would mean so much, but we had an incredibly contentious session with some unprecedented national attention.  Here are some of the highlights of the 2,000 votes I took this session. 

We still do not have a budget yet.  I will cover the budget in a separate post once we have an actual budget.

Here is a key:

PASSED - Means it is on the Governor's Desk.
FAILED - Means it did not clear both House & Senate.
CARRIED OVER - Means legislation was continued to 2013 General Assembly Session.
ENACTED - The Governor has already signed into law.

I have indicated my vote or position on the final bill in parentheses. 

NAS Study Highlights Risks of Mining Uranium

Six months ago, I wrote about the coming fight this session over the lifting Virginia's thirty-year moratorium on mining uranium.  You can read my article here:

The Dixie Pig: Uranium Mining - The Coming Battle (July 5, 2011)

This week, the National Academy of Sciences released its long-awaited report regarding this issue.  The New York Times has a good summary here. 

The full report has a fascinating section on Virginia's geology, weather, and ecology.  For example, it points out that debris flows are some of the most destructive events in the Virginia's mountainous areas, account for more than 50% of erosion in Virginia mountainous area river basins, and recur on a 2,000-4,000 year cycle.  (P. 30-31)  Virginia is at a relatively high risk for flooding because we have a high precipitation rate and topography - much higher than areas where uranium has ever been mined before in the United States (P. 34).