Weekly Column: Bills Are Moving

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of February 3, 2014.

Bills Are Moving

Several of my bills moved in the Virginia House of Delegates last week and we saw some political theater in Richmond.

Several of my ethics bills are either passing or being incorporated into  "omnibus" ethics legislation. 

This week, we learned that taxpayers have spent over $800,000 defending former Governor Bob McDonnell before Attorney General Mark Herring terminated his taxpayer-funded outside counsel. My legislation proposed limit attorneys’ fees to the same rates that Virginia pays for court-appointed counsel for individuals charged with serious felonies -- $1,235 – but was modified to require the Attorney General to pay "reasonable" attorneys’ fees.

I also introduced a budget amendment at the request of the Appropriations Committee Chairman requiring the Attorney General to file a report every year detailing outside counsel and their costs so we can conduct closer budget oversight of this practice.

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: Progress on Transportation, Government Efficiency & Controversial Legislation Up for Debate

This column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch on February 2, 2012: 

Progress on Transportation, Government Efficiency & Controversial Legislation Up for Debate


Week #4 of the General Assembly saw two of my bills pass and many controversial proposals starting to hit the floor of the House of Delegates.

I had two pieces of legislation that passed the House of Delegates unanimously. Both bills clarify the Code of Virginia on technical issues. I have several other bills that are working their way through committee.

I also saw some progress on transportation – at least on the procedural side. The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) decides how transportation money is spent in Virginia. The regional commissioners represent districts that were based on 1930’s congressional districts. Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Richmond have 65% of the state’s population but only 33% of the regional votes on the CTB (3 of 9). In 2010, 2011 and this year, I introduced legislation requiring them to be allocated by current congressional districts. This would give Northern Virginia at least three votes instead of one.

This year, my legislation was also introduced by three Republican delegates and two senators. We agreed to consolidate our proposals into one bill being carried by my colleague Delegate Tom Rust and we now have over fifty-one bipartisan cosponsors from around the state and the bill should be on the floor by the end of the week. I am pleased it is finally moving.

When I turned forty years-old this year, I had to renew my driver’s license. While going through the process, I noticed that if I indicated a change of address, the DMV intended to mail me a voter registration form which I would then have to mail in. I introduced legislation that would require the DMV to electronically transmit the change request to the local voter registrar saving the need for printing, postage, and mailing. Given that the DMV processes 500,000 address changes per year, this should save the DMV at least $250,000 per year. My bill was passed out of subcommittee last week and should be in full committee next week.

Late last week, we debated repealing the requirement that schools advise the parents of sixth-grade girls of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine and allow parents to opt their child out before administering the vaccine. Virginia passed this requirement in 2007. HPV infects about 80% of all American women at some point in their life. It causes cervical cancer which kills 233,000 women per year in the world (about 4,000 in the US). We had a passionate floor debate. Many in my chamber think that the vaccine incentivizes promiscuity and raised concerns about the safety of the vaccine although studies have shown few problems. I voted against repeal and the bill passed 62-34. The repeal will likely become law.

This week, we are debating additional restrictions to voting including bills to prohibit voting without valid identification and limiting public access to the post-election meetings where votes are verified. I opposed both measures but they are expected to pass. There are no documented cases of voter impersonation in Virginia and I believe prosecution of a felony is sufficient disincentive to discourage that kind of behavior and I believe the motives of this bill are purely political.

Voting is a fundamental constitutional right. In knocking 12,000 doors in my district, I have met many elderly voters that do not need a driver’s license. There is a monastery near Bryant School that where thirty nuns live who probably do not have ID. Over 20,000 licenses are reported lost every year, plus 500,000 licenses are suspended every year and many of those are physically forfeited. Your right to vote should not be dependent upon whether you can pay a traffic ticket or can keep track of your wallet.

Please continue to follow my website (www.scottsurovell.org) or blog (scottsurovell.blogspot.com) for current updates. Friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ssurovell). Over 200 households have responded so far! You can also comment on legislation, set up a meeting or request a Capitol tour at www.scottsurovell.org.

Good government requires your involvement so please be in touch or come visit in Richmond so I can best represent you in the General Assembly. It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

Supreme Court Moves Forward On E-Filing!

Virginia's Courts remain one of the few systems in the United States that do not have a functioning e-filign system.  Legal papers still must be filed on paper signed by attorneys at the courthouse between normal business hours.  This is not only unnecessary in today's electronic age, it is costly, inefficient, and results in thousands of wasted hours of productivity, wasted paper, and limits public access to information.

During the 2010 Legislative Session, I partnered with Fairfax County Clerk John T. Frey to introduce legislation to facilitate the adoption of "e-filing" in Virginia by eliminating a requirement that all e-filing be governed by the Rules of Court. 

Due to its size, Fairfax County has very unique circumstances compared to the rest of the state.  Our civil dockets make up the vast majority of our dockets - in most other jurisdictions, criminal cases are more prevalent in Circuit Court.  Fairfax County Circuit Court also has a case volume that is much larger than most other systems.

My legislation was ultimately incorporated into several other bills, passed, and signed by the Governor on April 11, 2010.  The purpose was to give localities the flexibility to adopt the systems most appropriate for their circumstances. 

This week, the Supreme Court of Virginia announced new rules to facilitate electronic filing.  The new rules are posted here:

Supreme Court Rule Revisions Posted for Comment

Proposed comments are due before March 30, 2012. 

I am happy we are finally making progress on modernizing our court system.  Electronic filing will ultimately save taxpayers and litigants millions of dollars of expenses and attorney's fees, plus make our system more open and available to the public.

Structural Flaws in Virginia Government - #1 Short Sessions

Robert McCartney has an interesting column in today's Washington Post regarding Virginia's shorten legislative sessions. Also, my law partner, Senator Chap Petersen also posted up a piece on his blog yesterday which completely captured my thinking about some concerns he has regarding some legislation we're voting on tomorrow.

I'm coming up on my fifteenth month and I'm starting to come to some conclusions about the structure of Virginia's system that really ought to be changed. I'm going to post up a series of articles about these problems which I've summarized in my little picture to the right regarding the some of the Foundations of Virginia Government. I've got some other ideas about structural policy problems, but that's for another day.

McCartney points out that our 45 and 60-day sessions limit opportunities for public input and reasoned decision making. I couldn't agree more.

The practice dates from when a farm-based society squeezed the session into a
few weeks before spring planting. The quaint tradition is outdated for a state
whose population exceeds that of more than 50 countries, including Norway,
Ireland and Israel.

An involved, vibrant, and engaged legislature sheds more sunshine on policy making. The idea that we can carefully consider 2,500 bills and take 2,000 votes with the care and consideration that we owe our constituents is unrealistic in the present system.

When I'm sitting on the House Floor trying to process all of the information coming at me through the firehose sometimes I feel like I'm shooting skeet on the Floor of the House. The Clerk shouts out the bill number, the bills start flying and we wildly start shooting trying to hit them as they fly past.

Policymaking is supposed to be careful, thoughtful, deliberative and above all - done in the open. McCartney is correct that our current system maximizes the influence of special interests, lobbyists, House & Senate Staff, and the full-time state employees. Under our present system, all of our legislators and their staffs simply do not have the time process all of the details necessary to make decisions on 2,000 votes and appropriate an $80 billion budget.

As a freshman, I actually have time than most to study legislation. I do not chair any committees, I only serve on two committees that do not have a large volume of legislation, and I am not in leadership. But the longer you are are around, you tend to accumulate more responsibilities which brings demands on time without additional help.

It's not a system that designed to yield the best results for our constituents.

Big Government Mandates From Richmond

Today, we had a lively debate on the House Floor regarding HB 1416. Among other things, this bill requires localities to spend at least 65% of their school budgets on instruction.

The floor sponsor, Delegate Loupassi from Richmond, said that Fairfax County spends 85% of its monies on instruction presently. I have not had a chance to check that, but it sounds about right.

The bill suffers from many defects. First, there are all kinds of definitions of "instructional spending" and it is not clear what constitutes "administrative costs." As the Chairman of the House Education Committee argued on the floor - do you count guidance counselors are instructional? What about Vice-Principals who do discipline? What about coaches who do the play productions or the debate coach? None of this is defined right now and we would be giving the State Board of Education to draw up the rules.

Fairfax County has a $2.2 billion school budget that is larger than the budgets of over three dozen countries, has a bus fleet larger than most localities, and deals with one of the most multi-national populations in the United States. Over-broad, one-sized fits all rules for the state that treats Fairfax County like all other jurisdictions - including jurisdictions with populations with as little as 40,000 people - can have unintended consequences.

The entire debate is ironic given that we have heard so much about big government mandates and the Governor's inaugural comments that government closest to the people knows best. From my point of view, while well-intentioned, this is not something Fairfax County Public Schools needs right now.

Working to Save Taxpayer Dollars

The article below appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette and the Mount Vernon Voice on February 3, 2010.

We are lucky to live in a forward-looking county that is an international technology leader. Technology — the computer revolution — can help all of us be more efficient and Virginia’s government needs to catch up. Technological approaches can streamline service to the public, and be part of the answer to balancing the budget. As I promised in my campaign, I have introduced several "fixes" that would bring new technologies to state operations and cut state expenditures.

Fairfax County generates over 270,000 traffic and criminal citations each year. Today, officers in police cruisers write out citations by hand in triplicate on carbon paper. One copy goes to the accused person, one to the Police Department and one to the Court. Each of the 270,000 summonses then is entered into a computer.

I introduced legislation with bipartisan support to authorize a $3 fee for an "E-Summons" system enabling officers to laser scan a driver’s license bar code and generate a ticket using a computer and printer in their cruiser. The information would be automatically uploaded to the court’s system, avoid the need for 10 data entry personnel, minimize mistakes, avoid hand-carrying papers to court, speed up payments, and police officers on the street instead of pushing paper.

I also introduced legislation to foster electronic filing of pleadings in Virginia Courts. These systems, used in federal courts and the District of Columbia, eliminate the need for paper pleadings, couriers and filing and data entry clerks. The Courts of Justice Committee in the House of Delegates will consider this legislation this week along with three other bills. Fairfax County is the largest jurisdiction in the Commonwealth with some of the most complex litigation and heavy court dockets. This system would also save tax payers millions.

I also introduced legislation to authorize our courts to install electronic recording systems in every courtroom in the Commonwealth. Currently, courts have either no one keeping a record during the proceeding or in most cases, courts must hire court reporters costing $350 per day. Electronic recording would bring savings to the state and to litigants, and create a record in all proceedings. U.S. District Court in Alexandria has used these systems for over 10 years. My legislation was tabled for this year, but I am working with Fairfax County’s Circuit Court Clerk and Attorney General Cuccinelli to implement these systems in Fairfax County.

The Fairfax County Electoral Board asked me to introduce legislation requiring the same envelope for absentee voters who vote in the United States and those who vote abroad. Federal law requires a simplified envelope for absentee voters abroad. The existing system results in confusion when counting votes, lost time, unnecessarily printed envelopes and many disqualifed votes. A subcommittee rejected my bill last week because they did not want to conform Virginia law to federal requirements. I will try again next year.

Good government depends on your involvement and you can contact me, comment on legislation or request a meeting on my Web site – http://www.scottsurovell.org/ or read more of my views on my blog "The Dixie Pig" at ScottSurovell.Blogspot.com. Also, don’t hesitate to call me at 571-249-4484.