Weekly Column: Important Bills Are Moving in the State Legislature

The following is my column that will appear in this week's Mt. Vernon Gazette in the week of January 29, 2023.  

Important Bills Are Moving in the State Legislature

After three weeks into this General Assembly session, many of my bills are moving through committees or have been approved by the Senate and sent to the House of Delegates.

Stronger Consumer Protections

               The regulation of monopoly utilities is one of the most complex topics for crafting good policy.  Virginia’s two investor-owned utilities, Dominion Power and Appalachian Power, have combined revenues of nearly $20 billion from their customers.  That is nearly half the state’s $43.5 billion in General Fund revenues, but unfortunately, the legislature invests very little time supervising this spending by Virginia’s residents and businesses. 

Weekly Column: The 2023 General Assembly Has Started Its Work

The following is my column that will appear in this week's Mt. Vernon Gazette in the week of January 15, 2023.   

The 2023 General Assembly Has Started Its Work

The first week of the General Assembly session is in the books. We spent most of it getting organized. 

On the day before the session started, we learned that Virginia Beach voters had elected Virginia Beach Councilman Aaron Rouse to the state Senate in a special election to replace now-Congresswoman Jen Kiggans.  That changed the party composition of the Senate to 22 Democrats and 18 Republicans.  Senator-elect Rouse will be sworn in this week after his election is certified and he will be a welcome addition.   

Weekly Column: Historic Investment In K-12 Education

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 June 7, 2022.

                Last week, I wrote about some of the local effects of the bipartisan budget agreement that we sent to the Governor last week.  This week I will write about some of the broader issues addressed in the budget.

               First, I was not pleased with the tax cuts which I believe are short-sighted.  The budget contains several other priorities I do not support such as a new $100 million “college laboratory school” program and new funds for school resource officers, but bipartisanship requires compromise.   

Weekly Column: Good News & Bad News in Governor's Amendments

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 April 12, 2020.

Good News & Bad News in Governor's Amendments

                On Sunday, Governor Northam signed the remaining bills that were pending for action, proposed 140 amendments to the state budget, and also 101 amendments to bills.   As of today, the plan is for the House of Delegates to meet outdoors and the Senate of Virginia to meet in a tent behind the Virginia Science Museum in Richmond next Wednesday at noon for our “Veto Session.” 

                First, the good news for our area.  The language requiring the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit to study extending the Blue Line to Lorton, Woodbridge and Potomac Mills is still in the budget.  In addition, the authority and appropriations to fund the Prince William County Public Defender’s Office is still in the budget and cannot be amended further at this point.

Weekly Column: COVID-19 and Our New State Budget

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 15, 2020.

COVID-19 and our New State Budget

               On Thursday, we passed the Senate Budget and nearly as soon as it was passed, the Corona-19 Virus situation exploded.  While this virus crisis is unprecedented, our budget was well-structured and balanced as required by our constitution, and we are prepared for a recession.

               Virginia has its largest cash reserves in the history of the Commonwealth – over $2 billion.  We have been building this reserve both because of constitutionally required deposits to our Revenue Reserve or “Rainy Day” Fund, but also because analysts have been warning us about a likely recession for years even though until last week, we were in the longest economic expansion in American history.

               Our outside bond rating agencies have been warning us that much of American economic growth has been generated by government stimulus versus underlying solid economic fundamentals.  For example, the Trump Tax cuts from 2017 and additional federal government spending accounted for about 1.1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product over the last three years.  Some of Virginia’s productivity was generated by the $1 billion annually invested through Medicaid Expansion.

Weekly Column: 2019 State Budget Misses Opportunities

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 19, 2019.

The 2019 General Assembly session adjourned on February 24 after a few hiccups.  Two weeks ago, I discussed the legislation that I passed.  In this column, I will explain various budget actions we took. 

First, unlike the Federal Government, our budget is balanced as required by the Constitution of Virginia. Next, the General Assembly needed to address modifications to our tax code to bring it up to speed with changes made by Congress with the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2018.  This is usually labelled “conformity.”  “Straight conformity” would cause an additional $600 million of state revenue largely due to the interplay between the new increased federal standard deduction and the $10,000 cap on state and local taxes and mortgage interest (“SALT”).  

Weekly Column: Setting Budget Priorities

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, and Potomac Local in the week of July 15, 2018.

Setting Budget Priorities

Last week, Governor Ralph Northam announced that Virginia finished the fiscal year with  $551.9 million more in revenue that we projected when writing this year’s budget. 

First, the good news is that most of this surplus is due to increased tax revenue from payroll withholding taxes, not one-time revenue sources like capital gains or tax avoidance strategies related to the recent changes in federal tax laws.  The Virginia economy has truly started to perform again. 

However, it is important to keep these numbers in context.  The state’s General Fund has been under significant stress over the decade since the Great Recession and automatic federal spending cuts caused by a process called a “sequester.”  In the nine years I have served in the General Assembly, this is the second fiscal year that the Commonwealth has experienced revenue growth equal to or greater than the historical average.

Weekly Column: Historic Budget Supports Health Care, Teachers, Police and More

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, and Potomac Local in the week of June 3, 2018.

Historic Budget Supports Health Care, Teachers, Police and More

                Last week, the Virginia legislature, with my support, took several major steps forward. First, we agreed to expand Medicaid, health insurance for disabled and low-income Americans, so that now, over 36,000 people in the 36^th Senate District receive their health care from Medicaid.  This includes over 24,000 children, children whose parents now have no health care.  Starting January 1, 2019, that will change.                  

                Medicaid expansion will provide health care to between 300,000 and 400,000 Virginians and create 30,000 new jobs, many of which will be right here in eastern Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford Counties.  It will also save taxpayers $180,000,000 every two years by shifting charity care at state teaching hospitals and prison health care to Medicaid.  All of us pay for uninsured people who must resort to costly hospital emergency rooms for their care.  Providing Medicaid coverage can help people avoid hospital emergency rooms for non-emergency care and will help limit insurance premium increases.

Weekly Column: 2017 General Assembly Session In the Books!

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of February 27, 2017.

2017 General Assembly Session In the Books!

In the 2017 General Assembly session, which ended on February 25, we were able to make some progress in spite of a $1.1 billion budget shortfall.

First, we approved amendments to the state’s biennial budget.  After drawing on a $560 million Rainy Day Fund, the budget funds the state share of a long-overdue two percent salary increase for teachers, a three percent raise for state employees, and a $7,000-per-year increase in starting salaries ($36,000) for state troopers.   As always, we met our constitutional obligation to balance the budget.

Weekly Column: Progress On Water Quality & 2% Teacher Pay Raise Proposed

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of February 6, 2017.

The last week of January was especially busy as the General Assembly approached February 7^th – Crossover – the day we are required to complete all work on bills originating in our chamber.  The bills saved for last usually involve the hardest issues to resolve.

Out of the 40 bills I introduced twenty-two have passed the Senate or are poised for passage before Crossover. 

Last week saw another victory for water quality.  This session, I introduced three bills to help control water pollution caused by coal ash.  One of my bills was reported by the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee over the objection of Dominion Power.  The bill prohibits the issuance of any final permits until Dominion to identifies and describes all water pollution occurring at coal ash ponds and demonstrate corrective measures, evaluate coal ash removal or “clean closure,” and demonstrate that leaving coal ash in place or “cap in place” will not put the community at risk during hurricanes, floods or other major weather events.

Weekly Column: Legislature Needs to Examine UVA’s $2 Billion Cash Reserve

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 August 8, 2016.

Legislature Needs to Examine UVA’s $2 Billion Cash Reserve

In July, it was revealed that the University of Virginia had managed to retain over $2 billion of excess revenues – exclusive of their $5 billion endowment maintained by their foundation.  An outgoing member of the Board of Visitors called it a “slush fund.” 

This was very concerning to me for several reasons.  First, UVA has increased its tuition by nearly 100% in the last ten years.  UVA’s debt at graduation is up by over 50% in the last years to over $23,000.    Tuition has been exploding in Virginia while UVA has been pocketing over $2 billion of excess revenue. 

Second, while every school needs working capital and a modest financial reserve to operate, I do not believe any school needs to keep cash reserves on hand that amount to $50,000 per student.  UVA is a public school – not a private university.

Weekly Column: The State Budget: More for Schools, the Disabled, State Troopers

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 March 14, 2016.

The State Budget: More for Schools, the Disabled, State Troopers

Last week, I covered the good news in the state budget for the 36^th Senate District.  This week, I am detailing some of the important features of the state budget that help the entire state.

 

First, the budget restores some honesty to the budgeting process.  During the McDonnell Administration, the state skipped state employees' retirement plan contributions for two years and then promised pay missed contributions over a 10-year period with interest.  I repeatedly voted “no” on those budgets, in-part, because they were an end run around our state constitution's requirement for a balanced budget.  The proposed budget prepays all of the entire remaining obligations and funds 100% our recommended pension obligations for this biennium. 

Weekly Column: The Senate Budget Emerges

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 February 16, 2016.

The Senate Budget Emerges

This week, the seventh of this session of the Virginia General Assembly, both the Senate and House of Delegates are considering the state’s two-year budget. After each house passes a budget, a joint conference committee resolves the differences. The Senate budget has good news and bad news.

 

Good News

Revenues have increased more than expenses for the first time in seven years, offering opportunities to address unmet needs.  The Senate Budget makes significant investments in education including an additional $80 million for Fairfax County, $32 million for Prince William County and $22 million for Stafford County over last year’s appropriations including $16 million for a program called “Cost to Compete” which is supplemental funding for high-cost areas like Northern Virginia to pay teachers and support staff.  The plan also includes a two-percent salary increase for all elementary-secondary school teachers.  

Weekly Column: What's Ahead in the State Legislature

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 December 29, 2015.

What's Ahead in the State Legislature

       The 2016, 60-day session of the Virginia General Assembly gavels in on January 13. 

       The legislature will craft a two-year budget, which will be Governor McAuliffe's first chance to put his stamp on the state's finances.  While Virginia’s economy lags behind the national average, revenue is up more than average for the first time since I was elected in 2009 and there are many unmet needs worthy of funding.

Supporting Our Schools and Colleges

        Virginia is currently funding secondary education on a per pupil, inflation-adjusted basis at levels below funding in 2007.  The Governor has requested a billion dollar increase, new teacher positions, teacher pay raises and  full funding for “Cost to Compete,”  a program that supplements salaries for  Northern Virginia school employees. 

Weekly Column: General Assembly Must Address Many Needs

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 December 2, 2015.

General Assembly Must Address Many Needs

 

At the State Senate annual Finance Retreat two weeks ago, staff updated the State Senate on Virginia's economy, projected revenues and significant budget issues expected during the 2016 session to begin on January 13.  The news is a mixed bag.

 

First, Virginia’s economy is still struggling.  Thanks to the “Sequester,” large, across-the-board, federal budget cuts, federal spending in Virginia is down by 33 percent over just last year.  That’s $24 billion fewer dollars coming into the Virginia economy.  Not surprisingly, economic growth has been flat statewide.  Twelve percent of homes are still short sales due to stagnant home prices and our predicted economic growth for 2016 is about one-third less than the national rate.

Weekly Column: Children’s Issues Dominate First Hispanic Town Hall

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette and The Mt. Vernon Voice in the week of August 18, 2014.

Children’s Issues Dominate First Hispanic Town Hall

On Saturday, August 16, 2014, I held my third town hall meeting of the year and my first ever Hispanic Community Town Hall.  I was also joined by the first Democratic elected Latino State Delegate - Alfonso Lopez - who represents South Arlington and Bailey's Crossroads.  

The Hispanic population has grown from less than one percent in Virginia in the 1970s to 8.6% today.  Here in our area, there was virtually no Hispanic population when I was a kid.  Today, the Hispanic population is the largest minority demographic in the 44th District.  One in four people who lives in the 44th District is Hispanic.

Weekly Column: 2013 General Assembly's Mixed Record

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of March 13, 2013.

2013 General Assembly’s Mixed Record

Now that the 2013 session of the General Assembly’s work has been completed, except for the April 3 veto session, I will continue my report on several measures.  I have already covered the transportation legislation and Medicaid . 

I cast 2,000 votes in this session for our district. 

Six bills that I authored or  was chief co-patron for await the Governor’s signature, along with three budget amendments.   Three of my bills were referred to study commissions. 

Last year, we passed legislation that required voters to present some form of identification.  This included a social security card, voter registration card, utility bill, bank statement or paycheck.   The General Assembly this year approved a bill that deleted all of these  and requires a voter to present photo ID.  I opposed this bill.

2012 Session Interview with Cable Reports

About two weeks ago, I was interviewed by the Cable Reports with the Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association and Cox Communications to provide an update of events in my district.

We talked about:

• Redistricting changes to the 44th District
• Congressional Redistricting
• Voter Suppression Legislation
• U.S. 1 Redevelopment
• K-12 Investments
• Higher Education Cuts

Here's the interview.

State Support for UVA Less Than 50% of 1989 Levels

Some people joke that the the session really starts around December 1 of every year.  Well, this time of year, we are busy getting innudated with briefing materials with various organizations showing us their importance to the Commonwealth.  I was reading through a few sets of materials today and the package from UVA really blew my mind. 

My parents both benefitted from an affordable high quality in-state higher education.  Like my parents, I also benefitted from this attending James Madison University from 1989-1993.

First, today's General Fund inflation-adjusted appropriations for UVA is less than 50% what it was in 1989.  The Commonwealth is investing $7,657 per student at UVA as compared with $16,846 per student when I attended college.

Second, if you compare the UVA General Fund appropriation from 1989 and apply the rate of inflation to it, it has gone from around $120 million down to approximately $105 million. 

You can see from the chart that this trend began when I was in college - I really remember it.  Right after I started at JMU, a recession hit and Governor Wilder insisted that he was going to balance the state budget without raising taxes (he was also talking about running for President).  Higher education was one of the first thigns to be cut.  You can see there was a slight recovery in 2001, but then things fell off the charts in 2001 after control of the General Assembly changed hands.

2011 Budget Highlights

Last night, we ended the session by voting on the proposed amendments to the State Budget as worked out by the House and Senate. The Budget cleared both houses unanimously for the first time in a long time.

The budget was truly a bipartisan compromise where both sides gave. It was negotiated by twelve "Budget Conferees" (Delegates Kirk Cox, Chris Jones, Beverly Sherwood, Steve Landes, Johnny Joannou and Senators Dick Saslaw, Chuck Colgan, Janet Howell, Edd Houck, William Wampler, Walter Stosch, and Tommy Norment) who worked tirelessly over the last week to produce a the result. The fact that there were no dissenting votes say a lot about their effectiveness, efforts, and creativity.

Governor Bob McDonnell also deserves to be commended for moving the parties along through their negotiations.

It now moves on to the Governor for his review, line item vetoes, or acceptance and will be our state budget through June 30, 2012 once finally approved.

Here are some highlights.

Overall Highlights

• No General Fund money was contribued to transportation other than amounts required by previously enacted statutes. Transportation in Virginia has historically been funded by taxes deposited into a separate fund called the Transportation Trust Fund.
• The budget makes a $64 million prepayment to the constitutionally-required Rainy Day Fund contribution required next year which will be massive (over $200 million due).
• A gimmick used to balance the State Budget last year - early payment of sales tax revenue by businesses - was removed for 80% of Virginia businesses (businesses with less than $5.4 million of revenue).
• The budget gave state employees a 5% raise, but required state employees to contribute 5% to the Virginia Retirement System. State employees previously made no contribution to VRS.
• The Budget contains no new taxes and removed some fee increases from last year.

Education Funding

• K-12 funding was increased over and above what the Governor proposed by about $80+/- million. That will result in Fairfax County receiving $4.1 million over what the Governor proposed.
• The "hold harmless" payment to localities whose education funding should have gone down last year due to budget cuts was maintained (does not affect Northern Virginia).
• The House's proposal to take funding from low income preschool programs to fund full-day kindergarten was rejected.
• The Budget directed at least $20 million in new monies to various state universities to increase Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs and increase college capacity.

Health Care

• The budget increased Medicaid provider funding by $100 million to partially make up for the $400 million in cuts last year. This will help avoid further doctors refusing Medicaid patients and will help with everyone's insurance rates.
• We also increased the number of Medicaid waivers for profoundly disabled adults and set aside $30 million to assist in the transition from institutional facilities to community care centers to comply with a Department of Justice investigiation and request.
• Funding for AIDS drug programs was restored. I had constituents who specifically lobbied me about this issue and had been cut off due to budget cuts.
• The Governor proposed to cut $2 million of funding for the Healthy Families Program - a proven program that reduces the incidence of domestic abuse in Northern Virginia. The budget we approved restored $500,000 of those cuts. Plus, a small increase funding for Northern Virginia Family Services which helps low income households in Northern Virginia was budgeted.

Judicial System & Public Safety

• Last year, we froze elections on judges due to budget constraints. This resulted in the loss of one open judgeship in Fairfax County, two in Arlington County due to retirements and one in the City of Alexandria due to retirements. Alexandria gets its judgeship, the rest of Northern Virginia does not.
• $15 million in new "599" funding for new police positions in localities.
• The House's effort to terminate drug court funding was avoided.
• The Governor's effort to substantially scale back funding for Juvenile non-incarceration sentencing programs was avoided. '
• The Governor's proposal to raid $5 million from attorney bar dues to fund the general budget was rejected.
• The state had to appropriate $270,000 for new mandatory minimum sentences enacted this year.

State Parks

• $1.2 million was provided to create 15 new positions in our State Parks which are seeing record visitation.

Social Issues & Other Items

• The House's proposed cuts to public television were largely avoided.
• The House's proposed ban on stem cell funding was rejected.
• The House's proposed ban on Planned Parenthood funding was rejected.
• Rejected a Senate proposal to spent $500 million on new office space in Capitol Square including a $300 million new General Assembly Building.

I will write about the transportation bill we passed this year later this week. In the meantime, if you have any specific questions about the state budget, please post them up below or shoot me an email at scottsurovell@gmail.com.