Weekly Column: Budgeting Is a Careful Balancing Act

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

Budgeting Is a Careful Balancing Act

                 In December, Governor Youngkin proposed amendments to the state’s two-year budget.  While he did include some laudable proposals, he also continued to promote some unacceptable strategies.

               Virginia’s revenue picture continues to be very positive, but many of our advisors have indicated that our revenue gains could be ephemeral.  First, inflation continues to be up and when things cost more, people spend more and employers give raises to keep up with inflation.  Since Virginia’s General Fund is largely funded by sales and income taxes, our revenues are up compared to some past years.

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: 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: Week #2 - ERA, Ban the Box, and LGBT Nondiscrimination Moves Forward

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 January 22, 2019.

The second week of the General Assembly are now in the books.

First, the Senate of Virginia passed a resolution ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for the sixth time by a vote of 26-14 which is the largest margin ever.  Seven Republican Senator joined all nineteen Democratic Senators to pass the resolution.  The fight moves on to the House this week which historically has refused to even hold a hearing.

This year is different.  In 2018, the states of Nevada and Illinois ratified the ERA which leaves the amendment one state short from ratification.  While the Supreme Court has not expressly upheld Congress’ power to set a ratification deadline, lower courts have held that Congress can set the terms of ratification which also means that Congress can extend the deadline or accept ratifications after the deadline has run.  Legislation is pending in Congress to do that and this is an opportunity to put Virginia on the right side of history for the first time in probably 200 years.  Stay tuned.  

Weekly Column: Federal Tax Reform to Force Action at 2019 General Assembly Session

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 November 26, 2018.

Federal Tax Reform to Force Action at 2019 General Assembly Session

At a recent Senate Finance Committee retreat, state legislators had a preview of economic and revenue projections and other significant issues expected to be debated in the 2019 General Assembly session.

A vice-president of Moody’s Analytics said that Virginia’s economy continues to perform well due to increased federal spending coupled with federal tax cuts.  However, he likened the performance to a sugar high and said that indicators are starting to point toward a recession in the next two years because of increased interest rates and increased import/export tariffs.  He cautioned that rising lending could exacerbate a recession.  He also noted that Virginia’s budget was well positioned for a recession because we have bolstered our Rainy Day Fund.

Next, we examined the state budget.  Nearly 70 percent of Virginia’s general fund revenue comes from income taxes.   Traditionally, Virginia has been a “conforming” state, meaning that the Virginia’s definition of adjusted gross income is identical to the federal definition and taxpayers and accountants do not have to use two different sets of rules to figure out taxes.  However, the tax bill passed by Congress in early 2018 significantly rewrote what constitutes income and limited deductions.  Most significantly, Congress and President Trump limited the deductibility of real estate taxes and state and local income taxes to a total of $10,000 (aka “SALT”).

Weekly Column: Vote “Yes” for FCPS Teachers' Salaries

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Gazette, and The Mt. Vernon Voice in the week of October 20, 2016.

Vote “Yes” for FCPS Teachers' Salaries

When you vote on Tuesday, November 8, Fairfax County voters can vote for our schools by voting to allow a four percent tax on prepared restaurant meals.  Of the revenue generated by the tax, 70 percent is required to be dedicated to public schools and 30 percent to other county services, capital improvements and property tax relief.

I support a meals tax because we need to strengthen our schools.  Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) are suffering from underfunding.  While state funds have increased by over 50 percent since the 2009 Great Recession, local funds, which represent 80 percent of our school system's budget, have risen only 20 percent and lagged investments made in Arlington and Alexandria.

Weekly Column: Virginia Faces Another Shortfall

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 7, 2016.

Virginia Faces Another Shortfall

Last month, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that state revenues were lower than assumed in our state budget passed earlier in the year.  This creates a series of difficult choices. 

In July, the Governor announced that the budget ended on June 30 and came in $266 million short of expectations.  Last month, the Governor announced that due to continued lagging revenues, the current budget was projected to be short by $850 million this year and $630 million in next fiscal year.  This creates a total $1.7 billion from what was budgeted last session.   

There are many causes of this.  First, the lingering effects of the Sequester – automatic spending cuts by the federal government – continue to stall the Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads economies.  Cuts to defense spending alone took $9.8 billion and 115,000 jobs out of the Virginia economy.  Income tax collections are down, even with 2.6% job growth last year, because new jobs do not pay as much as the jobs we have lost.  Commercial office vacancies are still at record highs in Northern Virginia. 

Weekly Column: Proffer and Firearms Reforms; the Electric Chair Returns

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 28, 2016.

Proffer and Firearms Reforms; the Electric Chair Returns

In the past two weeks, I reviewed action on my legislation and the state budget.  This column covers some of the major bills to pass the state legislature.

We passed legislation to reform the proffer process for residential rezoning.  Many localities have abused the process by requiring builders to make flat cash payments as high as $40,000 per home instead of improvements linked to increase infrastructure demands created by a specific rezoning.  This practice abuses the intent underlying the proffer process, drives up the cost of housing and lacks any meaningful accountability in Virginia’s courts. 

Going forward, for rezonings, proffers must be tied to an infrastructure impact specifically caused by the proposed development.  Additionally, the law completely excludes commercial rezonings and at the request of Fairfax County, excludes rezonings in tax districts servicing Metro stations and land zoned for higher densities adjacent to transit facilities – e.g. most of Route 1.   These changes will incentivize local governments to zone future development as mixed-use, higher-density, “smart growth” instead of more sprawl. 

Weekly Column: The Budget Debate Begins!

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of February 17, 2014.

The Budget Debate Begins 

This week in Richmond brought some surprises, good news and some frustration.

First the good news.  On Sunday, the House and Senate announced their budgets signaling the beginning of budget negotiations.  Senator Puller was able to secure language to prioritize funding for preliminary engineering and environmental studies necessary to continue the U.S. 1 Multimodal Transit Analysis Study.  I am hopeful we can keep that in the final budget once the negotiations begin.

Second, the Senate budget amendments also proposed some Senate Republicans’ alternative way to provide insurance coverage to low income Virginians using a “revenue recovery fund” instead of an outright Medicaid expansion.  There is some bipartisan support for expanding coverage, but it is not clear if there are enough votes to get legislation through the House of Delegates.

Taxpayers Funding Movies Instead of Schools

Virginia's budget continues to struggle as our economy continues to recover from the Great Recession.

Education still has not recovered to pre-2009 funding levels, safety net funding lags, over 2,000 disabled adults are on the waiting list for services, and state-supported college tuitions continue to rise while 8,662 children are still waiting for childcare help so their parents can afford to work.

Prioritizing our spending continues to be a priority which is apparently why the Virginia Legislature felt that in this time of competing priorities it was necessary to send $60 million to Hollywood.

In 2010, Virginia first adopted a $2.5 million per year tax credit with a two-year sunset.  At the time, the justification was the "need" to negotiate with Steven Spielberg to ensure that Lincoln would be filmed in Richmond.  This was increased to $4 million in 2012 - I wrote about it here:

The Dixie Pig: Weekly Column: Movie Star Tax Credits, A Gay Judge &
The Session Ends (May 15, 2012)

This year, HB460 was introduced raising the tax credit to a level that has a $10 million annual impact through Fiscal Year 2019 - $60 million total through it's 2019 sunset (click here for Fiscal Impact Statement).  This equates to $7.29 per Virginian or almost $30 per four-person family.

Weekly Column: The Final Week: U.S. 1 Funding Secured and A Transportation Deal

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of February 26, 2013.

The Final Week: U.S. 1 Funding Secured and A Transportation Deal

This week, the General Assembly ended with a budget and two major policy changes - a historic transportation bill and a Medicaid expansion process that I will discuss next week. 
 

The budget reported and now on the Governor’s desk contained a $2 million line item to pay for a Tier I Study of U.S. 1 pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act that I’ve been fighting to secure for four years.  This is the next legally required step towards laying the groundwork for actual major improvements to U.S. 1 between Woodlawn and I-495. 

 

The transportation bill (HB2313) has statewide and local components.  The statewide component repeals the $0.175 gas tax at the pump and replaces it with a 3.5% unleaded tax and 6.0% diesel tax on wholesalers equal to about a $0.10-0.12/gallon tax at the pump.

Weekly Column: The Final Stretch: Progress on U.S. 1, Transportation Negotiations and School Reform

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of February 19, 2013.

The Final Stretch: Progress on U.S. 1, Transportation Negotiations and School Reform

As we move to the end of the General Assembly session, we are engaged in intense negotiations on the major issues. Also, we have had significant progress on U.S. 1.

Earlier this session, Senator Puller and I culminated four years of work to build support for a U.S. 1 study when the McDonnell Administration confirmed that it is holding $2 million to fund the next U.S. 1 improvement study. Last week, I met with over a dozen state, local and regional stakeholders here in Richmond to discuss the next steps on planning U.S. 1 improvements.

The study will have several elements. It will likely focus on the stretch of U.S. 1 from the Occoquan River to Alexandria’s southern boundary. Second, there is a consensus that we must consider all modes of transit – Metrorail, light rail and bus rapid transit. Third, it will be based on the regional population, employment and household forecasts maintained by the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments (COG). Some of these estimates may be larger than those in the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan. In addition, the study may include the impact that increased density has on transit ridership, if funding permits. We should know more specifics and timeframes in the next two weeks. We will issue a joint announcement and set up an informational website.

Weekly Column: New Virginia Currency, Crossover, Transportation and the State Budget

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of February 12, 2013.

New Virginia Currency, Crossover, Transportation and the State Budget

Last week in the General Assembly we hit “Crossover” on Tuesday – the day that each body must complete all work on their own bills. On Monday, I was in the capitol building from 7:30 a.m. until our session ended around 9:00 p.m.

That day, the House of Delegates passed legislation dedicating $17,440 of taxpayer funds to study the creation of a Virginia currency in case the Federal Reserve System fails. It passed on a mostly party-line vote.

Design Your Own Transportation Plan!

Transportation seems to be the hot topic this session.  The Governor has a plan, a few other delegates have popped out plans.  Lots of talk.

Given all of the various moving parts, things were getting fuzzy about exactly how much money was in play.  Earlier this week, I touched base with the some of the House's finance staff about the revenue generated by various options and came up with an interactive spreadsheet that allows you to game out various tax, fee and/or revenue proposals. 

After I made it available for public download, Taber Andrew Bain here in Richmond and Navid Oshan-Afshar over at The Tyson's Corner Blog set them up as full-on interactive do-it-yourself transportation calculators. 

You can build your own transportation funding plan here:

Bain Transportation Shortfall Calculator

The Tyson's Transportation Shortfall Calculator

New Laws Effective Today - 7/1/12

Here is a sample of some new laws that are going into affect today:

• Mandatory ultrasound within 48 hours of an abortion (transvaginal requires consent).
• Families of fifth grade girls will no longer be offered vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV) which prevents cervical cancer
• Identification required to vote (pending DOJ approval)
• Virginians can now sue if someone negligently injures their fetus (e.g. in a car accident)
• Adoption agencies are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, race or religion
• Taxpayers may donate to foundations that support private schools and take a 100%/dollar-for-dollar credit against their taxes.  Donations to other needy charities still get only a regular deduction.
• Virginians can now buy more than one handgun per month or more than twelve handguns per year
• Virginians employed by local governments can now keep their guns in their cars on local government property
• Electricity generated by pig waste now gets the same credit as wind and solar under Virginia's renewable energy standards
• Ignition Interlock Devices required for restricted license after convictions of driving while intoxicated
• Must pay sales taxes on all purchases from Amazon.com (actually effective 9/1/13, but is a law without further action starting 7/1/12)

Not many of my constitutents would consider any of the foregoing priorities (the last two are debatable). 

Needless to say, we have made zero progress on transportation funding.  Schools are still funded below 2007 levels.  We are not in compliance with federal health insurance reform because we have not raised our Medicaid eligibility or set up a state healthcare exchange.

Hopefully, we will do better in the 2013 Session.

Weekly Column: Movie Star Tax Credits, A Gay Judge & The Session Ends

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of May 14, 2012

Movie Star Tax Credits, A Gay Judge and the Session Ends 

Well, it’s over. The 2012 General Assembly ended on May 15, 2012 at 2:00 a.m. after a 13-hour House of Delegates’ session involving 117 of Governor Bob McDonnell’s amendments and the election of 40 judges. It was a fitting end to a very contentious session.

The day was not without controversy. This year, we authorized a bonus and raises for state employees for the first time in five years to be funded with unanticipated revenues.  These state employees include state troopers, corrections employees and people who work for the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC), Department of Transportation (VDOT), judges, court clerks, game wardens, and colleges. On a zero to 95 vote, the House of Delegates rejected the Governor’s proposal to allow raises only if employees could find millions of dollars of cuts in 45 days.

Weekly Column: The New State Budget Misses the Mark

This column below was my weekly column that appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette and Patch in their April 26, 2012 editions:

The New State Budget Misses the Mark

I voted against the final state budget last week because it fails to address our needs and reflects badly-skewed priorities.    It was an eventful two days in Richmond.

The Senate budget deadlock  centered on new funding to “buy down” tolls on the Dulles Toll Road and in Hampton Roads.  Hampton Roads is in revolt right now due to a public-private partnership the Governor negotiated for a new tunnel that could cost Portsmouth drivers $1,000 per year.

Several years ago, the Dulles Toll Road was transferred to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), which assumed responsibility for the construction of the Silver Line.  Tolls will double next year to over $4.00 per trip.  For someone driving five days per week, fifty weeks per year, that totals over $1,000 .  The High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes on the Beltway will bring more tolls, plus the Governor has plans to bring HOT lanes from Fredericksburg to I-395.

Trash Continues to Flow In Little Hunting Creek

Earlier this session, I cosponsored legislation that would put a $0.20 fee or tax on every disposable plastic bag.  One of my constituents recently sent me some information that reminded me why I've been thinking about this.

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time in Paul Spring chasing minnows, crawfish, turtles and eels.  The last few times I've been down there, the creek is biologically dead.  Similarly, I've spent some time cleaning up other creeks in our area.  They aren't much better. 

The picture at the right was taken in Little Hunting Creek three months ago about two previous cleanups in the previous six months.  I wrote these articles after two different cleanups I participated in.

The Dixie Pig: Cleaning Up Little Hunting Creek (Apr. 12, 2011)

The Dixie Pig: Cleaning Up Quander Brook (May 9, 2010)

After viewing the volume of trash in our creeks first hand, I floated the idea of a plastic bag tax on my blog and posted a survey which received a mostly positive response.

The Dixie Pig, Plastic Bags and Mount Vernon's Watersheds (Nov. 18, 2010)

Richmond Stuck On a Bad Budget

The press has started to heat up over the budget situation.  I was one of twenty-one delegates to vote "no" on the House Budget (HB30).  It has now been rejected by the State Senate.  Here are some of the reasons why I voted "no."

Earlier this week, I appeared at a press conference with my colleagues Delegate Patrick Hope and Senator Adam Ebbin in our press conference to discuss the problems with the current budget.  You can view our Press Release here and watch video of the press conference here:

• The Governor's and House Budget's transportation funding proposal in the budget is a gimmick.
• Our secondary education spending levels are still 10% below their peak in FY 2009.
• The proposed budget is laden with bad choices and special interest pork.
• The budget does not reflect the priorities of my district of the Commonwealth of Virginia given our current budget environment.

Weekly Column: A National Spotlight Shines on Virginia and Fighting Education Cuts

This column below was my weekly column that appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in their February 29, 2012 editions:

A National Spotlight Shines on Virginia and Fighting Education Cuts

This past week, the Virginia General Assembly received even more national media attention. None of it related to our budget debate and none of it was good.

Early in the week, the legislature was featured by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. That lead to a slew of news stories, negotiations, speeches, and legislative maneuvers. When all the dust was cleared, the so-called “personhood” bill that would ban contraception was continued by the Virginia Senate to 2013 for discussion.