Weekly Column - Week Five: A Deal on Misdemeanor-Felony Threshold, Coal Ash Continues

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of February 6, 2018.

Week Five: A Deal on Misdemeanor-Felony Threshold, Coal Ash Continues

The fifth week of session brought a furious pace to legislating including some of the most contentious bills of the session as we approached “crossover” – the day the Senate and House are required to complete action on legislation originating in each chamber.  It was mostly a successful week for me.  Twenty-one of my bills are now set to pass the Senate to be considered by the House of Delegates.

First, Governor Northam announced an agreement to raise Virginia’s threshold between misdemeanors and felonies from $200 to $500.  Once enacted, Virginia’s threshold will still be the second lowest in the United States.  I have introduced this legislation every year for nine sessions I was pleased it is finally going to be enacted into law.  

Weekly Column: Progress on Predatory Lending, Fracking, and Education Equity

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of February 6, 2018.

Progress on Predatory Lending, Fracking, and Education Equity 

The third week of the General Assembly brought action on about two dozen of my bills.

First, my two remaining bills to address education equity were unanimously recommended by the Education Subcommittee.  The first bill prohibits localities from requiring children to use “electronic textbooks” without providing students with devices to use such “books” at home.  Many children in the U.S. 1 Corridor do not have computers or broadband at home and our schools should not mandate electronic learning without providing devices.

Chuck Colgan's Top 10

Last year, the longest serving member of the Senate of Virginia, Chuck Colgan, passed away After a long and impressive career in the Senate of Virginia where he served from 1976 to 2016 after serving the people of Prince William County for thirty years.  

At his funeral, his family put "Chuck Colgan's Top Ten" into the program which were rules that he told his children to live by.  A picture of them is at the right.  Good advice to follow!  

The 36th District Town Hall Wrap-Up

Over the past two weekends we have held six different town hall meetings.

Thank you all who attended the town halls, both in-person and online through Facebook Live, thank you for all the engaging questions you brought with you. Stay contacted with me via Facebook and Twitter to hear about future town halls.

You can watch video from each of the town halls below! 

Occoquan Town Hall – January 27, 2018

Weekly Column: Progress on Education Equity and Setbacks on Distracted Driving

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of January 29, 2018.

               This past weekend, we saw about 150 people turn out at my three Town Hall Meetings in Occoquan, Montclair and Stafford County with Senator Jeremy McPike, Delegates Jennifer Carroll Foy, Hala Ayala, and Elizabeth Guzman.  You can watch videos of all six of my town hall meetings on my Facebook page or on my blog – The Dixie Pig – at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.  Thank you to everyone who turned out!

               On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation Committee killed my legislation to authorize temporary driving permits for Virginians who cannot show legal immigration status but can pass a driving test and are paying Virginia taxes.  Numerous studies in the fifteen states who have done this have shown that it reduces collisions, hit and run incidents, increases reporting other crimes to law enforcement, and results in significantly increased tax collections.  The bill died on a party line vote 7-8 after over three hundred people jammed the room and testified about how a lack of driving privileges affected them on a daily basis.

Weekly Column: Progress on Transportation Safety and Criminal Justice Reform

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of January 22, 2018.

Progress on Transportation Safety and Criminal Justice Reform

The General Assembly acted on several of my bills last week, the first full week of the session.

Two of my bills passed this week.  First, my bill to expand the types of abuse proceedings in which children can testify by video connection passed unanimously.  Also, the Senate passed my legislation raising Virginia’s threshold between misdemeanors and felonies to $500 after it was combined with other members’ bills.  Virginia’s felony threshold is the lowest in the United States, has not changed since 1980, wastes taxpayer dollars and unnecessarily turns many into felons.  Only two senators voted against the bill and it now heads to the House of Delegates.  

Weekly Column: Coal Ash, Predatory Lending and Education Equity

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of January 15, 2018.

The General Assembly has reorganized, added nearly twenty new members, and we inaugurated a new Governor on Saturday.  The 36^th District now overlaps with five new state delegates including four new women.  I am looking forward to the new ideas and energy they bring. 

This year brings a long session and a new two-year budget.  The biggest news in Governor McAuliffe’s proposed budget was about $500 million of new education monies, a proposed funding solution for Metro, and $170,000 to finally clean up a derelict barge in Belmont Bay. 

While we need to fix Metro, Governor McAuliffe’s proposed fix takes over half a billion dollars away from other Northern Virginia transportation projects and will serious jeopardize the current timeline on U.S. 1 projects in Fairfax County and potentially Prince William County.  I cannot support it as written and will work to find other revenue sources to solve this problem.

Demanding Answers Relating to Bijan Ghaisan

On November 17, Bijan Ghaisan, a McLean Accountant, was shot three times in the head at the intersection of Alexandria Avenue and Fort Hunt Road at the conclusion of a traffic stop following an alleged hit and run near Slater's Lane and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.  He was unarmed.

As of today (December 6), the public has been given no explanation of what happened in the incident.  The Fairfax County Police have refused to make officer dash camera video public. 

A week ago, I sent the following letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation seeking answers.  When the government takes a human life, the public is owed information.

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.

Weekly Column: Election Day Earthquake Brings Three Possible Policy Shifts

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of November 20, 2017.

Election Day Earthquake Brings Three Possible Policy Shifts

Election Day was an electoral earthquake in Virginia politics.  Fourteen seats in the House of Delegates switched from Republican to Democratic members – the largest switch since 1899.  Two have not yet been certified due to irregularities and three are heading to recounts.  We do not know if any party will control the House and probably will not know until late in the day on the first day of session after the dust has settled.

While the new situation in the House of Delegates will create some uncertainty over the next fifty days, it will create some opportunities in Virginia public policy, but not a wholesale change of direction.  The Senate of Virginia is still controlled by the Republican Party and most major committees have significant partisan majorities. 

Notwithstanding, I am hopeful that in the short-term, we might see some changes in a three areas: Medicaid Expansion, Criminal Justice Reform, and Nonpartisan Redistricting.

U.S. 1 Widening Comment Deadline 12/5!

One of my top priorities since I was first elected in 2009 has been the improvement of U.S. 1.

In 2011, former Senator Toddy Puller and I passed legislation authorizing the Route 1 Multimodal Alternative Analysis Study.  VDOT is proposing its first widening which extends from Woodlawn to Costco pursuant to this study and is accepting public comments on their design.

This project will widen U.S. 1 to six lanes, provide a bike and pedestrian trail on both sides of the road, and maintain a median necessary for future Bus Rapid Transit.

VIEW VDOT PRESENTATION HERE

Possible configurations for the intersection of U.S. 1 and

Buckman Road/Old Mt. Vernon Hwy

VDOT is also considering several improvements that require community input such as whether to create "superstreets" that allow fewer left turns and provide better traffic flow (see below), whether to underground telephone, electricity, and cable lines, and whether to mitigate litter and storm water runoff from the road.

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS PROJECT BY USING THIS LINK.

All submitted comments will be forwarded to VDOT.

The U.S. 1 Multimodal Alternatives Analysis Study found that this segment should be served by bus rapid transit to encourage development to support a Metro extension. The bus rapid transit system will provide curb-separated lanes for buses which will run ever 6-10 minutes and carry passengers to and from residential and mixed use areas along U.S. 1 to the Huntington Metro.  

Weekly Column: Let's Grow Early Voting

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Mt. Vernon Voice, and the Potomac and Stafford Locals in the week of November 3, 2017.

Let’s Grow Early Voting  

The 2017 Virginia elections once against demonstrated that Virginians are choosing to vote early in larger numbers each election.  

As compared with 2013, early voting in Prince William County was up over 210%, 170% in Fairfax County, and 146% in Stafford County. In 2016, over 120,000 or one in five Fairfax County voters cast their votes early while nearly forty-four percent of Prince William County voters voted early.  

Voting early allows voters to avoid precinct lines, unpredictable weather, job, family or health problems. Voting by mail gives voters more time to complete their ballot in the privacy of their home. Most importantly, it provides the flexibility to allow more people to participate in our democracy.  

Given its popularity, there are more things our government can do to facilitate early voting.