February 27, 2005

Dear Friends:

DAY 47: WE HAVE A BUDGET!

Sunday afternoon (a day after we were supposed to wrap up our 46-day session, but after last year's 115-day marathon, who's counting?) we came to agreement on a $63 billion budget for the Commonwealth.

There's a lot to be said for the budget we passed. Among other provisions, we made a down payment on a long-overdue cleanup of the Chesapeake, provided planning money for a new state university in Southside Virginia, cut the sales tax on groceries, and did a (marginally) better job of funding health care for some of our poorest fellow citizens.

A major component of the budget was nearly $850 million in transportation funding -paying off indebtedness on previous projects, earmarking significant amounts for mass transit including Metro, and establishing a fund for rail projects. But these funds, while important, will only keep the Commonwealth's transportation headaches from getting worse faster. Next year (read: "After the election") we'll have to revisit our long-term transportation needs. If we don't, we, our quality of life, and our economy are going to choke on congestion.

At the end of the budget negotiations, the final points of contention turned out to be two holes. The first was a Senate proposal to dig a tunnel connecting the Capitol and the General Assembly Building, in conjunction with the ongoing renovation of the 200-year old Capitol Building. While the Senate defended the idea as a way to improve access for people with disabilities, many in the House derided it as a waste of money designed to keep Members from getting rained on during the 100-yard walk from their offices to the chambers. On Saturday, the opponents unveiled their alternative: black umbrellas imprinted with "Tunnel - Option B."

The other hole was the money pit out in the western part of the state called the Virginia Equine Center. Over the past two decades, the Commonwealth has poured millions of dollars into this operation, and every year they come back for more. I'd spoken against this subsidy in previous sessions; I didn't this time, explaining that I had run out of horse puns.

This year, the House proposed ponying up $4.5 million to help the Equine Center pay down some of its debts; the Senate balked. They finally settled on a payment of $700,000.

In light of the improved economy, the two chambers agreed to provide one-time funding for a variety of arts and other cultural activities across Virginia. Included in the list was $200,000 to help Arlington's Signature Theatre construct its new facility in Shirlington.

GOD SAVE THE SENATE OF VIRGINIA (FOR SAVING VIRGINIA FROM THE HOUSE)

It is said that during the constitutional convention in Philadelphia George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, while enjoying some coffee, were discussing whether there should be one chamber or two in Congress. Jefferson was opposed to a two chamber legislature; Washington was in favor. Washington asked Jefferson, "Why did you pour that coffee into your saucer?" "To cool it," replied Jefferson. "Even so," said Washington, "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it."

This session of the General Assembly demonstrated the wisdom of the bicameral legislature. Because they are elected to four-year terms, our Senators tend to have a longer-range perspective on the bills that come before them. Over and over again, the Senate saved the Commonwealth from the hot-button excesses of the House of Delegates. They didn't just cool some of our Bad Bills: they iced '‘em.

I'm not talking simply about ill-considered legislation such as the ""Droopy-Drawers" bill: my chamber, driven by an implacable ideological majority, sent over to the Other Body a glot of bills so extreme that, if they had prevailed, would have branded our state as a Southern backwater - Mississippi without Faulkner.

These included bills that would have:

On the budget side: the House majority proposed a closeout of the car tax that would have driven us right back into the fiscal ditch we were in three years ago. The Senate, sensibly, resisted and prevailed.

ABOUT MY BILLS . . .

Nine of the 20 bills and resolutions I introduced this session passed both chambers; one other (tightening up the state's Sex Offender Registry) was incorporated into an omnibus measure. Here are a few of the bills and resolutions I sponsored (or "patroned", as they say in Richmond):

Almost every year since I was elected, I have sponsored legislation making improvements in the state's children's health insurance program. This session, I carried a bill enhancing the component of the program that subsidizes some kids' portion of their family's employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI) premiums. In some cases, this amount is enough to make private insurance coverage for the entire family affordable for the first time – but because of cumbersome administrative requirements, ESHI has been terribly underutilized (fewer than 100 kids across the state are covered under ESHI). I hope my bill will help improve those numbers.

Another health related bill asked the Department of Aging to provide information on wrap-around prescription coverage offered by some pharmaceutical companies for low-income Medicare beneficiaries who exhaust their transitional assistance credit.

Another bill of mine will allow emergency workers who responded to the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 additional time to file a claim for workers' compensation benefits if they suffer from a disability directly attributable to those rescue and relief operations. Under current law, those fire, police and other emergency personnel would have been barred from filing a claim after five years – September 11, 2006.

In an earlier newsletter I wrote of the efforts of a group called the New Electoral Reform Alliance for Virginia (New ERA – VA) to insure the integrity of the voting process. Three of my successful bills grew out of their work.

The first bill requires that at least one member of the local electoral board and one person from the general registrar's office attend an annual training program provided by the State Board of Elections. Every year the General Assembly passes scores of bills modifying election procedures and requirements. Making sure that local election officials are abreast of these changes will go a long way towards ensuring they Election Day runs smoothly.

The next bill makes substantial improvements to the provisional ballot process. If voters are not on the rolls when they arrive to vote, they are allowed to cast a provisional ballot that will not be counted until an appeal is made to the local electoral board and the appellant is given time to make the appeal in person.

The third bill will help straighten out many problems that have been encountered in the voter registration process by ensuring the integrity and the accountability of privately sponsored registration drives. Last year there were reports of people being denied the right to vote because the groups that solicited their registration never turned the forms in to the appropriate registrar's office. My bill would require that materials distributed to groups that solicit registrations include notice of the penalties for willful destruction of registration applications or failure to deliver them as promised, and it would increase those penalties.

One measure that fell by the wayside, regrettably, was my proposal to amend the Virginia Constitution to allow localities to grant "homestead exemptions" for owner-occupied residences. This would have provided homeowners relief from the huge run-up in real estate assessments (24% in Arlington last year) that so many localities have experienced. After the resolution passed the House by a comfortable margin, the Senate Finance Committee, in the most gentle, courtly way possible, laid it to rest for the year.

The amendment's demise speaks to the inherent conservatism – institutional, not political or ideological in this case – that guides so much of the General Assembly's activity. While there was near-universal agreement that a homestead exemption had merit in concept, it was too much of a departure from the usual way of doing business for a number of the Members to accept. It will take multiple years of work to overcome the force of inertia – and that's what I plan to do.

So we're home again, until the Veto Session on April 6 and the start of out-of-session committee and commission meetings. Thank you for your many words of support and encouragement this session. I look forward to bumping into you at the Safeway or Starbucks.

Sincerely,

Bob Brink

Bob Brink

Arlington Information:

Mail: P.O. Box 7668, Arlington, Virginia 22207-0668

Phone: 703-243-5778

E-mail: delbrink@starpower.net