Newsletter

February 12, 2005

Dear Friends:

Headin' toward Halfway --

It's the week before Crossover, the midpoint of the 2006 session (if we get out of Dodge when we're supposed to). The House committees are doing everything they can to process all of the bills and resolutions that were sent to them, meeting at all hours. On Monday, I was before the Courts of Justice Committee (which, you'll recall, has the heaviest workload of any committee) until after 9:00 pm. The next morning I was back at the General Assembly Building for a 6:30 am subcommittee hearing. I calculated that my awake time in my rented apartment averages 40 minutes a day. Next year I may just camp out on the couch in my office.

This year the House has addressed over 1,900 bills and resolutions; fewer than half of them were approved. My personal scorecard is about the same: as of today, three have been carried over to next year for further study; two were "passed by indefinitely" (a genteel way of saying "killed deader than a doornail"); two were "stricken from the docket" (another euphemism for "killed") at my request; four have passed the House and will be considered by the Senate after crossover; and five are expected to pass next week with little controversy.

It came as no surprise to me that several of my bills met their demise so swiftly. An example: each Member gets a sum of money from the House every month that is supposed to be used for "office expenses." The trick is that there's no requirement that the funds actually be used for office expenses; any amount left over is treated as ordinary income. (Since you asked: between rent, telephone bills, and other expenses, I personally exceed the allocation every month.)

Every year, I put in a bill that would require Members to substantiate their business expenses. Every year, it goes before a committee of very senior Members who dispatch it, usually within a minute. Every year I'll just keep on trying, I guess.

Another bill of mine went to its reward on Monday morning. This was a key piece of the financing component of Governor Kaine's transportation package; his legislative staff asked me to carry it on behalf of the Governor.

The bill would have increased from 3% to 5% the tax on purchases of vehicles, equalizing it with the sales tax that people pay on other goods and services in Virginia. Despite the obvious connection between that tax and our transportation needs, and the equity of the idea that somebody purchasing a BMW should pay the same tax rate as a mother buying a pair of jeans for her kid, the bill went down in flames on a party-line vote.

(The lineup of speakers supporting the Governor's transportation package on Monday morning had a definite Arlington flavor. Another of the Governor's revenue proposals was carried by Delegate Adam Ebbin, and Chris Zimmerman, chairman of the Arlington County Board, testified in his role as president of the Virginia Transit Association in favor of the package's transit features.)

I'll tell you more about some of my bills after they receive the Senate's stamp of approval. Saying anything about them before then would tempt fate.

Gettin' Nasty -

It's a statement of the obvious that this is a political body, and we enjoy the give-and-take of the political process. But sometimes that process descends into pettiness and vindictiveness. One of those incidents occurred this past week. On a nearly straight party-line vote, the majority refused to confirm former Fairfax Delegate Jim Dillard as a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary. There is absolutely no question of Jim's qualifications for the Board - he served as a member of the House Education Committee and was its chairman before his retirement last year - or his love of the College. Jim's crime? Last year he endorsed as his successor a former aide who was running as the candidate of The Other Party. Coincidentally, the William and Mary Board was meeting when news of Jim's ouster arrived. They gave him a standing ovation and later passed a resolution commending his service to the College. It's a loss to all of us that he will be denied the chance to continue that service.

Lookin' at the Podium from the Other Side --

One stage of the budget-writing process is the Appropriations Committee hearing. Delegates stand at a podium with 22 members of the Committee seated behind a raised dais; the Delegates describe and defend the proposed amendments to the Governor's budget that they have submitted. For years I've gone before the Appropriations Committee to make the case for budget amendments to enhance funding for various programs and services - usually in the health care area. Now, as a member of the Committee, I'm getting a taste of what a difficult job the Members of the Committee face in trying to sort through all those proposals. In the Health Care subcommittee alone, there are over 120 pages of amendments - two to three amendments per page. There are funding shortfalls and unmet needs in so many different areas - from Medicaid to free clinics to nurse training to prescription drug assistance - that prioritizing all those amendments seems to be an impossible task. Where is Solomon when you need him? We'll know in just a few days.

Until next time,

Bob Brink