Richmond Report

Final Thoughts on 2012 Session While Budget Negotiations Continue

A Richmond Report from our local delegate.

By Delegate David Englin, 45th District The General Assembly remains in special session, and now a handful of House and Senate budget conferees are negotiating the final details of the state’s two-year budget, which I’m confident will be resolved in the near future. In the meantime, I wanted to share some final thoughts on the rest of the General Assembly’s business this session. For the past several years, I have been working with a small group of legislators to change the culture in Richmond when it comes to billions of dollars of tax giveaways that neither legislators nor the public have any real opportunity to scrutinize and evaluate. In committee and on the House floor, we have poked, prodded, questioned, and exposed various tax …

• Photos (1)

Richmond Report

House Budget Addresses Some Democratic Concerns, but Still Diverts Money from Schools to Roads

A Richmond Report from our local delegate.

In the midst of the ongoing debate about Republican attempts to play doctor and interfere with women’s private medical decisions, the House of Delegates last week debated and voted on the budget. When Governor McDonnell introduced his budget in December, Democrats identified three major problems with it. First, a larger portion of the sales tax was diverted from the General Fund—which pays for K-12 education, higher ed, public safety, and community assistance needs for the disabled—to transportation. Over the course of several years, the percentage would rise from its current rate of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent, which translates from almost $50 million in the first year to over $320 million by year six. Second, there were substantial cuts …

• Photos (1)

VIDEO: Albo Asks for Englin's Apology for Spoiling Romance with Wife

In House floor monologue, Del. Albo says Del. Englin's appearance on Rachel Maddow show killed the mood between Albo and his wife Tuesday night

Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield) asked Del. David Englin (D-Alexandria) for an apology on the House floor Friday, blaming Englin's appearance on the Rachel Maddow Show on Tuesday for spoiling intimacy with Albo's wife that night. According to Albo, he drove home to Fairfax County after the "contentious debate" on Tuesday over ultrasound bill SB484 to see his wife and child. After he read his boy to sleep, he went into the living room to spend time with his wife in front of their big screen television. Albo brought her some red wine, put on some "theme music" and turned on the Redskins channel. "Now I know you think that's weird," Albo said. "But my wife loves the Redskins more than me." On the way to finding the Redskins channel, Albo …

•  5 Comments
• Videos (1)

Beck Lomax

8:41 pm on Saturday, March 3, 2012

There is certainly room for levity in political discourse, but this type of self aggrandizing buffoonery deserves a concise apology to the electorate. Moreover, I suspect that the corpulent Mr. Albo is being mendacious in recounting the events of the evening as claimed. I don't understand how someone with a carriage such as his is capable of tumescence and successfully making a union with his …   more ›

Richmond Report

Improving The Budget While Fighting The Right Wing Social Agenda

A Richmond Report from Alexandria's delegate

By Delegate David Englin, 45th District On Sunday, the House and Senate budget committees unveiled competing versions of Virginia's $85-billion two-year budget. An initial review suggests that both proposals restore some of the cuts to education and the safety net proposed by Governor McDonnell. However, the House version of the budget still cuts $65 million that schools in Northern Virginia need to account for our region's high cost of living, and it includes Governor McDonnell's plan to divert about $100 million per year from education, health care, and public safety to pave roads. The House version of the budget also eliminates the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, which is precisely the wrong move if our goal is ensuring the …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Richmond Report

Egregious, Divisive Bills Cast Shadow on Bipartisan Progress

A Richmond Report from Alexandria's delegate

By Delegate David Englin, 45th District During marathon floor sessions earlier this week, the House of Delegates debated and voted on dozens of bills before "crossover," the Tuesday deadline by which bills must pass the House before being considered by the Senate. In terms of sheer volume, most of the bills we passed enjoyed strong bipartisan support and drew little controversy. These included bills I cosponsored to expand medical assistance to pregnant women who are legal immigrants, to give our community the power to decide our school calendar for ourselves, and to give Northern Virginia a stronger voice on the Commonwealth Transportation Board to help us get our fair share and better meet our transportation needs. However, over my …

• Photos (1)

Richmond Report

Budgets Are Moral Documents, So Let’s Put Pragmatism Over Ideology

A Richmond Report from Alexandria's delegate

By Delegate David Englin, 45th District As the halfway point of this year’s General Assembly session quickly approaches, our attention has turned to the state’s two-year budget. I believe strongly that budgets are moral documents that determine whom we lift up and whom we leave out. Governor McDonnell’s proposed budget includes some laudable new spending on higher education, economic development, and shoring up the state employee pension trust fund. However, Governor McDonnell puts Grover Nordquist’s No Tax Pledge ahead of the needs of the most vulnerable Virginians, so he is making these worthy investments by balancing the budget on the backs of children and the poor. By changing the way state money for public education is calculated, …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Autoexec.bat

3:30 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012

It's called social engineering. NoVA lawmakers can't get enough of it.   more ›

Richmond Report

Fighting Controversial Bills, But Still Finding Common Ground

A Richmond Report from Alexandria's delegate

By Delegate David Englin, 45th District While the overwhelming majority of legislation we work on in Richmond draws no controversy, we are entering the phase of the General Assembly session where some of the most difficult and divisive issues come up for debate. As a long-standing member of the committee that hears health care and social services issues, I had the opportunity this week to weigh in on three such issues: HPV vaccinations, abortion funding for pregnancies with severe fetal deformities, and "conscience clause" legislation for state-funded adoption and foster care agencies. Virginia's current HPV law does not require girls get the vaccine. Rather, it requires the Virginia Department of Health to send parents of sixth grade …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

General Assembly 2012: Area Lawmakers Head to Richmond for 60-Day Legislative Session

Proposals by area legislators include hike in gas tax, campaign sign clutter, giving localities right to ban smoking in parks.

Northern Virginia lawmakers will make their case for hiking gas taxes, banning smoking in parks, cutting the clutter of campaign signs and dozens of other proposals beginning at 12 Noon Wednesday, the official start of the 2012 legislative session of the General Assembly in Richmond. The three proposals are just a sampling of what lawmakers will consider during the 60-day session in the state capital.  Lawmakers' first order of business may be to determine who is in charge in the Senate. Evenly divided by party, it's uncertain whether Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling can step in and serve as a tie-breaker on some votes. At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Gov. Bob McDonnell will deliver his State of the Commonwealth address. A budget shortfall …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (9)

Primary Candidates Report Last-Minute Donations

Candidates must report any donation or loan of $1,000 or more in final two weeks leading up to primary, by 5 p.m. next day.

Primary election voting will soon be underway in the state of Virginia, including several competitive races in the Northern Virginia area. As the clock ticks closer to Tuesday, some primary candidates are reporting, by state law, any campaign donations or loans of $1,000 or more to the State Board of Elections. After receiving a donation or loan, candidates must report the amounts and donors by 5 p.m. the next day. The Virginia Public Access Project tracks donations and plans to update the list daily through Tuesday, the day of the primary. Here's a sampling of some of the last-minute donations and loans to area primary candidates, according to VPAP: Senate District 30 Democratic Primary Race: Adam Ebbin reported a $5,000 donation from …

• Photos (4)

Del. Englin Endorses Krupicka

Delegate touts candidate's 'ideas and energy' to stand up to Cuccinelli

Del. David Englin (D-45) announced Thursday he is endorsing Rob Krupicka in the 30th district Senate Democratic primary. Englin released this statement in an email: “Rob Krupicka has the ideas and the energy to stand up to Ken Cuccinelli's wars on climate science, health care reform, immigrants and gay and lesbian families. Rob has demonstrated over the years and during the course of this campaign a commitment to grassroots Democratic politics, empowering regular people to join together and make change. “Rob is the only candidate with kids currently in our public school system, so I know that he shares the experiences and concerns of families like mine. As a veteran, I'm impressed with Rob's emphasis on doing right by those who have served…

• Photos (1)