Constituents Corner

Del. Scott Surovell's End-of-Session Report

Del. Scott Surovell cast 2,000 votes in this session for the 44th district.

Now that the 2013 session of the General Assembly’s work has been completed, except for the April 3 veto session, I will continue my report on several measures. I have already covered the transportation legislation and Medicaid .  I cast 2,000 votes in this session for our district. Six bills that I authored or was chief co-patron for await the Governor’s signature, along with three budget amendments. Three of my bills were referred to study commissions. Last year, we passed legislation that required voters to present some form of identification. This included a social security card, voter registration card, utility bill, bank statement or paycheck. The General Assembly this year approved a bill that deleted all of these  and requires a …

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Virginia Lawmakers Fail to Repeal Gay Marriage Ban

Legislators join activists, fellow lawmakers in Richmond to call for change.

By Amber Galaviz, Capital News Service   State officials joined gay rights activists at a press conference Thursday to discuss their disappointment in Virginia's failure to repeal the state's constitutional ban against same-sex marriage in this year's General Assembly session. “I believe that marriage is about loving, committed couples wanting to make lifelong promises to each other – take care of each other, be responsible for each other and support each other,” Del. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) said at the event at the General Assembly Building. “And I think that if anybody – gay, straight – wants to stand up in front of their family and friends and make that commitment to grow old together, it’s not for me, or the judge or the state to …

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JoeOvercoat

8:25 am on Saturday, February 23, 2013

Actually, encouraging marriage among the homosexual demographic may *reduce* HIV/AIDS infections by reducing promiscuity within that demographic, possibly. Your children are not going to be turned gay by someone else: either they are or they aren't homosexual, already. So let people different than you be...that's what your children could be learning.   more ›

Speak Out: Should Home-Schooled Students Play on Public School Teams?

Senate Committee Kills ‘Tebow Bill’ on Thursday night, but some Patch readers think proposal should be voted into law.

Virginia's Senate Education and Health Committee shot down a bill Thursday that would have allowed home-schooled students to participate in public schools’ sports teams. Committee members killed House Bill 1442 — also known as the “Tebow bill"  — on a 7-8 vote, shelving it for the remainder of this legislative session. But should the bill have reached the full Senate floor? In a Patch blog post, Fairfax County School Board member Ryan McElveen highlighted the defeat of the bill as one of the three most important actions residents could advocate for this session as Richmond pressed on with what he called an "educational extremism." The school board voted to advocate against the proposal, McElveen wrote,  "because, in short, the bill would …

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Gleb Taran

2:15 am on Sunday, March 24, 2013

It is about tolerance! It is about multi-culturalism! It is about diversity! It is about accepting those different than you! You cannot discard those students who are being home schooled like they are second class citizens. When their parents pay for it, they are entitled to it however they see fit! They can choose to use it all. They can choose to use not of it. They can pick and choose whatever…   more ›

Constituents Corner

New Virginia Currency, Crossover, Transportation and the State Budget

Del. Surovell provides an update from Richmond.

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 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.  Minutes later, we also passed legislation condemning the United Nations’ Agenda 21 which the U.N. adopted  in 1992. The bill describes Agenda 21 as a “radical plan of purported ‘sustainable development’ [that] envisions the American way of life of private property ownership, single-family homes, and …

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Virginia DREAM Act Dies in House

Supporters 'optimistic' about bill becoming law next year.

The Virginia DREAM Act — legislation that would have allowed children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state college tuition — has died in Richmond, but supporters are optimistic the bill will pass next year. "I was encouraged," said Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon. "The bill has never gotten this far before. In fact, it's never gotten anywhere. I was encouraged by the response. It got a lot of support. I will be introducing it again next year, and I will be working on it between now and then." For the past seven years, similar legislation has died in a House subcommittee. This year, though, the measure enjoyed bipartisan, unanimous support on the subcommittee level, and it then passed the full House Education Committee with a 17-4 vote. It …

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Virginia House Passes Plan That Would Grade Schools A Through F

Alexandria's Del. Scott Surovell voted for measure that would give all schools letter grades.

By Samantha Morgan, Capital News Service Gov. Bob McDonnell praised the Virginia House of Delegates after legislators bassed a bill Monday he said would provide a simpler way to understand a school’s performance and the state’s accreditation system. Delegates voted 54-40 to approve House Bill 1999, which would require the Virginia Board of Education to grade each school on an A-F scale. Delegate Scott Surovell (D-44th), who represents Mount Vernon voted for the measure. The bill, sponsored by Del.  Thomas “Tag” Greason (R-Landsdowne), is part of McDonnell’s K-12 legislative agenda.  Under the bill, the board would develop a grading system for all schools by Aug. 1.  The letter grade would be given in addition to the state’s more detailed …

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Panel Nixes Tax Credits for Hiring Va. Graduates

A $2,500 credit for small businesses employing public university grads is on hold after subcommittee members ask for legislation that would include private colleges.

By Michael Shuster, Capital News Service A bill that would have given Virginia small businesses a $2,500 tax credit for hiring the state's public university graduates was tabled by House subcommittee members who said the offer should also apply to graduates of Virginia's private institutions. House Bill 1303, introduced by Del. Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), would have created an incentive system for small businesses that hired people holding an associate’s or bachelor’s degree from a public institution of higher education in Virginia, giving a $2,500 corporate income tax credit for each new full-time position created and filled after Jan. 1 of this year. Businesses could have claimed the credit after the graduate had been employed for …

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McDonnell Urges Northern Virginia Business Leaders, Residents to Back Transportation Plan

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell tours state Thursday asking for support, says plan could jumpstart several projects in Northern Virginia.

Gov. Bob McDonnell spent Thursday traveling across the state to urge area business leaders and residents to support his “Virginia’s Road to the Future” transportation plan, saying his proposal could help jumpstart a number of projects in Northern Virginia that have seemed to stall. The plan has gotten mixed reviews from some state legislators so far this session, but a new poll from Christopher Newport University showed 63 percent of Virginia voters support McDonnell's plan, which hinges on doing away with the state’s 17.5 cents per gallon gas tax and increasing the state sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent. In the past, Supervisor Jeff McKay has said that a "one size fits all" transportation plan does not work for Virginia. "While …

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McDonnell Plan Cuts Gas Tax, Raises Sales Tax

Virginia governor's proposed $3.1 billion transportation overhaul gives higher percentage of sales tax to projects, leaves tax on diesel in tact.

By Mark Robinson, Capital News Service  RICHMOND – With the General Assembly set to convene, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed Tuesday increasing Virginia’s sales tax and abolishing its nearly 27-year-old gas tax, making Virginia the first state in the country to do so. The measures are a part of the governor’s proposed $3.1 billion plan to fund improvements to Virginia’s transportation system over the next five years. The funds would supplement $14 billion of transportation projects already under way in the commonwealth, the most in Virginia’s history. “Declining funds for infrastructure maintenance, stagnant motor fuels tax revenues, increased demand for transit and passenger rail and the growing cost of major infrastructure projects …

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General Assembly Begins: Kingstowne Lawmakers Head to Richmond

Senator Bryce Reeves, Dels. Mark Cole and Bill Howell are heading to Richmond for the 2013 session of Virginia's General Assembly.

The Virginia General Assembly will convene at noon Wednesday for its 2013 session.  In odd-numbered years, the General Assembly meets for 30 days, with the option to extend the session for a maximum of another 30 days.  The General Assembly consists of the House of Delegates with 100 members and the Senate with 40 members.  The 140 elected representatives are from an equal number of constituent districts across the commonwealth. Fredericksburg's representatives are: Virginia Senate 2013 Senator Bryce E. Reeves Member since 2012 Republican District 17: Albemarle County (Part); Culpeper County (Part); Fredericksburg City (All); Louisa County (Part); Orange County (All); Spotsylvania County (Part) Virginia House of Delegates 2013 Delegate …

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