33rd District News - Hitting the Ground Running!

Week 8 General Assembly Session 2014

FILL OUT MY PRE-SESSION CONSTITUENT SURVEY HERE!

"No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session." Mark Twain

The legislature is in session, so we’ll do our best to be guarding everyone’s liberty! I’m here to work for you and do my best to keep you updated at least once a week on important issues that will impact our liberty and shape the economic future of our Commonwealth. As you know, there’s good reason to be hopeful; a solid Republican conservative supermajority in the House of Delegates means that it’s up to us to work against bills that threaten freedom and prosperity.

I’m already working together with other members of the House and Senate to move forward on legislative proposals that will improve Virginia’s education system, help improve our roads (and keep our budget in line) by reforming transportation spending, fight higher taxes on industries that we rely on, and strengthen the protections of our fundamental rights. These are the “kitchen table” issues – things that will make a real difference in improving the quality of life of the people of our Commonwealth.

After watching the Governor’s address this week, I’m amazed. I went in to Governor McAuliffe’s State of the Commonwealth Address pretty prepared, as some folks had warned that his plan for Virginia involved a glut of social issue initiatives that are unlikely to gain traction in either house. His continued push to expand Medicaid after being rejected by the House, the Senate, and (more importantly) the people of Virginia, flies in the face of commonsense economic principles. His push to bring back the obsolete “one-handgun-a-month” restriction is as tired as it is meaningless; the Commonwealth abandoned this law knowing it was not a serious deterrent to gun crime. His statement that “Even one Virginian’s precious life is too high a price to pay” with regard to his call for gun control was belied by his perpetual disregard for the unborn who die, and for women who are injured in poorly regulated abortion clinics. His categorization of the debate over traditional marriage as an “outdated culture battle” was both uninformed and insensitive to those who hold sincere convictions about the institution of marriage. That said, I still hope our Governor delivers on his promise to work to improve Virginia’s economy, and to the degree he takes sensible action in that direction he will find the legislature a willing partner.

Quick update on my job; I got an exciting new committee assignment! Last year I worked on the Transportation, Science and Technology, and Cities, Counties and Towns committees; this year I’m giving up my seat on Counties, Cities and Towns and moving to the Courts of Justice committee. I’m honored by this assignment, and I look forward to having a hand in safeguarding the legal freedoms of our citizens. I know divisive issues are expected to come before the committee this year, and you can count on me to be a reliable vote for conservative principles. My other committee assignments are the same.

LAST WEEK AT A GLANCE

I had visitors this week! Lots of kind folks stopped by to say hello, including representatives from back home: Some folks from the Bank of Clarke County,

my friend, Dr. Mike Strickland (of Leesburg Veterinary Hospital), Dr. Justin Norbo (Purcellville) and others from the Virginia Dental Association,

the Civil Air Patrol,

and the Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District.

I also had the honor of joining our allies from the Virginia Federation of Republican Women, Linda Kivi-Porter, Diane Mayersak, Jan Hollingshead and hundreds of others from all over the Commonwealth for a delightful lunch.

A Look Ahead

Let’s have a quick legislative roundup! Here are just a few of the many bills I’m working to pass this year:

HB 1470: Transportation Rating

This bill will bring some needed fiscal accountability to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s spending by requiring that transit projects be rated for the same efficiency standards as other transportation projects to receive funding. It sounds crazy, but right now they don’t have to be rated at all! The Northern Virginia Transportation Coalition endorsed this concept this week writing, “We support the development of a performance-based statewide transportation plan that…evaluates highway and public transit projects on the same criteria.” When this passes, our whole state will get an economic boost from leaner, smarter transportation spending.

Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts:

This bill doesn’t have a bill number yet! However, it DOES have strong and growing support. It’s a measure to make more educational options available for a limited number of at-risk students by allowing parents to have direct control over a limited portion of the money the Commonwealth would otherwise spend on their kids if they remained in public school. Parents get more choices, kids get better academic results (both inside and outside of public schools) and the Commonwealth saves money overall – it’s a win-win.

HJ 655: Cyber Protection

It’s no secret that cyber security is a huge issue for businesses and individuals, and it’s also clear that Virginia has a unique opportunity to step to the very front of the pack when it comes to state efforts to ensure the security of our web assets from attack. We have massive resources in the form of technological know-how and access to internet traffic, and, if we put these to use, cyber security could be a massive growth industry for Virginia. This bill will study the creation of cyber security teams, look for possible partnerships with Virginia universities, and examine possible funding sources.

HB 1753 and HB 1754 Home Instruction

These two bills will bring about some simple, commonsense changes for homeschoolers. HB 1753 would enact a cutoff date for the year end testing requirement, so parents who start homeschooling in the spring don’t have to submit a year end evaluation for only a couple months or weeks of home instruction (some school districts already have this as an informal policy). HB 1754 would make it clear that the SAT, PSAT, and ACT are all acceptable evaluations to use for year-end testing. Both of these bills have the support of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

HB 1752 Common Core

I’m not a fan of national Common Core standards. I realize that not everyone in my district shares this position, but I think we can all agree that the decision of whether or not to integrate these standards into the Commonwealth’s public schools should be made by the legislature, not any one person or bureaucrat. That’s what this bill will make law – no Common Core for Virginia unless your elected representatives say so.

So far I have introduced 12 bills and study resolutions, with more on their way. I've also signed on as Co-Patron on some good initiatives from others; you can view the full list here.

REMEMBER

FILL OUT MY PRE-SESSION CONSTITUENT SURVEY HERE!

Please call me or visit! If you have any questions, concerns, opinions, or issues you want to discuss with me, don’t hesitate to get in touch… and as always, please pray for safety and wisdom for my team and me, and for all members of our government.

Sincerely,