Legislators in the earliest days of the Republic were mostly of the planter class as women, blacks and non-landowners could not vote or hold office. The best time to get away from the plantation and the crops was in the wintertime.
That probably started the custom that continues to today whereby the General Assembly holds its regular session in the winter beginning on the first Wednesday after the firstMonday in January.
In simpler times — and up until 1971 — the state law-making body only met every other year, in the even-numbered years. The current schedule has the House of Delegates and the State Senate meeting for 60 calendar days in the even-numbered years and 30 days, most often extended to 45 days, in the odd-numbered years.
Passage of the biennium budget passed in the even-numbered years is the justification for the more than two weeks additional time. Special sessions are not that unusual, although they seldom extend for more than a few days.
Virginia government is organized around the idea of citizen-legislators. We who serve in the legislature have work and family responsibilities beyond our service as legislators. With the minimal salaries paid — $17, 640 in the House and $18,000 in the Senate — an additional source of income is necessary if one is not independently wealthy. If legislative sessions were lengthened, it would likely impact who could serve as fewer people would be able to leave their work for extended periods of time. I would not support a full-time legislature as it would be likely to lead into governing in areas best left for local government or the private sector.
Legislative work does get done in the interim between legislative sessions. Study committees meet to consider the need for legislation in areas where more time is needed for analysis beyond that available in the regular session. An important study committee this year will consider the need for additional health care reform beyond that passed in the last session.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) provides legislative oversight with legislative members and a professional staff and conducts some of the most in-depth studies. In 1997 I introduced the legislation to establish the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) and served as its original chair. JCOTS conducts studies, with private-sector and academic technical advisory committee members assisting it, in its mission to study and advise in the development of sound technology and science policy in the Commonwealth.
The summertime provides more opportunities to meet with constituents locally and to learn their needs. The General Assembly is referred to as a part-time legislature, although I spend more than full-time as a member. My retirement status provides me time to work year-round at a job I really enjoy and am honored to have.
Although it is summer, still feel free to call on me whenever you think I can be of assistance to you. Email me at [email protected].
Ken Plum represents Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates.
My 11th grade history teacher, Mr. David Poole Kite, assigned me the first big research paper I can remember having to write in high school. I typed out a 20-page paper, “History of Page County,” on my Royal portable typewriter. It took Harry Strickler 442 pages to write his book, A Short History of Page County (Richmond: Dietz Press, 1952). His book was my only source; I just picked fewer events to highlight.
My paper probably should have been entitled “A Very Brief History of Page County.” My original research was to visit sites where some of the events Strickler describes took place. Even then and until today, I find it fascinating to stand in a place of importance.
Last week, I visited one of those places again — the White House on Route 211 west of Luray. The name came from the white stucco that covers the limestone walls of the house, which was built in 1760 by Martin Kauffman II as a residence and Mennonite meeting place. He was among the first settlers in the village. I do not know of any momentous event that took place there. It’s just the idea of a home — not a palace or a mansion — surviving that long that makes it interesting as one of the oldest structures in Page County.
Remarkably, it remains in about the same condition and configuration as when it was first constructed. It is on the National Registry of Historic Places as well as the Virginia Landmarks Registry. An archeological survey is underway at the site, and plans are being developed for its restoration. It is located on rich bottom land in one of the bends of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Evidence, including a number of arrow points and other artifacts that have been found, indicates that it was an active location for Native Americans.
As interesting as the place itself is, the other activities being undertaken on the property by its owner, Northern Virginia developer Scott C. Plein, are equally of interest. A brick farmhouse on the property built in the late nineteenth century has been beautifully restored. Through the White House Farm Foundation and numerous partners, research is being conducted on riparian buffers, sustainable agricultural practices, and native trees and plants. The White House is not open to the public, but numerous school groups participate in scientific and archeological research on the farm. Students participate in gardening activities with the produce being contributed to local food banks not unlike the activities going on now at the more well-known White House.
Learning about the past has been enjoyable for me throughout my life. At the White House of Virginia, Scott Plein and his associates are demonstrating that while we are learning about the past we can learn lessons for the future about environmental quality, sustainability, and historic conservation. It adds a whole new chapter to my brief history of Page County.
Ken Plum represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates.
The Virginia General Assembly has been in recess since early March, when a special session was called by the Governor to pass a biennial budget that had failed to pass in the regular session.
The impasse, of course, is about expanding Medicaid to provide health insurance to 400,000 of Virginia’s working poor or turning down $5 five million a day because it is related to “Obamacare.”
We will return from our recess whenever there is a compromise proposed or some solution on which to vote. I have already endorsed a compromise offered by three Republican senators that would establish a program similar to those set up in a number of very conservative states that have expanded Medicaid.
In the meantime, I have had more time to spend in my garden than I have had any spring for many years. I had almost forgotten how relaxing and satisfying working in the soil can be. I live on a postage stamp size lot of maybe a third of an acre. When we moved in more than 20 years ago, I loved our new house but was disappointed that the lot was so small. I now find the lot to be plenty big to maintain.
I grew up in rural Page County, Virginia. We did not have a farm, but we did have enough land that Dad and Mom had a wonderful vegetable garden. Dad raised enough vegetables to feed us all summer, and Mom canned or froze enough to last the rest of the year. The unfinished cellar under our house had large bins that kept potatoes year-round.
My parents raised some flowers, but my interest in flowers was piqued by Mr. Johnson, who lived in D. C. but had a weekend home on the Shenandoah River near my home. I was paid $5 a week to mow the lawn but also got to observe him and the multitude of flowers and shrubs he had. He often gave me starts of plants that I could take home for our yard.
I have never lived any place where I could have a vegetable garden like my Dad’s nor was I probably ever willing to do the tremendous amount of work he did to make it successful. I always have had lots of flowers as my Facebook (Kenneth R. Plum) friends can attest with the number of photos I post.
While working in the garden this spring trying to fill in the bare spots in the lawn, putting up new window boxes, pruning and restoring perennials, I remembered a book I used for years as a gardening guide, The Complete Book of Garden Magic by Roy E. Biles (Ferguson: Chicago, 1956). I could not find my original copy, but I was able to purchase a used one through the internet. Though obviously dated in many of its recommendations, it nonetheless reminded me that the magic in gardening comes not only in what you plant and grow but in the soothing effect the process can have on your life.
Ken Plum represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates.
Last month, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that Virginia will participate in the Business Incentives Initiative, a joint project of The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) and six other states (Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee) to “reform economic development incentive reporting policies and practices.”
While millions of dollars are spent on tax incentives and grants to lure business to Virginia each year, there is no evidence that the programs are actually working as intended. There is a national debate across the country about the necessity and value of tax incentives to encourage economic development.
In a report issued earlier this year the Pew Research Center issued a fact sheet, “Evaluating State Tax Incentives: How to Measure Economic Impact” (Pew Research Center Fact Sheet), about high-quality evaluations of tax incentive programs in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Massachusetts in what they termed “models for other states to follow when measuring the results of their own incentives.”
In Minnesota, evaluators estimated that 79 percent of the jobs created at companies receiving incentives were likely to have been generated without them. Jobs created cost the state more than $26,000, or about five times more than originally estimated according to the analysts.
Last Wednesday, the 2014 session of the General Assembly adjourned sine die at the end of the Reconvened Session that is called at the conclusion of each regular session to consider amendments to legislation proposed by the Governor and vetoes he made of any bills.
Much of the work during the Reconvened Session dealt with technical issues related to the drafting of bills during a fast-paced session. Although the regular session has concluded, the General Assembly is already in special session to consider the biennium budget and closing the gap in health care coverage.
As I wrote in a column a few weeks ago, I give the regular session an “I for Incomplete” grade because it has failed to date to pass the most important work of every session in an even-numbered year–passing a budget for the state for the next two years beginningJuly 1. Otherwise, as I wrote in the same column, the session would be considered a reasonably productive one.
Republicans in the House of Delegates have refused to consider closing the gap in health care coverage even though federal dollars are available to cover 100 percent of the cost. While I have tried to understand their logic for wanting to separate the expansion of Medicaid from consideration of the budget, I can only conclude that separation of the two issues is simply an attempt to defeat any effort to expand Medicaid.
How or why would a legislature consider or pass a budget that ignores $5 million dollars a day in federal revenue available to it? Why would a legislature choose to ignore the nearly two hundred million dollars in state general funds that Medicaid expansion would free up to meet critical needs in education and public safety? How can one argue that separating Medicaid expansion from the budget would make for a “clean” budget when 20 percent of the current budget is the current Medicaid program?
Why would we watch billions of dollars be paid by Virginia businesses to the federal government without adopting the program these dollars were intended to support? Why should residents of the poorest area of our state — the southwest — go without health care when their neighbors in Kentucky and Tennessee are receiving care through Medicaid? Why should we ignore the pleas of our hospitals who suffer serious financial challenges from providing uncompensated care to indigent people when Medicaid expansion would cover these costs? Why are we ignoring the fact that our free clinics have more patients than they can serve?
There are many more questions that could be asked of Republicans in the House of Delegates, but the answer to all is the same: politics. Political considerations are keeping the Republicans from being willing to consider what they term “Obamacare.”
The Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity, along with Grover Norquist and the Tea Party, are actively working against Medicaid expansion, and Republican incumbents fear a primary challenge from the right if they vote for anything related to expanding Medicaid.
Proponents of closing the coverage gap must generate the same kind of fear in the incumbents for the general elections next year.
Ken Plum represents Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates. His column runs Wednesdays on Reston Now.
Although President Barack Obama did not come to Reston’s 50th anniversary celebration as President Lyndon Johnson had done at its dedication in 1964, he did send a letter of congratulations to the community’s founder Robert E. Simon
Not that Founder’s Day April 5 was short on dignitaries: Gov. Terry McAuliffe spoke and presented a proclamation; Sen. Tim Kaine spoke at the event, as did Rep. Gerry Connolly, who presented a resolution. Not to be outdone, Sen. Janet Howell and I presented a joint resolution, as did Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and Supervisor Cathy Hudgins.
The occasion was doubly momentous with Robert E. Simon celebrating his 100th birthday a few days later. Congratulations went to Bob Simon for his vision for the community and for his leadership and tenacity in making it happen as well as to the community members who shared the vision and helped to make it a reality over the decades.
Although it was slow in getting started by some business standards, Reston is now recognized as the most successful of planned communities and sets the standard for others. More established cities and communities have their “tower center” with mixed-use development, walkability and plaza, attempting to emulate the success that Reston has found in its recent decades.
Reston is about more than urban design although anyone who studied the subject in college knows about Reston. There are many intangibles that make the community special, and many of them were brought about by Bob Simon’s principles upon which he developed the community. As Kaine indicated in his remarks, Reston had an open housing policy before federal law required it. A recent intergenerational community award demonstrates that the Simon vision of a place to live, work and play for all ages has been achieved. An evening at the Best of Reston program like the one last week gives you a strong sense of the community that exists with an effective partnership between the business and non-profit sectors.
There is a strong sense that Reston has come of age. A significant part of the program time at Founder’s Day was spent on a presentation about the redevelopment of Lake Anne Village Center, the historic heart of Reston. The basic concept of the center will be maintained but expanded to accommodate more people and to ensure its economic viability.
The soon-to-open Wiehle-Reston East Metro station on the Silver Line will be followed in the next four years with two more stations on the Metro system to serve the community. The recently adopted Reston Master Plan takes into account the transit-oriented development that can take place around these transit hubs. In keeping with the Reston spirit, the Wiehle Station has the largest bicycle facility of any station on the Metro system.
Reston is built on a solid vision-strong in human spirit and economically successful. I am proud to call it home.
Ken Plum represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. He writes weekly on Reston Now.
People who could benefit from an expansion of Medicaid that closes the coverage gap by insuring more of the working poor are found throughout the Commonwealth.
The highest percentages of such persons tend to be in the southside and southwest regions of the state. Impose a map of regions represented by Republicans and Democrats over a map reflecting the highest percentages of the working poor and the two maps are close to identical.
Yet, Republicans who represent areas of great need oppose the expansion of Medicaid, and Democrats who have large numbers of persons but a smaller percentage of those who would benefit from the expansion support it. The historic interest of the two parties explains in part this contradiction, but there are other explanations as well.
Just as the Koch brothers are known for their influence in other states, they are hard at work as well in Virginia. Defeating “Obamacare” as they refer to the Affordable Care Act with a smirk and disgust is one of their major goals.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project (www.vpap.org), Americans for Prosperity that is their organization has 14 individuals who are listed as “registered lobbyists.” Their expenditures for 2013 in the radio and TV markets of Hampton Roads and Richmond with lesser amounts in Washington and Roanoke total $967,731. In 2012 they spent $3,702,232 trying to defeat President Obama in Virginia. They are not required to disclose their donors.
One recent radio ad by Americans for Prosperity asked listeners to call their delegates to “thank them for putting Virginia’s future ahead of Obama’s agenda.” Another ad that ran earlier this year was more emphatic! “Medicaid expansion is Obamacare, and it’s threatening the quality of health care for millions of Americans…In Virginia you could lose your health care, or your doctor.”(Americans for Prosperity VA)
As downstate voters are inundated with this advertising and the repeated distortions of Fox News, it is little wonder that they might at the least be confused and when mixed with the unpopularity of the President in these regions, it is not surprising that many of them would be opposed to the expansion of Medicaid.
Unfortunately the legislative leaders of these areas who should be able to separate more factual information from the Koch-inspired hate campaign against anything associated with President Obama are not willing at this point to stand up for their constituents who could most use the health care.
As Richmond columnist Jeff Shapiro wrote last week, Republican legislators who are generally in gerrymandered safe districts “focus on making themselves even safer in generally safe districts” by working to preclude “a nomination challenge from the right–they stand firm for gun and property rights and against taxes, abortion and, these days, anything that passes for Obamacare.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 2, 2014)
Voters and legislators in Virginia find themselves under the influence of the endless media campaign funded by the out-of-state Koch brothers. When will someone be willing to stand up for Virginians? When will legislators who represent thousands of Virginians who need an expansion of health care be willing to stand up for their constituents?
Ken Plum (D-36th) represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates.
At a time when quality reviews and accountability measures result in more activities being given a letter grade, it is appropriate that legislative sessions receive the same treatment.
At the risk of seeming to cop-out, I give the session an “I” for incomplete because we have not yet completed the basic requirement of passing a biennium budget in the even-numbered years. We are back in Richmond in special session now to meet that requirement.
Taking the budget out of the equation, I would give the session a “B”-a higher grade than I would have given sessions in recent years. Some important work got done. Growing out of the recent tragedy of Senator Creigh Deeds’ family and with lingering memories of Virginia Tech, mental health laws were strengthened.
Legislation extends the time a person can be held involuntarily under a temporary detention order from 48 to 72 hours. The state will maintain a “real time” online registry of available psychiatric beds in public and private hospitals. Emergency custody orders will be extended from six to 12 hours with the state assuming responsibility to find a bed for a patient after eight hours. A four-year study will be undertaken to determine what other reforms are needed.
In significant reform of ethics laws that will continue to be debated as to whether or not they go far enough, a cumulative cap of $250 was put on gifts that elected officials can accept. Gifts given to spouses and immediate family members must be disclosed, and all disclosure forms will be accessible online for public viewing. Disclosure will be required twice rather than once each year. An ethics council will be established to provide oversight to the process.
In the area of education, the General Assembly restrained itself from passing the latest reform fad as it had been doing the last several years and even took a second look at recent reforms by delaying for a couple of years the idea of giving each school a grade, until it can be determined how such a system might work and whether it would be meaningful. State take-over of failing schools will also be delayed. SOL (Standards of Learning) testing that in recent years has come to dominate the school year will be reduced from 22 to 17 in K-8, giving more time for instruction.
The hybrid car tax was repealed, but efforts to roll back other provisions of last year’s transportation bill were rejected. The sodomy law was repealed as court action had already effectively done. A small step forward on bike safety increased from two to three feet the distance cars must leave to pass bicycles. Posting pornography on social media without a person’s consent was made an offense. Sunday hunting will be legal on private lands.
What would have given the session an “A?” Full committee debate on background checks for gun purchases, raising the minimum wage, and repealing the marriage amendment rather than such limited debate and defeat of these measures in subcommittees would have made for a better grade.
Ken Plum represents Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates. He writes weekly on Reston Now.
In a speech on the floor of the House of Delegates recently, I spoke of experiences I had in my first years as a member when others in the House smoked during the daily floor sessions.
One member was notorious for lighting up a long cigar. A cloud of smoke hung over the House chamber. I explained that I was reminded of that cloud of smoke when in recent weeks I have listened to a series of speeches by members of the majority party explaining why they do not support expansion of Medicaid. You can listen to my speech at http://youtu.be/Vl6Bky8zjWE.
Even as reforms are being made based on recommendations of an interim study commission, others are calling for unspecified additional reforms before expansion. There is a call for an audit even though the audit reports of recent years stacked together would measure several feet in height. Doubts are being raised as to whether the federal government can afford the program while Virginians are paying nearly two billion dollars in taxes and fees specifically to support Medicaid expansion. There is a thick smokescreen of explanations and excuses as to why a quarter million Virginians should be denied health insurance.
That the budget for Medicaid has increased in recent years should hardly surprise anyone. People are living longer, many in nursing homes, and their care is costly. Health care costs are generally increasing outside of Medicaid. Our state policy has been to put the most frail and medically needy people into Medicaid. Costs are not high because of the Medicaid program–people with the greatest need have qualified for the program under the current policies.
Virginians are losing three ways: businesses and individuals are paying nearly $2 billion to support the expansion; the program is not being expanded in the Commonwealth costing the state $5 million a day in lost reimbursement; and the legislature is taking money from other programs like education to cover the critical needs for indigent care. Senate Democrats and some Republicans, House Democrats, and the Governor all have agreed to a market-based compromise, but House Republicans are refusing to go along with any plan. Without a resolution there could be a state government shutdown.
If this congressional-style impasse sounds familiar, the reasons for it became clear last week when an ad started running on Virginia radio stations sponsored by the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity. “There is a battle in Virginia between President Obama, Governor McAuliffe and those committed to quality healthcare. Let’s face it: Medicaid expansion is Obamacare and it’s threatening the quality of health care for millions of Americans.” The full ad can be found here.
Not surprisingly, Congressman Eric Cantor — who led the 44 attempts in the House of Representatives to repeal the Affordable Care Act — showed up in Richmond recently to address the house Republican caucus.
The issue in Virginia unfortunately is not the one million Virginians without health care. It is about the nationwide effort to defeat Obamacare at any cost — including closing down the federal or state government.
Ken Plum has represented Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1982. He writes weekly for Reston Now.
As one who has worked on human rights issues for many decades, I am excited about the positive changes that are occurring at such a rapid pace in laws and in peoples’ attitudes about sexual orientation, especially same-sex marriage.
Most of the people I talk to under age 30 don’t understand why this is even an issue. Unfortunately, because of some of my colleagues in the legislature, action by federal courts will be necessary to bring about changes in the law. As time passes, there will continue to be residual harsh and discriminatory feelings on the part of a minority who cling to the past as there has been with every advance in civil rights, but most will look back in bewilderment over what people were thinking in refusing to grant the same rights to all people.
Virginia’s marriage amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman has been declared unconstitutional, as have such laws in other states including Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma. Those cases will be appealed to the Supreme Court that has already struck down the federal ban on same-sex marriage.
A recent news story indicated that there were 47 lawsuits challenging same-sex marriage laws in 25 states. Same-sex marriages are now permitted in 17 states and the District of Columbia. As Judge Orlando Garcia said in striking down the Texas ban on same-sex marriage, “equal treatment of all individuals under the law is not merely an aspiration it is a constitutional mandate.”
New laws are being introduced in some states to legalize anti-gay prejudice under the guise of religious freedom. Economic boycotts of these states if they adopted such legislation may like in Arizona prevent these bills from becoming law.
Another argument behind this kind of discriminatory legislation is the right of a state to determine its own definition of marriage, but as we learned through the Civil Rights Movement, individual rights supersede a state’s right to decide.
I voted against Virginia’s marriage amendment when it was before the legislature, I campaigned against it when it was on the ballot to be approved by the people, and I voted against it in the referendum. I am pleased that Reston was one of the few communities in the state that voted against the amendment, but I wish there had been more.
Although we seem to be seeing a tidal wave of getting past the laws and taboos that have prevented same-sex couples from marrying, there are many other areas of discrimination against people in the LGBT community that warrant our immediate attention. Governor McAuliffe has signed an executive order against discrimination in state employment, but the legislature needs to enact such a prohibition into state law. Criminal acts directed at persons because of their sexual orientation or gender identity need also to be included in the State’s hate crime laws. I have proposed legislation in these areas in the past and will continue in the future.
Marriage equality is an important step forward, but there is more to be done to ensure equal rights for all.
One essential step in successful negotiations is to anticipate what the other side needs or wants and attempt to come as close as possible to that position to arrive at a compromise.
This process is followed effectively on a daily basis in businesses, families, and legislatures. While the rhetoric has been harsh from the Republican majority in the House of Delegates about not approving an expansion of Medicaid in the state, I understood their partisan and ideological stance but was confident that some middle ground, or as Governor McAuliffe calls it “common ground,” could be reached. My optimism is starting to wane.
Last week, Republican Senator John Watkins introduced a compromise plan. He chose to call it Marketplace Virginia and not to call it Medicaid expansion because the term raises such strong objections among his partisan colleagues.
His plan embodies so many basic Republican principles, that I thought it would be accepted. His proposal is a market-based solution that would use federal funds to provide basic coverage from competing private insurers to those who would qualify. Participants would be required to pay a co-pay amount based on their income, and they would need to meet minimum work requirements. The insurance would be good only as long as the premiums were paid. If the federal government reneged on its funding commitment in future years, the policies would be subject to cancellation.
Under this plan, the federal taxes paid by Virginians to support health insurance would be returned to the state.
The proposal seemed like a winner to me. I endorsed it as a reasonable solution. Within a day of its introduction, however, the House leadership rejected it without acknowledging that its provisions seemed to respond to their earlier concerns. Where does that leave us?
Virginia businesses are paying to the federal government tax dollars to support the program, but those dollars are not coming back to the state. The Commonwealth is losing $5 million a day!
More than a million Virginians continue to be without health insurance — including the 250,000 that would have been insured under Senator Watkins’ proposal. The Senate in a bipartisan way continues to press for a solution. Governor McAuliffe is a strong proponent of extending insurance benefits to more Virginians and wants a compromise. The House Republican majority refuses to budge.
This is clearly an impasse that will keep the General Assembly in session beyond the March 8 scheduled adjournment date.
In the meantime, I hope that citizens will continue to call, email, or write members of the House of Delegates to ask for their support of a compromise that will extend benefits to some of our neediest citizens. Thanks to the many people who have already contacted legislators from my earlier request. We need to keep working for a solution. About a quarter million Virginians are counting on us!
Del. Ken Plum has represented Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates since 1982. He writes weekly on Reston Now.
Last week, the Virginia General Assembly reached the midpoint of its annual session, or “crossover” as it is called in the legislature.
At this time in the calendar,the House of Delegates and the Senate have completed work on the bills that were introduced into the respective houses. Any bills that were passed are now sent to the other body for consideration. In order for a bill to become a law it must pass through both houses in identical form and be signed by the governor.
When a bill is passed in different form in the two houses, a conference committee with representatives from both legislative bodies is appointed to work out differences in a compromise that must then be approved by both houses.
While final action is still pending on most measures, there is some good news to mention in this halftime report. Significant legislation reforming the mental health system has passed both houses in different form and now must be reconciled.
In response to the tragic events in Sen. Creigh Deeds’ family, the length of time that a person who is undergoing a mental health episode can be held without their consent through a temporary detention order will be increased from the current six hours that clearly was not adequate for Senator Deed’s son to eight hours proposed in the House or to 24 hours approved in the Senate.
The final length of time to be worked out in a conference committee must balance individual civil liberties with the need to protect the person and the community from harm. Beyond the procedural issues to be resolved is the question of the level of funding for mental health programs that clearly needs to be increased.
Bipartisanship broke out in the House with representation from both parties working together to craft new ethics legislation that will increase transparency and accountability within the context of a part-time citizen legislature. Twice per year disclosures of economic interests will be required with all reports available for review electronically by the public. Ethics training will be mandatory for all public officials, and an ethics commission will be established to provide oversight for the process.
There is consensus among parents and educators that the current Standards of Learning (SOL) system needs reform. A bipartisan group of delegates developed reforms that were unanimously approved in the House and are likely to be agreed to by the Senate. There will be fewer SOL tests, opportunities for alternative assessments, and a commission to consider additional reforms.
Repeal of the tax on hybrid vehicles will be approved.
The remaining key issue about which there continues to be major differences among the political parties and the two houses of the legislature is the expansion of Medicaid to provide health insurance for as many as 400,000 Virginians.
All the other successes at the half pale in comparison to resolving this big issue in time for the legislature to adjourn as scheduled on March 8. Reaching the goal line on Medicaid expansion will determine if this session is a winner.
Del. Ken Plum has represented Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1982.
Despite Virginia’s historic antipathy toward the federal government, the Commonwealth has nonetheless historically ceded decisions to federal authorities on major issues on which the state had been unwilling to move forward. Another issue is about to fall into this category: same-sex marriage.
Regardless of the desire on the part of conservative Virginians to pretend that it is not so, thousands of Virginians love someone of the same gender, an unknown number live together as partners, and some have already gotten married in other states.
While an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as being between a man and a woman passed in a referendum more than a half dozen years ago, recent public opinion polls show a majority of Virginians as accepting of same-sex marriage. Failure of the legislature to act on the issue has resulted in two cases before federal courts challenging Virginia’s prohibition of same-sex marriage.
If the experiences in other states where such cases have been brought in federal court hold true for Virginia, the prohibition will be found to be unconstitutional. With the federal courts’ prodding, Virginia will once again be required to face a reality that it has resisted.
It is not the first time. Virginia also had a law that said that persons of different races could not marry. The legislature refused to acknowledge the unfairness of the law or vote to change it. It took a federal court decision, Loving v. Virginia (1967), to strike down the law.
Virginia segregated its public schools based on race until the Brown v. Board of Education decision (1954) — of which a Virginia case was a part — struck down racial segregation. Virginia’s decade-long effort to resist the federal decision was called Massive Resistance, “a deliberate, orchestrated campaign…intended to slow to a crawl attempts to integrate Virginia’s schools.” The campaign was unsuccessful, although it did take 40 more court decisions to integrate the schools in Virginia.
Virginia was also part of the Baker v. Carr decision in 1962 establishing the “one man, one vote” principle because the state legislature refused to acknowledge population shifts that were occurring and permit legislative representation to reflect those shifts until the federal courts intervened.
Federal intervention and the Voting Rights Act got rid of the blank sheet voter registration system and the poll tax that disenfranchised most African Americans. While it is good that the federal government has been a backstop to ending discrimination in many forms, it is truly unfortunate that the General Assembly was not willing to recognize the wrongness of their laws and make decisions on their own without the need for the federal courts to protect Virginians from their own government.
Too often the argument for states’ rights has been used to justify a violation of personal rights. I believe the federal courts will strike down Virginia’s marriage amendment. The General Assembly needs to move forward in outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation instead of waiting until we’re forced to by the federal government.
Ken Plum represents Reston in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Between 2007 and 2012, the median wages of Virginia’s highest income earners rose by 8 percent while the lowest income families’ wages shrank by 10 percent, according to an analysis by the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.
The gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen in Virginia as it has throughout the nation.
A growing underclass of unemployed, under-employed and under-paid creates a challenge for the state and the nation. Too many people are faced with the monthly decision of paying for the rent, utilities, food, prescriptions and school supplies without enough money to cover them all. Public and private relief organizations are strained to keep their food pantries and clothing closets stocked to meet the increased demand.
A sluggish recovery from the Great Recession has contributed to the problem. Many jobs that were lost have not come back. For those in the lowest wage jobs, income has been stagnant. Since 1982 to the present, those in the lowest income brackets have seen wage growth of three percent on average although the growth in the last few years has been less. By contrast those in the upper ten percent of wage earners have seen wage growth of 51 percent. There are actions that the state government can take to enable low income workers to become more active contributors to the state’s economy.
I have introduced a bill to raise the state’s current minimum wage of $7.25 to $8.25 this year and to $9.25 the next. Such an increase would help over 123,000 working Virginians buy their groceries, pay for their car’s gas, and meet basic necessities. I am disappointed but not surprised that it is opposed by the state Chamber of Commerce and by the fast food industries. While a raise of the minimum wage will add to the cost of business, it will at the same time produce consumers who will spend that money back into the economy. If the federal Congress follows the President’s proposal to raise the minimum wage, Virginia under my bill could go to the federal level.
I have also introduced a bill to make a portion of the federal earned income tax credit refundable as it is in about 20 states. Currently the lowest paid of workers can receive a credit on their income tax based on the limits of their income. By refunding a part of the credit that cannot be applied because of their limited tax liability there is additional money for working people to spend to support themselves with less reliance on social service programs. If refundable tax credits are available to those in the film, coal and agricultural industries, such a program should be available to help as many as 343,000 working Virginians. Unfortunately a subcommittee of the House Finance committee defeated my bill.
No one gains with the sharp division between the haves and the have-nots in our society. Paradoxically, efforts to help those most in need will help all other parts of the economy as well.
Ken Plum represents Reston in the Virginia General Assembly. He can be reached at [email protected].
For the first time in a history that goes back to Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia governor has been indicted on federal corruption charges.
Although information on the activities of the federal grand jury had been leaking out for many months, former governor Bob McDonnell and his wife, who was indicted with him, and their stable of taxpayer-paid-for attorneys were able to stave off the formal indictment until he left office.
But the alleged wrongdoing took place while he was in office, during which time he and the first lady accepted a total of at least $165,000 in cash, loans and lavish gifts from the CEO of a diet supplement company. A review of the particulars of the indictment reveals a picture of a family that was in financial trouble with huge credit card debt but with a taste for designer clothing and accessories.
The former governor — who worked as a criminal prosecutor, who served in the House of Delegates as a member of its Courts committee and who was attorney general of the state before becoming governor — acknowledges the loans and money that he has paid back and the gifts he received. But he continues to maintain his innocence despite federal law that makes it illegal to use a public office to enrich oneself. The former governor was clever in using his intimate knowledge of Virginia law to escape reporting the gifts by having them go to family members rather than to himself and by selling stock before the end of a reporting period and buying it back after the reporting deadline to escape disclosing it.
The entire episode is a huge tragedy for the McDonnell family and for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The former governor and his wife may go to jail. The “Virginia way” that has always prided itself on clean government has been sullied.
Committees in the House and Senate are at work to tighten up ethics laws for the legislative and executive branches of government. I participated in a bipartisan panel to get the process underway. Reporting requirements for anything of value received will be expanded to include family members and will be required at least twice a year.
An ethics commission is likely to be established to rule on the appropriateness of activities of members of state as well as local government. As part-time legislators who live in the local community much more time than in the capital city, legislators need to be able to participate in the activities of the local community as long as they do not conflict with their legislative duties. The new ethics rules and the commission should help clarify which activities and expenditures are acceptable.
The presence of laws does not completely stop wrong doing. It is up to individuals to first police themselves and to act in an ethical way. Ultimately it will be the voters who decide if their elected representatives are adhering to the common-sense ethical standards that they expect.
Ken Plum represents Reston in Virginia’s General Assembly.
