Virginia General Assembly update

Special budget session to begin March 27:

  • Budget status: The General Assembly will have to decide how to fund a proposed $1 billion budget increase for transportation. The Senate wants to fund the increase with a new five percent tax on gasoline, but the House is against raising taxes in order to pay for it. House leaders instead propose a combination of borrowing, other tax revenues, and bigger fines for bad drivers.

Significant legislation from this year's session:

  • Chesapeake Bay and Virginia Waters Clean-up and Oversight Act: Requires the state to come up with a plan to clean up the Chesapeake and other Virginia waterways before January 1, 2007.
  • Coordination of VDOT and local governments: Requires local governments to submit development plans to the Department of Transportation if the development is expected to increase highway traffic.
  • State-approved medical insurance for Medicaid recipients: Virginia will encourage Medicaid recipients to sign up for state-approved private insurance plans in order to reduce the financial burden on Medicaid.
  • DMV notifies of illegal immigrants: Requires the Department of Motor vehicles to notify the State Board of Elections whenever a non-citizen attempts to register to vote at a DMV office.
  • Prepare for pulling out of No Child Left Behind Act: Virginia has long been unsatisfied with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This bill requires the Board of Education to build a budget that would not include federal funds from adherence to the act.
  • Gay marriage constitutional amendment: Will allow voters to decide in November whether to constitutionally exclude gay couples from the legal definition of “marriage.”
  • Prevent price gouging: Will allow the governor to forcibly lower the prices of goods in times of emergency, if the governor believes that suppliers are price gouging.
  • Juvenile death penalty abolished: No death penalty for minors, in response to Supreme Court ruling in Roper v. Simmons.

 

 

 

 

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd