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Delegate Landes’ Legislative Newsletter By: Delegate R. Steven Landes Week Ending February 14, 2014 House Priorities Fare Well at Crossover Tuesday was crossover day at the General Assembly — the halfway point of the 2014 Session. At this point the House has passed 944 pieces of legislation; the Senate passed 696. After crossover, each house in the General Assembly may only consider bills that originated in the other house. Many longtime Capital observers have commended the House for completing the first half of the Session’s work in such an efficient manner that crossover day proceedings lasted only a couple of hours. In times past, the crossover day lasted well past midnight. This efficiency can be attributed to our well managed committees addressing controversial legislation at the beginning of Session and effectively moving bills to the floor. Republican members have focused the majority of their legislative effort on kitchen-table issues that families across the Commonwealth care most about. We’ve also worked in committees to combine several overarching legislative initiatives into single bills. For example, 52 ethics reform bills were rolled into one well-rounded, specific bill that addresses the major transparency issues. I am pleased to report that several House Republican initiatives passed the House with strong bipartisan votes. Mental health enhancements, K-12 education reform, sexual violence and domestic abuse prevention, ethics reform, and improved transportation management resulted in over three dozen pieces of legislation passing the House. House Republicans’ goal this session was to provide a substantive,

detailed legislative agenda that addresses the major policy challenges facing the Commonwealth. I believe we’ve done well so far and look forward to continuing that work during the second half of the Session. We have passed a strong package of mental health reforms to ensure all individuals and families experiencing mental health crises have access to needed services and support. Legislation to establish a psychiatric bed registry passed the House unanimously. This online registry will provide real-time information on the availability of psychiatric beds for patients who need further treatment. Focus has been on increasing capacity and availability of the many great Virginia resources and quality services. The House passed legislation that reduces the number of standardized tests students take by 23%. Instead of students in grades 3-8 taking 22 tests, this legislation would reduce that to 17 tests. This will give teachers more flexibility in the classroom and prevent our students feeling pressure from over-testing. The bipartisan ethics package passed the House by a vote of 98-1. The package increases disclosure frequency, institutes mandatory training, and puts a cap on tangible gift items. This presents a positive step forward in strengthening our disclosure laws and enhancing transparency in government. The House is working to reform our current Medicaid services for recipients and ensure our citizens are not negatively affected by the Affordable Care Act. Legislation passed the House unanimously that requires health insurance companies to provide written notice 75 days in advance of any increase in premiums or deductibles. House Leadership has stood strongly against the expansion of Medicaid and potential harm to our strong fiscal management policies. As public safety is a core function of government, legislation has been passed to support domestic violence and sexual assault prevention and counseling services. Much attention has also been paid to preventing human trafficking. Legislation that passed the House ensures human trafficking is an offense punishable under the section of code related to abductions and kidnapping. The House and Senate report their separate budgets Sunday, February 16. Once the budgets are released, we will vote for approval in our separate houses. After approval, six budget conferees from each house will work to negotiate a final budget that is presented to the Governor. Speaker Howell has appointed me, along with Delegates Chris Jones, John O’Bannon, Kirk Cox, Tag Greason, and Johnny Joannou to represent the House. The House Appropriations Committee will continue our tradition of reporting a fiscally responsible budget. As Vice Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, I’m proud that we have balanced Virginia’s budget by cutting nearly $7 billion in spending since 2007 and the Commonwealth’s spending growth is well below the rate of inflation. Legislative Survey Let me take this opportunity to thank approximately 750 constituents for responding to the 2014 Legislative Survey. You may find the full results of my survey here. Your concerns and opinions are important to me and the results have helped me evaluate and better represent the needs of the people of the 25th District. In the 25th House District, the issues of jobs and economic development, education, public safety, and health care seem to be on the minds of most constituents. As Chairman of the House Education Committee, I was not surprised to see education continues to be a priority for many. It also goes without saying, everyone here and back home are concerned about the state budget and how it will be crafted to balance the worthy needs of our citizens and the core responsibilities of the Commonwealth.

Local Budget Amendments At the beginning of session, I submitted a number of budget amendments. I am pleased to announce that several of these have been recommended by subcommittee and have been accepted by the full committee. These amendments address needed improvements to area attractions, encourage economic development, address I-81 transportation issues, review cost mandates to localities, and provide matching funds to federal dollars for a geological survey for two rivers in Augusta County. The following budget amendments reported out of the Higher Education Subcommittee: 

Item 232#1h provides additional part-time staff for the Frontier Culture Museum for $160,650 each year or a total of $321,300 from the general fund.

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Item 232#2h is a language amendment that allows the Governor to authorize the transfer of land between the Frontier Culture Museum and the museum’s supporting foundation.

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Item 213#1h requests $100,000 each year or $200,000 from the general fund to be designated for the Shenandoah Valley Technology Intensive Manufacturing Services Center at Blue Ridge Community College.

The following are budget amendments reported from the Transportation Subcommittee: 

Item 427#2h directs staff in the VDOT Bristol, Salem, and Staunton districts to develop a prioritized list of congestion relief and safety improvement projects along the I-81 corridor that could be implemented over the next 10 years.

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Item 444#3h is a language amendment which directs the Department of Transportation to utilize $90,000 of its existing transportation alternatives program funds to eliminate a concrete barrier to the entrance of a tunnel in Crozet, Virginia in the Staunton District. The community is developing a trail through the historic tunnel and adjacent abandoned rail line but needs assistance removing a concrete barrier that was placed to close off the tunnel prior to completing the project.

The following are budget amendments reported from the Agriculture, Commerce, Technology, and Natural Resources Subcommittee:  Budget Amendment Item 108#1h was introduced to fund House Bill 199 (which I patroned and has passed the House). This one time request for funds would allow the Commission on Local Government to develop a web-based application for more efficiently managing and consolidating data necessary for the preparation of fiscal estimates for legislation affecting local government expenditures and revenues, pursuant to § 30-19.03, Code of Virginia. The Commission anticipates a heavier workload with the passage of HB 199 of the 2014 Session, which would authorize the Department of Planning and Budget and the Department of Taxation to refer bills to the Commission for purposes of preparing local fiscal estimates. This is a recommendation of the Task Force for Local Fiscal Impact Review.  Item 357#6h provides general fund dollars to the Department of Conservation and Recreation to match a U.S. Geological Survey grant sampling and gathering data on

nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loadings in two rivers draining from Augusta County. The data produced from this effort will be used to generate requisite data for use in the Chesapeake Bay Model and to determine what subsequent remediation may be necessary. Visitors Dr. John Downey brought down more students from Blue Ridge Community College for a visit this week. Carl Arey came down for the Virginia Farm Bureau, along with Dave Walker and Stephen Saufley. We also had visitors from the Shenandoah Valley to include Karl Waizecker, Sandy and Carl Martin, and Pete Laver. Kate Wofford came in to discuss concerns for I-81. Also visiting were representatives from Martha Jefferson Hospital to include Ray Misher and Ron Cottrell. Augusta Health was represented by Kathleen Heatwole, Tom Roberts, Tami Radecke, and Dr. Nelly Maybee. In celebration of Realtors’ Day, there was a huge contingency of realtors from both the HarrisonburgRockingham Realtors and the Charlottesville Area Realtors Associations, led by Bob Hill and Neil Williamson, respectively. It was a fairly quiet week as the snow back home and here in Richmond kept a lot of our visitors away! Contact Us As always, my staff and I are here in Richmond to serve you. My full time Legislative Director, Judy Wyatt, who works session as well as in the District, is here handling constituent concerns, legislative issues, and ensuring things run as smoothly as possible for all of us. Carolyn Musika, our Session Secretary, continues to work for us and set appointments among other duties. If you need to set an appointment please call Carolyn at 804.698.1025. I want to hear what you think about the legislation pending before the House; please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you in dealing with a state government agency or state issue. While in Richmond, my office can be reached by phone at 804.698.1025 or by email at [email protected]. If you are planning to visit Richmond during Session, I encourage you to visit me in Room 947. Our Richmond address is Post Office Box 406, Richmond, Virginia 23218. Please visit my website at www.stevelandes.com for my newest press releases and newsletters. Also, be sure to “like” my Facebook Fan Page by pressing the button below:

Thank you again for allowing me to serve as your Delegate. Sincerely,

Steve Landes

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