Area Delegates and State Senators are back in Richmond for the 45-day General Assembly “short session,” in which there is no biennial budget to grapple with. There are deficits, however, in the current fiscal year and in the next one as well, so lawmakers will spend plenty of time working to plug those holes.
Dealing with what they call the Caboose Budget “will probably take up the most substantive part of our time,” said 17th District Republican Delegate Chris Head, who lives in Botetourt County and represents parts of the Roanoke Valley. With a lame duck governor (Terry McAuliffe) and a “change of climate nationally,” with Donald Trump being elected president – not to mention it being an election year for many state lawmakers as well – “there’s a lot going on here.”
Getting through “the morass” of the budget shortfall is at the top of the list; although Head was hoping that fourth quarter 2016 tax revenues would have been higher than expected, making their job somewhat easier in Richmond. As for working with a Democratic governor, Head admits that on “99 percent” of policy issues he disagrees with McAuliffe, who has entered his last year in office and can not run for a second term.
“His big agenda was to expand Medicaid, and that was overwhelmingly in opposition to not only members of the General Assembly but to people in the Commonwealth. That was a non-starter from the beginning.” McAuliffe is “easy to talk to [but] I don’t know if that means he is easy to work with. He can close a sale.”
Head, who has two home health care franchises in Roanoke and Lynchburg, will sponsor a bill offering more protection and autonomy for franchise owners. He will also champion legislation that would allow for tax incentives for small businesses that create jobs. Botetourt County has been on a roll recently with major companies like Eldor Manufacturing and Ballast Point Brewing set to put down roots there.
The county and the state offered grants and tax incentives to sweeten the pot while wooing these large companies; Head said small businesses have been asking about incentives if they create jobs – so he will go to bat for them during the General Assembly session.
Meanwhile Democratic Delegate Sam Rasoul also is back in Richmond. The 11th district he represents covers large portions of Roanoke City and Roanoke County towards Vinton. Rasoul made some headlines a while back when he resigned as Secretary for the Democrat Caucus in the House, saying the party had lost touch with the average Virginian and after the stunning defeat of Hillary Clinton in November was slow to make the changes needed.
Rasoul concurs with Head that figuring out how to plug the budget deficit gap will be at the top of the to-do list in Richmond. “We have to be very involved – the General Assembly really sets the tone. We need to be creative in moving forward.”
He agrees that Medicaid expansion in Virginia – championed by Governor McAuliffe the past three years as a way to cover more lower-income Virginians with health care plans while bringing federal funds back to the Commonwealth – will not be a topic in Richmond this year. At the same time Rasoul said that federal funding could have filled about a quarter of the projected budget gap for this year and the next fiscal year.
As for his own agenda, Rasoul will continue to push his “Good Government” agenda, which includes term limits for legislators, redistricting reform and campaign finance reform. He will also call for an open primary system where candidates of all parties are thrown into the mix; the top two vote getters then face off in the general election.
That could mean two Democrats or two Republicans on the same ballot. “It forces candidates to speak to the majority of America – and not just the five percent on either side [party] in a primary. That’s why we are so polarized. People are so frustrated by the gridlock in Richmond and Washington. [Candidates] don’t want to speak to the middle of America.”
Rasoul also agrees with a comment that Governor McAuliffe made before the session began, warning Republicans in the General Assembly not to “waste time” passing socially divisive bills (the GOP controls both chambers) that he will just veto – like a proposal to ban abortion after 20 weeks.
“There are so many problems right now with the state budget shortfall and education reforms – lots of other issues on the table,” said Rasoul. “I just hope that we can maintain the discipline and not become so hyper-partisan.”
Gene Marrano
