I
believe it was Patrick Henry who once said no
man’s life, liberty or property is safe when the General Assembly is in
session. Well then some good news, on
Sunday the Virginia General Assembly adjourned.
And during this session, which lasted 47 days, Virginia
lawmakers considered 2,692 bills. They passed 1,599 of them and killed the rest. The session was supposed to end on Saturday,
but because of an impasse legislators decided to go one more day to finalize an
agreement on the budget. The highlights
of the session, the new budget has no new taxes, a big increase in funding for
transportation, more slots opened at Virginia’s universities and colleges, and tougher regulations on abortion clinics. On the minus side, I was sorry to see that ABC privatization did not even get a vote.
Gov.
Bob McDonnell has 30
days from adjournment to consider Bills passed by the Legislature. He can sign veto or amend. Legislators
will then return to Richmond on
April 6 to act on the governor's amendments and vetoes.
The
end of the session also brought some retirement announcements.Yeah! Senators Patricia Ticer
(D-Alexandria) and Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington), and Delegate Albert Pollard
(D-Northumberland), announced that they will not seek re-election this fall. These retirements are good news for all of us
who believe in low taxes, and limited Government.
The next big fight
redistricting. The legislature will take
up redrawing congressional boundaries and legislative districts in April.
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