|
|
|
|||||
|
Winding Down As we enter the final week of the 2008 General Assembly session, some significant issues have been resolved, but the biggest order of business - the biennial budget - remains up in the air. Both the House and the Senate passed their versions of the budget last Thursday. On the House floor, I joined other House Democrats in objecting to a number of changes proposed to Gov. Kaine's budget, the most significant of which involved aid to education for localities. For many years, the General Assembly has used a formula to determine how much the state should budget for the cost of education. This is referred to as "Rebenchmarking for the Standards of Quality" and takes into account what it costs to educate our children. This year, there is an attempt to change the formula. If passed, Albemarle is projected to receive $2.4 million less over the two years than in the Governor's budget; the amount for Charlottesville is $864,473. The formula change, if adopted, will not only reduce what was proposed in the Governor's budget, but will mean smaller increases in future years. The result? Either localities will provide more local dollars or the efforts to raise teachers' salaries and provide needed services will languish. To make up for the difference this year would require Albemarle to increase its real estate tax rate 1.5 cents (Albemarle raises $1.6 million with each cent) and Charlottesville to raise its rates about 1.25 cents. The other challenging news involves the report issued by VDOT that projects significantly less money for transportation over the next six years than was previously thought. Estimates now show a 10 percent reduction in transit and a 44 percent reduction in construction monies over the six year period. With the proposed gas tax increase now dead for another year, this lack of revenue will place more pressure on localities to make up the difference. This week saw passage of bills to increase the penalties for animal fighting and to regulate "puppy mills." By a 62-36 vote (I opposed) the House also passed a bill to allow holders of concealed weapons permits to carry concealed weapons in bars restaurants, as long as they do not consume alcohol. In the next week, we will again consider efforts to regulate the payday lending industry, an initiative to study the safety of mining uranium (potentially opening the door to lifting a decades old ban on the process), and a bill to replace the cash proffers system that localities use to address the costs of development with standardized impact fees controlled by Richmond. I have received a great deal of constituent input on each of these issues, which I greatly appreciate. The bill to regulate the payday lending industry (HB12), of which I am a co-patron, passed the House with a large majority. This bill mandates significant changes for the industry, including capping the interest rate at 36 percent, limiting the number of loans that a consumer may obtain to five per year, and extending the amount of time that must be allowed for repayment of loans. A competing Senate bill (SB588) on payday lending does little to break the cycle of debt in which borrowers can become trapped. The negotiations on this matter continue and we will see what emerges. SB525, a bill to establish the Uranium Mining Commission and SB768, a bill to replace the current cash proffer system with impact fees were both referred to the House Committee on Rules. The impact fee bill was carried over for further study, and SB525 will be heard shortly. I believe that the impact fee bill will be carried over for further study, but the future of SB525 remains very unclear. For those interested in the results of our constituent survey, please
check my website at www.davidtoscano.com. Your input is important. Please
feel free to contact us at any time to share you thoughts and ideas. Contact Info
|
