Planned Parenthood is outraged not because of the potential loss of federal funding – they have gotten around that for years – but that the Trump Administration has drawn a clear distinction between family planning and abortion.
State Senator Frank Wagner Announces Retirement After 28 Years In Virginia Legislature
Becoming the third Republican State Senator to retire this year, Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2019. The Naval Academy graduate has served in the General Assembly’s upper chamber since 2002, being a staunch proponent of improving transportation infrastructure in Hampton Roads, supporting veterans care, and aiding in deregulatory measures to promote business growth.
“It has been one of the highest honors of my life to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth. I want to thank the citizens of Virginia Beach and Norfolk for giving me that privilege of serving them in Virginia legislature,” the 63-year-old said in a statement.
“Virginia is a great state, which is why we choose to live here. I just hope that I have left our state a little better off for me having served. However, the time has come to turn my seat over to the next generation to continue to make Virginia a better place for all of us to live and raise our families,” he added.
Wagner began his 28-year legislative career in the House of Delegates, serving as the 21st House District’s representative from 1992 to 2001. Apart from being a member of the State Senate for the past 17 years, Wagner ran unsuccessfully to become the Republican Party’s nominee for governor in 2017 with a campaign slogan of, “One veteran, one businessman, one Virginian, one choice.”
During the 2019 legislative session in Richmond, Wagner’s legislation regarding coal ash ponds was passed by the General Assembly. S.B. 1355 requires coal ash ponds to be closed by moving coal ash to lined landfills on site or recycled. According to the bill, approximately 27 million tons of coal ash across the Commonwealth will be secured in a safe manner.
S.B. 1746, which was also passed, directs the Department of Education to encourage school boards that have a significant number of enrolled military-connected students to partner with the National Math and Science Initiative to provide such students with the tools and resources necessary to advance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, job creation, and career readiness.
Wagner also helped lead the charge to ban people from holding a cell phone while driving a to mitigate distracted driving injuries and fatalities in the Commonwealth, but the bill failed to become law.
Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment (R-James City) said of Wagner’s retirement, “Having worked closely with Frank for many years, he has become a great and close friend.”
“With nearly three decades serving the people of Virginia in the General Assembly, and his earlier service to our nation in the Navy, I know Frank will continue to find ways to contribute to Virginia, America, and, of course, Hampton Roads,” he added in a statement.
Senators Richard “Dick” Black (R-Loudoun) and Bill Carrico (R-Grayson) also announced their plans not to run for reelection this November. Currently, the GOP is holding onto a slim 21-19 majority in the upper chamber, with Democrats already eyeing the 7th State Senate District that encompasses Virginia Beach and parts of Norfolk.
State Senator Bill Carrico Announces Retirement, Two Republicans Vie For Seat
State Senator Bill Carrico (R-Grayson) announced Tuesday afternoon that he will not seek reelection this November as all 140 seats in the Virginia General Assembly will be on the ballot. Carrico finishes his legislative career after 10 years in the House of Delegates and eight years in the State Senate.
The retired state trooper and Marion native has represented Lee, Scott, Grayson, and Washington counties, parts of Smyth, Wise, and Wythe counties, as well as the city of Bristol the southwestern part of the Commonwealth. The legislator explained that he had “served long enough” in Richmond’s statehouse, and would like to spend more time with his family.
“I don’t think our founders intended for this to be long term, so while they didn’t set term limits, they did expect it to be a sacrifice and not something to make careers out of,” Carrico said in a report from The Roanoke Times. “Serving in the General Assembly, being from Southwest Virginia, is a real sacrifice.”
“I feel like I’ve done my very best. I haven’t been perfect by any means, but I tried to help everybody that asked for my help, regardless of their party or if they voted for me or not,” he added. “That’s what I want to leave on, that fact I’m just one of the people, and I served them honorably, and when I see them, I don’t have to bow my head in any way. I’ve been thankful to serve them.”
During the 2019 legislative session, Carrico introduced and passed S.B. 1512, which would allow the Virginia State Police to operate handheld speed monitoring devices in highway work zones to protect the workforce.
Aimed at restoring Christian values, he also patroned S.B. 1502 to require local school boards to offer an accredited course on the “Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament of the Bible or the New Testament of the Bible or a combined course on both. The bill, however, was left in the House Appropriations Committee.
Carrico also worked to provide solutions to improve infrastructure on Interstate 81 during this year’s 46-day session.
To replace Carrico in the reliably Republican 40th State Senate District, two GOP candidate have announced their intentions.
Delegate Todd Pillion (R-Washington) and Marion Community and Economic Development Director Ken Heath are the only candidates that have announced thus far. Nevertheless, Carrico endorsed Pillion just after he relayed his retirement to his constituents.
On April 25, Republicans will convene at the Scott County Career and Technical Center at 150 Broadwater Avenue in Gate City for a mass meeting to choose between Pillion and Heath. Prospective Republican candidates have until March 25 to file paperwork with the legislative district committee, with open an primary being the way they will choose a Republican nominee for the 4th House District.
RPV Offering $1,000 Reward For ‘Verifiable Photo’ Of AG Mark Herring In Blackface
“The Republican Party of Virginia is seeking further evidence of Mark Herring’s blackface and the witnesses to his racist past,” their statement reads.
Delegate Steve Landes Plans To Retire From House, Run For Circuit Court Clerk
After 12 terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, Steve Landes (R-Weyers Cave) has announced that he will not seek re-election this November. However, the senior Republican legislator is set to run for an open clerk of the court position in Augusta County as Carol Brydge announced she plans to retire April 1.
Landes’ decision comes as a surprise just as Republicans gear up to defend their slim majority this November as all 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for reelection. In the House, Republicans have a 51-49 majority, and a 21-19 majority in the State Senate.
As the 25th House District’s representative, which covers portions of Albemarle, Augusta, and Rockingham counties, Delegate Landes also served as chairman of the House Education Committee, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and vice chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). Moreover, he was a member of the Rules and Privileges and Elections committees, the House Select Committee on School Safety, and the lower chamber’s member on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates.
During his tenure in the statehouse in Richmond, which began in 1996, Landes focused on promoting economic development, fostering education innovations, and increasing healthcare choice, access, and affordability. According to his website, he was named the 2016 Legislator of the Year by both the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Retail Merchants Association and named the Partners for College Affordability and Public Trust’s “2018 Champion of Affordable College” for his work during last year’s legislative session.
During the 2019 session, Delegate Landes introduced H.B. 1729 as a part of the House Select Committee on School Safety’s 24-point priority recommendation list. The bill would require school counselors across the state to spend at least 80 percent of their time counseling students.
Another important piece of legislation from Landes this year, H.B. 1611, provides that the ratio of the assets to the obligations of the Virginia College Savings Plan shall not exceed 105 percent, given the plan is the most well-funded its been in its history. He said the bill “will have a significant impact on families being able to keep more money in their pockets and attend college at a lower cost” in a news release.
As of Monday, no one announced their intent to run for the Republican nomination for the soon-to-be vacant seat. The 25th District Legislative District Republican Committee voted in February to hold a party canvass for its candidate. The deadline to file with the committee is March 6 at 5:00 p.m.
Energy And Environmental Legislation Passed By Republicans In General Assembly
From securing the Commonwealth’s coal ash ponds to directing energy companies to provide incentives to low-income Virginians, Republicans passed a handful of bills that will directly impact energy usage and the environment.
GOP Lawmakers Leave Richmond With Successes In Job Creation, Workforce Preparation, And Tax Reform
Not only did the GOP eliminate frivolous state spending, they also provided pathways towards creating a 21st century workforce, investments in K-12 and higher education, secured Amazon’s arrival in Arlington, and other pro-business programs in the 2019 legislative session.
Virginia Republicans Set Their Sights On Improving Healthcare In 2019 Legislative Session
From increasing coverage for those with autism, expanding telemedicine, and raising the minimum age to buy tobacco and alternative nicotine products, over a dozen bills from the GOP will assist in promoting better healthcare and healthcare coverage for Virginians.
Sex Trafficking Legislation Large Part Of GOP’s Pledge Keeping Communities Safe
Measures to mitigate human and sex trafficking were a large part of the Republican Party’s agenda in the 2019 legislative session in Richmond, which included other bills to enhance the criminal justice system.
Ben Cline Rips Democrat-Led Gun Control Bill As Abridgment Of Second Amendment
Freshman Republican Congressman Ben Cline (VA-6) took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives this week to speak out against what he calls “misguided legislation” forwarded by Democrats. The bill represents one of the most sweeping gun control measures to come out of Washington in two decades.
H.R. 8, dubbed the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019,” would “utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun possession are not able to obtain firearms.” The bill states that any person who is not a “licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer” will be prohibited from transferring a firearm to any other person who is also not licensed.
The Democratic majority House, in a 240-190 Wednesday vote, passed the legislation, which now heads to the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.
Cline began his remarks by “thanking” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) “for her remarks [that] reminded us all that it is California where Michael Bloomberg and gun control advocates have established their ‘utopia’ of a land without guns.”
“And what has that led us to?” he asks.
“With some of the strictest gun control laws in the land, [California has] some of the worst incidents of gun violence in the country,” Cline said.
“Gun control measures do not address the problems of gun violence and this bill will not address gun violence,” he added.
Currently, only federally-licensed gun dealers are required to run background checks through the FBI’s national “instant check system.” The Democrat-led bill would expand background checks on nearly all gun purchases, including most firearms transfers.
Only law enforcement officers, private security personnel, and members of the armed forces are excluded from the provisions of the legislation.
Although the bill states that it does not “authorize the establishment, directly or indirectly, of a national firearms registry,” conservatives are weary the legislation is just the first step towards doing such.
Cline continued by stating “the legislation is an attempt to take away our Second Amendment rights hidden under the guise that we will see a reduction in violent crime.”
House Democrats claim that extending background checks to cover more private sales is a “simple way” to have the government flag more people who are barred from buying guns, including those convicted of felonies and terrorists.
The freshman representative said Democrats claim the bill “will save lives.” However, he added that “nothing in this bill would have stopped any of the recent mass casualty shootings that have occurred in our country.”
A 2016 study by the Rand Corporation concluded that “the effects of background checks for all handgun sales and for all firearm sales on mass shootings” provided “inconclusive evidence” that an expansion of checks would have stopped shootings. Other current measures have also been found to be either unsatisfactory or have no effect at all, according to studies from Northwestern University, CNN, and the Crime Prevention Research Center.
Unequivocally, Cline said in his address on the floor of the House “the only thing this bill does is limit the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
“They’ll tell you this bill closes loopholes,” he said; “however, the loophole that they believe exists is private gun ownership, and what they really want is to regulate the private transfer of firearms.”
“If my neighbor is in trouble and needs to borrow a firearm to protect his family, I should be allowed to loan that firearm to my neighbor so that he can protect himself and his family,” Cline explained.
Under the legislation that passed earlier this week, if Cline’s neighbor, or indeed the congressman himself, are not licensed importers, manufacturers, or dealers, the exchange would, in fact, be illegal.
“This is not something we should need to go to the federal government to get permission to do,” the congressman explained. “The Second Amendment does not say that ‘after you get permission from the government, your right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’ Our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution to protect us from the government and gave individuals the Second Amendment to protect themselves.”
“I carried this Constitution everyday on the campaign trail last fall, he said, adding that, “I carry it with me everyday now to remind myself of those protections that were given to us not by government, but by God.”
Ending his speech, Cline concluded, “this bill is nothing more than an attempt to advance the agenda of radical gun grabbers and lay the foundation for a national gun registration scheme.
He said lawmakers must “reject the legislation” and “begin to have real discussions about ways to reduce crime across this great nation.”