Cox met with leaders from the American Legion and the Joint Leadership Council of Veteran Services Organizations to listen to concerns and discuss seven priority recommendations from the JLC intended to benefit Virginia’s veterans.
GOP’s Todd Gilbert Proposes Tougher Penalties for Human Traffickers, Child Predators
Child predators and human traffickers could soon find themselves facing harsher, mandatory minimum sentences — including the potential for a life sentence — under the terms of legislation filed by Del. Todd Gilbert, a former prosecutor who worked violent crime and major cases for years.
Republicans Defeat First Round of Northam’s Gun Control Agenda in Senate Committee
Republicans defeated eleven gun control bills, including high-profile measures backed by Governor Ralph Northam. While no gun control bills advanced to the floor, gun rights advocates warned that many still remained alive in the Senate and the House of Delegates.
Carrie Coyner Begins 2019 Campaign For 62nd House Of Delegates District
“In this time of great division, we have proven that when we work together we can achieve great things,” Republican Carrie Coyner said in announcing her candidacy for the House of Delegates.
Republican Rocky Holcomb Announces 2019 Bid For House Of Delegates
Former Virginia House of Delegates member Norman Dewey “Rocky” Holcomb III announced his candidacy for the 85th House District Wednesday morning, promising to bring “strong, effective leadership” to the General Assembly on Bank Street in Richmond. Holcomb represented the district in the lower chamber of the state legislature from 2017 to 2018 after former delegate Scott Taylor won the Virginia Beach seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In a video to his supporters, Holcomb, a former marine and current chief deputy of the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office, described how his fighting spirit began as a young child, which has fueled his work ethic in representing everyone in his community.
Holcomb said that many of the challenges faced in the statehouse are on account of “dysfunction in Washington, D.C.,” especially on the issue of healthcare.
The Virginia Beach Republican said, if elected, he will work to fix the state’s broken healthcare system, calling it a “complete mess.” He explained that he will find solutions to lower skyrocketing premiums and protect Virginians with pre-existing conditions.
“We must have leaders who will put working families first and develop commonsense solutions to today’s problems…solutions that provide accessibility to affordable healthcare while ensuring those with pre-existing conditions are protected,” he said.
Highlighting his time in local law enforcement, Holcomb is also calling for criminal justice reform in the Commonwealth.
“As a career law enforcement officer, I can speak firsthand about the need to reform our criminal justice system. Locking people up is not the only answer. We must find programs for rehabilitation and re-entry into society,” he remarked.
On his campaign website, the Republican hopeful states that he will work to grow Virginia’s economy, strengthening small businesses and create a pro-business environment based on low taxes and a balanced state budget. Furthermore, he posited that reform will be coming to Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) program while rewarding teachers for their achievements and making sure more tax dollars reach the Commonwealth’s classrooms.
Solving the state’s transportation woes and pushing for tuition freezes at colleges and universities is also a part of his campaign to provide for a better future for all Virginians.
Holcomb added that the hyper-partisan political environment that is beginning to consume much of the lawmaking in Richmond could lead the Commonwealth down a “path similar to Washington.” Following 2017’s “blue wave” that erased the GOP’s 2-to-1 majority in the House, progressive Democrats have attempted to usher in “New York-style regulations,” which included over $770 million in new tax increases that were voted down by the Republican majority in last year’s 60-day session.
“We must fight back against the extremes that want to stifle small business growth with higher taxes and more regulations that kill jobs,” Holcomb stated.
Delegate Cheryl Turpin (D-Virginia Beach), whom Holcomb will challenge, is part of the Democratic Party’s progressive left-wing that has proposed numerous job-killing economic measures. The liberal caucus has forwarded legislation that would levy taxes on, as Holcomb explained, “everything from electricity to plastic bags…and the list goes on.”
In the beginning of the 2019 General Assembly session, Turpin suggested repealing Virginia’s Right-to-Work law, which has enjoyed strong bipartisan support for over 70 years, providing employees the right to not be forced to join a union or pay membership dues as a condition of employment. Moreover, she even tweeted a photo of herself in December along with three fellow Democratic House candidates standing in front of a poster declaring “Right to Work is WRONG.”
Instead of governing on partisanship, Holcomb he said he will “fight for an agenda that represents the interests of ‘all of us’ in Virginia Beach…not just a few.” He will also ensure that Virginia upholds a “common sense government that works for everyone.”
Giant Grocery Stores Roll out Robot Assistants as Va. Lawmakers Debate Right to Work, Minimum Wage Hike
Giant Food is introducing labor-saving robots to all 172 grocery stores, as Virginia lawmakers consider bills repealing the state’s Right to Work law and doubling the minimum wage. Should lawmakers raise labor costs, more stores could invest further in automation and artificial intelligence.
GOP Mass Meeting Called In 86th House District To Select Candidate For February Special Election
GOP mass meeting scheduled to take place at the Fairfax Christian School at 22870 Pacific Boulevard in Dulles at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 19 to nominate a candidate for the 86th House District special election on February 19.
Republicans Hold Strong Fundraising Lead Over Democrats in Year-End Reports
House Republicans outraised Democrats by $1.8 million and have $2.2 million more in the bank. GOP leaders say they’re well-positioned for November.
Lee County School Board Sues The Commonwealth After Blocking Move To Arm Teachers
A lawsuit against the Commonwealth is now moving forward as the Lee County School division is challenging Attorney General Mark Herring’s legal opinion on arming teachers to protect students.
Democratic Leader Filler-Corn Wrongly Claims Gov. Northam’s Budget Isn’t Built on Higher Taxes
Less than one week into Virginia’s 2019 legislative session, tax policy issues are quickly becoming the top issue of debate, with Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly charting starkly different courses.
Earlier today, Republicans announced a unified front behind tax relief legislation offered by Delegate Tim Hugo (R-Clifton), aimed at blocking a hidden $1.2 billion tax hike championed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, which the governor used as the basis for a $2.2 billion spending increase contained within his budget.
“Our first and foremost effort is to say no to a hidden tax increase that’s found in the governor’s budget,” said Hugo, speaking on the House floor, following the GOP’s earlier announcement. “Let’s give the money back to the people who are paying the taxes.”
Minutes later, Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) took to the House floor, denying that the governor’s budget was built on higher taxes, during a speech touting Democratic priorities, including higher spending and gun control.
“We also heard some incorrect information from the delegate from Fairfax, stating that Governor Northam’s proposal was a tax increase,” said Filler-Corn.
“There is no tax increase in the governor’s budget plan,” she continued.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial board disagreed with that assessment.
In an editorial entitled, “Gov. Northam’s tax plan wallops the middle class,” written last year after Northam released his plan, the Times-Dispatch said:
“Virginia Democrats, led by Gov. Ralph Northam, are preparing to do what Democrats were born to do: raise taxes and spend other people’s money. The opportunity arises thanks to the simplification reforms in last year’s federal tax-cut legislation. This makes the current opportunity to tax and spend especially appealing because state Democrats can use the changing and complex relationship between state and federal tax codes as a cover to ding middle-class Virginians.”
“The Democrats’ media allies are already doing their part by claiming that the state income tax increase the governor and fellow Democrats support will mainly affect ‘the wealthy.’ That’s accurate only if your definition of wealthy extends to, say, a married couple of twenty-something public schoolteachers who just bought their first house. Assuming a net income of about $80,000 for our two young educators, a back-of-the-envelope calculation of their state income tax liability suggests it would balloon by at least $700 under the Northam plan.”
In her speech, Filler-Corn touted several spending priorities paid for by the $1.2 billion in additional revenue referenced by the Times-Dispatch, but said it wasn’t a “tax increase” on the 600,000 Virginians who would pay higher taxes under the governor’s plan, choosing instead to blame President Trump for the refusal of Virginia Democrats to conform the state’s tax code.
In contrast to the unified Republican opposition, Filler-Corn’s Democratic caucus is already showing signs of internal division over the governor’s plan.
In an op-ed published in by the Times-Dispatch, Delegate Dawn Adams (D-Richmond) agreed with the Republican-led effort to allow taxpayers the opportunity to choose between taking the state’s standard deduction and itemizing, regardless of how they file their taxes.
“As a short-term solution, I have drafted legislation that first allows filers to choose whether they want to itemize irrespective of what they do at the federal level,” wrote Adams. “Knowing the backstory gives individuals power to decide how they want to spend their money.”
Adams stopped short, however, of backing the GOP’s proposal to increase Virginia’s standard deduction from $3000 to $4000 for individuals, and from $6000 to $8000 for married couples, a move which would primarily benefit lower and middle income taxpayers.
“‘Doubling Virginia’s standard deduction’ is a bad idea,” she said, in closing.
Another Democratic lawmaker, Delegate Lee Carter (D-Manassas), suggested the governor’s tax increases might be less than he would like, suggesting disagreement within the Democratic caucus.
“So you know I’m looking for ways to get that 5 percent raise entirely on state dollars so localities aren’t feeling that pinch,” said Carter, who self-identifies as “socialist”, during a January 8th interview on the Kojo Nnamdi show.
“But there are some folks, some of my colleagues, who are maybe more skeptical of the idea of the 5 percent raise entirely.”
In contrast to the mixed messages coming from House Democrats, their Republican counterparts are unified against the proposal.
“To be very clear, the governor’s proposal to increase taxes on hard-working Virginians is dead on arrival,” remarked GOP Majority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), during proceedings on the House floor on Monday.
“We are not going to participate in that,” he said. “We are not going to discuss that. That is a non-starter for this caucus, and we are not going to go along with it, and I just wanted to lay down that marker.”
At the direction of Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), Virginia’s House of Delegates will consider Hugo’s bill as a high-priority item early in the session, which is scheduled to last through mid-February.
Cox said addressing the tax issue early was vital to hearing budget amendments, which could not be done until the General Assembly’s money committees had a revenue baseline to work with.