Ralph Northam

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Republicans Respond to Northam’s State of the Commonwealth Address

On the first day of the legislative session, Republican and Democratic leaders laid out dramatically different visions for Virginia, offering a glimpse into some of the highest-profile policy debates likely to dominate the agenda for the General Assembly, as it enters its 400th year.

During the annual State of the Commonwealth address, Democratic Governor Ralph Northam laid out a list of liberal priorities, urging lawmakers to back his proposals for higher spending, strict gun control, repealing Virginia’s voter ID law, and establishing what he called a “fundamental right” to abortion.

Republicans, however, took a different approach.

In a joint response from the House and Senate GOP, Delegate Bob Thomas (R-Stafford) and Senator Steve Newman (R-Bedford) emphasized tax relief, bringing down high health care costs, and implementing the recommendations of the House Select Committee on School Safety.

We plan to reduce the cost of health care for Virginia families struggling to afford higher insurance premiums,” said Newman, who chairs the Senate’s committee on Education and Health. “Virginians have endured skyrocketing skyrocketing out-of-pocket expenses that have accompanied the Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama administration. Too many Virginians find they simply can’t afford the premiums today.”

Newman said Republicans planned to introduce legislation aimed at lowering health care costs, including legislation expanding affordable group coverage, as well as bills allowing patients to purchase catastrophic or short-term coverage with more affordable premiums.

A number of these measures passed the General Assembly last year, only to be vetoed by Governor Northam, an avowed supporter of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Undaunted, Newman said Republicans would continue the fight.

Our health care initiatives will increase choice and lower the cost of available policies,” continued Newman. We plan to provide more Virginians with insurance coverage that their families can actually afford.

Thomas, a freshman delegate, highlighted Republican proposals aimed at bolstering school safety and providing tax relief for 2.7 million Virginians, including the 600,000 middle class taxpayers impacted by Northam’s $1.2 billion tax hike.

“A few weeks ago the select committee presented a comprehensive set of recommendations to make our students and schools safer through threat prevention, improved mental health services, and increased training for school personnel and school security,” said Thomas. “Among the recommendations are proposals that would utilize the latest technology and school security and infrastructure equipment. Our goal is to employ every means available to keep dangerous individuals out of our schools.

Following months of bipartisan work, the committee identified 24 priority recommendations in its 709 page report, many of which have already been introduced in the form of legislation.

Among the recommendations lawmakers will consider are improvements in mental health care, new threat assessment procedures, facilities improvements, and an expanded role for school resource and security officers.

Under the direction of Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), a retired teacher who spent 30 years in the classroom, the committee did not consider any new restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, preferring instead to focus on the root causes of school violence, as well as improving crisis response procedures to prevent another failure like that seen in Parkland, Florida, where a school shooter known to authorities killed 17 while deputies waited outside.

Thomas also highlighted Republican plans for tax relief.

Republicans are committed to stopping Governor Northam’s tax hike on the middle class,” continued Thomas. “Our tax reform plan will return the tax windfall resulting from the federal tax cuts along to taxpayers while providing targeted tax relief to middle and low income Virginians and protecting our coveted triple-A bond rating.

Lawmakers will consider these proposals and others in the 45 day session, scheduled to continue through mid-February.

GOP’s Kilgore Says Northam’s Gun Control Bills ‘Dead on Arrival’

Republican Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-Gate City) said Governor Ralph Northam’s sweeping package of gun control bills was “dead on arrival” in the House of Delegates, reaffirming the party’s commitment to defend the Second Amendment ahead of a critical legislative session during an election year.

The lawmaker from Southwest Virginia, who strongly favors gun rights, weighed in on the upcoming session during a Tuesday morning interview on the John Fredericks show.

While the interview began with discussion of the House GOP’s tax relief plan, the conversation quickly pivoted towards gun rights, which became a top issue for session after the Democratic governor unveiled a sweeping gun control agenda last Friday.

Kilgore said defending the Second Amendment was a priority for Republicans in 2019. He also dismissed unfounded Internet rumors suggesting that Republicans were planning to cut a deal with Governor Northam on gun control.

“There’s some rumor going around, here’s a text I got from William in Norfolk, VA, who said: ‘John you said the Republicans wouldn’t go after our guns. Well, one of the new laws they’re trying to propose and cut a deal with Ralph Northam is an assault weapons ban. There’s secret meetings. I saw this all over the Internet,'” reported Fredericks, highlighting unfounded accusations he received from a listener via text message.

“No, that’s not true,” responded Kilgore. “Our caucus believes in the Second Amendment. We’re not making any secret deals with Governor Northam to take your Second Amendment rights away, to ban assault weapons, anything of that nature.”

“People just make things up and get behind a keyboard and start typing,” Kilgore continued. “I don’t know where those come from, but I can tell you, those bills are dead on arrival. I do not see any of those even getting to the floor, and then I don’t see them passing.”

Last Friday, flanked by Democratic lawmakers, Governor Northam unveiled a broad gun control package which would ban certain semiautomatic weapons, ban private party transactions, reinstitute Virginia’s “One Handgun a Month” law, and institute “Red Flag” laws which gun rights supporters say fall short of constitutional due process requirements.

Some reports indicated that the proposal was so overreaching, it would ban the common 10/22 rifle used by countless youth to learn gun safety and marksmanship, based solely on the size of detachable magazines that model is capable of accepting.

Aggressive gun control proposals have even made their way to the campaign trail, where Dan Helmer, a Democratic candidate challenging Delegate Tim Hugo (R-Clifton), called for “SKU-level reporting” of every box of ammunition sold to a central database, which investigators would would comb through to try and identify mass shooters. Helmer offered no means to distinguish law-abiding gun owners from a would-be killer who purchases only a few boxes of ammo.

Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) also weighed in on the debate, calling the unfounded reports, “very frustrating fake news” during an earlier interview with Fredericks.

“I’m certainly not negotiating a backroom deal with the governor,” Cox said. “I’ve been very clear with him, on any meetings, that I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. You can look at my voting history.”

“The Virginia House GOP will steadfastly fight to defend the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens from far-left gun control proposals this session,” Cox tweeted yesterday.

While gun rights appear to be safe, for now, November’s elections could change the political landscape and make passage possible if Democrats succeed in winning majorities in the General Assembly’s House of Delegates and Senate, both of which are currently controlled by Republicans, each by a one seat majority.

Northam’s gun control bills will be heard and debated during the 2019 legislative session, which convenes in Richmond tomorrow.