3/12/2010 General Assembly Round-Up

March 12^th, 2010

General Assembly Round-Up

The Budget - No finalization of the Budget has been reached to date.

Ethics Legislation - As reported in a separate press release earlier in the week (which can be found on our website) -- HB655, passed through the General Assembly and now awaits the Governor’s signature. The Bill addresses Virginia’s General Assembly Conflicts of Interest statute, which has not been significantly revised in over 20 years. The two key provisions of the bill include: (1) Requiring the panel to hold proceedings in public once an inquiry has moved beyond a preliminary investigation and (2) ensures that panel investigations continue even if a legislator resigns office.

Consumer Issues – Home Owners Association Act and Condominium Owners Association Act: This week HB1058 was passed. HB1058 as originally drafted would have allowed HOA’s and COA’s to serve electronic notices (email) to owners. When the bill was introduced under the Amendments to By-Laws and Declarations Sections of the respective Acts, language embedded in the bill made it clear that the notices would apply to all Notices, including Rule Violation and Foreclosure Notices to owners. When attempts to stop the bill failed in the House, I was successful in getting the Senate to include amendments to the bill to specifically exclude these types of notices in the respective statutes.

Car Title Lending - SB606 was passed by the House this week. Car-title lenders have operated nearly unregulated in Virginia, would now have to be licensed; could not allow a loan to extend more than one year; and would have to give borrowers 10 days' written notice before their vehicles -- the collateral for loans -- are seized for nonpayment. As well, interest rates, that now exceed 300 percent per year, would be limited to 15 percent to 22 percent per month, based on the amount the loan. Further, the amount could not exceed 50 percent of the value of borrower's car, truck or motorcycle. While the interest rates still remain ridiculously high, the Bill is a significant step forward in that it regulates an industry that was completely unregulated. This is a good example of where a piece of the loaf is better than none.

Gay Rights - It is no secret that recent outrage and debate on the streets, campuses, and in the House of Delegates has been brought to the forefront this week on account of the Governor’s omission to include gender and sexual orientation in the annual Executive Order for designating “protective classes” in the workplaces of Virginia. Furthermore, as a result of Governor McDonnell’s unwillingness to qualify gender/sexual orientation as a “protected class,” a drastic deviation from both the past two terms of both Governors Warner and Kaine, the Attorney General of Virginia, Ken Cuccineli, issued supporting authority stating that Universities and Colleges in Virginia do not have the right to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as a part of “protective classes.”

The Attorney General’s actions lead to a throwing down of the gauntlet, leaving the decision up to the General Assembly. Supporters of legislation to add discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation as a designated “protect class” in the House were blocked by parliamentary procedures from the House Republican Majority to bring a bill to the floor for debate and for voting. Meanwhile, similar proposed legislation had been killed in committee as a precursor to these steps on the House floor debate.

On three crucial fronts this neglect by the Governor, further promulgation by the Attorney General, and then even further neglect to act by the Republican majority within the House of Delegates has damning consequences: Firstly, we must equally protect all citizens within our Commonwealth, and I feel that there is absolutely no wiggle room when it comes to this responsibility. Secondly, these decisions will negatively affect our status as the best state in which to do business, and will hurt us economically. There are many companies such as Northrop Grumman who are today in the process of deciding where to settle, open up shop, and employ thousands of Virginians, though, due to their own nondiscrimination policies that include gender and sexual orientation as a “protected class,” their own non-discrimination policies would be compromised and disallow the possibility to move to Virginia. We cannot afford to lose out on account of non-compliance with the rest of the country’s policies towards equality. And thirdly, by disallowing our Universities and Colleges the right to include gender and sexual orientation as a “protected class” in their own non-discrimination policies, we will lose the diversity we now see on campuses across the Commonwealth, and furthermore, our own schools could lose their national accreditations. This is an absolute mistake.

As we now know, the Governor has issued an “edict” stating that Virginians are not allowed to be discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. Though this seems like a good step, it seems moot in regards to both the inability of the Republican majority of the House to allow passage of non-discrimination policies based on sexual orientation into law, the Governor’s omission and neglect when issuing his Executive Order, and our Attorney Generals propagation of hate and bigotry.

Charter Schools – I have always taken a firm stand against public charter schools because of concern that they will take away vital resources from our public school system and endanger our at-risk children. Regretfully, several pieces of legislation further establishing public charter schools in Virginia passed the House and the Senate and are on their way to the Governor.

Attorney’s Fees - A bill from Sen. Richard Stuart has run into conflict in the last days of the legislative session. Stuart's bill says that if disabled children and their families sue a school for not following the student's individual education plan, and win, then the judge can award the family attorney's fees. The measure is an effort to help poor families that might not have the resources to legally push a school to provide the services the child needs. The bill has been referred to conference to see if the language problems can be worked out. I fully support the bill because it provides a tool for parents of children with disabilities to dispute a decision made by a local school division and then allow a recovery of attorney fees if the parents are the prevailing party in such dispute. This is the only way that some of Virginia's poorest children will get the services that they need.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns: delrabbott@virginia.house.gov or at (804) 698-1193.