Today's Sponsor: The Gaston Group, LLC

VaNews Feb. 12, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------

Today's Sponsor:


** The Gaston Group, LLC
------------------------------------------------------------

Proud to be celebrating The Gaston Group’s 20th Anniversary on April 1st. And honored to support VPAP along the way!

Read Online ([link removed]) 10 Most Clicked ([link removed])


** FROM VPAP
------------------------------------------------------------


** VISUALIZATION: SIMILAR BILLS, DIFFERENT FATES ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
The Virginia Public Access Project

Ideas that went nowhere when Republicans controlled the Virginia legislature are now moving forward under Democrats. Below are 88 bills killed in committee last year that have this year made it to the House or Senate floor.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
------------------------------------------------------------


** JUDGE DISMISSES LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S LIBEL SUIT AGAINST CBS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press

A judge on Tuesday tossed out a libel lawsuit filed by Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax against a television network he accused of slanted reporting on sexual assault allegations against him.


** JUDGE DISMISSES LT. GOV. FAIRFAX’S DEFAMATION SUIT OVER CBS INTERVIEWS ON SEX ASSAULT CLAIMS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax's defamation lawsuit against CBS over back-to-back interviews the network aired last year with two women accusing him of sexual assault.


** PATIENTS OVERDOSED ON OPIOIDS IN CLINICAL TRIAL. VIRGINIA IS SUING. ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MERYL KORNFIELD, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Cephalon’s clinical trials for its powerful opioid tablet went worse than the drugmaker disclosed. Now Virginia is suing the company for violating consumer protection laws.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
------------------------------------------------------------


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADVANCES GUN CONTROL, GAS TAX, MONUMENTS AT MIDSESSION DEADLINE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The new Democratic majority has been busy this General Assembly session passing hundreds of bills to advance its agenda. Republicans have had to adapt to being in the minority, and many of them have found ways to build bipartisan support to pass their own bills


** VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS PUSH LIBERAL AGENDA — WITH A DOSE OF CAUTION ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, LAURA VOZZELLA AND PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia Democrats are delivering on the liberal agenda they promised for this year's General Assembly session, pushing through hundreds of bills that undo years of Republican leadership and change course on significant issues. In a cascade of votes Monday and Tuesday ahead of a legislative deadline, the new Democratic majority advanced measures to protect LGBT residents, help undocumented immigrants, protect the environment, fund roads and raise the minimum wage.


** SENATE OPTS FOR MINIMUM WAGE THAT DIFFERS BY REGION ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By DAVE RESS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

What had looked like a General Assembly consensus to raise Virginia’s minimum wage fell apart Tuesday as the two chambers considered each other’s bills. On the last day the House of Delegates and state Senate could act on what had been similar proposals to raise the minimum wage in several steps to $15 an hour, the Senate opted for a last-minute revision that calls for different minimums for different regions of the state.


** HOUSE AND SENATE DEMOCRATS BACK HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MEL LEONOR AND JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s minimum hourly wage is poised to rise under a Democratic-controlled legislature, but two vastly different approaches cleared the House and Senate on Tuesday.


** VIRGINIA HOUSE APPROVES BILL TO JOIN NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE, BYPASS ELECTORAL COLLEGE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By VALERIE RICHARDSON, Washington Times

The Virginia House of Delegates passed Tuesday a bill to award its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote as the newly elected Democratic majority sought to join the pact to leapfrog the Electoral College. The state House voted 51-46 to enter into the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, sending H.B. 177 to the state Senate despite opposition from Republicans who argued that the measure would upend the intent of the Framers.


** HOUSE BACKS ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MEL LEONOR AND JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

A bill to ban assault weapons under an expanded definition cleared the Virginia House on Tuesday, a victory for gun control activists and a setback for the thousands who protested in Richmond last month. The bill is the eighth and final gun control measure pitched by Gov. Ralph Northam to clear the House, but parts of the package met defeat in the Senate.


** BAN ON ASSAULT WEAPON SALES ADVANCES IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press

Democratic lawmakers in Virginia are advancing legislation to ban the sale of assault weapons and the possession of high-capacity magazines.


** VIRGINIA HOUSE, SENATE APPROVE CASINO BILLS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 15 articles a month)

Both the Virginia House and Senate approved legislation Tuesday to allow casinos by referendum in Bristol and four other economically distressed cities.


** HOUSE, SENATE APPROVE CASINOS IN FIVE CITIES ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Casino gambling would become legal in five Virginia cities, including Richmond, and Colonial Downs would protect its investment in historical horse racing gaming parlors under legislation that both chambers of the General Assembly adopted on Tuesday.


** HOUSE, SENATE PASS IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS BILLS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By KATE MASTERS AND NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

Legislation extending driver privileges and in-state tuition regardless of immigration status, pushed for years by advocates for Virginia immigrants, cleared both chambers of the General Assembly Tuesday.


** SENATE BACKS MEASURE TO HELP UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS DRIVE LEGALLY ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Undocumented immigrants in Virginia are one step closer to being allowed to get something similar to driver’s licenses.


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS PASS MAJOR RENEWABLE ENERGY LEGISLATION ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By SARAH RANKIN AND ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

The Virginia House and Senate passed sweeping energy legislation Tuesday that would overhaul how Virginia’s utilities generate electricity and, supporters say, move the state from the back of the pack to the forefront of renewable energy policy in the United States.


** LAWMAKERS ADVANCE ENERGY OVERHAUL ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Virginia lawmakers advanced an overhaul of the state’s energy production outlook Tuesday, weathering criticism from the left and right that threatened the measure.


** 'TRANSFORMATIVE' TRANSPORTATION BILL PASSES SENATE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

A sweeping transportation funding package passed the Virginia Senate on Tuesday, setting up a negotiation with the House of Delegates over how high to raise state and regional gasoline taxes.


** HAMPTON ROADS TRANSIT COULD GET AN EXTRA $20 MILLION OR MORE A YEAR UNDER NEW STATE LAW ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By DAVE RESS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

State lawmakers voted to give Hampton Roads Transit a long-sought permanent source of funding that the agency says will put its finances on a stable footing and allow it to invest in a regional bus network that better connects people with the places they need to go.


** VIRGINIA CITIES WILL BE ALLOWED TO MOVE CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS UNDER NEW LAW ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Del. Jay Jones has to see the statue of a Confederate soldier every day on his way to his law office in Norfolk. “Every time I drive past it … my heart breaks a little bit,” the black Democrat said Monday. In a speech on the House floor, he joined other Democrats in supporting legislation that would allow localities to move, alter or take down any war memorials


** VIRGINIA HOUSE AND SENATE BACK LOCAL CONTROL OF CONFEDERATE MONUMENTS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Confederate statues across Virginia could come down under bills the Virginia legislature approved Tuesday. The House of Delegates and Senate approved bills giving localities the choice of leaving the statues up or taking them down


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS APPROVE CONFEDERATE STATUE REMOVAL BILLS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

Local Virginia governments would have the power to remove Confederate monuments in their public spaces under legislation approved Tuesday by state lawmakers.


** SOY MILK WON’T BE CONTRABAND. BILL TO RESTRICT THE WORD “MILK” DIES ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

You’ll be able to call that almond beverage in your refrigerator “milk” for a little while longer, state lawmakers decided. A bill to define milk as coming from a “healthy, hooved animal” — and block plant-based food companies from labeling their products with the same word — died in the Senate last week.


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKERS PASS LEGISLATION TO KICK-OFF STATEWIDE AFFORDABLE HOUSING STUDY ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By DAVID STREEVER, WCVE

The House passed Del. Kathleen Murphy’s bill (D-Fairfax) on Tuesday, which would task the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Virginia Housing and Development Authority with getting a group together to determine the state’s housing needs, and ways to meet them.


** VA. LEGISLATURE PASSES BILLS AIMED AT LAWSUITS BY DEVIN NUNES, JOHNNY DEPP ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By JUSTIN JOUVENAL, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The Virginia legislature passed bills Tuesday that would make it harder to pursue frivolous lawsuits designed to chill free speech, a response to a string of splashy defamation cases filed in state courts by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), actor Johnny Depp and others.


** SENATOR BUCKS BAR GROUPS, BACKS ROGERS FOR CIRCUIT BENCH ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By PETER VIETH, Virginia Lawyers Weekly (Subscription required for some articles)

Despite local bar endorsements and a 2016 pledge to the contrary, Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, says he’s backing Chief Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Frank Rogers for a circuit court vacancy.


** ROANOKE'S SEN. JOHN EDWARDS BACKS JUDGE FRANK ROGERS FOR CIRCUIT SEAT ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By AMY FRIEDENBERGER, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said Tuesday he will be supporting Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Frank Rogers for the vacancy on the circuit court.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
------------------------------------------------------------


** DOMINION PLEDGES 'NET ZERO' ON CARBON EMISSIONS BY 2050 ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Dominion Energy on Tuesday announced it would seek to reduce its carbon emissions to “net zero” by 2050 nationwide, as lawmakers in Virginia consider calling for 100 percent renewable energy sales by 2045.


** DOMINION ANNOUNCES NEW GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION GOALS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By SARAH RANKIN, Associated Press

Dominion Energy announced Tuesday that it will aim to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, an acceleration of the goals the company had previously pledged to meet.


** LAST OF ITS KIND, FISHERY FACES RECKONING IN CHESAPEAKE BAY ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By BEN FINLEY, Associated Press

For a guy who left school after 11th grade, George Ball figures he has the best-paying job available on this rural stretch of Chesapeake Bay shoreline. He catches a fish called Atlantic menhaden, used to make fish oil pills and farm-raised salmon feed, and earns about $50,000 a season, as much money as some college graduates.


** BIDS TO REPEAL RIGHT-TO-WORK LAW FAIL IN HOUSE AND SENATE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Access to this article limited to subscribers)

Virginia will remain a right-to-work state. While the state legislature has passed several bills deemed pro-worker, it balked at repeal of the right-to-work law


** ROANOKE COUNTY APPROVES $700,000 PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT WITH MACK TRUCKS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By ALISON GRAHAM, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $700,000 performance agreement with Mack Trucks to offset some of the company’s costs of opening a new manufacturing plant.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
------------------------------------------------------------


** HAMPTON UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF PHARMACY IS NO LONGER ACCREDITED ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By LUCRETIA CUNNINGHAM, Southside Daily

Hampton University’s School of Pharmacy has lost its accreditation, according to a report from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education’s board of directors. The report is from the board’s January meeting and shows “accreditation withdrawn” for Hampton University’s Doctor of Pharmacy Program in regards to standards related to “progression” and “educational outcomes.”


** VIRGINIA OTHER
------------------------------------------------------------


** OFFSET FOR PIPELINE DAMAGE TO MORE THAN DOUBLE SIZE OF READ MOUNTAIN PRESERVE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By ALISON GRAHAM, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to accept $650,000 for the purchase of 304 acres that will more than double the size of the Read Mountain Preserve.


** LOCAL
------------------------------------------------------------


** LOUDOUN PARTNERED WITH DANVILLE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT EXCHANGE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By RENSS GREENE, Loudoun Now

Loudoun County’s government has been partnered with the south-central Virginia City of Danville as one of the first four localities in Gov. Ralph Northam’s new Virginia Local Government Exchange Program. An announcement from Northam’s office states the program is designed to bridge cultural and geographic divides across Virginia, modeled after the Sister Cities International Program.


** RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL LOOKS FOR NEW NAVY HILL PLAN ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By MARK ROBINSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

On the night the Richmond City Council killed the $1.5 billion Navy Hill proposal, a majority of its members asked Mayor Levar Stoney to set in motion a new redevelopment process for the area around the shuttered Richmond Coliseum.


** VIRGINIA BEACH COUNCIL CONSIDERS ADDING REGULATIONS TO AIRBNB ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By ALISSA SKELTON, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

Sandi Vakos and Michael Matthews married last fall and found themselves with an extra house. The retirees decided to rent Matthews’ Oceanfront house on Airbnb.

Today's Sponsor:


** The Gaston Group, LLC
------------------------------------------------------------

Proud to be celebrating The Gaston Group’s 20th Anniversary on April 1st. And honored to support VPAP along the way!


** EDITORIALS
------------------------------------------------------------


** THE POLITICS OF RIGHT-TO-WORK ARE MORE COMPLICATED THAN THEY APPEAR ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Virginia has come closer to repealing its once-sacred “right-to-work” law than many ever thought possible. For advocates of repeal, the General Assembly’s decision to kill the measure this year — by not scheduling a vote in a House committee, and passing it by for the year in a Senate committee — is both a disappointment, and a tantalizing look at what might be possible in the future.


** COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN — IT’S TIME TO MOVE FORWARD ON NAVY HILL ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

On Monday night, the Richmond City Council voted to strike all legislation tied to the Navy Hill project from its docket. Two-plus years of planning and analysis did little to quell public outcry that the process lacked community involvement from the start.


** COLUMNISTS
------------------------------------------------------------


** POLITIFACT: WERE MOST OF VIRGINIA’S LAWMAKERS BORN OUT OF STATE? ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By WARREN FISKE, WCVE

U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-5th, recently accused the newly-elected Democratic majority in the General Assembly of embracing liberal policies that are out of sync with Virginia. He added, “Over 50% of the people now in the House and the state Senate have not been born in Virginia. And most of them, completely new. They’re not even Virginians by grace yet.” We fact-checked Riggleman’s statistic.


** OP-ED
------------------------------------------------------------


** JOHNSON: A CASINO ALONE WON'T DO IT ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By STEVE JOHNSON, Published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

If there is anything that I learned from playing football at Virginia Tech and in the National Football League, it is that football is a team game. It takes all 11 guys on offense and all 11 guys on defense to win.

Johnson is a developer from Bristol. He is proposing a development in Washington County that would include a casino.


** TEFFT: YES, VIRGINIA — WE DO NEED A $15 MINIMUM WAGE ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By WARD TEFFT, Published in Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

I’ve been a business owner in Richmond for nearly two decades. I combined my love of literature and community and opened an independent bookstore in 2002.

Ward Tefft is the founder and owner of Chop Suey Books in Carytown and a member of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.


** COBB: THE CONSISTENT INCONSISTENCY OF VIRGINIA LIBERALS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By VICTORIA COBB, Published in Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 18 articles a month)

Between all the hoopla over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the historic rally for Second Amendment rights, the Commonwealth of Virginia has been leading national headlines lately. But there’s a sleeper issue percolating.

Cobb is President of The Family Foundation of Virginia


** STICHLER: LEGISLATION COULD RAISE PUBLIC COSTS OF BUILDING PROJECTS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By ERIC STICHLER, Published in Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)

In control of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation, Democratic lawmakers are on the verge of passing legislation that would raise the cost of construction and maintenance of schools, affordable housing, roads and other infrastructure projects critical to keeping Virginia economically competitive.

Eric Stichler, president of Heartland Construction Inc. in Chesapeake, wrote this on behalf of the Virginia chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe ([link removed]) Donate ([link removed]) Content Policy ([link removed]) Privacy ([link removed])

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
Virginia Public Access Project . P.O. Box 1472 . Richmond, VA 23218 . USA