Today's Sponsor: Advanced Energy Works

VaNews Jan. 2, 2020
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Today's Sponsor:


** Advanced Energy Works
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This new year, Virginia has the opportunity to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. We resolve to be ambitious. Learn more at vacleaneconomy.org ([link removed]) .

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


** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: IN DECADE, A SMALL-DONORS EXPLOSION ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

Schedule G, Line 3 used to be a much-neglected portion of Virginia's campaign finance disclosure forms. But that's before the internet made it easy for candidates to raise money in small amounts of $100 of less. Virginia Democrats perfected this craft, creating a tsunami of low-dollar donations that helped the party end two decades' of Republican control of the Virginia legislature.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** GOODBYE CAR INSPECTIONS? ([link removed])
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By IAN MUNRO, Daily News Record (Subscription Required)

Gov. Ralph Northam proposed removing the requirement for Virginians to get their cars inspected and to cut registration fees in half in his proposed budget for fiscal 2020 through 2022. The initiatives should save Virginians $280 million and are part of a new model for statewide transportation funding, Northam said when announcing the budget on Dec. 17. A 2015 report from the United States Government Accountability Office, a federal agency that conducts investigations for Congress, found that the impact of safety inspections on road safety is unclear.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** LAWMAKERS PLEDGE ERA WILL PASS IN VIRGINIA. THEN WHAT? ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN AND DAVID CRARY, Associated Press

Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment are so confident Virginia is on the verge of becoming the critical 38th state to ratify the gender equality measure, they are already making plans for how they will celebrate. But that jubilation could be largely symbolic. Despite broad support for the amendment in the state, the ERA’s prospects nationally are substantially more complicated.


** FOR DEMOCRATS, VOTING RIGHTS SEEM TO TOP CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

The weekend before she’ll be officially elected the next speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Eileen Filler-Corn will host a sendoff fundraiser at a Fairfax bar with donation levels ranging from $50 to $5,000. When she gets to Richmond, Filler-Corn donors looking for face time with the House’s new leader will be able to join her at a rock ‘n’ roll-themed fundraiser in the trendy Scott’s Addition district.


** 2020 MARKS A RECORD YEAR FOR FEMALE LEGISLATORS IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By M.J. MCATEER, Virginia Business

Women may make up more than half of Virginia’s population, but their presence in the statehouse has always fallen far short of parity. This year’s election brought a seismic change, however. Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University, says that women now hold 41 of the General Assembly’s 140 seats. While still not equal, that translates to 29% of the legislative body, and that, she points out, is a darn sight better than the 15% of seats women now hold in Congress.


** VIRGINIA LAWMAKER LOOKS TO EXPAND OPEN-CONTAINER LAW FOR SHOPPING CENTERS ([link removed])
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By REBECCA COOPER, Washington Business Journal (Subscription required for some articles)

A bill introduced in the Virginia General Assembly would let more shopping center developments offer open-container access under the state’s liquor laws. Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, introduced the measure, which would expand the definition of “commercial lifestyle center” to include mixed-use developments of 10 acres or more. Currently, a development needs to sit on at least 25 acres to get that designation.


** A COMMUNITY IS DIVIDED AS REDISTRICTING APPROACHES ([link removed])
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By SANTIAGO MELLI-HUBER, WFXR

If you live on one side of Rockbridge Avenue in Lynchburg, you’re represented by Delegate Wendell Walker, as are the residents of Thaxton. Your neighbor across the street, on the other hand, is represented by Delegate Kathy Byron, who also represents the interests of people in Burnt Chimney. The two Republican delegates share Lynchburg’s relatively more liberal population between them.


** STATE BUDGET PROPOSAL COULD HELP LOCAL CHILDREN ([link removed])
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By KIM BARTO MEEKS, Martinsville Bulletin

Local preschool programs could see a funding boost and serve more children if the governor’s proposed budget makes it through the upcoming state legislative session. Gov. Ralph Northam’s 2020-22 biennial budget, unveiled Dec. 17, provides nearly $95 million in new funding for early childhood education in Virginia.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** UNDER TRUMP, VOTER TURNOUT SURGES IN VIRGINIA’S OFF-YEAR ELECTIONS ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Since President Trump took office, voter turnout has surged in Virginia, the state that holds elections every year, leading analysts to conclude that even local races have turned into referendums on the president. “We’ve seen, across the Trump presidency so far, huge spikes in turnout in Virginia,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a University of Mary Washington political scientist.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** NEW VIRGINIA LAW SET UP TO HELP TENANTS FACING EVICTION IS BEING DISREGARDED, RECORDS SHOW ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

A new state law meant to help tenants facing eviction is being routinely flouted, court records show. The law cuts short the time in which a landlord can seek a writ ordering a tenant evicted. It was one of a series of measures reforming landlord-tenant law after a Princeton University study suggested Virginia cities — including Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Chesapeake — had some of the highest eviction rates in the nation. But a Daily Press review of general district court records found more than 575 cases statewide in which the writ was issued after the law’s 180-day deadline passed


** CONGRESS
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** 2019 WAS A BUSY YEAR FOR VIRGINIA'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION ([link removed])
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By MATT LASLO, WVTF

Freshmen lawmakers came into Washington at the start of 2019 ready to get to work. While they eventually did, they also arrived in a Washington that was largely shuttered by a government shutdown. Freshman Virginia Republican Denver Riggleman says the year was a whirlwind, even if he wasn’t happy with much of what he was forced to become a part of.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** SENTARA, BON SECOURS HOSPITAL SYSTEMS TO RAISE BASE PAY TO $15 AN HOUR ([link removed])
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By ELISHA SAUERS, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Two major hospital systems in Hampton Roads have pledged to raise their lowest paid employees’ wages to $15 an hour by 2022. Days before the New Year, Sentara Healthcare and Bon Secours Mercy Health each announced they would phase in pay increases to reach the goal.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** COALITION OF BOOK LOVERS RUSHES TO SAVE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA'S 4-MILLION-CARD CATALOGUE ([link removed])
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By SUSAN SVRLUGA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

They'd just finished setting up projectors to create a replica of the planetarium Thomas Jefferson had envisioned spanning the University of Virginia's Rotunda dome when Neal Curtis and Sam Lemley stopped. They looked at each other. And they decided they had to come up with a plan - immediately They walked into the school's Alderman Library and promised they wouldn't leave that night until they had found a way to save the old card catalogue.


** LOCAL
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** LIME LEAVING CHARLOTTESVILLE E-SCOOTER PROGRAM ([link removed])
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By BRYAN MCKENZIE AND NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Lime, which has operated internet and app-powered electric scooters in Charlottesville for a year, will stop operations and remove its fleet from the city in 2020, citing costs of recently imposed regulations on e-scooters and e-bicycles.


** AFTER FEDERAL GANG TRIAL SNAFU, DANVILLE WOMAN ORGANIZING EFFORTS TO REMOVE PROSECUTOR ([link removed])
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By QUASHON AVENT, Danville Register & Bee

On the website Petitionsite.com, a petition popped up in early November with a stock photo of Danville prosecutor Michael Newman. Below the photo is a capitalized title: “PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT: DEMAND THE RESIGNATION OF COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY MICHAEL NEWMAN.”

Today's Sponsor:


** Advanced Energy Works
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This new year, Virginia has the opportunity to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050. We resolve to be ambitious. Learn more at vacleaneconomy.org ([link removed]) .


** EDITORIALS
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** REGULATORY AGENCY PROTECTS CONSUMERS ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

The Virginia State Corporation Commission recently rejected Dominion Energy Virginia’s request to raise its guaranteed return on equity (ROE) from 9.2 percent, which was set in 2017, to 10.75 percent. The investor-owned utility said it needed the increase in profits so it could attract $12 billion in capital needed for infrastructure upgrades


** NAVY’S IMPACT CONTINUES TO GROW ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The U.S. Navy and all that it takes to support its work are more than just inescapable fixtures in the landscape and waterscape around Hampton Roads. They are at the heart of the region’s economy, and that impact is growing. A report from Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, headquartered in Norfolk, says that the Navy’s direct economic impact on Hampton Roads in fiscal 2018 was up by nearly $2 billion over the previous year


** OP-ED
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** WANG: A SOLUTION TO GERRYMANDERING ([link removed])
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By SAM WANG, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In 1789, two future presidents faced off in a race for Congress — the first and only time in American history that would occur. Unsurprisingly, it happened in a place rich in historical firsts, the commonwealth of Virginia. James Madison, the Federalist candidate, ran against a young, anti-Federalist James Monroe for the newly created 5th District of Virginia. Monroe had an ace up his sleeve: Virginia’s governor, Patrick Henry, had shaped the district to concentrate anti-Federalist voters

Sam Wang is a professor at Princeton University, where he directs the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.
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