Taxpayers On the Hook for House’s Virtual Special Session!
The General Assembly returned to Richmond today to convene a Special Session that is supposed to focus primarily on budget amendments to account for changes in revenue projections and criminal justice reform measures, but this first day was mostly spent debating and voting on rules changes – especially in the House of Delegates. And just like the regular session, the House was off to a slow start while the Senate adjourned in the early afternoon and actually began holding committee meetings.
Without a doubt the biggest development today was that after 400 years of tradition in Virginia, the Democrat-controlled House changed the rules that’ll give the Speaker of the House the authority to allow legislators to vote electronically from the comfort of their own home while still receiving a $210 per day stipend for travel and lodging, thus giving a new meaning to the phrase “we’re here to conduct the people’s business” heard often from lawmakers.
The lack of transparency and willingness for open and honest debate was also clearly demonstrated on the basketball floor at the Siegel Center when House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) refused to give Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) a definitive response when he asked if bills introduced by his Republican colleagues would receive a “fair hearing.”
What happened today in the General Assembly demonstrates that transparency and open government are not principles that are valued in our legislature right now. In this special session there are serious issues that need to be addressed like economic recovery, making available resources to help families provide the best education for their children, and restoring proper separation of powers. Therefore, it’s vital that our elected representatives are attentive to those issues and able to dutifully carry-out their responsibilities.
The other important news of the day was that Governor Northam presented a revised budget to the Joint Money Committee this morning that recommends changes to a few spending priorities, like postponing salary increases for teachers and other state workers, tuition-free community college, foster care services, and addiction treatment programs, to help mitigate the $2.7 billion budget shortfall.
Despite those proposed cuts Governor Northam did manage to add some additional “Covid-19 related” spending including $88 million to prevent evictions and invest in affordable housing, $2 million for prepaid return postage for absentee ballots, and money for infrastructure repair.
Interestingly, Governor Northam commented during his presentation to the money committee that “we have a base budget in place which would still allow us to operate the government even if we made no changes in the coming months.” This comment, combined with Governor Northam’s report that the Fiscal Year 2020 General Fund finished $232 million below forecast, makes you wonder if things would’ve been different without a statewide shutdown in response to the coronavirus.
This was a busy first day of Special Session, with a lot more to come in the next several days or weeks. We will continue to provide you with updates of any important developments to help keep you informed.
