Delegate Phillip Scott: Weekly Newsletter, Edition LXXVII

Friends, session came to a close last week.   The last week was filled with last-minute proceedings and conference reports.   As a member of the Health Welfare and Institutions Committee, I see a lot of significant legislation. I want to highlight just a few.   My HB1433 puts Virginia into a counseling compact, allowing greater freedom for patients seeking mental health treatment.   SB1119 Allows for continuity of care through telemedicine when a practitioner with whom a patient has previously established a practitioner-patient relationship is unavailable when the patient seeks continuity of care.   HB2306 would have exempted a person, including a parent or guardian on behalf of a child, who objects to the administration of a vaccine on religious grounds from mandatory immunization requirements issued by the Commissioner of Health during an epidemic. Senate Democrats killed this measure.

As a Privileges and Elections Committee member, I helped stop bad election reform bills. Here are a few.   HB1751 would have allowed for ranked choice voting for elections for local governing bodies, school boards, and primaries. While ranked-choice voting worked for party conventions, it becomes problematic in other circumstances. I am working with a group to set up an election town hall to discuss ranked choice voting and other important election topics.   HB1796 would have allowed any person preregistered to vote to serve as an officer of election. Currently, minors can preregister.   SB495 would have increased the requirements to initiate a recall of an elected official. The bill would have increased the required number of signatures from 10 percent to 30 percent of the votes cast at the last election for the office for which a recall is sought.   There were many others bills that either were not heard in Committee or that died. This was only possible because we have the majority in the House, and we can keep bad bills from going through our committees without the majority in the Senate.

HB1400 "Skinny" Budget Bill

We passed a skinny budget that only addressed four things: missing funding to schools, additional allocations for state projects that need more dollars due to increased cost of goods, added funds to the rainy-day fund, and the annual RSA match.   Currently, the Commonwealth has a $3 billion surplus just sitting there. Republicans this year have worked hard to cut taxes to keep the unnecessary and unused money. Still, Senate Democrats have pushed back at every turn.   Even HB2319, a bill to increase the Standard Deduction to $9k for single individuals and $18k for joint filers, was killed by Democrats. This was the easiest and most reasonable way to curb the enormous surplus.   Until the General Assembly acts and Democrats come to the table, we cannot return that $3 billion to the taxpayer's pockets. We can't give teachers and law enforcement much-needed raises.

Week in Review

This past week, I returned to my day job and worked on getting caught up with family.   I was also able to make it to DC for part of CPAC. It was a great convention and encourage those who are able to attend future conferences.