Derrick Max: Your April 21, 2024 Sunday Summary...Kaine and Israel, Speaker Johnson, Budget Kumbaya?, Slots, Vetoes, Doctors in ER, Tax Debate, Jobs...and more!

1.) Speaker Mike Johnson continued to hobble together enough support to overcome the current dysfunction within his party to get important bills on aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan passed (here). He even managed to get the FISA bill through -- after an earlier stumble (here). I am old enough to remember when Republicans led in the fight against communist Russia and China and the fight against terrorist threats… 2.) Federal fundraising reports are now available on VPAP -- Sen. Tim Kaine has raised $9.4 million and has $8.8 million cash on hand. Hung Cao leads Republican candidates with just over $2 million raised and $571k on hand (here). House fundraising totals for the eleven Congressional seats can be found (here). Some of these races are packed -- 37 candidates have filed for the 10th and 7th and Senate (here) 3.) The massive workload that faced the Virginia General Assembly during the reconvened session on Wednesday is best visualized by this chart published by the Virginia Public Access Project (here and below). This chart does not include the 233 budget amendments made by Governor Youngkin. In the Governor's defense, a lot of the bills sent to him were political and had no chance of being signed (but are a good reminder of what the Commonwealth would face if the left takes full control again).

4.) While there appeared to be little discussion or negotiations leading up to the reconvened session (and a lot of snipping on X), cooler heads prevailed as Governor Youngkin joined in a press conference with Sen. Lucas, Speaker Scott, and other Democratic leaders to announce an agreement to hold a special session on the budget on May 13th, with a final vote on May 15th. The "kumbaya" mood of this agreement seemed to carry over to how the non-budget, bill amendments and vetoes were handled on the floor. Dwayne Yancey at Cardinal News had two great summaries on this (here and here).   5.) Governor Youngkin's veto of the minimum wage, paid family leave, class action lawsuits, and the local sales tax for schools were all sustained. His favorable amendments to the bad faith car insurance bill and the procurement set-asides were also accepted by the General Assembly -- all big wins for the work of the Thomas Jefferson Institute (here) and for taxpayers. Assuming the special session is limited to budget matters, these wins should be final. But, as our Steve Haner warned, "almost anything can happen in a special session." 6.) The Governor's amendments to the slot machine....errr...skills games bill probably generated the most public interest and protests. His amendments would have significantly limited where machines could be placed. The General Assembly rejected his amendments and returned the bill back to the Governor. Former Rep. Frank Wolf's arguments (here) remain valid and are confirmed by the recent move by the Mayor of Philadelphia to ban skills games because of the crime, nuisance, and addiction they cause (here). These machines have no place in our local communities...Governor Youngkin should take note! 7.) With Del. Luke Torian, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee saying that "...everything that we had in our budget that we sent to the governor is still on the table" -- the fight over putting Virginia back in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the business to business digital sales tax, both economically damaging proposals, will have to be fought again.  Thomas Jefferson Institute's Steve Haner noted that because Governor Youngkin had given Democrats almost all of their spending priorities and had significantly reduced his own spending priorities -- the special session will likely boil down to the Democrat's demand for a tax increase against Governor Youngkin's opposition to any tax increases (here). Silence and/or disinterest by voters will likely mean higher taxes... 8.) The Demand for tax increases should be seen in the context of the 40 percent growth in resources ($9 billion) that already occurred between FY 2019 to FY2024. It is also important to note the strong job and economy that has allowed this growth. The following charts from the Governor's original budget presentation are telling. In this context, no new taxes should be necessary!

9.) The March employment numbers, which were just reported, showed that employment increased by 2,758 last month in Virginia. This is 204,000 more since January. Virginia's unemployment fell and remains below the national average. Governor Youngkin's release on these numbers can be read (here). Again, a sign of a strong economy that would only be hurt by raising taxes unnecessarily! 10.) WMATA funding is likely to be debated in the special session as Virginia localities are balking at the funding mechanism used by Governor Youngkin to increase the Commonwealth's payment to a nearly bankrupt Metro (here). 11.) The alcohol industry is calling for greater independence (less political influence) of the ABC (here). I am still baffled that we have not privatized the ABC -- especially in light of convenience stores seeking new revenue sources. Maybe worth researching... 12.) In the "who knew?" category, Governor Youngkin signed into law a bill requiring hospitals with emergency rooms to have at least one doctor on-site at all times starting in July of 2025 (here). I guess many hospital ERs just keep doctors on call…probably more rural hospitals…again, who knew… 13.) A Christiansburg Middle School Principal is "seeing smiles on faces instead of cellphone zombies…" after implementing a new "no cell phone" policy at the school (here). Let's hope this catches on before it is too late. 14.) A clear step forward for Virginia in addressing the mental health crisis our country faces, is the successful implementation and use of the 988 crisis line which is now fielding 8,000 calls a month (here). According to Commissioner Nelson Smith, this is a three-pronged service: "someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go." We should all be rooting for its success (and be willing to call if we need it!). 15.) While I finally opted to file an extension, the raw emotion and heartfelt wisdom of this future Republican probably rings true to most of us on tax day...well worth the 30 seconds to watch!