If anyone thinks the Tunnel has no traction, it's basically the reason that John Foust was elected supervisor.  He made it his signature issue.

Virginia's teachers are paid at a rate $5,286 below the national average, despite the fact that the per capita personal income of  Virginians exceeds the national average by $3,057.  We should make meeting or exceeding the national average teacher salary as the policy of this wealthy state.

Elections need to be verifiable, and they need to have an audit trail.
A tiny percentage of randomly selected precincts should be verified, openly and publicly at the end of every election.
The entire process should be source code visible so that public review and scrutiny can shed light and fix any improprieties.

That's before we start talking about instant runoff elections (which we should talk about).

A chart of who promised to repeal and who promised to adjust abuser fees.

Now that the election's over, promises have a curious way of morphing....

I served as an elections officer last Tuesday and let me tell you, close-out was a bitch!!!  All the issues, the write-ins, the multiple forms, etc., caused us to be there three hours after the polls closed.  We had no problems with the equipment and no discrepancies in the poll book count--it was all the rest of the stuff.  In this electronic age, there has to be a better way. 

in Norfolk the last several years.  This year in particular, the registrar and the electoral board members did a lot of complaining about increased federal and state bookkeeping requirements and how they were overwhelming people working at the polls.

And, although I have the same concerns about verifiability as most people, I will note that touch-screen systems have type-ins rather than write-ins. They generate a nice printed list of them on the register tape, which doesn't need to be transcribed.

The big reason elections folk are resistant to abandoning touch screen systems is that they do provide real convenience-of-use advantages for voters and election officials.  It will be a shame if we have to give those up to get verifiable systems.  The technology is there to have both.

Some of these echo the above, others don't: 
1)  Stronger emmissions standards, strengthen enforcement and related penalties.  Put some teeth into Virginia's environmental protection laws and recognize the obvioius, we're in trouble, Gloval Warming is has been happening for a long time, and these things should have been done yesterday. Cigarett Smoking emissions, ban indoor-smoking in restaurants.

2) If you're going to get serious about Early Childhood Education, increase the Child Care Subsidy for low-income families who pay more than 30% of their income for quality child care, for just one child.  In addition, fund Governor Kaine's Pre-K Initive.

3)  Transportation:  Scrap the whole thing (including the abuser fees/TAXES), start over and do it right.  Legislators, you were elected to do your job, so quit trying to shift the responsibility to the localities to raise taxes and make them look like the "bad guys".  If you can't make the tough choices, then resign and we will get someone else.

4)  Mental Health:  never been done right from the start because we don't want to look in the mirror and admit that we all come up a little short on the sandwiches to the picnic, or that we have family, friends, or relatives that fit into that catagory.  I think that the NRA, Gun Owners of America, and the like would be willing to relent on some of their positions to ensure that only those deemed "mentally sound" should be allowed to posses a fire arm.  If they don't, then they need their heads examined.  Fully implement the VT Review Panel recommendations.

5)  Progressive Tax Reform:  the band-aid approach has been proven that it doesn't work.  Virginia is too reliant on Real Estate Property Taxes and Sales Taxes.  Coprations have too many places to hide in Virginia's Tax Code.  Income Tax Brackets, the bottom two brackets haven't been adjusted since 1926 and the top two since 1987 and they have never been tied to an automatic adjustment to inflation.  That would mean the top bracket would be around 7.5 to 8% and the bottom would be around 4%.  Cut the Sales Tax by a dollar for dollar amount for the increase in the updated Income Tax Brackets.  Instead of repeal of the Estate Tax, what about a Millionaires Tax?  Eliminate all Corporate Tax loop-holes in Virginia.  I think that you will find that we have enough money to fund everything suggested above and below.

6)  Payday Lending (Predatory Lending):  this is a no-brainer, cap PDL interest rates (fees) at 36% or repeal the 2002 Payday Loan Act.  It speaks volumns if Progressives, NAACP, Conservatives, the Faith Community (including Fawell, Jr.), and the Family Foundation agree on this.  This issue speaks volumns to Virginia's commitment to consumer protection.  When the state sanctions, legalizes "Loan Sharking", where small dollar short term loans (two week loan period) are allowed to charge $15 for every $100 borrowed and if you can't pay it all off, they let you "roll-it-over" to get another loan to pay off the first in addtion to the new loan, it adds up to 391% interest on the average.  There are alternatives and more are on the way from the Credit Union industry and others.  When you wake up and Loan Sharks are a bargan, you have to rub your eyes and ask your self, "What messed up version of Alice in Wonderland did I wake up in?"  This is so simple.  Get 'er dun!  Cap'em!

7)  Jobs to SWVA and Southside again is a no-brainer, but...  This is one where the citizens of SWVA and Southside have to decide how much money they want to pay for quality education.  This is one where you get the government you deserve and also you get the education you pay for.  This is sort of like the whole Global Warming issue, the debate is over.  Quality, high-paying jobs will never come to SWVA or Southside in large numbers until there is a committment to funding quality education in SWVA and Southside.  They go hand in hand.  Also, having heard disturbing stories of good, highly qualified teachers not having their contracts renewed if they don't give athletes passing grades if they are failing school or an Administrator's relative needs a teaching job,... come on folks.  Social promotion has been proven to not work.  Just remember Dexter Manley (Redskins and Buckaneers). Also, you are only harming these kids more if you don't hold them to the same standards of learning how to read and write, add and subtract, and think critically.  Hey, I don't want to pay taxes or have government in my life anymore than the next person, but this cut your nose off to spite your face mentality is only leaving our kids behind.  Lets bit the bullet and get serious on both ends.  Fully fund Public Schools in SWVA and Southside so that the jobs will come.

8)  Verifiable Voting:  replace all touch screen machines with optical scan or a system that produces a verifiable paper ballot.  This crap from the companies that make the touch screen voting machines that the software is proprietary, a trade secret, well my vote is suppose to be a secret too.  Virginia's law needs to change so that if they can't produce a paper ballot, then they have to give access to the source codes to the software.  This is an issue that will need to be tackled at the Federal and State level. 

9)  Immigration:  stop blaming immigrants for being inticed to come to this country for wage-suppressed jobs and start enforcing the laws that are on the books, than means enforcing the immigration laws on the companies that recruited them.  If businesses and companies that hire illegal immigrants were truely held accountable for breaking the law, then we wouldn't have to be talking about this.  The Legislators that push this issue need to stop talking out of both sides of their mouth.  Enforce immigration laws on the books, specifically on businesses and companies. 

10) Human Rights:  Fund addtional training for law enforcement to avoid Racial Profiling/Bias Based Policing practices.  Collect data on every traffic stop to determine if Racial Profiling/Biases Policing is happending (which it is).  Get the mentally ill out of our prisons and jails and into facilities that can truely address their conditions.  Moratoruim on the Death Penalty in Virginia until the Supreme Court decides if Lethal Injection is inhumane.  If President Bush vetos the Employee Non-Descrimination Act, that covers termination based on sexual orientation, Virginia must pass their own.  Univeral Health Care Coverage is a Human Right, in my opinion. 

And for good measure:
11) Dillion Rule Reform:  give localies the authority they need and should have, rather than carrying their hat in hand to the General Assembly to be able to say, ban Payday Lending at the local level or decide if they want to have direct election for Mayor.  You get the idea. 

Much better than my Top 10 list! :)

Ethics legislation is in order.  Fx Cty does have a disclosure requirement.  The Fx Cty Board is required to disclose if a board member has received in excess of $100 12 months prior to the hearing of an application. 

Ethics legislation could require the disclosure of the amount.  There are a lot of folks who don't buy the "money does not influence me" story.  The elephant in the room is:  Does a donation of $101 dollars have more/less influence on the decision about land use applications than does a $32,000 donation.  Even firemen will say the reason the FIREPAC gives $40 to $50,000 to the Supervisors and Chair is to influence the BOS's decisions about increasing firemen's benefits. 

The second top ten list also was very admirable.  I especially want to add my voice to the chorus that the state income tax code needs revising.  We need a more progressive multi-step system, geared to modern incomes.  The current system is very regressive.

I would point out that by getting rid of piecemeal taxes like the abuser fees* and raising the income tax a bit, the assembly would be cutting our overall tax burden.  How?  By giving us a higher federal tax deduction for state income tax paid.  An abuser fee is not tax deductible.  Nor are the other myriad nickel and dime fees one encounters.  Personal property taxes and state income taxes are deductible on federal returns.

*I do think that some traffic violations are of a serious enough nature that a high fee is called for.  In some parts of the world, BTW, traffic fines are geared to income levels.  A typical low traffic fine for a well-to-do person is inconsequential.

To the discussion of what needs doing in Richmond this winter, i would add a concerted effort to pass a Housing Trust Fund. Virginia is one of only 12 states without such a dedicated funding source to improve our housing stock and affordability, and until the GA wakes up to address this growing need, we will keep on sliding backwards. Without nary a penny of state funds going into housing for over a decade and a half, the catch-up cost is growing larger, not unlike the transportation, education and other critical infrastructural needs.

As the costs to provide a top notch education have increased, Virginia's state-run universities have had to delay improvement projects and increase out-of-state admitance to balance their budgets.  We need to invest more in our state schools so that they can remain among the top state schools in the country.  We need to increase the capacity of the schools to keep up with the increased need of Virginians for top notch secondary education.

What are the most significant issues for Americans?  The war in Iraq is often at the top of the list, but many other issues are state issues as well.  Some recent polls on national priorities are listed here: http://pollingreport...

As to the "morals" issues that Bob Marshall, Cuccinelli, et al bring up and which distract the state assembly so much, here are some percentages of Americans  who think these morals issues deserve priority, as taken from recent polls:

WSJ 11/07 "Abortion and gay marriage" -- 3%
CBS 10/07 "Abortion" -- 1%
ABC 9/07  "Morals/family issues" -- 2%
CNN 5/07  In ranking the importance of 17 issues, three of the bottom four were abortion, gun policy, and policies toward gays and lesbians.

The point of my comment here is that leaders in the state need to stand up to the morals loonies and just tell them to sit on it -- they've been using up too much valuable legislative work time.

(At some point in the future the state needs to revisit its anti-gay constitutional provision; it will be easier, though, when the younger generation reaches middle age, since two-thirds of the current younger crowd support equal rights.)

is advisable because the cost of gasoline is on the rise, and adding to the cost of gasoline probably will end up being rejected in the legislatie crunch. Moreover, given that, as gasoline prices rise we finally will reach a point where use of gasoline combined with greater fuel efficiency will adversely impact the stream of revenue. We want a steady, predictable stream of revenue which can be BONDED.

That means the better solution is to add a quarter of a percent to the sales tax. The additional cost to the consumer will be hardly noticeable, but overall it will add a huge amount to the transportation pool. If some are concerned about a sales tax increase hitting those less able to pay, well a gasoline tax will hurt more, but you can provide an income tax rebate on the sales tax for lower-income citizens.

1. Get rid of HOT lanes and let all citizens have equal
access to the public infrastructure;
2. Give all public employees the right to collectively bargain;
3. Campaign finance reform;
4. Repeal the death penalty, EXCEPT for politicians who breach their duty to serve the public.

In order of concentration; Transportation first and foremost, Economic Vitality, Job Creation and Taxes (I think Bacons Rebellion had it right addressing the fact we are in the top seven States in terms of taxs collected relative to all areas not just income but lso as it relates to cost of living....yes we are ahead of New Jersey on that score. The second may only be able to be addressed after real transportation solutiond are accomplished.
Next, Divesture of  all funds in Virginia Retirement System invested in Sudan...legislatures need to start taking action on this and stop being accomplices to this human rights issue.
Then Pre-K funding. I favor this over stem cell funding at the State level at the present time. I tend to believe we may be better served if in the future we allow the private sector to fund such advanced research and the private industry certainly will not be helping with public schools which is where the future biomedical and researchers will undoubtedly be coming from in the future. I think we need to re-concentrate on elementary and middle school aged children and lets be honest about the University level; these seem to be able to do just fine with there own revenue streams at the present time when compared to other areas of our educational system.

1.  Revisit transportation package, replace fees and other revenue runarounds with straight-forward revenue measures, like a combination of excise taxes and user fees.  Since that old bill only really funded maintenance, they also need a new one to put a huge injection into capital improvements and they could fund that with an increase in a broad based tax.

2.  Overhaul VA's system of taxation.  The state needs to pick up more of the tab for mandatory locally administered programs.  Clean up the tax code, evaluate all taxes in terms of efficiency of administration and replace those where the administrative burden on the state and localities is high.  My preference would be for a consumption based system that encourages personal savings and energy efficiency.

3.  More local control.  Rather than trying to fight some of these things at the state level, we can get what we want at the local level and wait for the rest of the state to come around.

The first two are really big ticket items and would take up the entire session for both parties to tackle in a thoughtful manner.  If they could just get those done, I would be happy.

On a realistic note, I hope they can agree on a budget.  I assume very little else will get accomplished between the two houses.  Unless Dominion has another bill they would like passed this session, then we can count that among the accomplishments.  Republicans will probably agree to get rid of the abuser fees, but that'll be it.  They'll probably replace it with another fee or a hike in an existing one.  The Governor's initiatives will probably be DOA in the House.  The battle royal that will absorb the most time is how to deal with the budget.  And if they manage a compromise bill before the end of the session, it would be a miracle.  I have no great hopes for this upcoming legislative session.

The Dominion power-written reregulation bill should be scrapped, and campaign finance reform should specifically limit contributions from utilities like Dominion to, uh, I dunno, ZERO?!?

Then maybe you should put campaign finance reform at the top of your list.  That would make your current first priority a lot easier to pass if Dominion's money wasn't lining everyone's pockets.  It would probably make the entire list a lot easier to get done.

Lowell mentioned the Start Strong effort in his list.  There is a new report out on it -- I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere.  WJLA has done a story on it: http://www.wjla.com/...

The Virginia Preschool Initiative improved literacy scores and boosted kindergarten readiness, according to a study presented Tuesday to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. When broken out by race, all categories of students performed better than predicted on a kindergarten literacy screening assessment, with Hispanic students outperforming predicted scores by the highest margin, the study said.