Posted on 01/14/2022 3:32:47 AM PST by Kaslin
As “wounded healer” Ralph Northam moonwalks out of the Governor’s Mansion and “cheerful suburban dad” Glenn Youngkin settles in, the Commonwealth of Virginia is back and open for business.
The 74th governor, who enters office tomorrow, promises bold change starting on Day One. And the Left is openly seething with rage.
Similarly, a divided General Assembly (the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World) will garner attention — especially over cabinet appointment confirmations and Republicans pledging to undo extreme Democratic laws.
New House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore (R-Gate City) promised, “We’re setting an agenda that will make it easier for Virginians to put food on the table and gas in the tank, and we’re rolling back regulations that strain families, workers, and businesses.”
The state legislature convened on Wednesday and published pre-filed bills online. Here’s some transformative legislation being considered during this 60-day session.
Fund Students, Not Systems
A recent Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) poll found that Old Dominion residents want state lawmakers to prioritize education.
52% of Virginians support increasing charter schools up from the current seven in existence. 40% of poll respondents also said Critical Race Theory shouldn’t be taught in Virginia schools compared to 28% who want it taught and 30% who were undecided.
Pertaining to public charter school creation, current law only permits local school boards to “grant or deny'' school creation. Insanity. Instead, HB 356 would give the Board of Education greater latitude to approve and establish them.
House Bill 293 would establish education savings accounts (ESAs)—a policy reform Governor-elect Youngkin already supports. House Bill 333 would permit school districts to establish local education savings accounts too.
These are great first steps to overhaul education, empower parents, and fund students instead of systems.
Economics & Labor
Keep an eye on bills to repeal minimum wage increases and protect independent contractors from misclassification by unions.
On January 1st, the state minimum wage increased to $11.00 per hour. If unchallenged, it’ll gradually become $15.00 per hour by 2026. Many Virginia business owners worry price increases and reduced staff hours, for instance, will result.
HB 171 and HB 296 would stop damage. The latter of the two would repeal “provisions related to increasing the state minimum wage based on an annual adjusted minimum wage.”
With over 500,000 independent contractors working and operating in Virginia, one lawmaker, Amanda Batten, introduced HB 529 to prevent lawmakers from reclassifying these workers as employees. Our neighbor West Virginia passed similar legislation (Senate Bill 272) to protect workers from being deliberately misclassified as employees— a method favored by Big Labor to coerce workers into union arrangements.
Speaking as a full-time Virginia freelancer, HB 529 would protect my livelihood and that of my fellow independent contractors.
Fear not: small business support and tax relief is on the way, too.
Second Amendment & Hunting
Important firearm and hunting legislation is also being mulled.
While gun control won’t be enacted, it’ll be challenging to repeal laws given Democratic control of the State Senate. If Republicans recapture the chamber in 2023, then reforms can happen.
Silver lining: Should one Senate Democrat cross-over to vote with GOP members, new Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears will cast the tie-breaking vote.
However, bills to restore state preemption laws, repeal the one-handgun-a-month ban, eliminate certain conceal handgun permit (CHP) fees, allow multiple ways for CHP permit applicants to demonstrate competence, and permit-less carry can make waves.
Expanding Sunday public land hunting opportunities, though, has a good shot of advancing. Another one, if passed, would allow Sunday hunting on wildlife management areas (WMAs) managed by the Department of Wildlife Resources.
Abolish ABC & Daylight Savings Time
Delegate Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), a former Green Beret and self-described Liberty Republican, has introduced some bold legislation.
He wants to abolish state-run liquor stores operated by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and Daylight Savings Time in Virginia.
As it concerns ABC, the agency has a troubled history with alcohol enforcement agents using excessive force.
Two notable incidents come to mind. The first case involved former University of Virginia student Elizabeth Daly, then 20, who bought non-alcoholic LaCroix beverages for an Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser in 2013. The other case involved Martese Johnson, another UVA student, who agents beat up for allegedly entering a bar using a fake-ID in 2015.
HB 238, which would privatize ABC, is timely because banning alcohol is archaic and outdated.
“Prohibition ended nearly 90 years ago. There is absolutely NO reason to maintain a state monopoly on the sale of alcohol,” Freitas, the bill’s chief sponsor, tweeted.
If passed, the bill “requires the Board of Directors of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (the Board) to dispose of all real estate used as government stores and to terminate leased property upon which the Board has operated a government store.”
Conclusion
Despite bizarre claims of Virginia morphing into a totalitarian hellscape, normalcy is returning here after years of disastrous uniparty rule in Richmond.
Rest assured, Republican policies are now mainstream. Much to the chagrin of Virginia Democrats, their GOP colleagues flipped the state last fall and now have a mandate.
Virginia is indeed for freedom lovers. Soon, the Florida of the Mid-Atlantic? This is the way.
When things improve the Dems will somehow take credit, the MSM will back them up then stupid people will vote them back in control and it will all go to hell again
I don’t doubt it one bit.
“Martese Johnson, another UVA student, who agents beat up for allegedly entering a bar using a fake-ID in 2015.”
Did Martese use a fake ID ever again?
The Attorney General is the man to watch in Virginia. Cuban anti-communist, he’ll be the busiest man in the state for the next 4 years.
Does it matter?
Do you want LEOs to dispense “roadside justice”?
He could have waited 2 years...
People get tossed from the military for using fake IDs, they lose all benefits, maybe some brig time, fines... then they basically are fired.
The premise is why should the government trust military members with security clearances if they’re flashing around fake IDs so that nobody knows they were in jail over the weekend... I’ve seen it more than once so obviously it’s a little bit more serious than realized but then again probably most laws are more serious than most people would care to realize. Or they don’t care unltil they are caught.
The bar owner could probably lose licenses if serving to an underage drinker with a fake ID. That would have cost the bar owner thousands upon thousands of dollars in fines fees and losses. But that’s okay... right?
Martese Johnson graduated from UVA in 2016, and recently settled with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for $3 million after a long legal battle. He’s now in his first year at the University of Michigan Law School. [September 2018 article]
Nope, not ok at all. If the guy committed a crime, throw the book at him. What I CANNOT tolerate is goobermint-authorized thugs dispensing their brand of “justice” on the side of a road (or in the deep woods, or swamp, or desert...)
If that’s what we’re down to, then there is no Nation worth saving anymore.
Successfully navigating your 20s requires a few things.
*Don’t knock up your girlfriend before you get married.
*Finish high school at least
*avoid entanglements with the criminal justice system
The fake ID holder should have chosen wisely.
I never said that got his just deserts. But he did totally blow off situational awareness and he got his ass kicked in the process.
The bar owner could have very easily been fined jailed and put out of business because this poor youth wants to go have a drink in a bar with a felonious fake ID.
There’s a few more but the point of this list is to successfully navigate the landscape so that one can successfully mitigate any risks in their 30s and on the way to grow up a family and put your children out there with an education and a moral code.
He got his ass kicked, after his bluff failed. He wasn’t charged with a felony, but his record has not been totally expunged, it never is. And I would be surprised if this doesn’t affect him later on down the line and some of the choices he wishes he could make as far as employment options are concerned.
After what I’ve witnessed within my own in-laws I can say that probably the most important thing on that list of successfully navigating a person’s 20-something years is not becoming entangled with the criminal justice system, everything else on that list including some of the items I have forgotten, can be worked through, but any kind of criminal record is an invitation for a police presence over a lifetime after that initial encounter with the criminal justice system.
Sadly, he’s going to find that out. It was all completely avoidable.
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