Support the Freedom and Prosperity Agenda for Virginia!
January 24th, 2007 by Brendan SteinhauserFrom John Taylor of the Tuesday Morning Group in Richmond:
As you will undoubtedly remember, in the spring of 2005 we introduced the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda, an eleven-plank legislative platform that one might think of as a state version of the Contract with America.
In the 2006 session of Virginia’s General Assembly, ten pieces of legislation were introduced that corresponded to ten of the eleven planks contained within the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda. Two of those bills were passed into law including the elimination of Virginia’s estate tax as well as the elimination of the annual prepayment of the sales and use tax. Two other bills passed the House of Delegates, but were defeated in the Senate last year. The first of these bills would have redefined and limited the public uses for which private property may be confiscated. The second would have required that new tax proposals, or proposals to increase existing taxes, contain sunset provisions.
Of the remaining nine planks in the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda, we will prioritize five in the current General Assembly session. As we did in the 2006 session, we will send daily e-mail updates on the status of these five bills – what committee or subcommittee they are in, when a vote is scheduled to take place, who the members are on that committee or subcommittee, and the contact information for those Delegates or Senators.
This is an important year for those of us in the grassroots. Why? Because in November all 140 members of the General Assembly are up for reelection. The Republicans currently have 23 of the 40 seats in the Senate, somewhat misleading as 17 of the Republicans oftentimes vote with the Democrats. In the House, the Republicans hold 57 of the 100 seats, down from a high of 64 seats just several years ago.
In addition, Republicans should be scrambling this year having little to show for the years they have been the majority party in both houses of the General Assembly. Consider:
- In the last eight years the budget has increased by 118% yet we are told we need new taxes for transportation.
- In 2004 the General Assembly passed the largest tax increase in the history of the commonwealth while the budget was in surplus.
- Sixty-five percent of the children in our public schools do not perform at grade level despite enormous increases in spending for public education.
- Virginia is one of only 13 states that has not passed eminent domain reform legislation, since the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous Kelo decision.
This brings us to the five bills on which we will focus this year.
- HB 2443 – Delegate Jeff Frederick
Eliminates the Business Professional and Occupational Licensing (BPOL) tax. Also known as the War of 1812 tax, this measure was originally put in place to raise revenue to fight the British.
- HB 2634 – Delegate Jack Reid
Requires a 4-year expiration date for all new taxes, fees, and mark-ups and for increases to existing taxes, fees, and mark-ups.
- HJ 18 – Delegate Bob Marshall
A constitutional amendment to limit the use of revenue in the Commonwealth Transportation Fund, the Transportation Trust Fund, and the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund to transportation and related purposes.
- HJ 586 – Delegate Mark Cole
         A constitutional amendment to eliminate the car tax.
- HJ 772 – Delegate Ben Cline
A constitutional amendment that would prohibit private property from being taken by eminent domain for the purposes of: 1) increasing the tax base, 2) increasing tax revenue, 3) creating jobs, or 4) for general economic health and welfare. All four of these loopholes must be addressed or the bill is not worth the paper it is written on.
Warning: There are many bills being submitted in regards to eminent domain reform that have been written to purposefully leave loopholes in the law so that property owners have no more protection from condemning authorities than they do today.
The only eminent domain reform bill that we support is Delegate Cline’s HB 772. Delegate Joannou has also put in a very good bill that we anticipate will be folded into Delegate Cline’s bill. No bill is better than a bad bill, because if the General Assembly passes legislation that essentially accomplishes nothing, in future years they will say that they have already addressed eminent domain abuse and this will become the excuse for not revisiting the issue.
Please respond to the action items contained within the daily e-mail updates advising you on the status of these five bills. Also, please feel free to forward this e-mail as well as the daily updates to your friends, family, and fellow activists.
Tuesday Morning Group Coalition
7326 Early Marker Court
Gainesville, VA 20155-1865
703-753-2268
703-753-1900 fax
TMGCoalition@aol.com
