– Delegate uses telephone town hall to reach 6,000 –

Richmond - Delegate M. Kirkland “Kirk” Cox (R-Colonial Heights) connected with over 1,200 constituents last night during his first telephone town hall teleconference of the 2012 General Assembly Session. Cox also left messages with over 5,000 other residents.

“I enjoy getting the chance to connect with you using this telephone town hall format, and I hope that you find these town halls informative and productive,” said Cox in his call introduction.

In his introduction, Cox also discussed Governor McDonnell’s State of theCommonwealth challenge to both Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly to work together for the benefit of all Virginians. Delegate Cox cited a first week example of bipartisan support when he mentioned the agreement between Republican and Democrat budget conference committee members to give all Delegates and Senators at least 24 hours to review the final budget before voting.

After his brief introduction, Cox fielded questions from constituents and got their opinions on a number of issues before the General Assembly. Cox used a polling feature on the call that gave all the opportunity to “cast their vote”  on a number of the major issues facing the General Assembly including ballot access requirements, Sunday hunting, uranium mining, the Castle Doctrine, and transportation funding.

On changing the qualification requirements for Presidential candidates to have their name appear on the ballot, thirty-six percent favored keeping the current requirement of 10,000 signatures, including 400 from each Congressional District, while sixty-four percent favored a change in the requirements.

Regarding Sunday hunting, participants supported upholding the Sunday hunting ban by a 2 to 1 margin. Those not supporting the ban felt some modification of theSunday hunting law should be considered, such as allowing Sunday hunting only on private property with permission of the owner.

On whether or not Virginia should lift the moratorium on uranium mining, seventy percent of participants favored lifting the ban while thirty percent opposed lifting the ban. After giving the poll results on uranium mining, Cox added, “Uranium mining would provide necessary jobs, but it needs to be done in a safe and environmental protective manner.”  He also indicated that it might be appropriate to develop the regulations for mining uranium this year and consider lifting the moratorium next year.

Regarding the castle doctrine, ninety-nine percent of participants support enacting castle doctrine legislation, which would give immunity from civil liability to person in his or her own home who used physical force, including deadly force, against an intruder who has committed an overt act against the resident.

When asked about transportation funding, participants responded by a 3 to 1 margin in favor of Governor McDonnell’s plan to increase transportation’s share of the sales and use tax from 0.5% to 0.75% phased in over the next eight years. Over the next two years this change will add $110 million to Virginia’s funding for transportation, a core government service.

A number of the constituent questions fielded by Cox concerned the current overreaching approach of the Federal Government and what was being done by the General Assembly to address this issue.  Chief among those concerns were the Affordable Care Act. Cox added his concern about the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) and the costs that Virginia would have to shoulder should the law be found constitutional.

Cox ended the telephone town hall by thanking everyone for their participation and for their feedback. At the end of the call, everyone on the line was given the opportunity to leave a voice mail for Delegate Cox.  He also invited participants to take his 2012 Legislative Survey which can be found online at www.kirkcox.com.

“I like hosting telephone town halls because they give me the opportunity to directly connect with many constituents and help me to better understand and represent their views in the House of Delegates,” Cox said at the conclusion. “I look forward to hosting another telephone town hall very soon.”