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As we continue to advance in the 2012 Session, we are getting to the point where major legislation is passing out of House committees and being acted upon by all delegates on the floor of the House. My focus continues to be on legislation that helps Virginia businesses create jobs and opportunities, improves the educational opportunities for all, support reforms to make our state government more efficient and effective, craft a fiscally responsible and structurally balanced state budget, and hold the line on taxes. We believe so strongly in these goals that I, along with two of my colleagues, spoke about it on the floor of the House of Delegates on Friday.
To view the speeches, please click here.
This week, the House advanced a number of important measures that will improve our public schools, support open competition on public contracts, and uphold the integrity of elections in the Commonwealth.
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House Advances Governor’s “Opportunity to Learn” Education Reform Bills
The House passed two important K-12 public education reform bills that were part of the Governor’s “Opportunity to Learn” agenda. First, the House passed HB 1061, which will reduce the number of high school diplomas available from seven to three. This will add rigor and relevance to Virginiaearned diplomas and ensure that Virginia students are either career ready or college ready upon graduation.
The second bill that passed the House, HB 1063, will allow local school divisions to establish their own starting dates for the school year. This measure seeks to remove an unnecessary mandate on our local schools that require a school division to apply for a waiver to start the school year prior to Labor Day.
I voted in favor of both of these bills, which will go before the State Senate for their consideration later in the Session.
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| House Passes the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act
On Tuesday, the House of Delegates passed HB 33, a bill that prohibits mandatory project labor agreements on public contracts to guarantee full and open competition when bidding on these contracts. It is estimated that a mandated project labor agreement can raise the cost of a project by ten to twenty percent, so prohibiting these mandatory agreements will help ensure Virginia gets the most out of our taxpayer dollars on infrastructure projects. This legislation also ensures all of Virginia’s qualified contractors and their skilled workforces, regardless of labor affiliation, can compete on a level playing field for Virginia projects.
Legislation similar to HB 33 passed the State Senate this week, indicating that this bill will likely pass the General Assembly and be signed into law by Governor McDonnell.
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| Protecting the Integrity of the Electoral Process
On Wednesday, the House passed HB 9, a bill to protect the integrity of our electoral process by requiring a voter to present a valid ID before casting a ballot. Currently, a voter who does not present a valid ID at the polling place can simply sign an affidavit and vote. The current provisions do not provide local Electoral Boards with any mechanisms to prevent a fraudulent vote cast by a voter who doesn’t show a valid ID. Should HB 9 become law, voters who do not present a valid ID would be required to sign an affidavit before casting a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots will allow local Electoral Boards to verify the vote cast is a valid vote before being counted.
Let me be clear- this bill does not deny anyone the fundamental right to vote. Instead, this measure simply gives our local Electoral Boards a tool to prevent a fraudulent vote from being counted.
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Weekly Visitors & Final Survey Results
The floor sessions have grown longer this week, but I still had the opportunity to meet with a few constituents and visitors who stopped by the office. I enjoyed meeting with Dr. Marshall Smith, the President of John Tyler Community College, along with a number of students at the school. Speaking of students, it was great to teach a class about the General Assembly to the approximately thirty Capitol Semester Interns on Wednesday night. The Capitol Semester Intern program brings students in from colleges and universities across Virginia to earn college credit for interning with a General Assembly member during Session.
I would like to report back to you on some of the results from my 2012 Legislative Survey and extend my thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. For the question regarding government spending and taxes, an overwhelming majority – seventy-six percent- believe that cutting spending should be our top priority when it comes to crafting the biennial budget. Also, sixty-eight percent of respondents said that our last course of action on the budget should be to raise taxes on Virginians. The full results from the survey can be found at www.kirkcox.com/results.
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Weekly Poll Question & Prior Week Results
This week’s question is on the state sales tax and transportation funding. To take the poll, please click here. I look forward to finding out where you stand on this bill.
Last week’s question was on voluntary party registration. Sixty percent of respondents support voluntary party registration and forty percent oppose voluntary party registration. This question has been included in my legislative surveys in years past, and the results from this poll were similar to the results in the survey. Given the increased focus on the Presidential Primary, it is interesting to see the popular opinion on this issue has changed slightly in favor of voluntary party registration.
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| In Closing
As we are now in Session, my General Assembly office is open and can be reached by phone at 698-1066 or by email at DelKCox@house.virginia.gov. If my staff or I can be of service to you, please don’t hesitate to contact me. If you make the trip up to the Capitol, please stop by my office in Room 948 on the 9th Floor of the General Assembly Building.
I invite you to forward this email to your family and friends in the district and encourage them to sign up to receive these email updates. A “forward email” link can be found at the bottom of this email.
Thank you for the privilege of serving as your Delegate. |
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