Some years are easier on state legislators than others, depending on whether state revenues are running a shortfall or a surplus. And this year fits into the shortfall variety—to the tune of $641 million.
“I’ve been there long enough to have been through some tough times and also some gravy years,” said State Senator Creigh Deeds. “We will get through this tough time.”
Deeds was addressing a crowd at UVA’s Newcomb Hall, and was joined by three other local legislators—Senator Emmett Hanger (representing western Albemarle County), Delegate Rob Bell (representing much of Albemarle County) and Delegate David Toscano (representing Charlottesville).
“Please let me hear what you think,” said State Senator (and gubernatorial candidate) Creigh Deeds. “Don’t assume we have the best information. Let us know."
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While the rest have participated in the annual forum held by UVA for several years, it was Hanger’s first time. “There’s this dynamic going on now where Afton Mountain isn’t as tall as it used to be,” said Hanger, a Republican whose district is predominated by Staunton, Waynesboro and Lexington. “Many of you who are living over there are probably aware of that.”
Introducing the event, UVA President John Casteen noted the amount of work the legislators do in just 60 days. From the session’s start in January to its adjournment in March, the General Assembly will vet thousands of bills, pass a few hundred and work out a budget. Sessions in recent years have been dominated by transportation, and bills have already been introduced that would repeal the abusive-driver fees. But in addition to the budget, the legislature will also be preoccupied with fixing the mental health system in the wake of the Virginia Tech slayings.
Bell and Toscano both sit on the mental health subcommittee, and Bell discussed the dilemmas they face. “[An issue] that we’re going to address in regards to Virginia Tech is what do you do with someone who doesn’t want to receive mental health but who is either a danger to himself or others if he doesn’t get it,” said Bell. “Lest you think that is a simple issue, I encourage you to come to the hearings. …These issues I think are fundamental to a free society.”
Bell described his view that the pendulum in the last 40 years swung toward personal liberty rather than involuntary commitment, and now is a time to re-examine whether it needs to shift back. The legislators will consider changing the threshold for commitment from the current high bar of “imminent danger,” as well as try to fix what happens once someone is committed. “Mr. Cho was caught by the system,” despite its flaws, Bell noted, but no one made sure he attended court ordered treatment.
One of the other tricks of any reform is to make sure legislators don’t mess up the parts that aren’t broken. “Mental health care is delivered on a voluntary basis [99 percent of the time],” said Bell, who is cautious of adding stigmas to seeking health care. “We don’t want to create a system where we fix it 0.1 percent of the time, but mess up health care for everybody else.”
That’s not all the legislators talked about. Deeds highlighted education items in the budget, including UVA’s $116 million request in a $1.65 billion higher ed bond proposal, and Toscano said that he will work on bills to promote energy conservation.
Here are their responses to questions that came up during the question and answer period:
Payday lending: Would you support a 36 percent annual interest rate cap?
Bell: I voted for a 72 percent cap last year.
Toscano: I support it, but I also must say that it is a complicated issue because the risk is as we go down this road that we will eliminate people having access to credit who have challenging economic situations. But I support it and think that predatory credit lenders need to change their practices.
Collective bargaining: Would you support that right for state workers?
Toscano: I think that any proposal for collective bargaining in Virginia doesn’t really have much of a chance of getting passed. So my emphasis has been trying to work in another way to try to make sure that those benefits and wages are provided.
Bell: I’d be happy to look at a specific proposal. I doubt I’d support it.
Deeds: Collective bargaining is a term of art that requires in my view the right to strike in order to enforce it. That legislation is not going to pass in Virginia, and I’m not going to introduce it. Meet and confer legislation is a much weaker form of that, but at least you sit down and talk about it. That legislation has come up in the past.
Hanger: In the past I have not supported meet and confer legislation, and I would not support collective bargaining legislation.
Local food
Richard Bean, the Double H farmer who recently got into legal trouble because he didn’t get his hogs slaughtered at a state approved facility, didn’t ask a question per se, but did express his hopes that the four men would support legislation to make safety measures more compatible with small farming. “It’s going to be a whole lot more important than energy,” said Bean. “You’ve got to eat first.”
Hanger: I consider myself one of the lead advocates for farmers and agribusiness in the Commonwealth. I have been receptive in the last couple years of trying to arbitrate some of these issues [of public safety and farm protection].
Bell: I hope that in the long run we can solve a lot of these issues by the sharing of information. Many people are perfectly happy to go to the local Food Lion, and if the government has in some way indicated that this meat has been inspected, they’ll be satisfied with that. There’s clearly a large number of people who want more information than that.
Toscano: Senator Deeds has a bill that I’ve signed on to that will hopefully help some small producers. I think a lot of people are attracted to the notion, for lack of a better term, [that] small is beautiful. And it does have energy impacts.