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This has been a busy week. Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and there were a record number of Virginia citizens, including hundreds of school children, visiting our beautiful State Capitol.
One of our most important visitors was Marco Leung, accompanied by Coach Marrs, of Graham High School in Bluefield. Marco is the Model General Assembly for 2008 and was here to meet with Governor Kaine and be introduced to both houses of the General Assembly. Model General Assembly will take place in April here at the Capitol. The Virginia Community College System had a Legislative Day on Tuesday. I was able to meet with Dr. Charles White, president of Wytheville Community College, and board and staff members David Manley, Bill and Rita Dixon and Rhonda Catron. They were accompanied by eight students. We met with Dr. and Mrs. Jack Lewis from New River Community College and a delegation of students and faculty, and we met with a group from Southwest Virginia Community College, led by Dr. and Mrs. Mark Estepp. I also visited with Dr. Terry Suarez, who is the president of Mountain Empire Community College. Bill and Della Osborne, Larry Mustard, and Emily Edmondson from Tazewell County, and Peggy and Jerry Spraker from Wythe County came representing Virginia Farm Bureau. The Amputee Coalition of America, represented by Jack Morgan of Bland County, came to the capitol in support of SB 645, a special commission on mandated health insurance benefits. Their main request is that prosthetics be included under health insurance. Tina King and Mike Guy, representing the New River Valley Agency on Aging and District 3 Co-Op, came asking for transportation funding to allow older Virginians to remain in community-based settings. A contingent of Pulaski County leaders, Peter Huber, Ken Bowling, Judy Ison, Betty Montgomery, and Peggy White came to follow up a variety of transportation and funding requests. Other excitement on Monday, there was a “Die-In” demonstration on the Capitol Grounds in support of gun control. Another large group was lobbying against gun control. Ultimately, the bill in question was passed by in the Senate. In the Science and Technology area, I co-patroned Delegate Kilgore’s bill relating to Virginia Resource Authority’s financing of energy-efficiency projects. I also co-patroned Delegate May’s bill relating to Virginia Resource Authority, adding the coverage of broadband services. We passed several Health and Welfare bills this week. HB 1025 gives women a wider choice in the method of treatment of breast tumors. HB 1260 allows young people 16 years and older the right to donate blood with parental consent. HB 1431 added a second tier relating to the practice of dental assistants. HB 1420 makes the Department of Health the state radiation control agency. HB 1447 adds representatives of housing, transportation, and other appropriate local organizations that provide long-term care services to the membership of local long-term care coordination committees. HB 894 mandates that all abortion clinics in the state meet the same safety standards as other surgical clinics. The tensest moment came this week when the House of Delegates took up Delegate Ebbin’s (D – Arlington) bill on collective bargaining. There was much heated debate on the floor. When the time came to engross the bill and pass it on to its third and final reading, all Democrats remained seated and refused to take an Aye or Nay vote. Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R – Salem) asked for individual votes to be counted as negative because a vote is required when a Delegate is seated in the Chamber. According to House Rules, a vote must be entered as negative if any seated Delegate refuses to vote when challenged. In the end, collective bargaining was defeated 82-0. Virginia remains a “Right to Work” state with the Majority believing that giving educators the right to strike would be detrimental to our children’s education. Giving law enforcement the right to strike would endanger people’s lives, and the population would no longer have recourse to public safety. If other public agencies were given this right, it would cause harm to the citizens whose tax dollars pay their salaries and operational costs. As always, I would love to hear from my constituents, and this is how you can reach me in Richmond: Delegate Anne B. Crockett-Stark
P.O. Box 406
General Assembly Building Room 819
Richmond, VA 23219
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(804) 698-1006
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