The Democrats now running Virginia’s General Assembly are not just more progressive, but far more ambitious than their predecessors. To fully understand how ambitious you must compile the entire list of progressive bills advancing in the 2024 session and consider their total impact on the cost of living and the cost...
The General Assembly has now filled the two open seats at the State Corporation Commission (SCC), ending two years of gridlock. Unfortunately, the same legislators, on both sides of the aisle, are still working overtime to dictate and micromanage the state’s energy policy, reducing the discretion and authority of the...
One bill that certainly is heading for Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk is the increase in the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour as of two years from now. Both versions, House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1, raise it to $13.50 for next year, with the $15 level kicking in a year...
The American linguist Yogi Berra once said of a New York City restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Overcrowding, however, isn’t what motivates a move to a state (or from a state). Those decisions are inspired by robust economic activity, jobs for residents, and a pathway for each generation to do better...
For the third year in a row, Democrats in the Virginia Senate have shot down an effort to divorce Virginia’s auto dealers from California’s impending mandates on electric vehicle sales. But before the predetermined vote went down, the new chair of the committee made a surprise announcement that he and his...
*This article originally appeared on CardinalNews.org With the Virginia General Assembly now in session, the grappling over Gov. Youngkin’s “Unleashing Opportunity” tax plan has begun. Already, opponents are attacking it as “regressive” and “dead on arrival” — even supposed allies are less than enthusiastic about its prospects for passage in its...
During Governor Glenn Youngkin’s budget submission to the General Assembly, he called for the elimination of the single most hated tax in the Commonwealth — the car tax. He is right, the car tax is very unpopular. Back in 1997, Jim Gilmore made the elimination of the car tax the center...
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration had its first formal discussion with Virginia’s local governments about eliminating their car tax collections two days after he announced it publicly. The General Assembly convenes Wednesday and if there is a plan to replace the $2.8 billion in local government revenue...
Yesterday, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) warned that without substantially greater subsidies from DC, Maryland, and Virginia, they would be facing a $750 million annual shortfall that would require draconian cuts in services, including closing 10 stations, cutting 67 bus lines, and laying off 2,000 employees. They would...
There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had a real and persistent impact on our children’s education. Learning loss continues to be the subject of daily news reports, with SAT and ACT test scores at an all-time low. Overall, math and reading scores on standardized tests...
