Governor Youngkin’s Reaganesque Approach to Regulatory Reform Should be a Model for Other States
Regulations, while usually well-intentioned, are often a drag on economic growth. They increase costs for businesses, stifle innovation, and can create barriers to entry for new entrepreneurs. With a runaway administrative state, simple laws passed by Congress or a state’s legislature can become complex and burdensome rules that require hordes of lawyers or already overburdened […]
The Spanberger-Graves Social Security Fairness Act is Unfair
By Andrew Biggs, American Enterprise Institute Over 300 Members of Congress from both parties, including Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Rep. Abigail Spanberger, are pushing for legislation that would grant a nearly $200 billion Social Security benefits windfall to a group that neither paid for these benefits nor truly needs them. That legislation, called the Social […]
Standards Decline: Can They Be Brought Back?
“… score standards were adopted that made it easier for students to pass; and changes in accreditation regulations let schoolsoff the hook for their failures.” The words of Governor Glenn Youngkin at Thursday’s unveiling of a new report analyzing the decline of Virginia’s public education? Nope. They came from The Washington Post, in a February 8, 2020 editorial titled “Virginia […]
Most States Outperform Virginia Over Past Decade
As measured by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Virginia’s economic outlook has continued its precipitous drop and now barely ranks in the top half among the American states, 24th out of 50. A decade ago it was in the top five, ranking third in 2011 and 2012 and fifth in 2013. Using three direct […]
Time for Public to Speak
“I urge you again to contact your Senators and Congressmen …. Tell them you believe this is an unequaled opportunity to help return America to prosperity and make government again the servant of the people.”— Ronald ReaganJuly 27, 1981 Richmond, like Washington, has always been a place where an “insider’s game” is played – not […]
Still Time to Limit Governor’s Emergency Powers
Should the governor of Virginia have the power to unilaterally declare an open-ended state of emergency that indefinitely restricts Virginians’ civil and constitutional rights without a recorded vote by the General Assembly? The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns raised this serious question. But so far, nobody has answered it definitively. One of the few public officials to […]
Activists throughout the country want to ban the use of natural gas, even in homes.
Read how they’ve already started this effort in Richmond by visiting: https://jeffersonpolicyjournal.com/richmond-city-may-cancel-gas-service-for-its-citizens-henrico-and-chesterfield This would cost homeowners $26,000 to retrofit to electric. Legislation in Virginia would create and protect a right to use natural gas. However, the Senate version of this bill would prohibit banning natural gas for businesses … but would still allow local governments […]
Doubling Standard Deduction is Middle Class Tax Reform
The argument now dividing the General Assembly on partisan lines is not whether to cut the state income tax, but for whom. The House of Delegates goes big with a broad tax cut that brings Virginia into line with other states, but the Senate only wants small changes aimed at smaller groups of taxpayers. More […]
A Clean Energy Disaster Arrives By 2050
By 2050 Virginia’s transition to wind and solar power under the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) could add almost $200 a month on average to a residential electric bill. Previous estimates of the consumer cost of dumping all fossil fuels from power generation have focused on the next ten years or so, but a new analysis looks […]
Energy Reform Agenda Inspires Multiple Pending Bills
The highest priority on a Virginia energy reform agenda proposed a few weeks ago was restoring State Corporation Commission oversight over decisions on massive renewable energy investments. Under current law, the General Assembly has basically dictated billions of dollars in such future investments, responding too often to donor demands. Several bills are pending at the […]