One key goal for many of Virginia’s new progressive Democrats has been repeal of Virginia’s venerable Right To Work Law, and in 2020 they crossed one milestone by passing repeal in a key committee. But the Democratic leadership, perhaps wary of losing the bill in the Senate or angering too...
If you are serious about making electricity without carbon emissions and also serious about making enough electricity to run a real economy 24-7-365, the discussion keeps coming back to nuclear energy. It is the obvious choice if you believe we must eliminate natural gas soon. Less obvious is that a...
Without clear guardrails, city officials are warning wide-open bargaining with government unions would hurt city government’s ability to respond to emergencies while costing taxpayers up to $1 million a year in additional administrative costs. Alexandria’s city attorneys are sounding alarm bells about the consequences of not putting limits on government...
One of the Biden Administration’s first executive orders has revived the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule.” This rule was proposed by the Obama Administration, but time ran out before it could be fully implemented. The Trump Administration rescinded the rule. The rule requires communities...
Murphy-Brown, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, lost a major case on November 19, 2020. With Thanksgiving activities and election allegations, little attention was paid to this loss other than a few environmental groups and farm publications (full case summary here). Federal judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, appointed by President Reagan,...
The COVID-19 recession barely dented Virginia’s state budget. The massive spending growth adopted in the pre-COVID budget a year ago is largely back on track. Yet some legislators think the time is ripe to hunt for more revenue by re-writing the state’s tax code. The two-year $48.2 billion General Fund...
The lesson of the Texas grid collapse is not just about electricity. Imagine the week Texans would have had if once the power went out and stayed out, they had no gasoline, diesel, propane, or natural gas to fall back on. How much worse would their plight have been without...
Lower income Virginians who are customers of the two largest electricity providers may begin to receive subsidies on their residential bills in March 2022 under legislation moving forward in the General Assembly. The money for the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) subsidies will come from their fellow customers. House...
The ultimate goal of the Transportation and Climate Initiative with its tax and rationing scheme is to eliminate fossil fuels for transportation and get us into electric vehicles. That is something advocates have admitted and critics have pointed out. While Virginia TCI participation is on hold in this statewide election year, the 2021 General Assembly...
Majorities in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly agree with Governor Ralph Northam and have voted to tax the federal Payroll Protection Plan grants that saved Virginia jobs in the pandemic. They only remain at odds over how much to tax. The Virginia Senate has passed a bill 39-0 that allows...
