Stephen D. Haner
February 3, 2021

In a House of Delegates committee meeting Tuesday, Republican delegates fell into an old and damaging pattern, casting vote after vote against bills that would strengthen regulatory oversight of a monopoly utility and better protect its millions of Virginia customers. Many of the same Republicans would be happy to mount...

Christian Braunlich
February 2, 2021

Candidates love to be on the side of the gods – and supporting reduced pollution and greater economic growth is a “win-win.”  After all, if Virginia can use new technologies to reduce not only greenhouse gases but also what we send to landfills … while simultaneously creating new, well-paying jobs, who could...

Stephen D. Haner
January 29, 2021

A week ago, Governor Ralph Northam’s Administration was adamant that it would be unfair, in fact a double tax benefit, to allow Virginia employers with forgiven Paycheck Protection Plan loans to also deduct any expenses used to qualify for forgiveness. This week, the position changed.  Maybe it would make sense...

Stephen D. Haner
January 27, 2021

Virginia’s major energy-intensive industries will not get a requested path to avoid some of the coming cost shock from the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The bill that sought them a lifeline was tied to an anvil and sunk in a House of Delegates subcommittee January 25. It didn’t even help...

Stephen D. Haner
January 22, 2021

As I’ve explained too many times to people who won’t believe it, President Joe Biden won Nov. 3. While there remains no evidence of widespread fraud or error, election law changes achieved by Democrats in key states were a major contributing factor to that outcome. That transformation started here in Virginia...

Stephen D. Haner
January 15, 2021

When Texas went to the United States Supreme Court last month complaining about the election processes in four other states, the case was dismissed on the issue of standing. The Court correctly replied Texas had no right to complain about how the Electoral College votes were determined in other states...

Stephen D. Haner
January 6, 2021

The Transportation and Climate Initiative plan to tax and ration motor fuels suffered a major setback just before Christmas, when eight of the eleven states considering it decided not to move forward in 2021. Less than two weeks earlier, advocates had released polling that claimed to show overwhelming popularity for...

Jim Bacon
January 6, 2021

The greatest ideological division in the United States today separates those who support policies geared to creating equal opportunities for all and those who support policies geared to creating equal outcomes. Each orientation reflects contending views of human nature and prescriptions for making the world a better place. I believe...

Baruch Feigenbaum
January 6, 2021

Reason Foundation recently released its 25th Annual Highway Report, a yearly evaluation of the conditions and cost-effectiveness of state highway systems. The report uses data reported by states to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as a condition of receiving their federal highway funding. The FHWA data are supplemented with bridge...

Gary Baise
January 6, 2021

Congress has passed, and the President has signed, the $900 billion stimulus package. There’s a lot of pork in the bill, and it includes USDA. What is your tax dollar going to support? About $10 million will be made available for gender programs in Pakistan. There will also be a...