The Jefferson Journal

Commentary

Christian Braunlich
March 2, 2020

Virginia faces billions in expenses for road, bridge and school repair. Why are so many politicians willing to raise the cost of that construction so less construction can be done?

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Stephen D. Haner
February 19, 2020

Responding to a perceived climate emergency, the new Democratic majority in the Virginia General Assembly is seeking to transform the Commonwealth into a wind and solar energy Wonderland. It is passing legislation to mandate construction of solar and wind, mandate closure of disfavored power sources, and to prevent the State...

Christian Braunlich
February 19, 2020

Joseph Ocol is the kind of teacher most parents would fight to have teach their daughter. His Englewood, Chicago girls’ chess team won the national championship in 2016 against 60 other schools, an achievement noted in the Congressional Record, by news media and by the mayor and city council. And...

Stephen D. Haner
February 5, 2020

Thanks to the persistence of Delegate Charles Poindexter, two members of Governor Ralph Northam’s cabinet are now on record stating the General Assembly will decide whether Virginia joins the carbon tax regime called the Transportation and Climate Initiative.  In 2018 both of them had signed a letter endorsing the interstate compact...

Jim Bacon
February 5, 2020

Editor’s Note:  A bill to repeal Virginia’s right-to-work law is currently working its way through the Virginia House of Delegates.  More dangerously, a bill to require “Agency Shop Fees” will be considered Sunday in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, and would require non-union employees where there is a union contract...

Hans Bader
February 5, 2020

The progressive Left calls it the “Virginia Values Act.” But it would more appropriately be called the “Attorneys’ Full Employment Act.” SB868 has been approved by key committees of the Virginia legislature, aided by blatantly inaccurate claims. It will revolutionize Virginia discrimination law, turning what once was a pro-business state into an...

Stephen D. Haner
January 22, 2020

The new chair of the House Finance Committee has introduced a major long-term tax reform proposal that will help most Virginia families, and the former chair of the same committee has offered a significant improvement to it. Both are good bills that should be embraced by the Virginia General Assembly....

Hans Bader
January 22, 2020

Anti-discrimination legislation under consideration by the Virginia state Senate would shrink the value of the state’s economy and fundamentally alter its business climate. Senate Bill 868, introduced by Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, would subject even small businesses to unlimited compensatory and punitive damages in discrimination lawsuits and order businesses to...

Gary Baise
January 22, 2020

On January 10, 2020, California’s Attorney General and several animal rights groups filed to dismiss with prejudice a case brought by National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation. In 2018, California voters approved Proposition 12. California seeks ”…to prevent animal cruelty by phasing out extreme methods of...

Stephen D. Haner
January 8, 2020

The interesting thing is not how Virginia’s overall budget has grown 20% in just two years (seen that number reported anywhere else?) What’s interesting is how many interest groups are openly pushing to make it even larger. The $23 billion increase is not enough! Just two years ago, in December...