BEFORE THE
COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND RESTRUCTURING
JULY 8, 2010
McLEAN, VIRGINIA

Mr. Chairman and Commission members, thank you for the opportunity to appear this afternoon.  The work of the Commission encompasses a wide range of issues. I have already engaged several members on particular topics and I look forward to continuing to do so.  I appreciate the willingness of the Commission to listen to ideas from private citizens and elected officials of the Commonwealth.

Today, I want to briefly discuss only one issue:  House Bill 779, a bill I introduced during the 2010 session to address the urgent issue of reducing transportation congestion in Northern Virginia. For reasons I will explain, H.B. 779 is not only a transportation bill, but is also a government transparency bill, because it will increase the transparency of the decision making processes in selecting transportation projects for funding.

I call this bill to the Commission’s attention because it was formally referred to the Commission for consideration, by a vote of the House Transportation Committee, in February 2010.  This occurred before the Commission was formally established and thus, I feel it is appropriate to testify to the bill with the hope that the Commission might favorably refer the bill back to the Committee for the 2011 General Assembly session.

A copy of the bill is attached.  The purpose of this bill is to require that proposed transportation projects in the Northern Virginia construction district be evaluated quantitatively and rated according to which projects provide the “biggest bang for buck” in terms of congestion relief. Road, rail, and bus service projects will all be included for evaluation.  The ratings would be determined using objective computer simulation methods commonly used in transportation planning.  The results would be made public, but the bill does not require that any project be funded in a particular order.  Instead, publicizing the list would permit voters and taxpayers to evaluate whether public officials are using limited transportation dollars to fund priority projects, or for some other purpose.

Candidly, it is my view that one reason why traffic congestion has persisted for so long in Northern Virginia is that projects have been funded without sufficient knowledge or regard for how a particular project compares to others in terms of offering congestion relief.  In some cases, significant amounts of public money may have been spent for transportation projects that do not provide reasonable congestion relief for the region.  This cannot continue if we expect to solve the region’s transportation problems.

You will note the bill specifies that the results be presented in two ways: according to which projects would provide the greatest congestion relief during typical peak periods in Northern Virginia, and separately, according to which projects would improve regional mobility in the event of a homeland security emergency in the national capital area.

Since the time that the bill was introduced, it has come to my attention that the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority has received a federal grant that would provide for computer simulation methods to be used similar to the provisions of the bill to evaluate proposed transportation projects.  Currently, HB 779 specifies the Virginia Department of Transportation perform this work. However, I am not partial as to which public entity cares out these evaluations, but rather that they are performed. The Department of Planning and Budget in Richmond provided an impact financial impact statement for HB 779 during the session stating that VDOT must hire outside consultants to conduct the evaluations. Because NVTA now has grant money available, this impact statement is no longer immediately applicable to HB 779.

The NVTA grant money is for a single study of the region’s transportation system. However, it is important to ensure that such evaluations be conducted periodically, rather than episodically, that the ratings of specific transportation projects be made available to the public in an understandable way, and that all forms of transportation modes be included in the evaluation.  It is also important that “ordinary rush hour” as well as homeland security emergency considerations are taken into account.  For these reasons, HB 779 is necessary.

Mr. Chairman and Commission members, thank you for your attention.  I welcome the opportunity to answer any questions now or during the course of the Commission’s work with the hope that the Commission will favorably refer the bill back to the House Transportation Committee, together with any improvements recommended.

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Time & Date:
Sunday, May 2, 2010
3:00 PM

Location:
Sully Government Center
4900 Stonecroft Boulevard
Chantilly, VA 20151

Questions? Please contact Christen Smith by phone, (703) 264-1432, or e-mail, DelJLeMunyon@house.virginia.gov.

Budget —A House-Senate consensus budget passed on Sunday that is balanced without a tax increase. Contrary to what you may have read in the newspapers, state funding for school funding for Fairfax and Loudoun Counties increased. We stood to loose $91 million for Fairfax and Loudoun County schools–but didn’t lose a penny–in fact we received more–$19.6 million more for both school systems over two years. With the support of Governor McDonnell, those of us in the Virginia House and Senate from Northern Virginia took a strong, bipartisan stand that our region must receive more tax dollars back from Richmond and we succeeded.

Education —Beyond school funding, H.B. 1390, a bill to streamline the process for applying to establish public charter schools, passed both bodies. I was happy to support this priority of Governor McDonnell’s because charter schools can address specific educational needs – ranging from helping at risk students to providing advanced science and math classes not generally available in traditional public schools. In fact, current law requires that half of all charter schools address the needs of at risk kids. By streamlining the application process, localities will be able to more readily establish charter schools when appropriate to address the needs of the school children in their community.
I cosponsored H.B. 208, a bill to eliminate unnecessary reports required by the state from local school divisions. H.B. 208 passed both bodies and is on the way to the Governor’s desk for his signature. This will eliminate more than 700 reports statewide and thus will direct more education dollars to the classroom.

Transportation —The budget includes provisions to sell more than $400 million in transportation bonds. This is just a small step in the right direction. I cosponsored H.B. 756, a bill to dedicate a significant portion of future budget surpluses to transportation. H.B. 756 passed the House, but not the Senate. While transportation funding is a top priority for our area, this is not the case in other parts of the state. More meaningful transportation legislation will only pass if Delegates from Northern Virginia work with those from less populous parts of the state to reach a consensus. I hope to be instrumental in doing so. Developing a more comprehensive transportation plan for Northern Virginia is my top homework assignment between now and the January 2011 session. We need to reform how transportation dollars are spent so that we get the biggest bang for our bucks in terms of congestion reduction. I introduced H.B. 779, a bill to prioritize transportation projects in this manner and am looking forward to working to get this bill passed next year.

Jobs and the Economy —The majority of Governor McDonnell’s legislative agenda passed related to attracting new companies to Virginia. I was privileged to assist the Governor in his efforts by sponsoring H.B. 792, a bill allowing certain licensed, small business owners moving to the Commonwealth from other states to obtain temporary business licenses in Virginia, so they can being building their companies and creating jobs here immediately. This bill makes it easier for small businesses to form and grow, and I am happy to report that it passed the House and Senate unanimously.

Energy Independence —I voted for H.B. 787 to prepare Virginia for natural gas, oil, and wind energy development off the Virginia Coast as soon as federal regulations are changed to permit such development. I also voted to dedicate 80 percent of revenues that Virginia collects from this new industry to transportation improvements. Both bills passed the House and Senate and await the Governor’s signature.

Illegal Immigration —H.B. 737, a bill requiring state agencies to use the federal E-Verify program to ensure that Virginia’s state employees are legally able to work in the United States, passed both bodies. This is one constructive step Virginia is able to take while Congress considers more comprehensive immigration reform.

Good Government —The House passed my bill, H.B. 778, to require that every member’s voting record be easily retrievable by member name on the Internet. It may be hard to believe, but this bill ran into some objections in the Senate and was “carried over” for consideration during the 2011 session. Regardless, you can visit www.lemunyon.com to find my complete voting record from the 2010 session. The House and Senate also passed my bill, H.B. 1306, requiring that jurors provide identification before serving on a jury. This bill is also waiting for the Governor’s approval.

The 2010 Regular Session of the General Assembly concluded March 14. We return for one day on April 21 to consider any vetoes by the Governor, otherwise, we reconvene in January of 2011. There is a possibility that special sessions of the legislature may be called later in 2010 to address government reform and transportation.

Now that I have returned from Richmond, I am eager to meet with you and your organizations to exchange ideas and public policy suggestions for next session. If you wish, please contact me at DelJLeMunyon@house.virginia.gov or 703-264-1432 or arrange a meeting. It is an honor to occupy the 67th district’s seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Thank you for this opportunity to serve our community and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

If you have questions or concerns to express, you may want to attend an upcoming “snow summit,” hosted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Transportation Committee on Tuesday, March 16, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The summit will assess what worked well and what did not, at both the state level and the county level during this winter’s massive snowstorms. The summit will include representatives of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the county’s public safety agencies, Fairfax County Public Schools and the county’s Facilities Management Department. The meeting may also be viewed on television live on Channel 16.

Now that the big snows are behind us, it’s “pothole season.” Governor McDonnell declared a pothole blitz for the month of March. He has directed VDOT to focus on patching the thousands of potholes across the state due to this winter’s blasts of snow, ice and rain. For the month of March, pothole repair will be VDOT’s top priority. The Governor has requested that citizens help identify potholes. To report a pothole, visit www.VirginiaDOT.org or call VDOT’s Highway Helpline at 800-367-7623. If you wouldn’t mind, please cc: me on any email correspondence, and I’ll follow up with VDOT as well.

In Richmond, the Virginia House and Senate have passed different versions of budgets for fiscal years 2011 and 2012.  Each house has appointed representatives to iron out the differences between the two budgets. Meetings between the House and Senate negotiators started this week with the aim of creating a consensus budget that can be approved by both Houses before March 13th. I have passed on many comments I’ve received from constituents about Medicaid funding and other issues to the House negotiators. I’ll have more to report next week when their work is done.

Due to the weak economy, the projected state revenue for the next two years is about $77 billion.  Prior spending commitments total $81 billion, and so the challenge is to bridge the $4 billion gap.

The budget includes hundreds of provisions ranging from education, transportation, social services, retirement funds for teachers and other public employees, the arts, and many other elements. A key reason why I voted in favor of the budget is that funding for K-12 education for Fairfax and Loudoun Counties increased–while most other programs in the budget were cut. This outcome resulted from a bipartisan effort of several Northern Virginia Delegates, together with Governor McDonnell, to ensure that Northern Virginia receives a fair return on the taxes we send to Richmond.

Another positive item in the House budget is that it allows for the issuance of more than $400 million in transportation infrastructure bonds. The sale of the new bonds will be within the state’s conservative debt limits and I expect the new bonds will be issued later in 2010. The resulting funds will likely be used to secure federal matching money to pay for new roads, overpasses, and mass transit projects in Northern Virginia and other parts of the state.

A number of structural reforms are included in the budget so that future spending commitments do not exceed what Virginia’s taxpayers can afford. The most significant reform is the way in which the retirement system for state employees is funded. Currently, retirement contributions are paid solely by the government. All new state employees hired after July 1, 2010 will be required to contribute 5 percent of their income to the Virginia Retirement System. Existing employees will not be required to do so. Virginia will no longer be paying for employee pensions that it cannot afford to sustain.

Concurrently, the Virginia Senate passed itsversion of the 2011-2012 budget. Differences exist between the House and Senate versions. These variations will now be reconciled by a small group of House and Senate members to produce a consensus budget that can be passed by both houses and then sent to the Governor for his approval. An element I believe is lacking in the House version of the budget is assurance that no person currently receiving assistance will be denied benefits. It is my hope that the consensus version will include provisions for those currently benefiting from public assistance programs, especially for low-income families and the elderly.

Details about the House and Senate budgets may be found at: http://leg2.state.va.us/MoneyWeb.NSF/sb2010

In recent years, Internet technology has provided greater government transparency and accessibility. Virginia maintains an excellent Web site that enables the public to track legislation, follow committee and floor schedules and view video of proceedings. The history of every bill introduced in Virginia since 1994, including recorded votes, also can be easily retrieved.

But one feature is lacking. While recorded votes can be retrieved by bill number, they cannot be compiled using a member’s name. To assemble a member’s voting record, a user would have to know all of the bills that received votes (many die in committee) and type in each number, one by one, to view the “yeas” and “nays.”

Such an exercise would take days, if not weeks. The public deserves an easier way. That is why we introduced House Bill 778 — to require voting records to be organized by member name as well as bill number. On Feb. 16, the House bill passed 86 to 13. No member spoke against the bill on the floor, although some noted privately that this tool might help candidates challenging incumbents by making it easier to retrieve incumbents’ voting records. That may be so, but this bill would also help citizens hold their leaders accountable.

H.B. 778 is pending before the Senate Rules Committee. A former member of the Virginia House, Thomas Jefferson, once remarked, “If the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” Virginia’s delegates have affirmed their confidence in Mr. Jefferson’s words. Now it’s up to the Senate.

The writers are, respectively, first-term Republican and Democratic members of the Virginia House of Delegates from Fairfax County.

This past Tuesday marked the halfway point of the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session. For the remainder of the session, the House of Delegates will consider Senate-passed bills, and vice versa. The pace continues to be brisk, and the state budget will be considered starting next week.  Five of my bills passed the House and are now being considered by the Virginia Senate:

H.B. 778 requires voting records to be retrievable by member name on the General Assembly’s website. This bill would increases accessibility, transparency, and accountability of the Virginia State Legislature.

H.B. 792 allows a temporary business license or certification to be issued to an applicant who holds a comparable license or certification issued by another state. This bill is good for businesses moving to Virginia and will spur job growth across the state.

H.B. 208 eliminates unnecessary reports school divisions must send to Richmond, so more education funds can make it to the classroom.

H.B. 1306 requires jurors to provide personal identification when appearing for jury duty, similar to what voters provide at the polls on Election Day.

H.J. 100 is a resolution encouraging the State Board of Education to support the establishment of additional mathematics, science, and technology high schools like Thomas Jefferson High School.

You may have read in the news that the Virginia House considered 20 bills during the past few days related to firearms.  In keeping with my support for the U.S. Constitution, including the 2nd Amendment, I voted YES on bills that relate to the right of self-defense and the ability of law-abiding gun owners to comply with the law.  I voted NO on two bills that, in my view, would have made it easier for guns to be obtained by criminals or the mentally ill and another bill that would repeal the current ban on carrying concealed weapons into restaurants that serve alcohol.  Please contact me if you would like a list of these bills and an explanation of my votes.

In keeping with a campaign promise, my complete voting record may be found on my website at www.LeMunyon.com by clicking on “voting record” in the navigation bar. 

I am able represent you best when I have the benefit your ideas and suggestions. You may reach me by email, DelJLeMunyon@house.virginia.gov, or by phone, 703-264-1432. Your call will be transferred to my Richmond office.

Education funding has been in the news, and earlier this week Governor  McDonnell announced his support for restoring $61 million and $34 million in state K-12 education funding to Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, respectively.  The budget submitted to the General Assembly in December by former Governor Tim Kaine related to K-12 education funding would have changed the formula for allocating K-12 education funding, causing a reduction in expected amounts.

I applaud the Governor’s decision. He responded quickly to a letter I signed along with a bipartisan group of 34 other Delegates and Senators from Northern Virginia just one week earlier about this issue. In the meantime, I have cosponsored an amendment to the budget, along with several other members of the Virginia House, to ensure that the funds are in the budget. While the Governor’s support is important, we can’t claim success until the budget is passed with the funds restored.

The House acted this week on an important campus safety bill.  H.B. 1238 would require each of Virginia’s public colleges and universities to maintain a crisis and emergency management plan, and conduct a functional exercise annually according to the plan.  I cosponsored this bill, which aims to help prevent another campus tragedy like the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.  The bill is now in the Virginia Senate.

The House unanimously passed HB 1306, a bill I introduced to ensure that the identity of jurors can be ascertained before jury selection.  It turns out that this is not presently required In Virginia.  HB 1306 specifies that prospective jurors provide the same forms of identification as those required by voters on Election Day.

In addition, a bill I introduced, HB 779, was considered by the House Transportation Committee and referred for further consideration to the Governor’s new Commission on Government Reform.  This bill would require that all transportation projects in Northern Virginia be rated based on the amount of congestion reduced per dollar spent.  In this way, our limited transportation dollars can give us the biggest bang for the buck.  I will work to secure the Commission’s support for this bill in 2010 and passage by the House and Senate in 2011.

Lastly, thanks for your patience in waiting to get the snow plowed this week.  My staff and I were in close contact with VDOT’s snow removal teams to relay neighborhood specific issues. If you are still waiting for your street to be plowed, please contact me by email at DelJLeMunyon@house.virginia.gov or 703-264-1432.

Because the 4×4 pickup trucks VDOT uses for a typical four- to six-inch storm cannot handle the deep snow still blanketing some northern Virginia neighborhoods, additional larger trucks and front loaders are working to clear remaining subdivision and side streets buried in the last storm. The additional crews will continue to clear neighborhoods as long as possible, until the trucks are needed again to address emergency routes, interstates and other high-volume roads.

Motorists are urged to stay off the road, as white-out and blizzard conditions are expected to last into the evening. Minimal visibility and high-drifting snow have made driving extremely dangerous. Crews out in full force also need the full width of many roads to navigate snowplow trains and put down chemicals.

Commuters are advised that the I-95/395 high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes will close at 11 a.m. today, and will re-open either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning depending on road conditions.

For the latest road conditions, weather, incident information and traffic camera video, drivers can visit www.511Virginia.org. Residents who need to report dangerous conditions on neighborhood streets should send the address, subdivision and county to novainfo@vdot.virginia.gov. They can also call 703-383-VDOT (8368), or 1-800-367-ROAD (7623).