House Republican Caucus
Virginia House of Delegates Republican Caucus
Sherwood Details Public Safety Commitment
Mar 4th
Del. Beverly Sherwood (R-Frederick) addressed the House on the strong support for public safety in the House Budget. Del. Sherwood, who chairs both the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee and the Subcommittee on Public Safety of the House Appropriations Committee, notes the restoration of critical funding cut by former Gov. Kaine's proposed budget--funding for Sheriffs, Commonwealth's Attorneys, reinstated State Police trooper schools, and key support for local police departments.
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A transcript of Delegate Sherwood's speech follows:
Landes Explains Senate’s Bad Revenue Estimate
Mar 3rd
Del. Steve Landes (R-Augusta) relays a lesson the Senate has failed to learn--you have to know how much you can spend before you start spending it. The Senate Budget makes promises that responsible revenue figures won't support. Landes details the flaws in the Senate revenue estimates and their irresponsible decision not to provide for a deposit to begin replenishing the Rainy Day fund.
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The transcript of his remarks follows:
O’Bannon Details Healthcare Budget
Mar 3rd
Del. John M. O'Bannon, III, MD (R-Henrico), addressed the House to explain the healthcare provisions of the House budget. O'Bannon noted the improvements in home and community-based care over Gov. Kaine's budget, as well as explaining the prudent use of one-time federal funds for non-recurring items in contrast to the Senate's approach that will create structural imbalances in future budgets.
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The transcript of his speech follows:
Cox Responds to VEA’s Bold-Face Lies
Mar 2nd
Del. Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) addresses the dishonest propaganda being spread by the Virginia Education Association about the House-passed budget. The budget holds the line on taxes and responsibly funds core government services, including public education.
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Cox notes that the House budget decreases K-12 spending by around $100 million, not the $1.8 billion the VEA claims. The transcript of his speech follows:
Jones Explains VRS Reforms; Good for Employees; Good for State
Mar 1st
Del. S. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) addressed the House this morning to clarify confusion about Virginia Retirement System (VRS) reform in the House budget.
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House-passed VRS Reform and Budget legislation strikes former Gov. Kaine's proposal to require current state employees to contribute 1% in 2011 and 2% in 2012 to VRS, keeping the promise to state employees that the state will cover the 5% employee share of their VRS contributions. For new employees, hired after July 1, 2010, they will be responsible for their own 5% employee share of contributions.
The budget continues the longstanding practice of allowing localities to decide how much, if any, of their employees' share to cover. Former Gov. Kaine's proposal had confused the issue. The House language makes clear that the existing law would still apply. This provision was included at the request of school superintendents and local officials to give them maximum flexibility in managing their budgets.
Republicans Offer Real Solutions; Democrats Just Complain
Feb 26th
The House adopted its version of the Budget, , on a party line vote, 61-38.
Republican delegates produced a no tax, no fee increase budget by making tough choices about funding core government responsibilities.
Democrats had the opportunity to vote for former Governor Kaine's $2 billion tax increase on January 29 (), and voted "no."
Democrats had the opportunity to offer amendments to increase taxes or change the way spending reductions were taken. They offered only 1 amendment to strike a cut, which would have left the budget out of balance.
They offered no alternative to the Republican proposal, all they offered were complaints with no solutions.
Del. (R-Colonial Heights), House Majority Whip, first called out the Democrats during morning hour, losing patience with speech after speech of complaints about cuts with no alternatives presented in this speech:
Del. (R-Fairfax) and Del. (R-Fairfax) returned to this key them in their speeches in support of adopting the Republican amendments to the Kaine Budget: and .