Deep divides between Loudoun’s representatives in the General Assembly were on full display Tuesday during a Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast — divides both within and outside of political party lines.

Times-Mirror Staff Photo/Trevor Baratko Loudoun’s representative in the General Assembly took part in a Chamber of Commerce legislative discussion Tuesday morning in Ashburn. State Sen. Dick Black (middle) opposed the transportation bill and Medicaid expansion plan supported by Sen. Mark Herring (left) and Barbara Favola (right) on transportation reform and Medicaid expansion.

Ten members of the state legislature were in attendance this morning at Belmont Country Club in Ashburn – Sens. Dick Black (R-13th), Mark Herring (D-33rd) and Barbara Favola (D-31st) and Dels. David Ramadan (R-87th), Jim LeMunyon (R-67th), Tag Greason (R-32nd), Randy Minchew (R-10th), Barbara Comstock (R-34th), Tom Rust (R-86th) and Joe May (R-33rd) – to recap highlights from the 2013 session and explain their stances on key votes.

Transportation

For the first time in 27 years, the General Assembly in February voted to designate new revenues specifically for the state’s congested and crumbling transportation network.

The bipartisan plan, estimated to raise nearly $900 a year into the state’s roads and rails, will scrap the state’s 17.5 cents-per-gallon gas tax; impose a 3.5 percent wholesale tax on gasoline and a 6 percent levy on diesel; increase the state sales tax from 5 percent to 5.3 percent; up the titling tax on car sales; impose a fee on hybrid vehicles; and make various adjustments to several other taxes and fees, including bumping sales tax in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

Herring, Favola, Greason, Minchew, LeMunyon, Rust and May supported the transportation legislation, which had strong support from Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, while Comstock, Ramadan and Black opposed.

Even those who supported the transit bill agreed it was far from a perfect solution, but doing nothing simply wasn’t an option. Both Favola and Minchew quoted Voltaire, saying “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Detractors of the bill slammed the string of tax increases, including on homes, sales and vehicle taxes.

A regional component of the historic legislation slightly increases the sales tax in gridlocked Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Revenues from the tax bump are designated strictly for transportation projects in the region, a provision LeMunyon praised.

“There’s some teeth in that bill to make sure the money is being spent in the way it’s intended,” LeMunyon said.

Several legislators noted various studies that list Northern Virginia as the most congested transportation network in the country and the impact that has on economic development.

“Our business ratings continue to slip as a result of us not being able to address transportation funding,” Herring said.

The Republican Rust said passing the transportation bill was absolutely the right thing to do and that “history will prove us correct.”

Medicaid expansion

As part of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, states this year had the option to expand Medicaid coverage by opening up looser eligibility requirements. In Virginia the expansion is estimated to grow the pool of beneficiaries by more than 400,000.

Democrats Herring and Favola were joined by the GOP’s May, Rust and Greason in supporting the expansion, while Ramadan, Minchew, LeMunyon, Comstock and Black said reform must come first and questioned whether the feds will follow through with their funding promise.

The General Assembly didn’t fully endorse the Medicaid enhancement, but rather voted to set up a bipartisan commissions of five delegates and five senators to study the expansion, its costs and reforms, and then make a recommendation to Gov. Bob McDonnell whether to expand coverage.

Those opposed noted the growing costs of the program, as well as the constitutionality of the commission approach. Del. Greason addressed those concerns by saying as it currently stands, McDonnell has sole power to sign on for the Medicaid expansion.

“I think a commission of five senators, five delegates is a better compromise than one single individual sitting in the mansion deciding we’re going to expand or not going to expand,” Greason said. “ … we have to reform before we expand.”

Greason also pointed out the Medicaid vote was tied in with an overall the overall budget proposal that included teacher pay raises and countless other line items.

Minchew voiced his concern over the rising cost of health care coverage.

“Medicaid is the fastest-growing segment of our budget,” Minchew said. “It’s 26 percent and climbing … I supported the concept of reform first followed by possible expansion later. I didn’t think these two things should be done concurrently.”

Minchew did note, however, that if Virginia doesn’t opt in, it will lose out on funds designated for the states.

Within the Affordable Care Act, the federal government is expected to cover 100 percent of the expansion costs for the first few years and 90 percent beyond that.

Del. Rust, speaking in support of the bill, said Virginia businesses will pay nearly $10 billion into Medicaid coffers in the next decade, and if the commonwealth doesn’t opt in, the state won’t see any return on those funds.

“If we expand Medicaid, we will get $10.2 billion back,” Rust said. “To me it’s a very simple cash-flow. Setting aside the human element, it’s cash flow, it’s the right thing to do, it’s the right thing to do for 400,000 Virginians.”

Click Here for Full Story >>

Members of Loudoun’s delegation to the General Assembly gathered in Ashburn Tuesday morning to address the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce during the annual post-legislative breakfast. Not surprisingly since the state legislature was able to pass the first comprehensive transportation funding package in a generation and dealt with a state budget that included new challenges coming from the federal government, topics from the panel focused on transportation, education and Medicaid expansion.

Del. Joe T. May (R-33), left, and Del. Tom Rust (R-86) share a smile during Rust’s comments to the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday.

Throughout the 2013 session, the Loudoun delegation found itself split on these major issues and on different sides of the vote in the final days of the General Assembly’s work, with some representatives viewing the transportation package as double taxation on Northern Virginia residents and other seeing it at as the best option available to them.

Here are the views of the delegation on these top issues.

Transportation

“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

That was the phrase repeated by many of the legislators Tuesday morning as they discussed their reasons for supporting the transportation bill last month. They acknowledged that the legislation was far from perfect, but that it represented the best way to bring some much needed transportation funding into areas like Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

“Everyone will find something they disagree with in this bill,” Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) acknowledged, but he noted that given all the transportation needs in Loudoun and Northern Virginia there was “no way we’d be able to make a dent in that without additional funding.”

Del. Randy Minchew (R-10) said there was “no joy in Mudville” as the delegates and senators cast their votes, “but we had to get something done this session.” Del. Tag Greason (R-32) expressed that same sentiment.

“This was our opportunity to do something and we took it,” he said.

Del. Tom Rust (R-86) and Del. Joe T. May (R-33), who have worked for years on transportation funding and were intimately involved in the creation of the regional funding component of the final bill, said there were positives in the bill, however. May noted it indexed the state gas tax and included about $350 million for Northern Virginia that localities would be “able to raise the money here and spend it here.”

Rust also noted the passing of the legislation already had a positive impact, with Moody’s rating agency noting, “Virginia is again a leader” and that it would help guarantee the continuation of the state’s triple-A bond rating. “I think history will prove us to be correct.”

But not all members of the delegation held that opinion. Three members present—Dels. David Ramadan (R-87) and Barbara Comstock (R-34) and Sen. Dick Black (R-13)—voted against the legislation, and for a similar reason.

“What began as a very measured approach by the governor I believe was expanded overly much,” Black said, “and I was concerned about the regional component. I think there was an overreach there that was not beneficial.”

Comstock called out the “double taxation” of Northern Virginia because of the regional component and she and Ramadan questioned the constitutionality of the regional component, and whether it would stand up in court.

“I disagree that it is a now or never, or now or several years from now question,” Ramadan said, noting that he believes the General Assembly could work on a funding plan with whoever the next governor is. “I don’t seem either of them saying no.”

Education

While several education reforms were included as a part of the state budget and approved legislation this year, the delegation agreed that the impacts of those would not necessarily hit Loudoun much. But that, they said, is because of Loudoun’s top tier school system already in place.

“I think places like Loudoun and Fairfax are models for what we want to see in other parts of the state,” Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67) said.

The delegation did note that Loudoun could be impacted by the stricter teacher accountability—including making it easier to fire underperforming educators—and that Northern Virginia would continue to have to fight for its fair share of education funding like the Local Composite Index and Cost to Compete formulas.

“It is so important to invest money directly into our teachers and directly into the classrooms,” Comstock said, noting things like the 2 percent salary increase for teachers was an important step.

Greason also touted the school-grading bill, which he said would help parents and the public understand the true performance of a school. Everyone, he said, understands the A through F grading system.

“If we had an F school, no one in the community would ignore that,” he said. “We’d roll up our sleeves and go to the PTA and the administration and see what we could do to ensure that school became a C school or better.”

Medicaid

The delegation also remained split on the expansion of Medicaid in Virginia, which would bring 400,000 more Virginians into the system and see them insured through the program. Some members called it “the right thing to do for Virginians” and others said it would add too high a cost to an already troubled system.

Members of the House of Delegates noted that the Medicaid expansion was included for them as part of the overall budget bill, so to vote against that was to vote against things like teacher raises and other positive aspects of the state budget.

“I think this creates a great opportunity for us to reform [Medicaid],” May said. “Thirty percent of the costs of Medicaid are in paperwork. And Virginia is well on its way to electronic medical records. I choose to be optimistic about it, cautiously optimistic, but optimistic.”

But several other legislators questioned the constitutionality of appointing a 10-member commission to review potential reforms to and expansion of the program. LeMunyon said he believed bringing the General Assembly back for a special session to discuss the issue would have been better. “I am uncomfortable saying I delegated that responsibility to someone else.”

Everyone seemed to agree the Medicaid program needed reforming; the break came when asked whether the expansion should occur at the same time as the reforms.

“I supported reform first with possible expansion later,” Minchew said. “I didn’t think it should be done concurrently.”

“It would irresponsible not to do it,” Herring said, noting that one of the major problems with uninsured working people is cost shifting because the rest of the population must pay to cover the medical services of the uninsured. “It means higher premiums for individuals and businesses…we have got to begin to address cost shifting.”

Click Here for Full Story