Virginia Senate Republican Caucus

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Sen. Ralph Smith
  • Ralph Smith proposes more time to read budget – WDBJ 7 TV - As state lawmakers prepare to debate the budget, Senator Ralph Smith wants to make sure they have enough time to read it.
• Sen. Walter Stosch
  • Bill would force VA health plans to cover autism – WV Gazette – It's not that Ryan Shank-Rowe couldn't tell his mother or father when he's in pain, not even when he broke his leg.  It's not even the constant care the autistic boy of 7 requires, making time alone rare for Donna Shank and Greg Rowe and forcing them more than once to discuss divorce after 17 years of marriage.
• Sen. Jill Vogel
  • VA Lawmakers lock horns on healthcare – TV3 Winchester - Tomorrow the full Virginia state senate will vote on legislation that is commonly known as the health care freedom bill.
• Sen. William Wampler
  • Virginia legislators might double cuts in effort to balance state budget – Bristol Herald Courier – Republican Will Morefield, now the youngest member of the Virginia General Assembly, thought he’d been through a tough challenge when he ran in the 3rd District against a Democratic incumbent twice his age – and won.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Area Legislators Focusing on Jobs – Staunton News Leader – Despite the need to cut billions from the state's budget, local legislators and Gov. Bob McDonnell say they are committed to investing funds to spur job creation.

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Job Creation – Augusta Free Press – The first full week of the 2010 General Assembly here in Richmond has now concluded. The week began with the Gov. McDonnell’s first State of the Commonwealth address and the ended with committees getting fully underway in reviewing and taking action on individual legislation. In addition, because of the recent special elections of two new senators, Senate committee assignments were completed. My committee assignments have not changed, and I will continue to serve on the Courts of Justice committee, the General Laws committee, and the Rehabilitation and Social Services committees.
  • Governor Bob McDonnell unveils jobs & opportunities agenda – The Mind of Mike Blog – This is going to be a tough first year for Bob McDonnell. The budget is a complete disaster. Many hard decisions will have to be made, but it's good that jobs and economic development will be the first priority.  It is also good to see that greater emphasis will be placed on Southside Virginia economic development. Great comments by Danny Marshall and Robert Hurt starting at (18:55).

• Senator Steve Newman
  • Closing a Deadly Loophole – OneNewsNow.com – Virginia lawmakers are working on proposals to close a loophole in current law that purportedly let a mother get away with killing her newborn child.

• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Voter ID bill (Obenshain) voted down by state Senate Democrats – SWAC Girl Blog – A simple Voter Identification Bill (SB 134) proposed by Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) was voted down in committee by the Democrats.
  • Proposal would privatize state liquor stores – RichmondBizSense.com – It could be last call for Virginia’s state-owned liquor stores if a bill proposed by Sen. Mark Obenshain passes.
  • New VA Gov eyes retail spirits privatization, as NC tackles ABC problems – tradenewsonline.com – New Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is backing a proposal by state Senator Mark Obenshain that would curtail the state’s retail monopoly on spirits. Under Obenshain’s plan, Virginia would auction off licenses to sell spirits to grocery stores and other independent retailers and limit the role of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) department to regulation and enforcement of the beverage alcohol trade.

• Senator Fred Quayle
  • OLF Bill Tabled – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot – Legislation that would require the Navy to get General Assembly approval before it acquires property for a outlying landing field was grounded Tuesday by the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee.

• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Power Measure Dies in Committee – Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star – A Senate committee has killed Sen. Richard Stuart's bill to limit the profits power companies can make on energy conservation measures.
  • Sen. Stuart Stands Up for American Patriots – Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star – Sen. Stuart stands up for American patriots.  Hurrah for state Sen. Richard Stuart ["Bill may help flag fliers," Jan. 15].  (LTE)

• Senator William Wampler
  • Wampler, Kilgore Hold Telephone Town Hall – Bristol Herald Courier – Jobs, electric rates and a $4.5 million state budget shortfall were among the issues addressed in a telephone town hall meeting held by two Southwest Virginia legislators Tuesday.
  • BVU Bills Before General Assembly – Bristol Herald Courier – Virtually identical bills designed to establish a Bristol Virginia Utilities authority are moving through the General Assembly, as a lawsuit seeks to invalidate the plan.
  • McDonnell Plans to Shift Cash to Jobs Incentives – Washington Times – Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has written some of the job-creation plans he unveiled in a speech a week ago into legislation that a Republican, a Democrat and an independent will sponsor.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senators Steve Martin, Fred Quayle, and Jill Vogel
  • GOP Senators Target Health Care – pharmcistselink.com - State Senate Republicans fired their first shot against a federal health care overhaul Monday, getting a key committee's support for legislation declaring that Virginia residents cannot be forced to buy health insurance.

• Senator Harry Blevins
  • Seat Belt Bills Passed by Senate – The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot - The passionate advocacy of Chesapeake Republican Sen. Harry Blevins helped propel out of the Senate on Wednesday his bill to make non-use of seat belts a primary offense.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • CCCA’s future uncertain – Staunton News Leader - It's déjà vu for the scores of employees, patients and mental health advocates waiting to learn the fate of the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents.

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • NAACP head to meet with officials on inmate transfer issue – Danville Register Bee - The head of the Pittsylvania County branch of the NAACP will meet with officials from the Virginia Department of Corrections in Chatham next week to discuss the transfer of 1,000 prisoners from Pennsylvania to Green Rock Correctional Center outside Chatham.

• Senator Steve Newman
  • Newman Takes New Step to Block Soering Transfer – The Lynchburg News & Advance ­- Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, is asking the General Assembly to pass a resolution opposing the transfer of convicted murderer Jens Soering to a prison in his native Germany.
  • Committees Certify Bedford Judge – The Lynchburg News & Advance - After some consultation with Del. Lacey Putney and Sen. Steve Newman, two General Assembly committees certified Louis Harrison on Wednesday to be judge of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Bedford.
  • Panel Hears Testimony on Speed Limit Bill – The Roanoke Times - One small piece of Gov. Bob McDonnell's legislative program is advancing through the General Assembly -- one that will appeal to motorists in a hurry.

• Senator Tommy Norment
  • VA Senate passes bill strengthening seat-belt law – Washington Post “Get There” Blog - The Virginia Senate has passed a bill to allow police to pull over and ticket drivers for not wearing a seat belt.

• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Senate Committee Vote Kills Obenshain’s Voter ID Bill – whsv.com - On Wednesday, Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) questioned the partisan effort of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections to act to ensure the continued integrity of the electoral process in Virginia.

• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Virginia may not want OLF, either – This Old State Blog - It's beginning to look as though legislators in the Commonwealth of Virginia may also take action to oppose the Navy's plans to put a practice jet landing field (the much-maligned Outlying Landing Field that many North Carolinians fought so hard in recent years) in the tidewater area of Virginia.
  • Va. Senate backs tougher seat belt law – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Senators also passed a key piece of legislation that could offer an alternative to localities desperate to raise additional revenues amid reduced funding from the state budget.

• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Sheriffs: Restore Cuts in Budget – The Free Lance-Star - Fewer sheriff's deputies in jails and courts, slower emergency response times, elimination of school drug programs, and limited response to traffic accidents could all be a reality under state budget cuts to law enforcement, sheriffs and police chiefs said yesterday.

• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Va. officials upset by report that feds will delay sale of offshore oil leases – The Virginian-Pilot - Some Virginia politicians reacted with dismay Wednesday to reports that the federal Department of the Interior plans to delay drilling off the commonwealth’s coastline for at least a year.

• Senator William Wampler
  • APCo Hit on Rates – Martinsville Bulletin - Some state legislators told the president of Appalachian Power Co. on Wednesday that if the company doesn’t voluntarily reduce the economic hardships caused by its rate increases, “we have no choice but to act,” according to Del. Ward Armstrong, the House minority leader.
  • Delegate Joe Johnson Says BVU Legislation “On Track” – Bristol Herald Courier - Legislation to create an independent Bristol Virginia Utilities authority is “on track” in the General Assembly, Delegate Joe Johnson said Wednesday.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Members
  • Students go on the “Road to Richmond” – William & Mary News - The day began in the cold, wee hours of a January morning outside the Sadler Center.
  • Chamber of Commerce members support business-friendly proposals – WHSV-TV – The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce made its presence known in Richmond Wednesday at the annual Virginia Chamber of Commerce “Chamber Day at the Capitol.”
  • Education secretary discusses charter schools, pre-k – Virginian-Pilot & Ledger-Star – Virginia's new secretary of education, Gerard Robinson, fielded questions from lawmakers Wednesday on pre-kindergarten programs, charter schools, and lengthening the school year, among other topics.
  • Lawmakers look to keep APCo rates in check – Lynchburg News & Advance - State lawmakers are looking into ways to keep Appalachian Power Co. rates in check.
  • Senate clears way for easier absentee voting – WY Daily – It would be easier to vote absentee in Virginia under a bill approved by the Senate.
• Sen. Harry Blevins
  • Seatbelt bill “clicks” with Senate – Gainesville Times – The Senate has passed a bill making failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense in Virginia.
• Sen. Emmett Hanger
  • Senate tax bill targets short-term rentals – Harrisonburg Daily News Record – A bill designed to allow counties to levy a transient occupancy tax on single-family homeowners who rent their homes or rooms for short periods of time passed the Senate on Thursday. Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, introduced the bill, which now goes to the House of Delegates.
• Sen. Robert Hurt
  • Hurt co-sponsors legislation to prevent U.S. government from interfering in state issues – Franklin News-Post - State Sen. Robert Hurt has co-sponsored two bills in the General Assembly that incorporate Tenth Amendment issues and are supported by Tea Party activists in Virginia.
  • Senator Robert Hurt’s weekly update – Martinsville Chronicle - The first full week of the 2010 General Assembly here in Richmond has now concluded.  The week began with the Governor McDonnell’s first State of the Commonwealth address and the ended with committees getting fully underway in reviewing and taking action on individual legislation.  In addition, because of the recent special elections of two new senators, Senate committee assignments were completed. 
• Sen. Ryan McDougle
  • Buckle up for new zero tolerance, zero discretion – Newport News Daily Press – Barry Fletcher had just purchased a '93 Chevy van and was on his way to get it inspected when he hit a routine traffic stop in Saluda in Middlesex County, just up the road from the courthouse.
• Sen. Steve Newman
  • Newman’s speed limit bill again ok’d by committee – Lynchburg News & Advance - Even a second trip through a Senate committee wasn’t enough to slow down a 70 mph speed-limit bill sponsored by Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg.
  • Measure would oppose Soering transfer to Germany – Roanoke Times – The Virginia Senate could soon join Gov. Bob McDonnell in formally opposing the transfer of convicted double-murderer Jens Soering to a prison in his native Germany.
• Sen. Tommy Norment
  • Students try luck at lobbying – The Flat Hat – While most of the campus slumbered early Tuesday morning, a group of College of William and Mary students braved the cold and headed to Richmond to lobby Virginian politicians.
• Sen. Mark Obenshain
  • VA Conservative Caucus details agenda – Richmond Times-Dispatch – They call themselves the Virginia Conservative Caucus -- they're essentially Republicans in Republican clothing.
  • Conservative Caucus announces 2010 agenda – Rockbridge Weekly & Alleghany Journal – The Virginia Conservative Caucus, a group comprised of conservative legislators from the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, held a press conference this afternoon to announce their legislative agenda for the 2010 General Assembly session.  The Conservative Caucus, co-chaired by Delegate Ben Cline and Senator Mark Obenshain, approved an agenda Tuesday morning that outlines their position on priority legislation introduced this session.
  • Faith and Freedom: “In God We Trust” License Plates – Family Foundation Blog – Last year, pro-life Virginians won a tremendous victory when the General Assembly passed legislation creating “Choose Life” license plates. This year, there is opportunity to create  an “In God We Trust” license plate.
  • Budget rhetoric intensifies – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot – On the subject of Virginia's recession-racked budget, any bipartisan pretense has officially vanished.  Sen. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, was the latest legislator to jump into the fray Thursday with a blistering speech on the Senate floor targeting Gov. Bob McDonnell's approach to reducing state spending.
• Sen. Fred Quayle
  • Hampton Roads lawmakers oppose tolls on 2 bridge-tunnels – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot – Most Hampton Roads lawmakers didn't take too kindly to the proposal from a Northern Virginia colleague to put tolls on two Hampton Roads bridge-tunnels.
  • Richmond’s detour over health care – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot - Congress is clearly capable of mucking up efforts to reform the country's health care system without assistance from state legislators in Virginia.
  • Put all options on the menu – Roanoke Times – Under a bill that passed the Virginia Senate this week, counties would be permitted to levy a meals tax in an amount local leaders think appropriate.
• Sen. Frank Ruff
  • Farmers ask legislators to support property rights, oppose estate tax – Mechanicsville Local – More than 100 Virginia Farm Bureau Federation leaders asked their representatives to oppose reinstating Virginia’s estate tax, to oppose any legislation that would limit property rights and to support animal care that is science-based and allows production agriculture to remain in business.
• Sen. Ralph Smith
  • Smith calls for 72-hour budget review – Bearing Drift Blog – State Senator Ralph Smith (R-Botetourt) has introduced legislation (SB5) that would require the budget to be posted online for 72 hours before a vote could be taken.
• Sen. Jill Vogel
  • Republicans defend health care freedom bill – NBC 29 News - The state Senate could vote as early as Friday to make federally-mandated health insurance illegal. 
  • Bills on guns, seat belts, schools – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot – A bill that would allow school divisions to start classes before the Labor Day holiday squeaked through a Senate committee Thursday on an 8-7 vote.
  • The Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing . . . – Loudoun Times-Mirror – OK, let’s get a couple of things straight about Frank Wolf. The GOP Congressman from the 10th Congressional District is a veritable legend. In a time where politics is viewed as a fulcrum for inaction and sclerosis - Wolf delivers, and does so with magnanimity, dignity and respect. Perhaps, the best Virginia Congressman in our lifetime.
• Sen. John Watkins
  • Report: Big job growth needed to reverse recession – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot – Virginia must add nearly 12,800 jobs per month for the next two years to return to pre-recession employment levels, a Richmond think tank projected in a report released Thursday.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple
  • State senate defies health care reform – Roanoke Times - The Virginia Senate took a stand against a key provision of a proposed federal health care overhaul Monday, passing legislation declaring that state residents cannot be forced to buy health insurance.
  • News in Brief: February 2 – The Flat Hat – The Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill that would privatize the state’s government-owned liquor stores.
  • How the historic Senate vote on health care freedom happened – Family Foundation Blog - It’s not hyberbole to say this afternoon’s Senate vote was historic. The legislation it passed in three identically worded bills – SB 283, SB 311 and SB 417 – guarantees Virginians the right to freely choose their health care options irregardless of federal government mandates. It also asserts a notion long ignored but firmly ingrained in the U.S. Constitution. It also shows, from a political perspective, that there are Democrats who understand the small government movement isn’t limited to “swastika-wearing” thugs as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have us believe.
  • Democrat-controlled VA Senate approves measure opposing federal health care reform mandate – AP - Five Democrats broke with their party Monday to endorse measures that would ban government health care mandates like the one being debated in Congress.
  • Five Democrats help pass proposals to outlaw mandated health insurance – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Breaking with their party and president, five Democrats yesterday helped push through the state Senate a Republican measure allowing Virginians to just say no to compulsory health insurance.
  • Five Democrats join Republicans in voting against mandated health insurance purchases – Washington Post Blog – The debate on the Senate floor today over three measures that would each prohibit requiring Virginians to purchase health-care insurance was vigorous. In the end, five Democrats joined 18 Republicans in supporting the measure.
• Sen. Jeff McWaters
  • Bills would let military members in uniform use HOV lanes – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot - Two local lawmakers are working to give military personnel unrestricted access to high-occupancy-vehicle lanes in Hampton Roads.
• Sen. Steve Newman
  • 70 mph speed limit bill gets early OKs – Norfolk Virginian-Pilot - Lead-foot drivers can start flexing their muscles. A proposal endorsed by Gov. Bob McDonnell to raise the speed limit on Virginia interstate highways to 70 mph won preliminary approval Monday in the House and Senate.
  • Infant homicide bill OK’d with changes – Danville Register & Bee - A bill that would allow infant deaths similar to one in Campbell County to be prosecuted as homicides emerged from its second round in a Senate subcommittee Monday.
• Sen. Tommy Norment
  • Bills on starting the school year earlier dealt blow – Richmond Times-Dispatch – For another year, it looks like high school students might punch a clock instead of boarding a school bus before Labor Day.
• Sen. Mark Obenshain
  • ABC Stores to Vanish? – Richmond.com - One of the issues Gov. Bob McDonnell used to woo November’s voters was the privatization of liquor sales in Virginia. A bill that would accomplish that very feat, Senate Bill 443, was offered on Jan. 13, 2010. On Jan. 22 it passed, 15-0, in the Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee and was referred to the Finance Committee.
  • Ag changes eyed – Harrisonburg Daily News Record - Two Rockingham County legislators are pushing to make Virginia's agriculture department only responsible for farm issues, directing the other needs of consumers to the attorney general. Del. Matt Lohr, R-Broadway, and Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, say their effort not only will simplify state government, but will put the commonwealth in line with most other states.
• Sen. Fred Quayle
  • Conservative resistance to health reform infects state legislatures simultaneously – The Examiner - Conservative Republicans across the nation moved Monday to pass legislation which guarantees citizen's health insurance premiums will continue to skyrocket. In a coordinated move, designed to delay and defeat any federal action, Conservative state legislators in thirty states introduced bills which would exempt their constituents from any future federal mandate requiring all persons buy health insurance.
  • Bill would assist landing-field fight – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Lawmakers are considering legislation that could give residents of southeast Virginia a significant boost in their fight against the proposed construction of a Navy outlying landing field.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • States' Healthcare Revolt – newsblarg.com - On Monday the Virginia State Senate voted 23-17 to approve the Health Care Freedom Act that will prohibit the federal government from requiring individuals to purchase health insurance.
  • VA Senate OKs Nixing Health Mandate -- Washington Examiner - The Virginia Senate passed legislation Monday seeking to exempt the state from national health care mandates, a largely symbolic gesture that the puts the Democratic-led chamber at odds with its party in Congress.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Vogel bill on health care clears Senate – nvdaily.com -  A bill from state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel that would make it illegal to force Virginians to purchase health insurance has cleared the Senate.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Will fee increases pass muster with McDonnell? -- The Richmond Times Dispatch - Fee increases of more than $150 million embedded in former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's proposed budget for 2010-12 are meeting resistance in the General Assembly even as it wrestles with a $4 billion deficit.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Senate passes bills tied to governor's job-creation fund – The Virginian-Pilot - Gov. Bob McDonnell's push for incentive dollars to recruit employers to Virginia gained ground after two bills passed the state Senate on Tuesday.  One measure, Powhatan County Republican Sen. John Watkins' SB 475, would provide additional criteria that can be used when grants or loans are made from the Governor's Opportunity Fund.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senators Ryan McDougle and Walter Stosch
  • Va. technology chief leads VITA talks with Northrop Grumman – The Richmond Times Dispatch - Virginia's new secretary of technology is taking command of negotiations with Northrop Grumman in the latest attempt to salvage relations with the company hired to run the state's computer network.
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • APCo may suspend rate increase – The Franklin News Post - Appalachian Power Co. (APCo) would suspend an interim rate increase that it began charging in December if the General Assembly and Gov. Bob McDonnell approve emergency legislation that sets a timetable for the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to rule on APCo's request for a rate increase.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • McDougle applauds approval of Healthcare Freedom bill in Senate – The Mechanicsville Local - The national healthcare debate came to Richmond earlier this week and a key Senate vote on the important issue resulted in victories for the basic freedoms that Virginians currently enjoy.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Many veterans salute Stuart's flag bills (Editorial) – Fredericksburg.com - State Sen. Richard Stuart, I believe, was trying to resolve a specific problem that seems to be cropping up, generated by homeowners associations' rules and regulations ["Bill may help flag fliers," Jan. 15].
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Virginia House approves BVU authority bill – Bristol Herald Courier - Legislation to establish an independent Bristol Virginia Utilities authority continued hurtling through the General Assembly on Thursday, but questions remain about its possible implementation.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senators Mark Obenshain and Ralph Smith
  • Family Foundation, GOP lawmakers cry foul over abortion bill – HamptonRoads.com - Legislation that would make it a criminal offense to force an individual to have an abortion sparked a rules fight in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee Wednesday. An interpretation of Senate procedures on which committees have dominion over abortion-related measures was at the center of a dispute over the bill being carried by Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Roanoke.
• Senator Harry Blevins
  • Will the House Finally OK a Seat-Belt Bill? – The News & Advance - In an impassioned plea before the Senate Transportation Committee recently, state Sen. Harry Blevins, R-Chesapeake, said he has attended too many funerals, visited too many hospital rooms and comforted too many grieving parents of young men and women killed because they weren’t wearing seat belts.  
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • McDonnell reopens 19 rest stops – Star-Tribune - When you gotta go, you gotta go. And now, thanks to Gov. Robert McDonnell's decision last week to reopen 19 interstate highway rest stops, Virginia's travelers won't have to hold it. 
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Legislative Update II 2/03/10 – Virginia Bicycling Federation - Those that are interested, and have bookmarked the Legislature’s website http://leg1.state.va.us or the Richmond Sunlight website www.richmondsunlight.com should check out SB103, which is carried by Sen. Ryan McDougle, and is calling for some dramatic and sweeping changes to the State’s Transportation Dept
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Go Bob, Go – LifeofMatthew.com - Governor Bob McDonnell’s proposal to raise the speed limit in Virginia passed the House of Delegates and the State Senate Tuesday. What else is there to say but, Go Bob, Go! 
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Death penalty expansion passes House – NVDaily.com - As it has for the past three years, the House of Delegates has approved a bill sponsored by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, that would expand the application of the death penalty. On Wednesday, the House voted 74-24 for the bill that would close the so-called "triggerman" loophole, according to a news release from Gilbert. 
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Senator Smith Introduces Budget Reform – The Roanoke Star-Sentinel - The General Assembly passed Virginia’s last two year budget just 34 minutes after it was distributed to legislators. Senator Ralph K. Smith (R-Botetourt) has announced that he is introducing legislation that would require the budget be posted online for 72 hours before a vote could be taken. 
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Senate panel unanimously passes bill on flying flag – Fredericksburg.com - With no opposition, a Virginia Senate committee yesterday approved Sen. Richard Stuart's bill to allow homeowners to fly the U.S. flag. The bill was prompted by a case in Henrico County last year, in which a homeowners association barred a 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient from flying the flag on an upright flagpole in his yard.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.   

• Senators Tommy Norment, Jr., Mark Obenshain, and Ralph Smith
  • UPDATE:  The Sordid Tale of SB504, Courts of Justice, Ed And Health And Re-Referal – The Family Foundation Blog - Clerical error or not, Senate pro-abortion advocates had their way with SB 504, Senator Ralph Smith’s (R-22, Roanoke) coerced abortion bill in the full Senate Courts of Justice Committee committee this afternoon. Despite a valiant effort by committee member Senator Mark Obenshain (R-26, Harrisonburg) to hear the bill in the full Senate Courts committee, the ultimate result was a 9-6 vote to re-refer SB504 to Senate Education and Health and essentially assure its demise. Also noteworthy, were Senators Tommy Norment (R-3, Williamsburg) and Roscoe Reynolds (D-20, Martinsville) for their vocal support of SB 504.
• Senator Harry Blevins
  • Law Would Mandate Seat Belts – EmporiaNews.com - Failing to wear a seat belt would be a primary offense in Virginia under a bill being sponsored by Delegate William K. Barlow, D-Smithfield.
• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Land of Opportunity? – The Daily News Record - A bill by Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, to make it easier to establish farm-related tourist businesses on farmland is expected to gain final Senate approval today. The amended bill would establish a task force to develop recommendations by Nov. 1 on the best way to allow these businesses to operate on property zoned for agricultural use.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Newman: Using generic drugs under Medicaid could save Va. $20 million – The News and Advance - One of the less obvious practices many state legislators employ in most years is the budget amendment, which is Virginia’s equivalent of earmarking government funds for special projects such as local museums and the like.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Obenshain Road Funding Bill Dies – wsvaonline.com - Not much has happened in the General Assembly in the past couple days, but Harrisonburg Senator Mark Obenshain is lamenting the death of one of his bills.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • Funding sought to fight online sexual predators – Gainesville Times - In 2002, 13-year-old Alicia Kozakiewicz was kidnapped by a man she met online. He locked her in a cage in his Virginia townhouse, raped and tortured her, and even webcast images of his captive before police rescued her.
• Senator Frank Ruff, Jr.
  • Virginia Farm Bureau leaders take ag story to legislators – Southeast Farm Press - More than 100 Virginia Farm Bureau Federation leaders asked their representatives to oppose reinstating Virginia’s estate tax, to oppose any legislation that would limit property rights and to support animal care that is science-based and allows production agriculture to remain in business.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • No Health Coverage For Autism In Virginia – Cleveland Health Insurance - Health insurance companies in Virginia are not required by law to cover medical care for children with autism. Virginia families have fought hard for a state bill which would require the children to be covered, but recently the bill was killed in the state Senate.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Thomas K. Norment, Jr.
  • Virginia Senate approves ban on drivers talking on cell phone unless using handsfree device – Associated Press - The Virginia Senate has passed a bill to ban talking on a cell phone while driving unless using a hands-free device.  Sen. Thomas Norment's bill passed the Senate 25-15 Monday. It would phase in penalties for drivers who take their hands off the wheel to hold a cell phone.
  • State Senate passes bill that would ban cell phone use while driving – wtkr.com - The Senate has passed a bill banning talking on a cell phone unless you have a hands free device.  Unlike the texting ban, this ban is very enforceable.  It is not unusual to see people talking on their cell phone while driving.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Sale Of ABC Stores Won't Happen This Session – The Associated Press - Legislation to sell state-owned liquor stores and devote the proceeds to transportation won't pass this session.  Sen. Mark Obenshain effectively withdrew his measure Tuesday to divest the state of its Alcoholic Beverage Control stores.
  • States Look to the Bottle; Some Lawmakers Seek to Privatize Liquor Stores, Distribution to Lift Budgets – The Wall Street Journal - States suffering through tough times are reaching for a tonic.  Lawmakers in several states with tight control of liquor sales are considering legislation that would shift the job to private industry, saving money and raising revenue.
  • Senate backs placing gays under anti-bias policy – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Virginia Senate today passed an anti-discrimination bill that would add sexual orientation to existing anti-discrimination policies in state hiring.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • General Assembly notebook: Bill on Explore Park advances – The Roanoke Times - The authority that oversees Explore Park would have six months to come up with a plan for using the site under legislation that cleared a state Senate committee Monday.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Stuart's wood waste energy bill killed – Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star - A Senate committee has killed Sen. Richard Stuart's bill related to using wood byproducts to create electricity.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Bills to divert funds from offshore drilling to transportation, other sources advance in Va. – The Associated Press - Efforts to divert funds received from possible offshore drilling for oil and gas off Virginia's coast are moving forward in the General Assembly.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Senate advances measure on federal unemployment money – The Virginian-Pilot - Legislation that would make Virginia eligible for $125 million in federal unemployment stimulus dollars advanced out of the Senate on Monday, nearly a year after the legislature rejected a similar proposal.
  • Senate reopens unemployment benefits debate with bill to access stimulus dollars – The Washington Post - It was one of the hottest political topics in Virginia last spring -- and now it's back.  The Virginia Senate today approved a bill that make changes to the commonwealth's unemployment insurance program which would allow the state to access $125 million in federal stimulus money for unemployment benefits.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Committee backs bill that would require Internet retailers to collect Va. sales tax – Richmond Times Dispatch - Legislation forcing Internet retailers — including such giants as Amazon—to collect Virginia sales taxes is headed to the state Senate.
  • Va. panel OKs bill to collect tax for online sales – Associated Press - A bill that would force online retailers to pay the same Virginia sales taxes as traditional stores advanced Wednesday from a Senate committee.
• Senator Steve Martin
  • Proposal for bipartisan redistricting panel advances – The Virginian Pilot - Bills that would establish a bipartisan commission to draw boundaries during next year's redistricting and relax the rules for military members voting by absentee ballot advanced out of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee Tuesday.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Bill would keep a physician on duty at CVTC – The News & Advance - A bill that would require a physician to be on duty at all times at Central Virginia Training Center won approval in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.  Sponsored by Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, the bill meets a concern expressed by parents of residents at the training center, along with some staff members, who were worried that state spending cuts could eliminate a full-time doctor.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Look Ma, no hands – The Publishers Notebook Blog - …on the cell phone anyway, if the Virginia Senate gets its way.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Plans to sell state liquor stores pulled – Virginia Business - A bill to privatize ABC stores was dropped Tuesday by its sponor, Sen. Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg.
  • Bill to sell ABC stores is withdrawn – fredericksburg.com - One of Gov. Bob McDonnell's signature campaign promises, the privatization of the state-owned liquor stores, appears dead for this session.  Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, was carrying a bill to privatize the ABC stores, but told the Senate Finance committee yesterday that he didn't expect them to pass it.
  • General Assembly notebook: Privatized liquor? Not this time – The Roanoke Times - Legislation that would privatize Virginia's state-run liquor stores won't pass during this General Assembly session, but the bill's sponsor and Gov. Bob McDonnell remain committed to a concept that is critical to the new governor's transportation funding strategy.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • Quayle champions children’s safety – Suffolk News-Herald - With summer rapidly approaching, it comes to mind that many children once again will be spending those long, hot days with their families out on the Nansemond or the James rivers, or on any one of Suffolk’s treasured lakes.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Va. Senate favors accepting stimulus jobless funds – Richmond Times Dispatch - Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates will have a second chance to grab the $125 million in federal stimulus funds for unemployment insurance they left on the table last year.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple
  • Democrats in Va. Senate vote down two budget-related bills backed by governor – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Senate Democrats are directly challenging Gov. Bob McDonnell over the budget, denying him a bigger say in spending and rejecting as "fantasy" the prospect of reaping cash for roads from offshore drilling.
  • Va. Senate committee approves concealed-guns legislation – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - Virginia's drinking establishments soon may be open for business to a new clientele -- people carrying concealed guns.
  • Lawmakers Green Light Gun Law Bills – NBC29.com - State lawmakers have given the green light for several controversial firearm measures. They are measures that were vetoed in years past. But with a new governor, there is a good chance they will become law.
  • Key Senate committee passes bills to allow concealed guns in Va. Bars – Canadian Business - Gun owners could take concealed guns into more places, including bars, and renew their permits by mail under bills that passed a key Senate committee on Wednesday.
  • State Senate defeats bills on offshore drilling, changing budget timeline – Richmond Times-Dispatch - There were two major setbacks today in the Virginia Senate for Gov. Bob McDonnell, with the Democratic majority defeating legislation endorsing offshore drilling for oil and gas and changing the budget timetable to give McDonnell a freer hand in spending.
• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • State senate passes bill that would require online retailers to charge 5 percent sales tax – wtkr.com - Some Virginia lawmakers want you to pay taxes when you buy online.  They say they want to level the playing field for businesses in Virginia.  With a vote of 14 to 1 the State Senate Finance Committee passed a bill that would require certain online retailers to collect the sales tax on purchases made in the commonwealth.
  • Va. Senate panel OKs move to tax online shopping – The Virginian-Pilot - A Virginia Senate panel clicked "send" on legislation that would require Internet retailers to collect sales tax on in-state transactions by affiliated online merchants.
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Hurt Sponsors Jobs Bills – ResistNet.com - Vowing to work with Gov. Bob McDonnell and state legislators to promote economic development in Southside Virginia and across the state, State Sen. Robert Hurt has sponsored a major business facility job tax credit bill that is part of McDonnell's legislative package.
• Senator Jeff McWaters
  • Milestone for McWaters – PilotOnline.com - Freshman Sen. Jeff McWaters, R-Virginia Beach, got a small thrill and a round of applause Wednesday when he watched fellow senators pass his first bill out of the chamber.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Newman sponsors McDonnell education bills – News & Advance - Gov. Bob McDonnell announced legislation Wednesday that would create charter schools and two other new ways to educate children, with Sen. Steve Newman sponsoring them in the Senate.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Bill banning cell phones while driving goes to Virginia House – 7Bends - Every day, you look around and see people driving vehicles while on their cell phones, not paying attention. It’s not just a few drivers here or there, but the rule rather than the exception.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Virginia looking at Obenshain’s proposal to privatize liquor stores – 7Bends - Last year, Virginia celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the establishment of its state-run liquor stores, called “ABC stores.”  This week, a bill (SB 443) introduced by Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) designed to privatize Virginia’s ABC stores was passed by indefinitely by the Senate Finance Committee to provide more time to work with the Governor to refine the proposal.
  • The slow slog toward school choice – Tertium Quids - Gov. McDonnell and a host of notables gathered yesterday to introduce his package of education reforms. They center on making it somewhat easier to create charter schools in the commonwealth, a remedy for the current, counter-productive, charter law.
  • Bill to Give Voter Rolls to Comm. of Revenue Advances – wsvaonline - A bill introduced by Harrisonburg Senator Mark Obenshain that gives commissioners of the revenue access to voter rolls for determining residency for personal property tax purposes has passed the Senate and will move on to the House of Delegates.
• Senator Frank Ruff, Jr.
  • From the Desk of state Sen. Frank Ruff – The News & Record - As the 2009 session began the news media reported that Chesterfield County Schools would have to layoff about 500 employees if the state didn't give them more money.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Bill to raise fees for suits advances – The Free Lance-Star - The Senate Finance Committee has approved Sen. Richard Stuart's bill to increase court fees to raise revenue for sheriff's departments and commonwealth's attorneys.
  • Wood waste bill dies in Senate – Biofuelswatch.com - On a vote of ten to four, the Agriculture, Conservation & Natural Resources committee of the Senate has declined the bill which was suggested for putting a cap on the total number of wood chips & similar lumber waste which power companies were allowed to burn as fuel and add towards their renewable portfolio standard.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Virginia Senate kills bill on offshore-drilling profits – The Virginian-Pilot - The Democratic majority in Virginia's Senate killed for the year legislation from Virginia Beach Republican Sen. Frank Wagner that would dedicate future offshore drilling royalties to the state general fund, a coastal energy research consortium and to localities for transportation fixes.
  • Senate Dems kill Va. gov's proposal to divert offshore drilling royalties to state services – The Washington Examiner - The Virginia Senate on Wednesday killed Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to allocate royalties from possible offshore oil and gas drilling to pay for Virginia's government services, calling it a "fantasy."
  • Va. Senate Kills “Royalties for Roads” Legislation – Bearing Drift - Yesterday, there was a heated debate in the Virginia State Senate about legislation that would decide how the Commonwealth would spend the royalties from drilling offshore for oil. SB 601, patroned by Sen. Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach), was killed by the Senate in a party line vote and was referred back to committee until next year.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Bills would ban discounts on noncovered dental work – The Virginian-Pilot - If you're at the dentist and your insurance won't cover a procedure, you might not get a discount, either.
  • Creative Budgeteer Boosts Va Spaceflight – Spaceports blog - Virginia State Senator William C. Wampler, Jr. (R-Bristol) has offered a state budget amendment to dedicate prospective sales and or corporate income tax revenues that may result from the sale of human spaceflights or commercial spaceflight training in the state to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) for operations and educational space flight simulation activities.
  • Bill advances to curb forced dental discounts – The Roanoke Times - Legislation prohibiting dental insurance companies from demanding discounts for procedures not covered by a patient's policy passed in the General Assembly on Wednesday with broad support.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Virginia moves a step closer to imposing sales taxes on online purchases – internetretailer.com - A proposal to tax sales of goods purchased from out-of-state online retailers moved a step closer to approval in Virginia this week, though prospects for passage remain uncertain.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • General Assembly Honors Radford for 100 Years of Service – The Roanoke Times - Radford University was recognized for 100 years of service to the Commonwealth of Virginia during consecutive “center-aisle” presentations held on the floor of the General Assembly in Richmond on Feb. 11.  The ceremonies were held in collaboration with the university’s annual “Advocacy Day” at the state capitol.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Stuart's tax-cut bill dead for now – fredericksburg.com -  A Senate committee has shot down Sen. Richard Stuart's bill that would have halved the corporate income tax for businesses locating or expanding in non-congested areas.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senators Emmett Hanger, Jr., and Stephen Martin
  • Virginia Greenlights Tax Credits For Environmental Jobs – ipolitics.com - The Virginia Senate just passed Senate Bill 623, providing a $500 tax credit to businesses that create green jobs. Businesses will be eligible to claim the credit for the next 5 years for up to 350 new green jobs.
  • Virginia Senate OKs tax credit to create green jobs – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Virginia senators unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would provide a tax credit to businesses that create green jobs.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Online sales in Virginia could face sales tax – Daily Press - The state Senate Finance Committee agreed that the state should get a piece of the online shopping pie.
  • Concealed Weapons Bill Jumps Major Hurdle – WTVR.com - Gun rights advocates have long fought for the right to carry concealed weapons into bars and restaurants. Governor Kaine single-handedly stuffed the measure in the past, rejecting the bill twice.
• Senator Jeffrey McWaters
  • The states go marching in – Pesky Emotional Republican - While health reform switches to the slow track in Washington, states are moving full-steam ahead on the issue, with more than half of them seeking to pre-empt any proposed federal health reform mandates, such as requiring residents to purchase health insurance.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Legislation seeks to help students succeed – Gainesville Times - Gov. Bob McDonnell says charter schools, online educational programs and college partnerships can boost the performance of Virginia’s public school students – especially those at risk or in underperforming districts.
  • Measure opposing Soering transfer moves ahead – GoDanRiver.com - A resolution urging the federal government to leave convicted murderer Jens Soering in a Virginia prison instead of transferring him to Germany was approved by a Senate committee Friday, but only after two new items of information were disclosed.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • O! Say Can You See? – The General Assembly Grapevine - “The most transparent administration in our nation’s history” says it is about to engage in “unprecedented” televised negotiations over health care reform.  Remember how candidate Obama promised C-SPAN would be there for it all? Well, how brightly is the sun shining in Richmond on state government these days?
  • Gloucester '40' stood up for citizen's rights, honored as Daily Press Citizens of the Year – Daily Press - A constitutional right is the muscle of democracy — stronger, healthier for being exercised.
  • OUR VIEW: Cell phone ban: Now hear this – SWVAToday.com - Talk is cheap and possibly dangerous – at least so say some Virginia senators who passed a bill on Monday that would keep motorists from using their cell phones unless they had a “hands-free” device.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Senate panel defeats death penalty expansion – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Senate Courts of Justice Committee this morning voted down a bill that sought to expand eligibility for the death penalty.
  • Privatization in VA: Not as easy as ABC – The Business Art - As I wrote back in November at the Objective Standard’s blog (my colleague Ivan Osorio also wrote about the topic here), Virginia’s new governor Bob McDonnell showed a very promising inclination toward free markets and privatization, though his rhetoric on the subject may have left something to be desired. Specifically, he floated the idea of privatizing the 300+ state-run liquor stores in order to pay for his transportation plan.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • Legislators, advocates rally for child safety online –The Commonwealth Times - Legislators and child safety advocates rallied at the Capitol Wednesday seeking funding for programs that protect children from online predators.
• Senator Frank Ruff, Jr.
  • Senate committee OKs recognition of tribes – fredericksburg.com - A Senate committee yesterday passed three resolutions granting state recognition to Indian tribes, despite protests from members of the Virginia Council on Indians, which said the state was undermining the very process for which it established the council.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Bill to help Roanoke Co. Police with Regional Jail killed in State Senate – WSLS - A State Senate committee killed a bill sponsored by Roanoke County State Senator Ralph Smith (R-22nd) on Friday, that would have allowed jail officers with the same training as sheriff deputies to perform some of the same legal functions.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • OBAMACARE NULLIFICATION: VIRGINIA HEALTHCARE FREEDOM ACT – The PPJ Gazette - The Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act Wins in Both Houses. Twenty-four hundred citizen grassroots activists made their voices heard at the state capitol bell tower on January 18th and the Virginia legislature listened.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Deficit-driven budget battle continues in Richmond – Times News - Legislation that would adversely impact the coal surface mining industry will likely get stripped of any traction in the Virginia General Assembly, utilities may soon have to pay consumers back all of their interim rate increases, and the deficit-driven budget battle continues in Richmond, state Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, reported on Friday.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Bills would shift fee collection to retailers – The Free Lance-Star - If you use prepaid cell phones, you may soon see a change in the fee charged for E-911 services.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senators Emmett Hanger, Jr. and Steve Martin
  • Va. Senate OKs sales tax bill for online retailers – Associated Press - A bill that would require global online shopping giants such as Amazon to start collecting and paying Virginia sales taxes won easy Senate passage Tuesday.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Senate OKs 'Amazon' Sales Tax Bill – The Associated Press - Virginia's Senate has approved a bill that would require global online shopping giants such as Amazon to start collecting state sales taxes.
  •  ‘Amazon’ sales tax collection bill clears Senate – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Legislation requiring online retailers to collect Virginia's 4.5 percent sales tax -- the so-called "Amazon Bill" -- easily cleared the Virginia Senate this morning and is headed to the House of Delegates, where opponents hope it falls prey to that chamber's hostility to taxes.
  • Virginia lawmakers aim to loosen firearm restrictions – The Washington Post - A little more than a year ago, Virginia gun owners joined millions of Americans who began stockpiling weapons for fear that Barack Obama would win the White House and push for new gun controls.
  • Save the CCCA - for the kids – Augusta Free Press - God forbid, next winter I slip on the ice, bang my head, and sustain major injury. Our rescue squad right away gets me to Stonewall Jackson Hospital which provides immediate initial care. But the damage is too great for SJH to handle.
• Senator Jeffrey McWaters
  • Bills would move military on HOV lanes – WVEC.com - State lawmakers are considering a bill to let active duty military use the HOV lanes to and from the bases, no matter how many people are in their vehicles.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Bill to prosecute mothers in infant deaths advances – The Lynchburg News & Advance - The House of Delegates gave second-reading approval Monday to a bill, sponsored by Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, that would allow prosecution if someone kills an infant while its umbilical cord and placenta are still attached to the mother.
  • Talk of Charter Schools Raises Questions, Criticism – ABC 13 - Governor Bob McDonnell's proposal to bring more charter schools to Virginia is drawing criticism from area educators.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • VIRGINIA SENATE CONSIDERS “HISTORICAL RACING” BILL – Virginia Thoroughbred Blog - The Virginia Senate will consider a bill to allow historical racing, or Instant Racing as it is known at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.
  • Death penalty expansion had momentum but now lost in limbo... – The Shad Plank - For years Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was the only one standing between the General Assembly and a broader death penalty for Virginia criminals.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Senate panel votes against repealing ‘triggerman rule’ – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Senate Courts of Justice Committee yesterday defeated a bill it had approved in previous years that would expand eligibility for the death penalty.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Watered-down ethics bill heads to Va. House – The Washington Examiner - A significantly watered-down bill to prevent companies from filling campaign coffers while seeking major state contracts passed unanimously in Virginia's Senate on Monday.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Court fee bill to help funding for sheriffs – fredericksburg.com - The Senate yesterday passed a bill that significantly raises civil court filing fees, an effort to mitigate the effect of state budget cuts on sheriff's departments.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Editorial: Time for Civil Redistricting – McLean Connection - The U.S. Census is underway, an every-10-year process that attempts to count every single person in the United States at their home address. From the results of the count come a nearly infinite number of critical decisions.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr. 
  • VA Lawmakers and Residents Speak Out Against Anti-Coal Legislation – Federation for American Coal Energy and Security - Virginia lawmakers and residents vocally opposed the so-called Stream Saver Bill (Virginia SB564) at a committee hearing in Richmond.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senators Emmett Hanger, Jr. and Jill Vogel
  • Bills Pass to Ease Restrictions on Concealed Weapons – The Pocomoke Public Eye - Two bills that would allow handgun owners to lock weapons in their cars and permit those with concealed carry permits to bring firearms into restaurants were approved in Virginia's Senate on Tuesday.
• Senators Ryan McDougle and Walter Stosch
  • IT authority for governor approved – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - The state Senate is falling in line behind a measure giving the governor a direct say in the state's computer bureaucracy and its stormy relationship with contractor Northrop Grumman.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • State legislation changes houses – fredericksburg.com - The legislative session marked its halfway point yesterday, with legislators holding floor sessions for hours to handle hundreds of bills before a midnight "crossover" deadline by which each house was to finish its own bills.
  • Virginia Senate approves collecting taxes on online sales – The Virginian-Pilot - A bill that would require global online shopping giants such as Amazon to start collecting and paying Virginia sales taxes won easy Senate passage Tuesday.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Legislation seeks to help students succeed – The Daily Times - Gov. Bob McDonnell says charter schools, online educational programs and college partnerships can boost the performance of Virginia's public school students -- especially those at risk or in underperforming districts.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Valley Legislators Applaud Rest Area's Re-Opening – WHSV.com - Dels. Matt Lohr (R-Broadway), Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), Steve Landes (R-Weyers Cave), Dickie Bell (R-Staunton), Ben Cline (R-Rockbridge) and Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) all joined in commending Gov. Bob McDonnell for keeping his promise to re-open rest areas throughout the Commonwealth.
  • High Stakes For Higher Ed – Daily News-Record - As a tuition-paying parent of a James Madison University student, state Sen. Mark Obenshain said he's worried that money raised through student fees could soon be deposited into the state's general fund.
  • Planned Parenthood license plates bill clears Va. Senate – The Washington Post - The Virginia Senate, controlled by Democrats, has passed a measure that would create a specialty state license plate with the message "Trust Women/Respect Choice."
  • Most Virginia death penalty expansion bills rejected – The Virginian-Pilot - With a governor supportive of expanding capital punishment finally in office, this was going to be the year a perennial effort to repeal the state’s so-called  triggerman  law finally found success.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Autism Bill Passes Senate – Leesburg Today - News some Loudoun families have been waiting for came today. A bill that would mandate insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder passed the Senate by a 27-13 vote. Both of Loudoun's representatives, Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) and Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-27), voted in favor of the bill.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Governors to come together over wind energy – The Virginian-Pilot - Gov. Bob McDonnell and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar don't have much in common when it comes to offshore drilling, but wind energy may be another story.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • In private, Virginia governor pushes deep budget cuts – The Washington Post - Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) has privately recommended cutting $730 million from K-12 education and $300 million from health programs, as well as changing the state retirement system and requiring 10 days of furloughs for state employees, all to help offset a $2.2 billion budget shortfall over two years, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators
  • Senate votes for speed limit, handgun bills – The Virginian-Pilot - Bills that would boost speed limits on some Virginia highways, allow handgun owners to lock weapons in their cars and permit those with concealed carry permits to bring firearms into restaurants each gained approval in Virginia's Senate on Tuesday.
• Senators Ryan McDougle and Senator Stephen Martin
  • Panel delays anti-gang bill – Star-Tribune - of a bill to increase the penalty for the use of e-mail, text messages or other electronic transmissions by criminal street gangs.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • More school cuts loom – NewsVirginian.com - Area schools superintendents were digesting news Wednesday of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s proposed $731 million in additional cuts to K-12 education for the next two years, but said the news from McDonnell can’t be positive.
  • ‘Amazon’ bill headed to the House – Richmond BizSense - Amazon has a history of avoiding state sales taxes, and Virginia’s online
    sales tax bill is something they’ve seen before.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Senate OK’s bill against infanticide – Gainesville Times - In December, a Campbell County woman ended the life of her newborn baby by suffocation. Because the baby’s umbilical cord had not yet been cut or the placenta detached, the woman has not faced any criminal charges or other legal consequences.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Dealing with Guns and Drugs – Richmond.com - This year’s General Assembly session, convened on Jan. 13, is a budget year session. Meaning that, according to schedule, it will run two months. A total of 2,640 bills have been presented for consideration this year.
• Senator Walter Stosch
  • Lawmakers divided on furlough proposal for state workers – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Lawmakers are divided over Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to save state jobs by forcing those who have them to take 10 days of unpaid vacation over the next two years.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators
  • Road money eyed in bill – fredericksburg.com - Faced with dwindling money for transportation, state senators again are trying a plan to boost revenues by applying an indexing formula to the per-gallon gas tax.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Senate backs bill to index Va. gas tax – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Virginia Senate this morning approved a bill that would index the state's per-gallon tax on gasoline with federal fuel efficiency standards. Senators voted 31-9 for Senate Bill 343. It now heads to the House of Delegates.
  • Virginia Senate weighs indexing gas tax to fuel efficiency – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Gov. Bob McDonnell may oppose any tax increase to balance Virginia's struggling two-year budget, but the idea of implementing an adjusted increase in the gas tax to keep from losing existing transportation revenue is gaining bipartisan traction in the Virginia Senate.
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Jobs bill approved by Senate – The Franklin News Post - State Sen. Robert Hurt's major business tax credit jobs bill has been incorporated into another bill and passed by the Virginia Senate by a 40-0 vote.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • 70 mph speed limit still on fast track – News & Advance - The 70 mph speed limit for selected highways cruised through another legislative committee Thursday.
  • Letters shed light on opposition to Soering transfer – News & Advance - Richard Haysom said this of the brutal 1985 slayings of his parents, Nancy and Derek Haysom: “That ignominious day was for our family, our ‘Sept. 11’ — it never goes away.”
  • Virtual School Programs get Governor’s Approval – Appomattox News - Governor Bob McDonnell met with students of the Virginia Virtual Academy Thursday afternoon at the Executive Mansion.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Va Senate OKs betting on old horse races – The Associated Press - The Senate has again passed a measure to allow pari-mutuel style betting on past horse races with some of the proceeds dedicated to transportation.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • Virginia seafood processors face $600 fee for annual license – The Daily Press - Attention seafood processors: If you want to stay in business, grab your checkbook.
• Senator John Watkins
  • 2 tobacco giants in Va. clash over excise tax – Richmond Times-Dispatch - It's one of the most old-fashioned taxes of all, but the question of what you measure to levy it is emerging as the latest skirmish in the never-ending battle for space on stores' tobacco shelves.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators
  • Senate backs gas-tax, gambling measures – Richmond Times-Dispatch – Two Republican measures pumping horsepower into the road-building fund are galloping out of the Virginia Senate.
  • Schools may start before Labor Day – Suffolk News-Herald - Momentum is building in the General Assembly to let school districts start classes before Labor Day.
  • Senate Democrats overcome divisions on budget, but Republicans are wary – The Washington Post - With about 48 hours to go before the House and Senate release their proposed budgets, we now hear that Senate Democrats have perhaps patched up some of their divisions.
• Senator Harry Blevins
  • Seat belt law not ‘clicking’ with House – Gainesville Times - A House subcommittee has killed a bill to make failing to wear a seat belt a primary offense in Virginia.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Commonwealth Center again saved from budgetary cuts – The News Virginian - Lawmakers decided Sunday to keep open Staunton’s Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents.
  • Equalize Internet sales with tax – The News Leader - The time has come to level the playing field between Internet retailers and those who invest in the bricks and mortar to comprise Main Streets all across Virginia.
  • Legislators likely to restore CCCA funding – The News Leader - For the second consecutive year, it appears lawmakers will be able to restore funding to keep the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents open.
  • House, Senate easing gun control laws – The News Leader - Almost as fast as an AK-47 can spit bullets, gun bills are hurtling through the Virginia General Assembly, including one introduced by Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, that will allow gun owners to bring concealed handguns into restaurants that serve alcohol.
  • Senate OKs Hanger Gas-Tax Legislation – The Daily News Record - A bill introduced by Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, to peg Virginia's gas tax would rise based on increases in federal fuel efficiency standards under a bill that has passed the Senate.
  • Gas-tax indexing bill clears Virginia Senate – The Free Lance-Star - The state Senate yesterday passed a bill that would eventually raise the gas tax by indexing the tax to a federal fuel-efficiency standard.
  • General Assembly takes on gas tax, tax credits – The Roanoke Times - The House of Delegates on Friday approved a series of tax credits touted as job-creating incentives by Gov. Bob McDonnell, while the Senate passed a proposed change to the state's gas tax that the governor opposes.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Va. legislators struggle on how to slash budget – The News Virginian - Virginia’s House and Senate budget-writers are laying out competing hard-times spending plans that slash health care for the poor and increase class sizes but don’t raise taxes.
  • House, Senate budget plans compete for approval – News & Advance - Virginia’s House and Senate budget-writers are laying out competing hard-times spending plans that slash health care for the poor and increase class sizes but don’t raise taxes.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Indian tribes gain favor of General Assembly – Tidewater News - The General Assembly passed legislation this week officially recognizing one Indian tribe in Virginia and advanced similar bills extending recognition to two Southampton County tribes.
• Senator Walter Stosch
  • Budget for schools, health would be hit by legislators, too – The Virginian Pilot - The General Assembly's budget-writing committees set the stage Sunday for battles over funding of public schools and health care safety- net programs, producing competing plans for addressing a two-year, $4.2 billion state revenue shortfall.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Jett makes case for all sheriffs – fredericksburg.com - These days, Stafford County Sheriff Charles Jett is almost as likely to be roaming the halls of the General Assembly in a suit as he is to be in Stafford in his uniform.
  • Power bills killed before crossover – fredericksburg.com - Last week the General Assembly hit its midway point, a deadline called "crossover" by which most bills have to be passed or killed by the house in which they originated.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Assembly Opposes Health Insurance Mandate – The Virginia Gazette - Weighing in on the debate over federal health care reform, state lawmakers have passed legislation declaring that no one can force Virginians to buy health insurance.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Virginia Weighs Indexing Gas Tax To Fuel Efficiency – Downstream Today - Gov. Bob McDonnell may oppose any tax increase to balance Virginia's struggling two-year budget, but the idea of implementing an adjusted increase in the gas tax to keep from losing existing transportation revenue is gaining bipartisan traction in the Virginia Senate.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Virginia on Speed – NBC Washington - A measure to raise speed limits is gaining momentum
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Legislators applaud the Gloucester 40 – The Daily Press - contingent of Gloucester citizens who were among 40 people who filed petitions seeking the removal from office of four county supervisors received standing ovations Monday from the General Assembly for fighting for their First Amendment rights to petition government for a redress of grievances.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Is Va. at risk of phony jurors? Lawmaker says yes – The Virginian-Pilot - Jury tampering made for a John Grisham page-turner and a Hollywood thriller, but could it happen in real life?
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Legislators target K-12 schools in budget cuts – Collegiate Times - Virginia’s proposed budget has met resistance from supporters of K-12 education and health care as state legislators have laid out competing plans that would slash funding.
• Senator Walter Stosch
  • What’s the Big Deal About Tax Conformity? – CPA Café - Virginia has employed retroactive fixed date tax conformity for many years now. While not the ideal model due to a part-time legislature that meets from January to March, it has worked out okay for the past few years at least with conformity legislation being among the first few bills to be passed and signed into law.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Budget dance begins – Apria Healthcare - The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate money committees yesterday unveiled competing budget proposals that both restore $950 million in annual car-tax payments to localities and cut Medicaid funding but differ on how much to trim from K-12 education.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Va. Senate OKs bill on using offshore-drilling cash for roads – Richmond Times-Dispatch - A proposal to pay for roads with cash from offshore drilling is headed to Gov. Bob McDonnell, though it may prove a financial dry hole.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Retailers want sales tax collected on Internet – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - Bricks-and-mortar retailers are stepping up their push for legislation that would force their Internet competitors to collect Virginia’s 5 percent sales tax.
  • Retailers support sales tax bill – Tidewater News - When Robert Mackan took his office supply business from Main Street to the Information Superhighway, he didn’t imagine many roadblocks.
  • Honoring The 29^th – DNRonline.com - Much as on D-Day itself, when comrades and friends during the greatest invasion known to man looked after each other on Normandy’s beaches, a resolution in the General Assembly honoring their deeds was a team effort, involving public servants up and down the Shenadoah Valley.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Compromise reached on charter schools – The Times Dispatch - The McDonnell administration and state education groups have fashioned a compromise on charter school legislation that would leave final approval with local school boards and give one of the governor’s marquee initiatives a better shot at passage.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Bill to give schools more course control advances – The Virginian-Pilot - With expected budget cuts, a bill that would delay some accreditation standards, but not graduation, is heading for approval.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators
  • Retirement funds may aid budget – fredericksburg.com - As lawmakers prepare to cut $4 billion from the next two-year budget without raising taxes, they're looking to borrow from state employees' retirement to cover part of it.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Internet sales tax bill dies in subcommittee – The News & Advance - Virginia won’t start this year to collect tax on purchases people make on the Internet, a House of Delegates subcommittee decided Wednesday.
• Senator William Wampler
  • Virginia Tax Measure for Space Not in Budget – Spaceports - Virginia state legislators are having the toughest legislative session in decades with the state budget cuts amounting to over $4-billion over the next two years and creating at atmosphere that lead to the defeat of measures in the Senate and House of budget amendments to divert sales taxes and/or state income tax earnings from human spaceflight to the operational budget of the state's commercial spaceport.
  • Budget conferees are a veteran group – Richmond Times-Dispatch - When it comes to fashioning a compromise budget with the House, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William, is keeping his friends close and his enemies closer.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • House, Senate approve budgets, now comes hard part – GoDanRiver.com - The House of Delegates and Virginia Senate easily approved budget bills yesterday, but the hard part, trying to reach agreement on widely different bills, lies ahead.
  • Each house passes its own budget – fredericksburg.com - The House of Delegates and Senate yesterday approved their respective budget proposals, making few changes to plans that reduce spending on education and health services to help make $4 billion in budget cuts.
  • Virginia House, Senate now must reconcile budget bills – Associated Press - The House of Delegates and Virginia Senate easily approved budget bills yesterday, but the hard part, trying to reach agreement on widely different bills, lies ahead.
  • Virginia House, Senate now must reconcile budget bills – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - The House of Delegates and Virginia Senate easily approved budget bills yesterday, but the hard part, trying to reach agreement on widely different bills, lies ahead.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Va. House Panel Kills Bill Indexing Gas Tax – The Free Lance-Star - A House subcommittee has killed a bill to index the gas tax, but delegates said they believe it's a good idea and they hope for a special transportation session this year to work on it.
  • Virginia Amazon Tax Dies, Supporters Promise Another Try (Right Now, It Turns Out) – The Tax Foundation - The effort to impose an "Amazon tax" in Virginia died this week in a House of Delegates subcommittee, after SB 660 had passed the Senate earlier this month.
  • Retailers rally for online tax bill – Richmond BizSense - Packed into Senate Room 2 were brick-and-mortar retailers wearing campaign style buttons with slogans like, “Stop Internet Tax Evasion;” absent was Amazon, or any other major target of the bill, which according to Nancy Thomas, president and CEO of the Retail Merchants Association, is precisely the reason for the bill’s necessity.
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Gov. signs APCo legislation – The Franklin News-Post - Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed emergency legislation that calls for Appalachian Power Co. (APCo) to suspend an interim rate increase that took effect in December.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • House, Senate pass budgets, talks heat up – The News Leader - The House and Senate on Thursday gave final approval to their own versions of an austere state budget.
  • Va. House, Senate OK competing budget plans – The Virginian-Pilot - The House and Senate approved versions of a two-year state budget Thursday that carve money out of core government services to address a $4.2 billion shortfall.
  • Panel OKs delays to accreditation rules – The Virginian-Pilot - With expected budget cuts, a bill that would delay some accreditation standards but not graduation is heading for approval.
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Retiring judge might not be replaced – Suffolk News-Herald - State budget woes could leave Virginia’s Fifth Judicial Circuit a judge short later this year.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • $500,000 Grant A Boost To Growers – The Gazette-Virginian - A portion of a half million dollars in Specialty Crop Grants is headed to the Southside in an effort to keep farming profitable for local producers.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Virginia Employment Commission chief warns extended jobless benefits could end soon – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The hardship of being out of work in Virginia could get a lot worse in March if the federal government does not provide additional money to pay for an extension of unemployment benefits.
  • VEC, Watkins warn about ebbing jobless benefits – GoDanRiver.com - The hardship of being out of work in Virginia could get a lot worse in March if the federal government does not provide additional funds to pay for an extension of unemployment benefits.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • Politics vs. principle on unemployment aid – The Virginian-Pilot - Last year, Republican lawmakers were excoriated for rejecting $125 million in federal aid for jobless workers in Virginia.
• Senator Harry Blevins
  • Motorist-safety measures falter in House panel – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Two bills aimed at improving motorist safety were run off the legislative road this week in a House of Delegates subcommittee, but two other measures seem on their way to eventual passage in the General Assembly.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • House 'Amazon bill' dies in committee – fredericksburg.com - A House subcommittee this week killed a bill to force big online retailers to collect and remit Virginia sales tax to the state.
  • Gun backers push to peel back limits – Associated Press - Gun control advocates think, if not pray, they can win by losing when the Supreme Court decides whether the constitutional right to possess guns serves as a check on state and local regulation of firearms.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Panel blocks bid to ease flooded-car restrictions – The Virginian-Pilot - Consumer advocates have succeeded, at least for this year, in derailing an attempt to raise the threshold for reporting water damage to cars from $1,000 to $5,000.
• Senator Frank Quayle
  • Legislation to block OLF is grounded – Tidewater News - Legislation that could have stopped the Navy from locating an Outlying Landing Field in Western Tidewater has been refused permission for takeoff this year. But OLF opponents aren’t giving up.
  • State officials warn of indefinite closures to shellfish harvesting – The Daily Press - Upper creek beds and other polluted waterways may be closed indefinitely to shellfish harvesting due to a proposed budget cut, a state Health Department official warned on Friday.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • The cost of filing a lawsuit in Va. could increase – wtop.com - The state of Virginia may have found a solution to close its $4 billion budget gap.
  • Bill proposes raising fees for filing lawsuits – Associated Press - Virginia lawmakers are considering imposing the highest lawsuit-filing fees in the country as one way of plugging a $4 billion state budget gap.
  •  Assembly extends menhaden limits – fredericksburg.com - Bills that keep oversight of menhaden in legislative hands are wending their way through the General Assembly process.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • Despite Senate maneuvers, gun bills head to McDonnell – The Roanoke Times - Bills that would ease restrictions on guns in bars and in cars are headed to the desk of Gov. Bob McDonnell, even as a Senate subcommittee seeks to bottle up similar measures.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • House panel carries over bill to index gas tax – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The House Finance Committee voted today to carry over until next year a bill to increase the gas tax as cars become more fuel-efficient.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • McDougle rounds out GOP Senate leadership – Bearing Drift - State Sen. Ryan McDougle (R-Hanover) was unanimously selected by his peers to serve as the Republican Caucus Pro Tempore today, completing the caucus’ leadership team.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Senate Democrats set up panel to quash gun bills – Richmond Times-Dispatch - A number of House of Delegates bills that would make it easier to purchase, carry and use guns have been routed to a newly created Senate subcommittee loaded with legislators opposed to expanding gun rights.
• Senator Walter Stosch
  • Schools, health would be hit by legislators, too – The Virginian-Pilot - The General Assembly's budget-writing committees set the stage Sunday for battles over funding of public schools and health care safety- net programs, producing competing plans for addressing a two- year, $4.2 billion state revenue shortfall.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • GOP officials push Obama for health care reset – The Roanoke Times - Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and two Republican state legislators said Monday that President Obama should go back to the drawing board in crafting a health care reform plan and include ideas advanced by GOP lawmakers.
  • Bolling, legislators urge Obama, Congress to start over on health-care reform – The Washington Post - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/post_615.html

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • Va. General Assembly approves bill allowing handguns in bars – The Washington Post - Gun-rights supporters had reason to cheer Tuesday after the Virginia General Assembly gave final approval to a bill allowing concealed weapons permit holders to enter restaurants that serve alcohol. Two other bills friendly to gun owners also won final approval.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • House, Senate begin negotiations – Suffolk News-Herald - The Virginia General Assembly begins working out the kinks in the state budget this week.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Red Oak lumber company receives 3 grants for expansion – The Union Star - Charlotte County will gain an extra 25 jobs with a new $4.2 million dry kiln technological advancement at Morgan's Lumber Company in Red Oak. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project.
• Senator William Wampler
  • McDonnell lists his House and Senate budget concerns – The Virginian-Pilot - Among the “issues” Gov. Bob McDonnell has with the House and Senate budget bills are the differing approaches on economic development.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Localities fight state over communications funds – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Four years ago, local governments agreed reluctantly to give up their power to impose taxes on telephone services in exchange for guaranteed revenue from a new tax on all communication services.
  • Riding Program Honored by General Assembly – Powhatan Today – Powhatan resident Clint Arrington likes to build things—and he’s good at it.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • Va. Senate panel rejects two-tier veterans memorial – The Virginian-Pilot - In a late turn of events Wednesday, a Senate committee balked at a plan to create a two-tier system for honoring Virginia's war dead.
• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Concealed Carrying and Drinking- Who Will Enforce New Law? – wtvr.com - A new bill allowing concealed permit holders to carry in bars and restaurants has one big stipulation- no drinking.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • McDonnell’s reforms advance to Senate – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Lots of education-related news coming out of the state Capitol today. 
  • Va. Senate panel approves charter, lab, virtual school bills – The Virginian-Pilot - A Senate education committee gave Gov. Bob McDonnell's education reform package a major victory this morning.
  • Erik Estrada urges lawmakers to fund Internet crimes force – Lynchburg News & Advance - Erik Estrada, who used to play a cop on TV, had a Capitol press corps silent and sober Wednesday as he talked about tracking down Internet child-porn dealers with the Bedford County sheriff’s department.
  • Senate committee approves education bills – Lynchburg News & Advance - A charter-schools bill and two other education measures proposed by Gov. Bob McDonnell and sponsored by Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, were approved today in the Senate Education and Health Committee.
  • Judgeships aren’t funded in House budget – Lynchburg News & Advance - Vacant judgeships, including one on Lynchburg’s Circuit Court bench, could remain vacant under the budget proposed by the House of Delegates for the next two years.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • A chili night – HamptonRoads.com - We told you last week about former Sen. Ken Stolle’s chili cookoff/lobbying opportunity for law-enforcement officials.
  • Va. House, Senate start quest to agree on budgets – News Feed Researcher - The House also lowers for local governing boards the amount of required local retirement spending. Employee Retirement: Former Gov. Kaine's introduced budget mandated that all current state employees would pay 1% of their salary in FY 2011 and 2% in FY 2012 toward their retirement. The Senate budget retained this requirement.
• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Bay states poised to take lead in bioenergy field – Chesapeake Bay Journal - The Chesapeake Bay region could lead the nation in developing a biofuels industry that will help wean Americans from dependence on foreign oil and keep farmers in business while also improving water quality.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Senate panel backs McDonnell on charter schools – GoDanRiver.com - A Senate committee this morning advanced all three of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s education-reform initiatives on charter schools, virtual schools and college partnership lab schools.
  • Committee backs resolution to block Soering transfer to Germany – Lynchburg News & Advance - A General Assembly resolution that supports Gov. Bob McDonnell’s request that convicted murderer Jens Soering be kept in a Virginia prison was approved in a House of Delegates committee Thursday.
  • Newman-backed education bills approved in committee – Lynchburg News & Advance - Gov. Bob McDonnell’s education-reform legislation for charter schools and two other initiatives won a Senate committee’s approval Thursday after going through an extensive makeover.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • Senate subcommittee votes down handgun bill – The Roanoke Times - A hastily formed Senate subcommittee voted Thursday to defeat legislation that would repeal Virginia's one-handgun-per-month law, likely killing the proposal for the year.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Redistricting reform dies a familiar death – The Virginian-Pilot - Anne Sterling of the League of Women Voters gave her usual shout-out to democracy Tuesday morning as she pleaded with state delegates to support modest reforms to the process for drawing legislative districts.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr. 
  • A meritorious gas tax index to pay for roads – The News & Advance - At least one member of the General Assembly agrees that the state needs to increase its gasoline tax to keep the highway trust fund from going broke.
  • PERSPECTIVE: Restorative justice fell through the cracks – Culpeper Star-Exponent - Amid anguish over education, taxes, guns and other high-profile issues in Richmond, one topic failed to get the attention it deserved.
  • Reform option goes unnoticed – The Daily Progress - Amid anguish over education, taxes, guns and other high-profile issues in Richmond, one topic failed to get the attention it deserved.
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Senate budget concerns Hurt – The Franklin News-Post - The future economic stability of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) could be jeopardized by the Senate budget proposal to take $500 million from the VRS to fund ongoing state programs for the next two years, State Sen. Robert Hurt said.
  • Local legislators uneasy about Tobacco funds – Danville News - The House of Delegates’ version of the state budget proposed using more than $100 million from the Tobacco Commission to fund road projects and higher education centers Southside — a line item that’s leaving local legislators uneasy.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Charter school bill advances in House – The Associated Press - The House of Delegates has approved legislation that would expand the state's role in the charter-school approval process, a measure backed by Gov. Bob McDonnell.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Effort To Revive Va Gun Bills Fails – The Associated Press - Republicans have lost an attempt to revive pro-gun bills that failed last week in a special subcommittee set up to shoot down the proposals.
  • Republicans fail to revive pro-gun bills in Virginia committee – The Virginian-Pilot - It now seems apparent that state law will change to allow concealed handguns to be carried in bars and stored in lockboxes inside cars.
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Va. health bill could foil Obama proposal – The Boston Globe - Here in the former capital of the Old Confederacy, where resistance to the supremacy of federal law has a long and tortuous history, a new battle is being waged over a question that could undercut a key part of President Obama’s health care proposal: whether Washington can require that most Americans have health insurance.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Salvage yards getting scrutiny – The Free Lance-Star - Over the past year, Stafford County sheriff's deputies have found 10 stolen cars at a salvage yard in the county.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Vogel’s ‘high marks’ – The Winchester Star - In assessing Gov. McDonnell’s first two months in office, a common lament has been that the state’s new Republican chief executive has not exercised visible leadership, that he has not stepped, chest out, to the front of the parade and strutted his stuff.
  • Virginia first state to challenge federal health insurance mandate – The Washington Examiner - Congress hasn’t even passed Obamacare yet, but if and when it does, Virginia’s General Assembly has already fired the first round in what could be a major legal showdown with Washington over the limits of federal power.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Gov. McDonnell expected to sign bill allowing creation of BVU authority – Bristol Herald - To the delight of supporters and dismay of opponents, Gov. Bob McDonnell is today expected to sign legislation allowing the creation of a Bristol Virginia Utilities authority.
  • IT'S HORSE-TRADING TIME – The FreeLance-Star - As the General Assembly session winds down into its last week, the dozen lawmakers charged with negotiating a budget compromise are getting to work.
  • State lawmakers approve insurance mandate for telemedicine – FierceHealthIT - The Virginia State Legislature last week unanimously approved legislation that would make the state the 12th in the nation to mandate insurance coverage for telemedicine services.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Bill takes aim at cigarette smugglers – Star-Tribune - A new law targeting cigarette smugglers has cleared both houses of the General Assembly and now goes to the governor for his signature.
  • Unemployment extension bill axed in subcommittee – The Hampton Roads Business Journal - Virginia's business lobby has prevailed again.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Multiple Senators
  • General Assembly update: Senate approves charter, online school bills – The Roanoke Times - The Senate has approved bills that would give the state a role in the creation of charter, online and virtual schools despite objections from some that doing so would divert money from public schools.
  • Ethics rules are subject of today's Senate vote – The Virginian-Pilot - A scheduled vote in the state Senate today will determine whether the General Assembly's ethics rules are overhauled this year.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Asbestos claims bill to help single business killed – The Virginian-Pilot - A Senate committee killed legislation Monday that would have shielded a company from liability for asbestos-related health claims.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • House panel advances expansion of death penalty – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Senate Courts of Justice Committee yesterday rejected a House version of a bill that would have expanded those eligible for the death penalty to include accomplices and accessories to the murder of a law-enforcement officer.
  • Some pro-gun bills advance while others founder – The Virginian-Pilot - Try as he might, Sen. Mark Obenshain's efforts to revive several defeated gun-rights bills were quickly shot down Monday by his Courts of Justice Committee colleagues.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Politician pushes online retailers to collect taxes – The Rockbridge Report - Many people don’t want to see a tax increase, especially these days. Most Republicans in Virginia understand that, and are promising not to raise taxes.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Va. House OKs resolution opposing Soering – The Roanoke Times - The House of Delegates on Tuesday passed a resolution supporting Gov. Bob McDonnell's efforts to block the transfer of convicted double-murderer Jens Soering to a prison in his native Germany.
  • Putney speaks up as House OKs Soering resolution – The Associated Press - Del. Lacey Putney delivered a floor speech Tuesday urging the House of Delegates to adopt a resolution opposing the transfer of convicted murderer Jens Soering to his native Germany.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Va. Senator seeks revival of job protection for gays – The Virginian-Pilot – State Sen. Tommy Norment breathed new life today into the debate over protecting gay and lesbian workers from employment discrimination in Virginia.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • “Chips"™ Star Helps Fight Child Pornography – The Gainesville Times - Actor Erik Estrada visited Capital Square last week to voice his support for Virginia’s fight against child pornography.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Jett urging House to back police funds – The Free Lance-Star - Stafford County Sheriff Charles Jett yesterday led sheriffs from around the state in lobbying House members to accept increased funding for sheriffs contained in the Senate's version of the budget.  

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators 
  • Va. Senate OKs ethics overhaul; McDonnell to sign – The Virginian-Pilot - The state Senate approved a comprehensive overhaul of the General Assembly's ethics rules Wednesday.
  • Virginia Stands Up for the Constitution, Media Cries Racism – Tenth Amendment Center - As of yesterday, four separate bills rejecting proposed federal health insurance individual mandates have passed both houses of Virginia’s legislature.
• Senator Jeffrey McWaters
  • So far, Virginia lawmakers' pay immune from budget cuts – The Virginian-Pilot - The governor and his senior staff took a pay cut. State employees are facing layoffs and furloughs.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • General Assembly notebook: House joins effort to block Soering's transfer to Germany – The Roanoke Times - The House of Delegates passed a resolution Tuesday supporting efforts to block the transfer of convicted double-murderer Jens Soering to a prison in his native Germany.
  • Bill seeks to reduce Amherst school board salaries after error – The News & Advance - A bill that is pending in the General Assembly seeks to fix “an honest mistake” that led to Amherst County School Board members being paid more than state law allows, said Brian Ratliff, schools superintendent.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • McDonnell edict: Don't discriminate against gay workers – The Virginian-Pilot - Gov. Bob McDonnell has forcefully ordered state agencies not to discriminate against gay and lesbian workers during the hiring process or in the workplace, but he opted not to push legislation that would produce a similar effect.
  • Governor issues directive against discrimination – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who says there’s nothing in Virginia law to protect gay state workers from discrimination, is welcoming Gov. Bob McDonnell’s decree against bias on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • No time to pass the bottle – Stateline.org - While running for governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell promised he would raise money by handing over the state-run liquor stores to private interests. Once elected, the pledge made its way into his state of the state address.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Legal fees measure hits stumbling block – The Free Lance-Star - A bill from Sen. Richard Stuart has run into conflict in the last days of the legislative session.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Report: CCCA Findings Suppressed – WHSV.com - According to an article in the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" Thursday, former Gov. Tim Kaine's office "was involved in discussions that led to the suppression of findings" related to a team's report on the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents.
• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Legislators unsure about close of session – Danville News - With the end of the 2010 General Assembly session, or “sine die,” tomorrow, local legislators are unsure if they will reach a budget agreement by the deadline — or whether they will go into overtime.
  • General Assembly honors Lacy – Danville News - The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate agreed on resolutions Wednesday to celebrate the life of former Danville City Manager Lyle Lacy.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Senate strips anti-bias language from bill – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Virginia Senate this morning yanked anti-bias protections for gay workers from a deal-sweetening bill aimed at luring to Virginia a defense-and-systems giant with gay-friendly employment policies.
  • BRIEF: Senate OKs economic incentives to lure businesses – The Virginian-Pilot - After striking language that would have placed protections for gay and lesbian workers into law, Virginia's Senate today unanimously approved an economic incentive bill requested by Gov. Bob McDonnell.
• Senator Frederick Quayle
  • Amended life jacket bill goes to House – SmithMountainLake.com - A bill that would require children to wear life preservers is on the House floor. SB93 passed the full Senate Jan. 21 with a 30-10 vote and moved to the House.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Pregnancy Resource Centers: A Winning Reversal Of Fortune At The General Assembly – The Family Foundation - At the beginning of this year’s General Assembly session, pregnancy resource centers were in the crosshairs of the abortion industry.
  • Senate approves controversial gun bills – Richmond Times-Dispatch - The Virginia Senate today approved two controversial House of Delegates gun bills that will allow permit holders to carry concealed handguns into bars and non-permit holders to conceal their firearms in cars.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Va. gov McDonnell signs offshore energy bills – World News - Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law Wednesday offshore drilling legislation intended to realize his goal of making Virginia the East Coast's energy superpower.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr. 
  • McDonnell visits legislators on their turf, encourages budget deal – The Washington Post - As negotations over Virginia's budget proceed, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) made an unannounced appearance in the General Assembly Building to encourage the House and Senate to come to terms.
  • State budget deadline nears – The Free Lance-Star - Budget negotiators worked late into last night, trying to resolve differences by today to adjourn the legislature on time tomorrow.
    
    

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators
  • Lt. Gov. Bolling: Anti-gun bill panel creation broke Senate rules – The Washington Post - Yes, Democratic leaders in Virginia's Senate broke the rules when they killed a bunch of gun rights bills in a specially formed subcommittee. And, no, there's not a thing anybody can do about it.
  • Lawmakers reach agreement on infant-life bill – Lynchburg News & Advance - A mother who kills her newborn baby while it is still attached to her by the umbilical cord can be charged with murder under legislation the General Assembly approved Saturday after much thought.
  • Schools, health care, public safety lose millions in Va. Budget – The Washington Post - The Virginia General Assembly adjourned its annual legislative session Sunday evening after adopting a two-year, $82 billion budget that cuts millions from education, health care and public safety -- curtailing state spending more aggressively than any in generations while fulfilling the new Republican governor's promise not to raise taxes.
  • State will dip into pension fund, repay with 7.5% interest – Lynchburg News & Advance - Virginia is taking away more than $620 million that would have been paid toward state employee and teacher pensions, but the state is leaving an IOU.
  • Virginia Stands Up for the Constitution, Media Cries Racism – Tertium Quids - In the 2010 session, four separate bills rejecting proposed federal health insurance individual mandates passed both houses of Virginia’s legislature.
  • Lawmakers approve two-year, $70 billion budget – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - The 2010 General Assembly adjourned yesterday, one day later than scheduled, after speedy approval by weary lawmakers of a $70 billion-plus budget-balancing plan.
• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Officials leery of hopeful state budget projections – NewsVirginian.com - Area legislators say the state budget for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 agreed on Sunday offers less pain for public education and public safety than earlier anticipated, but still worries the lawmakers because of the revenue forecast.
• Senator Jeff McWaters
  • Lawmakers unlikely to write pay cut into state budget – The Roanoke Times - The governor and his senior staff took a pay cut. State employees are facing layoffs and furloughs. But there's one group of people in Richmond whose salaries don't appear to be in danger: state legislators.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Lawmakers Fight to Close the Umbilical Cord Loophole – WSET.com - A bill has made its way to Governor Bob McDonnell's desk for signature that would make it a punishable offense to take the life of a newborn baby if the baby is still attached to the mother by an umbilical cord.
  • Lawmakers close loophole to protect newborn children – WDBJ7.com - Lawmakers Saturday approved legislation they say will close a loophole in state law and protect newborn children in Virginia.
  • Assembly OKs tweak to Amherst County School Board salaries – Lynchburg News & Advance - Amherst County’s school board salaries were officially lowered to $2,200 per year by the General Assembly on Saturday.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • State budget talks hit snag; final vote today in doubt – The Associated Press - Despite substantial agreement on major issues, legislative negotiations toward a new bare-bones state budget hit a snag late Saturday over a variety of lesser issues.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • ABC stores hard sell for McDonnell – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Nine days off-message is enough to drive a governor to drink.
• Senator Walter Stosch
  • Governor McDonnell Signs Bill Restructuring and Increasing Accountability at VITA – Governor McDonnell Press Release - Governor Bob McDonnell has signed legislation into law that restructures the agency's organization and creates a direct reporting structure between the Chief Information Officer (CIO) / Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) and the Secretary of Technology, Jim Duffey. 
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • BUDGET DEAL REACHED – The Free Lance-Star - State lawmakers passed a two-year, $70 billion budget yesterday that mitigates cuts to education and law enforcement, making up a $4 billion revenue shortfall by raising fees but without general tax increases.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • McDonnell shows some successes in first legislative sessions – The Washington Post - Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell finished his first legislative session with modest victories in economic development and education -- limited goals set as the state continues to face a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Lawmakers likely heading for overtime – Culpeper Star-Exponent- The General Assembly appears headed for overtime tomorrow because of the inability of the House of Delegates and Senate to agree on a budget.
  • General Assembly update: Gov. McDonnell meets with budget negotiators – The Roanoke Times - Gov. Bob McDonnell met privately with General Assembly budget negotiators this morning in an effort to push lawmakers toward an agreement in time for Saturday’s scheduled adjournment of the legislative session.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Localities dodge worst of budget cuts – The News Leader - Although the final state budget figures impacting localities are not as bad as many feared, area officials say it is not the silver bullet that will solve their problems.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Sparring continues over Va. air quality control bills – The Virginian-Pilot - Environmentalists have described it as "the Virginia dirty air bill" - a measure that would limit the authority of the State Air Pollution Board and could increase smog problems in Hampton Roads, Richmond and other regions.
  • McDonnell signs emergency legislation overhauling VITA – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Gov. Bob McDonnell now is directly responsible for fixing a problem he inherited: Virginia's troubled information-technology bureaucracy and its fractious dealings with contractor Northrop Grumman.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • McDonnell to Sign Legislation at UVa – Newsplex.com - Gov. Bob McDonnell will sign two bills into law at the University of Virginia on Wednesday that establish college partnership laboratory schools.
• Senator Frank Ruff, Jr.
  • $82 billion state budget passes – South Hill Enterprise - After much deliberation, the General Assembly has passed a two-year $82 billion budget that cuts spending on education, health care and public safety to bridge a $4 billion shortfall.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Area legislators had ups, downs – The Free Lance-Star - The just-ended 2010 legislative session saw lawmakers deal with nearly 3,000 bills and resolutions, of which about 1,600 passed and more than 1,000 failed.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Va. expands booze business in budget­­ – The Washington Examiner - Virginia is slated to open 20 new state-run liquor stores and mark up spirit prices by 2 percent under the state's new budget, signaling lawmakers' increased reliance on alcohol revenues and a potentially deeper resistance to Gov. Bob McDonnell's privatization plan.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr.
  • Revenue projections worry lawmakers – The News Leader - Area legislators say the state could be forced to make additional cuts if it does not meet what they call "optimistic" revenue forecasts.
  • Cleaning up Bay, farms is good biz – Waynesboro News Virginian - A new economic study says farm conservation practices used to clean up Virginia rivers and help restore the Chesapeake Bay generate more economic activity than public cost and offer jobs that last up to a year.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Baby death loophole legislation on governor’s desk – WSLS.com - In 107 days, Virginia law will no longer allow a mother to get away with murdering her newborn baby.
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Senator: Lawmakers do ‘pretty decent job’ on budget – Tidewater News - After much deliberation, the General Assembly over the weekend passed a two-year $82 billion budget that cuts spending on education, health care and public safety to bridge a $4 billion shortfall.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • STATE BUDGET: Schools Wait For Numbers  -- The Gazette-Virginian - School officials are eagerly awaiting the final figures on state funding for the Halifax County School System, according to Bill Covington, Halifax County Public Schools chief financial officer.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• ·         Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Study: Farm Clean Water Practices Create Jobs, Boost Economy – Chesapeake Bay Foundation - A new economic study of the farm conservation practices considered critical for cleaning up Virginia rivers and restoring the Chesapeake Bay found that every public dollar spent on implementing the practices will produce $1.56 in new economic activity.
  • VA Senate passes bill to loosen gun laws – Critograph - The Virginia Senate recently approved a bill allowing patrons to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants as long as they do not consume any alcohol.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • General Assembly passes law protecting newborns – Altavista Journal - New legislation passed by the General Assembly will make it possible for the state to prosecute a mother who takes the life of her newborn child, according to a March 13 news release from Del. Kathy Byron.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Regional Jail Funding Falls Short In Final Hours Of General Assembly – Page News & Courier - Although a budget amendment pushed through the Senate by Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-26th District) would have guaranteed 50 percent funding from the state for a regional jail for Warren, Shenandoah and Rappahannock counties, the amendment was taken out in the waning minutes of the 2010 General Assembly session late Friday night.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Local Legislators Reflect on General Assembly – TV3Winchester.com - It proved to be another tough session for legislators in Richmond who had to make unprecedented cuts to state services and programs. On Sunday the regular session adjourned.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Byron/Newman legislation to protect newborn's life passes General Assembly – The Union Star - On the last day of the regular session of the 2010 General Assembly, the legislation to protect new born children passed both the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates unanimously.
  • Justice Dept. in talks with Soering attorneys, German government over transfer – The News & Advance - The U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed that it is talking with attorneys for convicted murderer Jens Soering and the nation of Germany, says Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Mercury Paper Moving U.S. Headquarters to Shenandoah County, Creating Jobs – WHSV.com - Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Thursday Mercury Paper, Inc. will invest $21.2 million to expand its current facility in Shenandoah County and relocate its North American headquarters to the site.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Ground broken on county ag complex – Danville News - The first step toward construction of what officials say will be a marketplace for Pittsylvania County and regional agriculture took place Thursday.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • US, Germany discuss fate of prisoner – Associated Press - The U.S. Justice Department is now involved in the tug-of-war over a German diplomat's son imprisoned in Virginia for a double murder.
  • Department of Justice Responds to Soering Transfer Request – WSET.com - The Department of Justice has officially responded to Senator Steve Newman about the Jens Soering case.
  • German officials petition DOJ to transfer Soering – The Roanoke Times - The German Embassy is petitioning the U.S. Department of Justice to transfer convicted killer Jens Soering from a Virginia prison to Germany, despite Gov. Bob McDonnell’s revocation of permission to let him return to his native country, according to excerpts of a justice department letter released Friday.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • We Do Have A Budget – DNRonline.com - A day late and, in our view, some $620 million short. But Virginia, facing a $4.2 billion shortfall, managed to close the budgetary gap. And the General Assembly achieved said balance without having to raise taxes statewide — something for which all residents should be happy during this time of economic uncertainty and, for many, woe.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• ·         Multiple Senators
  • Virginia vs. Obamacare – The Virginia Conservative - Of course you’ve heard the news by now.  House of Representatives narrowly pass Obamacare. 
• ·         Senator Mark Obenshain
  • More time for jury research – Dolan Media Company - Here’s a bill that will provide more time to both sides for jury research. It's another measure that made it through the Assembly without a single “nay” vote in either house.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Virginia General Assembly Seeks to Bypass Federal Health Care Reform – WHSV.com - Last month, the Virginia General Assembly approved a bill that says neither the federal or state government can force residents to purchase health insurance.
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Virginia attorney general ready to challenge health-care law – The Virginian-Pilot - The next battlefield in the fight over health care legislation may be inside a courtroom instead of the halls of government.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • DRIVERS FACING NEW ROAD LAWS – The Free Lance-Star - On any given day, the flow of traffic on Virginia's interstates reaches an average speed of 70 mph.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Goodlatte expresses outrage at luncheon – NVDaily.com - Sixth District Rep. Bob Goodlatte railed against historic health care reform legislation at a luncheon Monday for local business owners and civic leaders.
  • Small Businesses Wait for Health Care Launch – TV3Winchester.com - Historic Health Care legislation is heading to president Obama's desk, but many people in your community still aren't sure what it will mean for them. TV3'explains why some local business owners are on the fence.
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Virginia Bill Mandates Telemedicine Coverage; Barriers Remain – iHealthbeat.org - On March 2, the Virginia Legislature unanimously approved a bill (SB 675) that would require private health insurers, health care subscriptions plans and HMOs to cover for the cost of health care services provided through telemedicine technology.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Thomas Norment
  • Virginia's First Lady To Dedicate Trailhead At Entrance To The Virginia Capital Trail – Insider’s Passport - Virginia's First Lady Maureen McDonnell will be among dignitaries to dedicate the eastern trailhead of the Virginia Capital Trail. The trailhead includes a shelter and an electronic, interactive kiosk with information on public accommodations, historical sites, wildlife and natural resources along the trail.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Loudoun legislators grade 2010 General Assembly session – Loudoun Times - Members of Virginia’s General Assembly were facing a tough session when they started deliberations in January.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Budget cuts nix new judge for now – Powhatan Today - As it turns out, even the halls of justice aren’t immune to the economy’s sting.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Multiple Senators
  • Gov. Bob McDonnell signs Virginia Health Care Freedom Act – WSLS.com - Governor Bob McDonnell (R) signed Virginia’s opposition to the Democratically led federal health care reform bill Wednesday afternoon.
  • Governor McDonnell Signs Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act Legislation – Twin County News - McDonnell: "There are fiscally responsible ways by which we can reform healthcare and expand quality coverage that do not involve the forcing of unfunded and unprecedented mandates onto individuals and states, and the unsustainable growing of our national debt."
  • McDonnell signs Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act – Bearing Drift - Gov. Bob McDonnell reminded everyone today who enacts law in the Commonwealth of Virginia when he ceremonially signed Virginia’s Health Care Freedom Act, setting up a challenge between the commonwealth and the Federal government.
  • McDonnell Signs Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act Legislation – Appomattox News - Governor Bob McDonnell signed the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act in a mid-afternoon ceremony today in Richmond.
  • Gov. signs law blocking health bill – WAVY.com - Calling the national healthcare bill a historic, unfunded mandate that could add $1 billion to Virginia's budget by 2022, Governor Bob McDonnell signed the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act Wednesday, a measure to block the national bill.
  • Va. Democrats demand info on health care challenge – The Virginian-Pilot - Virginia Democrats want to know how much time, money and other resources Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is spending on a lawsuit that seeks to block implementation of a federal health care reform law.
• Senator Frank Ruff and Senator Steve Newman
  • Lawmakers brief Chamber members on year to date – The News & Advance - Businessmen and women applauded just one part of Lynchburg-area legislators’ report Wednesday on this year’s General Assembly session.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Funding for SRI to Be Delayed – WHSV.com - SRI International is expected to be a major driver of economic development in the Valley, but the non-profit research firm's development could be slowed due to Virginia's budget woes.
  • Comer Selected To Lead Page GOP – Page News and Courier - Inside the Circuit Courtroom at the Page County Courthouse, members of the Page County Republican Party gathered last week to select its new leadership.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Metro columnist Dan Casey: Repair efforts 'starting to roll' at historic tollgate – The Roanoke Times - Will the damaged historic tollgate along the "old road" up Mill Mountain be repaired in time for the Blue Ridge Marathon?

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Tommy Norment
  • JCC Trailhead Dedicated – Active Williamsburg - About 100 people, including area leaders and bicycle advocates, braved the rain to celebrate the dedication of the James City County trailhead of the Virginia Capital Trail.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Hoover named Fireman of the year 2010 for SVFD – Greene County Record - Stanardsville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Hoover of was named Fireman of the Year 2010 at SVFD’s annual award banquet Saturday night.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • PHHS still producing lifelong learners – The Mechanicsville Local - Patrick Henry alumni, faculty and students gathered at the west Hanover campus last weekend to play an official game of Remember When.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Capital Trailhead Dedication Today at Jamestown – The Williamsburg Yorktown Daily - Virginia’s First Lady Maureen McDonnell will be in James City County this morning to dedicate the eastern trailhead of the Virginia Capital Trails.
  • Capital Trail moving ahead – Richmond BizSense - The Jamestown Trailhead, the eastern section of the Virginia Capital Trail, was dedicated on Friday. Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell was there along with State Senator Thomas K. Norment Jr. (center) and Paul D. Koonce, Chief Executive Officer, Dominion Virginia Power.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Home-schooler meets with leaders as part of civics class – The Botetourt View - In an age when people too often ignore the happenings in Richmond, one local youngster and his family decided to go see the legislators from his district. Bach Pearl reported the fruits of his visit!
• Senator William Wampler, Jr.
  • Region’s education system in crisis – Bristol Herald - For all of their geographic commonality, the city of Bristol, Va., and Washington County face drastically different challenges in addressing reductions in state education funding.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Steve Newman
  • Ken Cuccinelli says Virginia won’t release Jens Soering without court order – Lynchburg News & Advance - Virginia won’t release convicted murderer Jens Soering to federal custody for any reason short of a court order, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said Monday.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Noose brings felony charge in the city – The Free Lance-Star - A local man was charged with a felony after he menacingly displayed a noose to a teenager in Fredericksburg, police said.
• Senator John Watkins
  • VEA opposes requiring local employees to begin paying share of pension costs – Richmond Times Dispatch - Virginia is proposing to give local governments an option that many teachers don't want them to have -- requiring local employees to begin paying a share of their annual pension costs.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Chamber sponsors legislative reception – Star-Tribune - Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce will sponsor a legislative reception with Sen. Robert Hurt, Del. Danny Marshall, Del. Don Merricks and Del. Charles Poindexter Thursday, April 15.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • General Assembly session's over, but disagreement lingers – WDBJ7.com - As State lawmakers return from Richmond disagreements linger after a difficult session in the General Assembly.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • Vogel Weighs in on Offshore Drilling – tv3Winchester.com - Local law makers say they are thrilled with president Obama's decision to explore offshore drilling on the east coast. Virginia state senator Jill Vogel says law makers in the commonwealth have been working to make Virginia the first on the east coast to produce oil.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • President Obama Raises Hopes and Questions for Virginia’s Offshore Drilling Dreams  -- Old Dominion Watchdog - President Barack Obama’s push for offshore drilling along the mid-Atlantic coast is welcome news in Virginia, where elected officials have called on Congress to open up federal waters off state shores to drilling for oil and natural gas.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Working the jury list: Time available for jury research bumped to five days in Va. – Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly - A funny thing happened in the General Assembly to a “modest” bill dealing with the amount of time lawyers have to do research on prospective jurors.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Salem welcomes stretch of greenway along Riverside Drive – The Roanoke Times - Bright blades of new grass poked up through fresh straw Friday morning at a greenway dedication ceremony at Salem's Rotary Park.
• Senator Walter Stosch
  • McDonnell Signs Job Opportunity Bills – WHSV.com - Flanked by Democratic and Republican lawmakers and Northern Virginia technology and business leaders, Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law Tuesday a number of bills from his successful “Jobs and Opportunity” legislative agenda.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Unanimous Passage of Offshore Wind Legislation in Virginia – Citybiznews - Hampton Roads-based consulting and government affairs firm, Principle Advantage, LTD, had its efforts in representing the Virginia Offshore Wind Coalition (VOW) recognized by Governor Robert F. McDonnell and members of the Virginia legislature in a bill signing ceremony late last week.
  • Federal lease holds promise but faces uncertain future – Virginia Business - The prospect of offshore drilling in Virginia’s coastal waters can be summed up in four words: Hurry up and wait. 
  • Governor Signs Bills Promoting Virginia's Energy Options – Old Dominion University - Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell came to the Old Dominion University campus on Friday, April 2, to sign bills promoting energy production and conservation in the state, and to reflect on his campaign promise - unveiled at ODU a year ago - to make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast.
  • Governor McDonnell Signs Green Energy Legislation at Old Dominion University – Governor Bob McDonnell - Governor Bob McDonnell visited the campus of Old Dominion University today to sign into law a number of green energy bills passed by the General Assembly this session.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Longer delays spur gun debate – Waynesboro News Virginian - Prospective gun buyers in Virginia are waiting longer for background checks to clear their firearms purchases.
  • Enthusiasm counts in race for rail – The Virginian-Pilot - When federal and state officials were trying to lock down the best corridor for a high-speed rail line from Washington, D.C., through Virginia to Charlotte back in 2001, they scheduled 18 public hearings to collect ideas and address concerns. 

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator William Wampler
  • Virginia governor signs bill requiring insurers to cover telemedicine – Kingsport Times News - In the virtual world, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell penned the longest signature to legislation in the history of the commonwealth on Monday.
  • McDonnell signs bill expanding telemedicine coverage – Richmond Times Dispatch - Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law yesterday a bill expanding telemedicine coverage in Virginia.
  • Governor signs bill requiring insurance companies to cover long-distance doctor visits – TriCities.com - Standing behind a podium at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Gov. Bob McDonnell talked about the value of telemedicine before signing a bill into law Monday that requires private insurance companies to cover its use.
  • McDonnell signs bill expanding telemedicine coverage – Augusta Fr ee Press - Gov. Bob McDonnell visited Virginia Commonwealth University’s Minimally Invasive Surgery Center today to sign into law legislation dramatically expanding telemedicine coverage for Virginians.
  • Virginia Expands Health Insurance Telemedicine Coverage – theGovMonitor.com - Bill Signing Held at VCU Minimally Invasive Surgery Center in Richmond; Southwest Virginia Legislators Join Event via Teleconference from Lee County Regional Medical Center in Pennington Gap.
  • 'Telemedicine' law expands coverage – The Roanoke Times - Health insurers in Virginia will be required to offer coverage for "telemedicine" services under legislation signed Monday by Gov. Bob McDonnell, who said the law will expand access to the medical expertise in a cost-efficient manner.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.  

• Senator Steve Newman
  • Governor signs online learning bill at Brookville – Lynchburg News & Advance - Gov. Bob McDonnell visited Brookville High School on Wednesday to sign legislation that makes online learning at home easier for students who don’t attend schools.
  • Cuccinelli Keeps Promise to Challenge “Overreaching” Government – The Roanoke Star-Sentinel - Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli preferred to sit rather then stand at an 8 a.m. coffee with members of the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce this past Tuesday.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Tobacco cash eyed for uranium study – The News & Record - Kilgore asks Tobacco Commission to fund study on socio-economic impact of Coles Hill mine

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.  

• Senator Emmett Hanger
• Elected officials weigh in on mental health issue – The Greene County Record - In previous articles on mental health care in Virginia, the Greene County Record traced the evolution of the state’s mental health system since 2002, when focus was shifted from institutional placements to community-based services.
  • Senator Walter Stosch
  • States Skip Pension Payments, Delay Day of Reckoning  – The Wall Street Journal - State governments from New Jersey to California that are struggling to close budget deficits are skipping or deferring payments to already underfunded public-employee pension plans.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Museum Displays Frontier Spirit Despite Cuts – WHSV.com - They have had their budget slashed like many other museums, but Executive Director of the Frontier Culture Museum John Avoli is handling the budget cuts with the same frontier spirit his museum represents.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Lynchburg lawmakers post strong showing in Assembly – The News & Advance - If getting bills passed is a reasonable way to measure a legislator's success, the five delegates and one senator who represent the Lynchburg region in the General Assembly had a good year in Richmond.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • How long will York's Circuit Court seat go unfilled? – The Daily Press - A key York County and Poquoson judgeship that has gone unfilled since the sudden death of a sitting judge in 2008 could stay vacant a lot longer.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Local Legislators Talk State Budget Cuts – WHSV.com - State budget cuts may mean harsh consequences for valley businesses.  Local legislators gathered in Harrisonburg to explain exactly how these cuts could affect the community. Specifically, they say it's simply a trickle down effect for business owners.
  • Funding situation focus of meeting – Waynesboro News - Augusta County Supervisor Nancy Sorrells thinks of new road projects differently than most people and that makes VDOT’s shrinking revenue stream for new roads a problem.
  • Governor Bob McDonnell Signs VA Restaurant Carry into Law! – National Rifle Association - Governor Bob McDonnell has signed into law a NRA-backed measure allowing right-to-carry permit holders to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense in restaurants, providing they do not consume alcohol.  State Senator Emmett Hanger (R-24) and Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-15) were the principal sponsors of Senate Bill 334/House Bill 505.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Session’s impact on businesses addressed – The Mechanicsville Local - Hanover County’s legislative delegation told members of the business community how recent legislation could affect their operations in the county.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • State to end free online tax-filing service – GoDanRiver.com - For the past 10 years, Virginia has offered an online service that allows nearly every taxpayer in the commonwealth to file their state income-tax return for free.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Governor’s office on brewery case – The Virginia Gazette - A representative of Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday that his office is well aware of the importance of the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery locally and statewide.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senators Emmett Hanger and Mark Obenshain
  • Local Legislators Talk State Budget Cuts – WHSV.com - State budget cuts may mean harsh consequences for Valley businesses.
• Senator John Watkins
  • UPDATE: Supervisors adopt balanced budget; point to grim future – Powhatan Today - The Powhatan Board of Supervisors on Monday adopted a balanced county budget for next fiscal year and set the real estate tax rate at 77 cents, 3 cents below the revenue neutral level; but leaders warned that harder times likely lie ahead. 

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Harry Blevins
  • McDonnell Signs Bills to Save Taxpayer Money – WHSV.com - On tax day, Gov. Bob McDonnell signed four bills centered on instituting government reform in Virginia and saving taxpayer dollars.
  • Governor signs audit bill – InsideNova.com - Gov. Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell on Thursday signed into law a bill requiring audits of several state agencies.
• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Mental health evaluation needs better definitions – Greene County Record - We have found that as hospital beds were closed, community services boards were not adequately funded.
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Action on 460? – Suffolk News-Herald - With word circulating that Gov. Bob McDonnell plans to kick start the Route 460 project after years of it being nearly stalled, Suffolk’s General Assembly representatives are surprised but pleased.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Process begins for socioeconomic study of uranium mining – GoDanRiver.com - The process has begun for the second part of a study focusing on the socioeconomic impacts of uranium mining and milling in Virginia.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Free insurance costs a ton – The Virginian-Pilot - If a tiny reptile with a cute accent advertised car insurance with no premiums until customers have an accident, there's a good chance that the bill would also be hand-delivered to the crash scene by a fire-breathing dragon.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Fly fishing festival features proposal – The News Virginian - An event growing in attendance over the past decade, the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival in Waynesboro this weekend will feature the unveiling of an innovative economic development plan to state officials.
  • Center of promise – Waynesboro News - State and local government officials and site developers gathered Saturday in a former Waynesboro industrial plant to discuss how the property might be turned into an economic driver.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • York-Poquoson court officials bracing for funding-related strains – The Daily Press - Come July, there may be no more pay for substitute judges in 19 Virginia courts with vacancies on the bench. That could potentially create a caseload logjam in the already-stressed York-Poquoson Circuit Court system.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Officials react to proposed jail funds – Northern Virginia Daily - Reaction among regional jail proponents to Gov. Bob McDonnell's apparent last-minute save of the Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren Regional Jail has been cautiously optimistic.
  • Hundreds Gather for Tea Party – Harrisonburg Times – On Tax Day, Thursday April 15th, hundreds of citizens congregated on the lawn at Court Square in downtown Harrisonburg.
  • Scenes from The Tea Party – The Virginia Conservative - I’m pleased to announce that the Tea Party gathering in downtown Harrisonburg on Tax Day went quite well.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Leaf Committee recommends local funding – South Hill Enterprise - The Virginia Tobacco Commission (VTC) Southside Economic Development Committee decided Thursday to recommend a $1,250,000 grant to the Mecklenburg County Industrial Development Authority to be used to purchase and refurbish the Harden Manufacturing Facility at the Airport Industrial Complex in La Crosse.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Center of promise – The News Virginian - State and local government officials and site developers gathered Saturday in a former Waynesboro industrial plant to discuss how the property might be turned into an economic driver.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Sen. McDougle & Del. Hugo Host Press Conference on Faulty EPA Stormwater Claims – RyanMcDougle.com - Two veteran members of the Virginia General Assembly and co-chairs of the Joint Republican Business Caucus, Delegate Tim Hugo of Clifton, Virginia and Senator Ryan McDougle of Mechanicsville, Virginia announced the release of a letter today to Governor Bob McDonnell, which noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Chesapeake Bay Program has been using faulty data in their efforts to encourage the six (6) Bay states and the District of Columbia to strengthen their stormwater management regulations. 
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • VDOT studies highway speed limit increases – The Northern Virginia Daily - Studies are underway to determine what sections of Virginia's highways could have an increased speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph beginning this summer.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Virginia governor praises Norfolk District's exceptional environmental stewardship – www.army.mil - Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell recently awarded the 2010 Governor's Environmental Excellence Award to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District, for demonstrated commitment to land stewardship in Virginia through the protection of Crow's Nest peninsula.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • McDonnell names 64 to jobs-creation commission – Richmond Times Dispatch – Gov. Bob McDonnell pulled from a cross-section of prominent state business leaders and legislators to fill the job-creation commission he established with his first executive order.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • 2 Va. lawmakers say stormwater statistics are faulted – Richmond Times Dispatch - A federal agency has cited inaccurate statistics in building a case for tougher stormwater regulations, two Virginia lawmakers said yesterday.
  • Legislators call EPA runoff statistic inaccurate – The Richmond Times Dispatch - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cited an inaccurate statistic in calling for tougher storm-water regulations, two state lawmakers said today.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Va. lawmakers say EPA’s runoff rules use inaccurate data – Charlottesville Daily Progress - A federal agency has cited inaccurate statistics in building a case for tougher stormwater regulations, two Virginia lawmakers said Tuesday.
  • Veteran state legislators cite faulty EPA stormwater claims – The Mechanicsville Local - Two veteran members of the Virginia General Assembly, Del. Tim Hugo of Clifton and Sena. Ryan McDougle of Mechanicsville, announced the release of a letter Wednesday to Gov. Bob McDonnell, which noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Chesapeake Bay Program has been using faulty data in their efforts to encourage the six Bay states and the District of Columbia to strengthen their stormwater management regulations.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Measure allows murder charge in infant death cases – Lynchburg News Advance - Legislation will take effect immediately that allows authorities to charge a woman with murder if she kills her newly born infant while the umbilical cord is still attached.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Virginia legislature restricts abortion funding – The Washington Post - The Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday accepted proposals from Gov. Robert F. McDonnell to restrict state funding for abortions, expand spending on economic development and raise fines for speeders, but lawmakers resisted some cuts he had sought for social services.
• Senator Ralph Smith
  • Republicans Hold Mass Meeting and Women’s Convention – Roanoke Star-Sentinel - On Thursday evening, the Roanoke County Administration Building was packed to capacity for the Roanoke County Republican Mass Meeting. 
  • Bills sink and swim   – OldDominionWatchdog.org - Gov. Bob McDonnell had already signed nearly 800 bills into law when he brought more than one hundred amendments to bills for legislators to approve or reject on Wednesday.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • Efforts Fail to Change Virginia’s Worker Compensation Death Presumption Law – Richmond Personal Injury Lawyers - Virginia has a rather peculiar workers compensation law. If the worker is found dead at the scene of his/her accident, the worker's accident is "presumed" to have arisen out of his work.
• Senator William Wampler
  • House preserves funding for public radio, child services – Richmond Times Dispatch - The House of Delegates today rejected Gov. Bob McDonnell’s amendments to reduce funding for public radio and television and for the Comprehensive Services Act, which provides services for needy children.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Kent: Governor won't lose focus on rural Virginia – Altavista Journal - Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is focused on this part of the state, his top aide told local government leaders last week.
• Senator Steve Newman
  • Umbilical Cord Loophole Closed Immediately – WSET - Not only did local lawmakers help pass legislation that will protect newborn babies, the bill is already law.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Limits Funding of Abortions – The State Column - Virginia is joining other states in a push to limit and restrict state funding for abortions.
  • Governor to sign ethics bill, minus his 2 changes – The Virginian-Pilot - Legislation that will redefine how investigations of wrongdoing by Virginia lawmakers are conducted has survived the General Assembly obstacle course and will make it past Gov. Bob McDonnell's veto pen, too.
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Governor Marks 40th Anniversary of Virginia’s Scenic River Program – Appomattox News - At a press event on the banks of the James River today, Governor Bob McDonnell celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Virginia Scenic River Program.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Jail funding cheered by area officials – The Northern Virginia Daily - State legislators' vote to uphold Gov. Bob McDonnell's budget amendment restoring state funding to the Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren Regional Jail project was met with relief by those backing the plan.
  • Thanking Our Pro-Life Allies For The Abortion Funding Ban Victory! – The Family Foundation - We hope you are still celebrating with us over the passage of the budget amendment that  significantly reduces taxpayer funding for elective abortions in Virginia (Amendment #91)!
• Senator Fred Quayle
  • It’s official: Blackwater is scenic river – TidewaterNews.com - Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed legislation that adds 56 miles of the Blackwater River to the state’s scenic river program.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Christina Nuckols column – The Virginian-Pilot - Imagine what might happen if state legislators gave the responsibility of setting transportation tax rates to three judges.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Virginia Infanticide Amendment Becomes Law – Associated Content - An amendment that was created to correct a troubling loophole in Virginia state law that did not criminalize mothers who killed their newborn babies, has been passed by both houses of legislature and deemed immediately effective.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Groups To Honor Beloved Forester Alex Williamson – The Gazette-Virginian - Halifax County Supervisors along with members of the Halifax and South Boston Town Councils are expected to approve and present a resolution tonight honoring well-known forester William Alexander “Alex” Williamson of Alton.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Lawmaker: Spending more for uranium socioeconomic study ‘not wise’ – Danville News - If a Virginia Beach study finds uranium mining and milling detrimental to Lake Gaston, then a socioeconomic study of the industry would be pointless, said a member of the Virginia Tobacco Commission’s executive committee.
  • Reseeding Virginia’s tobacco region – Virginia Business - When Paul Farrar walked into a hotel banquet room in Martinsville a few years ago for the 10-year reunion of his high school class, he did what anyone would do.
• Senator Jill Vogel
  • General Assembly adopts gun-safety program for children – Loudoun Times – A new law recently adopted by the General Assembly will require the state’s education department to draft a gun-safety program for elementary school children.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Bolling holds roundtable broadband discussion in Danville – GoDanRiver.com - Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling joined local government and business leaders Wednesday in Danville for a roundtable discussion about what works and what doesn’t with Virginia’s broadband coverage.
• Senator Stephen Martin
  • Pew Applauds Virginia for Leading Military and Overseas Voting Improvements – The Pew Center on the States - Answering a call first issued by President Harry Truman nearly 60 years ago, Virginia today took a significant step forward in addressing the disenfranchisement of military and overseas voters.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Veto session a mixed bag – Roanoke Times - Gov. Bob McDonnell won legislative approval Wednesday for a proposal designed to clarify restrictions on funding for abortions, but lawmakers defeated budget amendments that would affect community-based mental health services and phase out state funding for public broadcasting.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Bolling: Grants will help rural Virginia attract jobs – The News & Advance - Virginia’s rural areas are getting lots of economic-development help from the state, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling told a meeting of rural leaders in Lynchburg on Wednesday.
  • BIT gets 18.9 M grant – South Hill Enterprise - Buggs Island Telephone Cooperative (BIT) General Manager Mickey Sims has been waiting for months on a decision on the application for an $18.9 million grant to help BIT to build, operate and maintain a wireless rural broadband and voice network across Southside Virginia.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Robert Hurt
  • Highlights From Today’s Virginia Forum on Job Creation – Broadband for America - Today, Broadband for America (BfA) hosted its Virginia Forum event at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research in Danville. The event featured a number of state officials and local leaders including Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling and BfA board member Dave McClure.
• Senator Jeff McWaters
  • McDonnell signs 17 troop-friendly bills – The Virginian-Pilot - New laws to ease absentee voting for military members stationed outside Virginia and allow uniformed active-duty personnel to drive in local high-occupancy-vehicle lanes were among the 17 bills signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell during a ceremony at the state Capitol on Thursday.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • Obenshain Given New Task – Daily News Record - On Thursday, Gov. Bob McDonnell named Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, to serve on the Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Tobacco Commission OKs funds for uranium study – Danville News - The Virginia Tobacco Commission approved up to $200,000 for a socioeconomic study of uranium mining and milling during its meeting Thursday at the Hotel Roanoke.
  • Riverstone Project In Line For $471,000 – The Gazette-Virginian - The Halifax County Industrial Development Authority is in line to receive 21 percent of the $2.25 million in grant funding it sought from the Virginia Tobacco Commission after the Commission’s Southside Economic Development Committee met Thursday in Roanoke.
• Senator William Wampler
  • Group focusing on county's top cultural tourism assets – The Franklin News-Post - What are the top cultural tourism destinations in Franklin County?
  • Tobacco commission funds study on uranium mining – WDBJ7.com - The prospect of uranium mining in Pittsylvania County is the subject of another study. 

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Cash-strapped states go online, hoping to tax sales – The Washington Post - For years, consumers have counted a legal quirk that allows many Internet retailers to forgo charging sales tax as one of the perks of shopping online.
  • Riverstone Funding Approved – The Gazette-Virginian - The Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission has approved $471,000 for a power upgrade project at Riverstone Technology Park.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Leaf Comm. funding okayed – South Hill Enterprise - The full Virginia Tobacco Commission (VTC) met Thursday to approve a variety of grants for the Southside Virginia region including a $1,250,000 grant to the Mecklenburg County Industrial Development Authority to be used to purchase and refurbish the Harden Manufacturing Facility at the Airport Industrial Complex in La Crosse.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Va. coast wind farm wouldn't harm Navy operations – Winston-Salem Journal - A new report says a wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach wouldn't affect Navy or NASA operations in the area.
  • Offshore wind could supply 10% of Virginia's power demands – The Daily Press - An offshore wind farm could provide 10 percent of Virginia's electricity demands without interfering with Defense Department operations, a new report states.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Tommy Norment
  • TNCC to Recognize Local, State Leaders During May 15 Commencement – Thomas Nelson Community College - Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) will recognize several government officials and community members for their contributions in education and public service during its 41st commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 15 at 10:00 a.m. at the Hampton University Convocation Center.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Gulf Disaster Changes (Some) Va. Pols’ Plans – NBCWashington.com – What may have seemed like easy money -- environmentalists’ objections notwithstanding -- no longer seems like a safe bet for some politicians who support drilling for oil and natural gas off Virginia’s coastline.
  • Virginia backers of offshore drilling still in favor but urge study – Richmond Times-Dispatch - Supporters of drilling for oil and natural gas off the Virginia coast still want to "drill, baby, drill" -- but not so fast.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Fred Quayle
  • Defense contractor starts up – Suffolk News-Herald - Local, state and federal officials joined a major defense-industry manufacturer on Monday to celebrate a cooperative effort that they expect will result in a $9.2 million investment in Suffolk and at least 200 new jobs.
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • Officials seeks water deal by state – News & Record - The economic development committee of the Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors on Monday agreed that Virginia and North Carolina should negotiate an agreement to buy the remaining water allocation in John H. Kerr Reservoir.
• Senator John Watkins
  • Park entrance: a risky gamble? – Powhatan Today - Development of a state park in Powhatan is scheduled to begin in earnest this summer, but officials still don’t know when the Commonwealth will be able to afford the road improvements it’s going to take to make the entrance to the park- the intersection of Route 522 and Old River Trail- safe for drivers.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Ralph Smith
  • GOP sees lessons to learn from loss – The Roanoke Times - Roanoke Republicans ran a full slate of candidates in Tuesday's city council election for the first time in eight years.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Va. governor keeps eye on drilling prize – The Daily Press - Gov. Bob McDonnell remains committed to making Virginia the first East Coast state to explore offshore oil and gas resources, despite the ever-worsening Gulf Coast oil spill and wilting political support for new drilling.

Article Content

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus.

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • A new take on tourism – Waynesboro News - Outside the Rockfish Gap Tourist Information Center set on a broken-down parking lot atop Afton Mountain, portable toilets stand watch.
• Senator John Watkins
  • States Continue to Grapple With Immigration – National Conference of State Legislatures - As the national debate intensifies around Arizona’s new immigration law, every state in session has been addressing immigrant issues in their legislatures, according to a new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Frank Wagner
  • Protesters oppose offshore drilling – Daily Press – Less than 24 hours after the federal government put the skids on new offshore drilling projects, environmental activists staged a mock oil spill on Virginia Beach's boardwalk.
• Senator William Wampler
  • Local pharmaceutical hopes to develop, market new drugs – TriCities.com - Hundreds of new jobs could be on their way to Southwest Virginia, said Keith Latham, president and chief scientist of Innovative Technologies, a drug development company operating in the Bristol-Washington County Industrial Park.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Lynchburg leaders ask for state help to break U.S. 29 bypass impasse – Lynchburg News & Advance - The Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and state Sen. Steve Newman are asking the governor and attorney general to help break “a 20-year impasse on the proposed Charlottesville bypass of U.S. 29.”
• Senator Frank Ruff
  • First, prove mining can be safe – The Virginian-Pilot - If there are 119 million pounds of uranium beneath Pittsylvania County, and the state legislature lifts the current mining moratorium, lots of people are going to get jobs.
• Senator William Wampler
  • Alpha Natural Resources holds groundbreaking for new headquarters – TriCities.com - From drawing board to Tuesday’s groundbreaking, Alpha Natural Resources’ new $21 million corporate headquarters already has grown by more than 20 percent.

The following are articles from newspapers, blogs, and other news sources throughout the Commonwealth and the country featuring members of the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus. 

• Senator Emmett Hanger
  • Celebrating Virginians’ Sacrifices – The Richmond Times-Dispatch - Virginia's General Assembly has earned the gratitude of all citizens for acting in its most recent session to preserve the vanishing memories of a unique and glorious piece of the state's history.
  • Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind Breaks Ground on New Facility – WHSV.com - The Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind cut the ribbon on a newly renovated building and broke ground on another facility Wednesday.
  • Progress marked for VSDB-Staunton – Waynesboro News Virginian - For years, the Staunton community feared the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind would be consolidated elsewhere in the state, ending a tradition of service that started in the 1830s and includes a period when the Staunton campus housed wounded Civil War soldiers.
  • Landes: Health reform has many hidden costs – Charlottesville Daily Progress - Federal health care could cost Virginia $1.5 billion over the next year or so, a local delegate said Wednesday.
  • Legislators review GA session, upcoming challenges – The News Leader - Two months after signing off on a state budget that resulted in cutting $4 billion for the biennium, area legislators offered mixed outlooks on the financial future for Virginia.
  • Legislators Speak to Community Members About 2010 General Assembly – WHSV.com - Sen. Emmett Hanger and several other local legislators were in Augusta County Wednesday to talk to community members about the impact of this year's General Assembly.
  • Local Legislators Appointed to Commission for Wilson's Centennial – WHSV.com - Dels. Richard P. “Dickie” Bell (R-Staunton) and R. Steven Landes (R-Weyers Cave) and Sen. Emmett Hanger, Jr. (R- Augusta County) announced Tuesday they have been appointed to the Virginia Commission on the Centennial of the Woodrow Wilson Presidency.
• Senator Ryan McDougle
  • Governor signs McDougle’s public safety legislation – The Mechanicsville Local - Sen. Ryan T. McDougle, R-Hanover, joined Gov. McDonnell and members of the law enforcement community for the unveiling of the Governor’s Executive Order No. 11 highlighting his prisoner re-entry initiative and for the bill signing of the senator’s Senate Bill 670 from this year’s General Assembly session.
• Senator Stephen Newman
  • Rep. Bob Goodlatte questions Attorney General on Soering transfer – Lynchburg News & Advance - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder cast some doubt Thursday on the possibility that convicted murderer Jens Soering might be transferred to a prison in his native Germany, where he could be paroled in two years.
  • Mr. Holder’s Inexplicable Behavior – Lynchburg News & Advance - No doubt, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is a smart man: a former federal judge, U.S. attorney, Columbia University graduate, the first black American to serve as attorney general.
  • Virginia Passes Higher Speed Limit Despite Safety Risk – 24-7pressrelease.com - In February, the Virginia General Assembly voted to increase the speed limit on some of the state's rural highways from 65 to 70 miles per hour. The measure was proposed by Republican Gov. Bill McDonnell and sponsored by two Republican state representatives, Del. Bill Carrico (R-Galax) and Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg).
  • The U.S. 29 Speedbump That Is Charlottesville – The News & Advance - For more than two decades, Charlottesville and Albemarle County have been a thorn in the side of communities up and down the U.S. 29 corridor.
  • McDonnell reinforces state’s stance on Soering transfer – The News & Advance - Gov. Bob McDonnell reminded the U.S. attorney general Monday that Virginia opposes a proposed transfer of convicted Bedford County murderer Jens Soering to a prison in his native Germany.
• Senator Tommy Norment
  • Four targets of Gloucester supervisors' subpoenas fight back – The Daily Press - Four members of the "Gloucester 40" who were targets of subpoenas by three county supervisors and an ex-supervisors have hired Sen. Tommy Norment to quash them.
  • Shipyard exec gives tips to TNCC graduates – The Daily Press - Thomasina Wright once sat in the seats at her own graduation from Thomas Nelson Community College, so she explained that she had a unique perspective on giving a commencement address for the college.
• Senator Mark Obenshain
  • BOYD: Set Virginia booze free – The Washington Times - Being honored as the country's No. 1 business state should make all Virginians proud. To continue in that role, however, Virginia must set a national example, applying innovative, pro-business policies that, in return, generate revenues to the Commonwealth.
•  Senator Frank Ruff
  • Rural leaders meet to map out future regional policies – The News & Record - Confronted by continuing economic challenges exasperated by the current economy and continuing changing industrial and agriculture markets, rural leaders from the Southern United States came together to plan for the regions future.
• Senator Richard Stuart
  • LifeCare unveils ‘awareness’ ambulance – Stafford County Sun - LifeCare Medical Transports unveiled a unique, new ambulance at a breast-cancer awareness event held May 12 at its Fredericksburg building.
• Senator Frank Wagner
  • On second thought ... Poll shows support for oil drilling way down – Inside Business - PUBLIC SUPPORT for offshore drilling in Virginia has dropped significantly in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, an Inside Business poll has found
  • Uranium Mining Subcommittee to meet in Chatham June 22 – Star-Tribune - The Virginia Commission on Coal and Energy's Uranium Mining Subcommittee will meet in Chatham Tuesday, June 22.
  • Oil off our coast not money in the bank – istockanalyst - While planning his run for governor, Bob McDonnell faced a conundrum: Virginians want better roads, but they don't want to pay for them.
• Senator William Wampler
  • Long-distance health care now covered by insurance – Virginia Lawyers Weekly - Legislation to mandate insurance coverage for telemedicine services in Virginia won unanimous approval in the 2010 General Assembly.
  • Alpha Natural Resources breaks ground on new headquarters in Bristol – Blue Ridge Business Journal - Alpha Natural Resources broke ground last week on a new headquarters in Bristol. The company will seek LEED certification on the building.