Virginia Politics Notebook: Monday, March 1

Posted by afp on Feb 28, 2010 in Politics and Government | 0 comments

- Court News: Supreme Court rules man was denied due process in drug court
- D.C. News: Perriello blasts Senate Republicans on unemployment benefits
- Op-Ed: Bill Bolling on jobs, opportunity agenda

Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net

Court News: Supreme Court rules man was denied due process in drug court In a unanimous decision, the Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that when a criminal defendant enters a drug court treatment program as part of a plea bargain, termination from the program may not be used as a basis for conviction and sentencing unless the defendant is afforded a hearing on the reasons for the termination.

Judson Harris was charged with felony drug possession in Fredericksburg in 2005. He agreed to a plea bargain that allowed him to enter the Rappahannock Area Regional Drug Treatment Court Program, which offers drug treatment and rehabilitation while imposing strict behavioral guidelines. Under the plea agreement, if Harris successfully completed the drug court program, his charges would be dismissed. If he failed to complete the program, he could be convicted and sentenced to three years in prison with all but six months suspended.

Harris participated in the drug court program for over a year and made significant progress in treatment. Nonetheless, he was terminated from the program, apparently because of some comments made on his MySpace page. He was given no notice that his termination was being considered, and no opportunity to submit evidence in his own defense. The circuit court then imposed the conviction and sentence set forth in the plea agreement without considering any evidence of the reasons for Harris’s termination from drug court.

The Supreme Court held that the imposition of the conviction and sentence violated the Due Process Clause. “[B]ecause Harris had no opportunity to participate in the termination decision, the trial court’s refusal to consider evidence of the reasons for the termination from the program when deciding whether to revoke Harris’ liberty and impose the terms of the plea agreement deprived Harris of the opportunity to be heard regarding the propriety of the revocation of his liberty interest. That decision was in error.”

“This is a resounding victory for the principle of due process of law,” said ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca K. Glenberg, who represented Harris. “This decision will help ensure that people are not arbitrarily terminated from treatment programs when the consequence is a criminal conviction and jail time.”

In addition to Glenberg, Harris was represented by Joseph Brown, a criminal defense attorney in Fredericksburg. The decision may be found at http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1091177.pdf.

D.C. News: Perriello blasts Senate Republicans on unemployment benefits Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello blasted Senate Republicans on Friday for blocking an emergency extension in unemployment benefits, among other important provisions.

“Enough is enough,” Perriello said. “Senate Republicans must stop playing games with the economic security of American workers. These workers deserve these benefits, and now when they need them the most, Senate Republicans are holding them hostage for partisan gain. Every week the Senate fails to act on the 290 bills already passed by the House, we are losing jobs. Well, next week, thanks to Senate Republicans, even those Americans who don’t have jobs will pay the price for these partisan shenanigans.”

On Thursday, the House unanimously passed emergency legislation to extend for 30 days programs that are expiring this weekend (at midnight, Sunday, Feb. 28), including: unemployment benefits, help with health insurance for the unemployed (COBRA), funding for highway construction, and small business loan guarantees. But Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) is blocking passage of this emergency measure, despite the serious consequences for families across the nation.

Nearly 1.2 million jobless workers will become ineligible for federal unemployment benefits in March, and letting the highway program lapse could put 90,000 jobs at risk in March – a critical time at the start of construction season – as bills submitted by states or local transit agencies for highway and transit projects would go unpaid starting Monday morning.

Op-Ed: Bill Bolling on jobs, opportunity agenda With two weeks left in the 2010 session of the Virginia General Assembly, I am pleased to report that our Jobs and Opportunity Agenda is making progress in Richmond, but we have a lot of work left to do.

Gov. McDonnell and I introduced the Jobs and Opportunity Agenda when the General Assembly convened in January. Through a series of legislative changes and monetary investments, we have put forth a detailed and aggressive program that will help get Virginia’s economy moving again and create jobs.

Thus far, 30 of our 34 legislative proposals have been approved by the Senate and House of Delegates. These legislative proposals will enable us to increase tax incentives for businesses that create jobs in Virginia, reduce unnecessary and overly burdensome regulations, and provide greater access to the Governor’s Economic Opportunity Fund.

In addition, these legislative proposals will enable us to move forward with a number of critical strategic initiatives like our Mega Site Acquisition Fund, which is designed to lure advanced manufacturing businesses to Southside Virginia; and our Small Business Investment Company Credit Program, which will improve access to capital that is essential for successful business formation and operation.

Given the success of our legislative agenda, we feel confident that we will be able to make considerable progress this year in achieving our goal of making Virginia more competitive with other states when it comes to the recruitment of new business, industry and jobs.

However, we also asked the General Assembly to invest an additional $50M in proven economic development and job creation programs. While the budget adopted by the House of Delegates has given us almost all of the additional funding we requested, the budget adopted by the Senate funded only $6M of our requests.

In addition, the Senate budget reduced funding for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Department of Business Assistance, and it earmarked $20M in the Governor’s Economic Opportunity Fund for special projects, which limits the governor’s ability to use this money for job creation.

We are very disappointed by the failure of Senate Democrats to recognize the importance of investing in economic development at this critical time. Getting the economy moving again and creating jobs is the most important issue currently facing Virginia, and this is the time for needed investments in proven job creation programs.

By investing more money in the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Film Office we can enhance our state’s domestic and internal marketing activities.

By investing more money in the Governor’s Economic Opportunity Fund, the Jobs Investment Partnership Program and the Biotechnology Research Fund, we can improve our competitiveness with other states and improve our chances of closing economic development deals.

And by investing more money in strategic initiatives related to advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and life sciences, energy, small business and workforce training, we can position ourselves now to take advantage of a future economic recovery.

As the budget conference begins, we will be working with conferees to make certain that the importance of investing in programs that will help get our economy moving again and create jobs is at the forefront of their thoughts.

We have a great pro-business story to tell in Virginia, but we must have the resources we need to tell that story and the tools we need to show prospective businesses why it makes sense for them to locate in Virginia.

A growing economy will lift all ships.

Creating jobs will help families that are having a hard time making ends meet and businesses that are having a hard time keeping their doors open. It will also help government by generating more tax revenues to help fund core state services.

Now is the time to pass this legislation, approve these important investments and get our economy growing again. We look forward to working with the members of the General Assembly to accomplish this goal in the final weeks of the legislative session.