McDonnell touts transportation plan
An analysis of 10 highway projects funded by Gov. Bob McDonnell’s 2011 $4 billion transportation program shows they will provide nearly 3,700 direct jobs during their construction, $190.8 million in personal income, $14.8 million in state and local tax revenues and other benefits to Virginia.
“The Virginia Department of Transportation advertised more than $2 billion worth of construction and maintenance contracts last year, a direct result of the money provided by our 2011 transportation package, which the General Assembly approved,” McDonnell said. “This review of a cross section of new VDOT road projects clearly illustrates that putting such work on the street in turn puts Virginians to work and returns other financial benefits back to the commonwealth.” Read more
More than 2M Virginians can prepare, file taxes for free this year
Gov. Bob McDonnell said on Tuesday that the VA Free File program gives more than 2 million low- and moderate-income Virginia taxpayers the opportunity to prepare and electronically file their 2011 federal and state income tax returns for free this tax season.
VA Free File is a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Taxation and the Free File Alliance, a coalition of commercial tax-software companies. The 2010 General Assembly approved the partnership. VA Free File is modeled after the highly successful Internal Revenue Service Free File program used by millions of taxpayers since 2003 to e-file their federal income tax returns for free. Read more
McDonnell signs emergency autism legislation
Gov. Bob McDonnell on Tuesday signed House Bill 1106, which covers providers of applied behavior analysis under last year’s autism insurance legislation, into law.
After the 2011 General Assembly adjourned, the Attorney General’s office notified the Board of Medicine they were not authorized by the underlying legislation, House Bill 2467, to promulgate regulations for the licensure of Certified Behavior Analysts. Certified Behavior Analysts provide Applied Behavioral Analysis, the preferred method of treatment, to children diagnosed with autism. Read more
Dems urge McDonnell to come back to reality on economic recovery
The Democratic Party of Virginia today urged Bob McDonnell to focus on his job as governor and less on making tortured and patently absurd efforts to explain the nationwide economic recovery as anything other than a reflection on President Barack Obama’s strong leadership.
On Sunday Bob McDonnell went on CNN’s State of the Union and said: “Look, I’m glad the economy is starting to recover, but I think it’s because of what Republican governors are doing in their states, not because of the president.”
In making that argument, McDonnell failed to acknowledge the reality of a nationwide recovery in which states with governors of both parties are emerging from the national recession, including states like Maryland, which created eight times more private-sector jobs than Virginia did last year under the leadership of Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley. Read more
Federal agency moving forward with offshore wind energy plan
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced on Thursday that it is moving forward with the next step in offshore wind energy development off the Virginia coast.
The BOEM is publishing the call for information and nominations aimed at industry interest in locations off the Virginia coast for commercial wind energy leases. The call is the first step in the leasing process. It describes the areas that will be made available and solicits expression of interest from developers.
Developers will have 45 days to respond to the call. Once responses are received, BOEM will determine whether their leasing process will be competitive or non-competitive. Read more
Governor: Mild winter could lead to active spring fire season
As Virginia prepares for the beginning of spring fire season which runs from Feb. 15 through April 30, Gov. Bob McDonnell is warning Virginians that the threat of wildfires is increased this year due to Virginia’s mild winter.
“Wildfires in the Commonwealth are very weather-dependent,” McDonnell said. “When you combine the effects of the 2011 tornadoes and Hurricane Irene with the relatively mild and dry winter we’re experiencing, it adds up to a potentially dangerous spring wildfire season. That’s a life safety issue which could affect thousands of Virginians.” Read more
Democrat warns of cut to health-care safety net in state budget
At a news conference in Richmond this morning, Del. Bob Brink (D-Arlington), member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Joint Commission on Health Care, outlined the eroding support for vital safety net services in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed budget. Nearly $5.4 million in aid to various programs is on the chopping block.
“Gov. McDonnell’s budget would slash funding for the health care safety net by 50%,” said Del. Brink. “It literally would rip the safety net in half.” Read more
Gov. McDonnell announces first-ever direct export of Virginia Holstein bulls to Russia
Gov. Bob McDonnell today announced that the first ever direct export of Virginia Holstein bulls to Russia has been completed.
Vistar Farms of Mechanicsville, working in partnership with Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services international marketing staff, arranged the export shipment to the Russian port city of Novorossiysk. Financial details of the initial sale were private, but the export deal is significant as it marks Virginia’s entry into Russia’s growing market for cattle and genetics imports.
“I have made increasing agricultural exports from Virginia a key component of my administration’s overall economic development and job creation plans,” said McDonnell, who has included an amendment to his proposed budget to the General Assembly that provides additional funds to market and promote Virginia agricultural products in the global marketplace. Read more
Governor releases transportation plan
Gov. Bob McDonnell announced on Friday details of his 2012 General Assembly session transportation plan, wihch he said will provide additional funding for maintaining Virginia’s infrastructure and will continue the administration’s efforts to ensure greater accountability and transparency in Virginia’s transportation entities while delivering transportation projects more quickly and cost effectively.
“Last year, working across party lines, we took a significant step forward in addressing Virginia’s long-neglected transportation system by implementing reforms to transportation agencies and by accelerating projects and bond funding that had languished in bureaucracy. Collectively, we put the most new funding into transportation in a generation,” said McDonnell. Read more
Chris Graham: Breaking down the McDonnell-Romney endorsement
The cynic’s view could be that Bob McDonnell is jumping on the Mitt Romney bandwagon with his endorsement today of presumptive GOP presidential nomination frontrunner Mitt Romney.
If you believe that Romney is not only the frontrunner but the all-but-declared nominee, then the Virginia governor would be guilty of bandwagon-jumping.
But then there’s this hard bit of reality: Rick Santorum won Iowa, and Public Policy Polling has Newt Gingrich ahead in South Carolina. That leaves Romney with his favored-son win in New Hampshire to buttress his inevitability strategy. Read more
McDonnell, Warner meet in Richmond
Gov. Bob McDonnell and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner share a laugh during an impromptu morning meeting in the governor’s office in Richmond on Thursday.
The meeting took place following their joint appearance at a press conference announcing “My Digital Life,” a digital literacy and responsibility program for Virginia Public Schools.
Chris Graham: A catastrophe in the making
Posted by afp on January 27, 2012 · 2 Comments
The moves – forced by Gov. Bob McDonnell’s push on funding for the Virginia Retirement System for public-sector employees – are forcing the hands of local decision-makers. Local government, of course, is where the rubber hits the road. For all the talk of cuts in Washington and Richmond, when cuts are made at City Hall or the County Government Center, it’s not a budget bottom line being cut, but people and services.
And in public schools, when you’re talking about cuts to people and services, you’re talking teachers and students. Read more
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with bob mcdonnell, k-12 education virginia, virginia retirement system, vrs