Ken Plum: All’s well that ends well

Ken Plum

Not only did the 2013 session of the General Assembly end on time last Saturday, but it also ended on a high note. Having sat through a couple of decades of failed efforts to pass meaningful legislation addressing our transportation needs, I was not optimistic that we would be successful this year. The Governor’s proposal to fix a billion dollar problem with a revenue-neutral solution did not give me much hope. I was both amazed and delighted when the House passed a transportation funding bill by a vote of 60 to 40 that provides new revenue to meet road and transit needs.

Ken Plum: Too good to pass up

Ken Plum

In 2001, over 900,000 Virginians were living below the poverty line with an annual household income for a family of four under $23,050. Over 416,000 of these Virginians were living in deep poverty with a family of four having an annual household income under $11,525. Of the total, 270,000 were children, the highest number of children living in poverty in Virginia since 1998.

McDonnell: State will not pursue its own health benefits exchange

AFP

The old saw about PR is that if you have news that you need to get out, but really don’t want getting out, you do it on a Friday, the later in the day, the better. In that context, then, we have the news release from the McDonnell administration issued at 4:35 p.m. Friday reporting that Virginia will not be pursuing a state-based health benefits exchange for 2014.