Delegate Bloxom updates from Richmond

Hi. This is Rob Bloxom with this week’s Capitol Report.

Now both budgets have been unveiled. Our budget in the House has Governor Glenn Youngkin’s tax rebates and tax cuts embedded in it to the tune of 5.2 billion dollars. The Senate followed former Governor Ralph Northam’s budget and only included a small tax reduction. The two budgets are over three billion dollars apart with three weeks remaining to bring a consolidated budget forward. It is somewhat like scrapple – the end results taste good, but no one wants to watch it being made. There is plenty of support for the 100^th District, but it is too early to celebrate any appropriations slated for us just yet.

I have six bills which made it to the Senate for their consideration. Two pertain to absentee voting. They are HB175 and HB177. My HB 179 deals with farm use tags, creating a program similar to permanent trailer tags. HB182 directs the State Corporation Commission on the criteria to use when setting water and sewer rates.  HB 180 creates a fund to pay localities for revenue lost from property  taxes on land use valuation of forestry land. The last bill that made it into the Senate is HB1261. This bill restricts the permit-issuing authority of citizen boards at the Department of Environmental Quality. (DEQ).

The one bill that did not make it to the Senate was HB843. This bill is in reference to income tax and housing opportunity tax credits. The bill never was officially voted down in the House. It was referred to the Appropriations Committee and the chairman chose not to docket the bill. This effectively kills the bill for the year. There is a similar bill coming from the Senate.                

The last bill of interest is on the recreational use of marijuana. Last year we passed a bill which was more than three hundred pages that legalized the recreational possession of marijuana. I voted against that bill. However, that bill did not create a path to legally grow, process, and/or sell cannabis. It incentivized the illegal market.  Now the Senate has passed a bill that is coming to the House side to help eliminate the illegal market. I think we need to figure out a way to ensure the quality and safety of these products in the marketplace and to keep the product out of the hands of minors. I am just uncertain as to how this is going  to be accomplished. 

As always, I welcome you to contact me with any questions or concerns at my district office at (757)824-3456, my Richmond office at (804)698-1000 or email me at [email protected].