I can always count on losing a couple of days of work when I buy a new computer. Which is why my old one was over six years old. Things are almost 100% normal. We’ll see.

May not be posting today due to installation of new computer. Be back soon. (You know how that goes.)

“I thought I’d seen it all in 25 years of working with the General Assembly. We’ve seen numerous bills in recent years that would impact women’s access to contraception, unfortunately,” said Ben Greenberg, chief lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Virginia. “This bill is probably just the latest and perhaps the most threatening and extreme of examples of legislation that would do that.”

What he’s talking about is HB1918, which would decree that life begins at fertilization, introduced by Mark Cole (R-Frederickburg).

Greenberg said a number of popular birth control methods–the Pill, Depo Provera, the morning-after pill–all can potentially act after fertilization has occurred. Cole’s bill could prevent access to all those types of birth control.

“The only thing that would be available on the market, if these methods of contraception were made illegal, would be the barrier methods,” Greenberg said. “Condom manufacturers should be very excited by this legislation.”

Greenberg said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that couples do have the right to access birth control.

However, that hasn’t stopped some lawmakers–in Virginia and elsewhere–from trying to blur the line between abortion and contraception, Greenberg said.

For that reason, there is a bill in the U.S. Senate right now that would define what is contraception and clarify that it is not abortion.

“People have a hard time believing that our General Assembly could be hostile to birth control,” Greenberg said. “But this is another example of that fact. Hostility toward abortion has been documented for many years. The hostility toward birth control is of more recent vintage, and is evidenced by bills over the past three to four years, this being just the latest and most threatening example of them. It seem to me the women of Virginia should be outraged by this.”

Cole’s bill has been referred to the House Privileges and Elections Committee, which is not the usual repository of bills relating to reproduction. However, Cole’s bill makes reference to the state constitution in a way that could put it in that panel’s purview.

I think it better to refer this bill to the circular file. Thanks to a new blog – and PAC – called Virginia Family Values PAC for pointing this bill out. It’s not what the name might lead you to think.

Others are also assaulting contraception through funding measures.

In his speech last night, Gov. Warner expressed a willingness to compromise on the charter plan proposed by the state’s top universities. One of the losers may be university workers.

The legislation also is similar to permission the state gave its major medical centers in Richmond and Charlottesville nine years ago to operate free of some state bureaucrats and regulations.

UVa administrators point to the hospital as a major success under codified autonomy, but many of its workers are poorly paid and do not enjoy the benefits of state employees, Gaines of the NAACP said.

“We also know that the state has failed to do its part to address higher education’s needs,” [John J. Gaines III, a retired Charlottesville principal at McGuffey, Jefferson and Walker schools] said Tuesday. “We are concerned about the lower-paid workers at the university” and how they would be treated under charter status.

The UVA faculty also has some concerns. They outlined here.

The Charlottesville Daily Progress, perhaps not surprisingly, has covered this story well. You can find its stories here.

In last night’s State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov. Mark had no surprises. But as much as what he said, here’ what he didn’t say:

The speech also was notable for what Warner didn’t say.

1. No mention of the GOP-proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage
2. Silence on Jerry Kilgore’s cynical Death Penalty enhancement Act
3. No support for a constitutional amendment preventing raids on the Transportation Fund.

I can understand #1 and #2. But why not, as Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine has done, support a lock box on the Transportation Fund? Granted, it’s disingenuous to suggest, as some conservatives do, that that solves the state’s transportation problems, but that kind of discipline is what voters – including many who opposed the transportation referenda in 2002 – are looking for.

Though transportation is often cited as the major issue to be addressed by the Virginia legislature this year, both Gov. Warner and the House GOP have offered similar plans. The only notable difference is the GOP call for transferring a portion of auto insurance premiums into transportation. Warner advocated that idea last year, according to The Washington Post’s Mike Shear, so he may be amenable to it this year. But then, they run into the Senate’s powerful majority leader.

State Sen. John H. Chichester (R-Stafford), who was Warner’s chief ally last year, has said repeatedly that he opposes any shift of money from Virginia’s operating funds into the transportation fund. Doing so, he said, would steal from education, health care, colleges and public safety.

Chichester, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has been coy about the Howell proposal. That’s typical for Chichester, who often remains opaque even to his closest allies in the Senate.

His views are likely shared by many members of his committee. If they all reject the insurance transfers, there could be an interesting reversal of allies this time around: Warner and Howell vs. Chichester and the Senate.

It’s also possible that Howell could once again find himself the odd man out. Warner could again reject the insurance transfer and side with Chichester for the smaller, one-time package.

Almost makes one wish that Chichester has something more up his sleeve. The Senate is not up for re-election this year and will still be more than a year away during next year’s session. This bi-partisanship is all lovely-dovey but it will dissipate once the session is over. Maybe Chichester can make things exciting, but more important, really do something to improve traffic.

“It’s politically easy to say that we should all be bipartisan.”
–Del. Christopher B. Saxman, R-Staunton, skeptically of Governor Mark Warner’s call for cooperation in the legislative session, but could have been said by any Capitol Hill Democrat about George Bush’s call for the same.

Some of the Northern Virginia counties are known to whine abut the state not sending enough of the county’s tax money back where it came from. It’s a legitimate complaint, but the funding formulas aren’t likely to change with smaller jurisdictions reaping the benefits of those formulas having a far greater number of lawmakers in Richmond. In other words, just count the votes.

But Prince William County, where they are fast growing out of their “poor cousin” image vis-à-vis Fairfax – and yes, where they do much better than Fairfax in some of those formulaic distributions, still has decided it’s better to plan than whine. Plan way in advance.

Every four years, beginning in 2006, voters would be asked to approve spending for road projects. A bond issue for parks would go to the polls every six years, and funding for new libraries would be considered by voters every 12 years. School bonds, which are proposed by the School Board, are not included in the schedule.

And Prince William, unlike Fairfax, is willing to make developers may their fair share.

“Development is not paying for itself,” said Supervisor Corey A. Stewart (R-Occoquan). The plan for scheduled bond referendums “is a testament to the need to look at the proffers and increase them this year,” he added.

Requiring more in proffers — the money or land that developers offer the county in exchange for rezonings — is an issue the board will look at this year, [County Manager Craig] Gerhart said.
Last month, Brookfield Homes, a major developer, said it will provide more than $100 million in road improvements if it wins approval to build 6,000 homes and a town center of restaurants, shops and office buildings near Gainesville.

Gerhart’s plan for meeting the county’s future capital needs includes $40 million in proffers that would be coupled with bond money to complete projects.

Note that Stewart is a Republican. As is, of course, PW County board chairman Sean Connaughton.

Generally, counties put bonds on the ballot whenever the need arises for a big project such as a new school. It is rare for officials to plan referendums more than a decade in advance, according to board Chairman Sean T. Connaughton (R-At Large).

… Connaughton, who is running for lieutenant governor, said Prince William’s plan recognizes the state’s limitations. “With the four-year road bonds, it is our acknowledgment that the state will never have the money,” he said.

Generally, the plan seemed well received, according to reports.

The transportation portion of the CIP received much attention from the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, who heard of the plans for the first time Tuesday.

Most supervisors were receptive and some even wondered if the next road bond should be sent to voters this year instead of 2006.

“I’d be very interested in 2005,” said Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan, R-Dumfries.

Supervisor Chairman Sean T. Connaughton, R-at large, asked if voters could approve a road bond in 2005 in case any bond capacity is available to start engineering new roads as soon as possible.

Gerhart said his staff would look into that.

Caddingan, another Republican. It’s nice to see the GOP reacting positively to plans that ask developers to pay up.

But another way of looking at this is passing the buck. Bonds are usually pretty easy to pass. Voters see them as a loan from the bond buyers. But they are another form of tax increase in the sense that the debt service is another line item in the budget. Every dollar going towards bonds is one less dollar the county can spend on other needs. That’s not to say that it’s poor planning, but it isn’t a free lunch or “thinking outside the box,” as one supervisor put it. It’s long range. That’s good. It’s taking responsibility. That’s good, too. Maybe PW thinks its people won’t mind.

Prince William County experienced another period of fast job growth in the second quarter of 2004, according to recently released numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It’s the second time Prince William has made the top 10 list of job growth for 2004.

The 5,900 jobs created by June 2004 placed Prince William County at No. 4 on a nationwide earning and wage list released Tuesday.

Since June 2003, the county saw job growth increase by 6.9 percent, although its total number of jobs is about 20 percent of Fairfax County’s.

If they hope to catch Fairfax, I’d advise, be careful what you wish for. With the growth may come a whine from both its leaders and homeowners who pay back that debt service.

When even the conservative Richmond Times Dispatch editorial page says while increasing fines for driving violations might be a good thing,

Yet do fines qualify as prudent vehicles for financing roads and other transportation projects? Although a system strapped for cash can use every buck, a fine-based program – even when used as a supplement – relies on uncertainty. Indeed, establishing such a fund could distract attention from the compelling need: a reliable source of dedicated funding sufficient to maintain the existing network, while also building the projects Virginia’s growing economy needs. The package proposed by House Republican leaders reflects a more comprehensive vision. Sunday’s Editorial Page addressed the GOP plan. Future editorials will focus on the issue as it works its way through the legislative mixing bowl.

Supporters likely consider “abuser fees” ways to raise money without resorting to general tax hikes. The plan itself concedes there is a serious problem with transportation funding in the Commonwealth. The abuser fees – welcome as they might be – would fall short of salvational. As politicians from both sides of the aisle recognize, the climate is not propitious for increasing the tax on gasoline. But do not be surprised if gasoline taxes appear on the legislative table – not in the 2005 session perhaps, but maybe in 2006. Abusers should pay more. The dilemma is that users probably will have to pay more, too.

The anti-taxers must feel betrayed by the usually reliable right-leaning RTD editorial page. If I were running against said anti-taxers, this might be an editorial I’d have in my hip pocket, along with all those quotes from business people one reads in stories about the transportation shortfall. As the sales tax referendum of 2002 proved, business folks don’t always get their way, but they are building a coalition that might finally get something done, albeit not until next year.

In his state of the state speech tonight, Gov. Mark Warner is expected to counter the charter plan proposal by Virginia’s top three universities with a more modest plan of his own.

The governor also will call on the assembly to loosen some state controls over public colleges and universities, one source said. Warner proposes “to free the colleges and give them additional operational flexibility,” the source said yesterday.

But he will demand of the institutions “greater performance, accountability and access” to higher education for needy Virginians.

The governor’s higher education proposal falls short of a sweeping plan by the state’s three premier universities–University of Virginia, William and Mary and Virginia Tech–which have sought “charter” status.

Under that plan, they would agree to forgo up to 10 percent of state funds in exchange for, among other things, fewer restrictions on procurement, hiring, tuition raises and capital projects.

But many lawmakers, as well as Warner, are leery of giving the schools a blank check.

And well they should be. Many parents of young children are surprised to learn that their often very bright kids can’t get into UVA, Tech or W&M. The demand is so great that only the top handful of students in even the best high schools can gain entrance. Many fear the colleges want a freer hand to not only raise tuitions (even they admit to a likely 10% annual increase over the next few years, if allowed) but also to admit more out-of-state students, leaving even fewer spaces for Virginians. No question they need more money, but leaving them to their own devices could be the first step in making them private, which would be a loss of literally centuries of taxpayer investment. (OK, two centuries.)