By way of background, prior to the legislative session, I had the privilege of serving on the Governor’s Commission on Sexual Violence in the capacity of chairman of the commission’s Committee on Treatment and Intervention. The purpose of the commission was to identify ways to improve the administration of justice for victims of violent crimes. During the year we met, the committee that I chaired brought together advocates and criminal justice experts from across the Commonwealth.

One of the issues that came to light had to do with victims of stalkers. With many crimes, particularly felonies and violent misdemeanors, victims are able to apply to the Commonwealth’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund for partial reimbursement of such expenses as relocation costs and therapy. Virginia is one of two states, however, that does not allow victims of stalkers to apply for such compensation. This is particularly unfortunate when considering that the federal government reimburses the Commonwealth 60 percent for every dollar paid out of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund. Moreover, the projected fiscal impact of covering costs for these crime victims would not jeopardize the solvency of the fund.

At the beginning of the legislative session, I introduced House Bill 965. This bill would allow victims of stalkers to apply for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund. We heard eloquent testimony from a woman who was stalked in Fairfax County, and whose case received notable attention in our local media. We also heard testimony from the executive director of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund, who provided valuable information about what other states cover and the fiscal impact on the fund.

The House and Senate approved of House Bill 965 by an overwhelming margin, and the Governor signed it into law last week.  Victims of stalkers will now be able to apply for compensation starting July 1, 2008.

In the first quarter of 2006, Virginia’s foreclosure increased over 100%.  According to the Office of the Governor, subprime loans made up 28% of mortgages originated in the Commonwealth in 2005 and 30% of new loans in 2006. Because interest rates are now increasing on those loans, there is a significant risk that the foreclosure rate will continue to rise. In the third quarter of 2007, a total of 9,200 homes were foreclosed, 5,900 of which involved subprime loans. Subprime lending was heavily concentrated among minority borrowers. In 2005, 47% of loans to African Americans in Virginia were subprime, as were 38% of loans to Hispanics.

The Governor’s bill would provide homeowners who have subprime loans on their homes with avenues to counseling information prior to receiving an acceleration notice.  It would also give them the option of suspending their foreclosure for 30 days while they attempt to work out ways to avoid foreclosure. The bill was drafted with input from the Virginia Foreclosure Prevention Task Force.

The United States Supreme Court and federal law provide guidance on how redistricting can and cannot occur. For example, boundary changes should strive to keep community of interests intact. In contrast, districts cannot be drawn that have the purpose or effect of disenfranchising people on the basis of race.

In Virginia, the political party in control draws the boundaries. This can work fine when there is a power-sharing arrangement, such as when one political party controls one chamber of the legislature and another political party controls the other chamber of the legislature. Distortions tend to arise, however, when one political party controls the entire redistricting process. In such an instance, there tends to be a smaller number of competitive districts drawn, leading to a smaller number of competitive general elections. Likewise, districts tend to be supermajority Republican or supermajority Democrat, which tends to polarize the legislature.

Currently, the House of Delegates is controlled by Republicans, and the State Senate is controlled by Democrats. It would seem that this is an ideal time for the creation of a bipartisan redistricting commission to draw the boundaries immediately after the next census and beyond. Unfortunately, however, the House bills calling for such as commission have been defeated.

The closest chance to having a redistricting bill pass this year was Senate Bill 38. On Feb. 4, the State Senate voted in favor of this bill to establish a bipartisan redistricting commission by a vote of 35-5. On Friday, this bill was considered by a House subcommittee of the House Committee on Privileges and Elections. Given the composition of this subcommittee, three members of the House were able to defeat further consideration of this important bill.

Unfortunately, this was probably the last opportunity this session to establish the creation of a bipartisan redistricting commission. It is an important initiative, and I hope that all members of the House of Delegates are given the opportunity to vote on it in a future session.

On Friday morning, I was pleased to join House colleagues from both sides of the aisle to announce a $1.2 billion higher education bond package. This bond package will allow our institutions of higher learning to begin construction as soon as the bill is signed into law, serving as an immediate economic stimulus for the Commonwealth. Many of the capital projects included in the package focus on research and high-tech workforce development, which are critical investments that will produce long-term economic growth. The bond package is designed to limit cost overruns by allocating sufficient funds for pre-planning designs. The Senate is expected to introduce a comparable bond package, and I am looking forward to working with the senators to harmonize the two bills. It is important to recognize that the catalyst for these bills was Governor Kaine convincing legislators last year that this higher education investment is critical to sustaining and growing Virginia’s economy.

On Friday afternoon, the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee made significant changes to House Bill 1332.  Many of my constituents and newspaper editorials were critical of the original version of the bill, which would have significantly weakened the authority of the Air Pollution Control Board. The substitute, which has received praise from the environmental community, preserves the board’s full power and authority and actually strengthens financial conflict of interest rules for board members. I expect this revised bill to pass the full House in short order.

As always, please contact me at DelSShannon@house.state.va.us or at 703-281-5200 to provide me with input on the many bills we are considering this legislative session

A fair amount of press coverage this past week focused on a heated debate that occurred on the floor of the House of Delegates.  The debate began over a request of a legislator to have one of his bills withdrawn from consideration by the House.  This fairly routine request was denied along political party lines, and the debate quickly shifted to a greater discussion of changes to the Rules of the House that include no longer having recorded votes in subcommittees, allowing as few as three legislators to prevent a bill from going forward, and limiting the number of bills a legislator can introduce.  The following is an excerpt of my remarks on the floor of the House last week encouraging greater civility in public life.   

“In its rich history, the Virginia General Assembly has experienced both highs and lows.  Our members have gone on to do great things.  They are responsible for drafting the Declaration of Independence and for a major contribution to the United States Constitution.  This Legislature took great steps to promote religious freedom, as demonstrated by the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, patroned by Thomas Jefferson when he was a member of our House.  This Legislature played a major role in teaching America that politics is not designed to invite public participation one day out of every two years, but rather that government requires citizen participating every day.

The late 1700’s and early 1800’s arguably was the low point of civility in public life.  That was a time in which America’s permanent two party structure was forming—a departure from the previous ad hoc majorities that tended to rule.  It was a time in which elected officials would deal with slights to their reputation by challenging other elected officials to fight to the death through the infamous duels.  It was a time in which dissenters of the party in power had to fear prosecution under the Alien and Sedition Act for speaking out against the government.  It was a time in which judges were the subject of impeachment not due to malfeasance but rather due to the party that put them in power.  I am sure that many elected officials at the time must have thought that the unabated political warfare would never end.

It is important to remain conscious of the fact that political parties and the political party caucus structure at times can have the effect of inciting passions to the point in which the most amiable of people are at each others throats.  We have to be conscious of that because of the importance of today’s issues and the recognition that these issues can only be solved if we are capable of working together.   

We are in a time of war.  Our economy is volatile.  We have parts of Virginia that experience prosperity and other parts of the Commonwealth where people struggle to find a job.  We realize that the world is more competitive than ever before, and we see other states making major investments in their higher education systems in order to compete for jobs.  Most importantly, we come to the General Assembly this year following a trail of tears left by the loved ones of the children who senselessly were murdered at one of our finest institutions of higher learning.  We recognize that at worst our mental health system is broken, and at best it is in dire need of repair.

There are two paths we can take.  We can let the political parties, so focused on what happens every two years rather than what happens in between, direct our attention to who can gain an upper hand on a daily basis.  Alternatively, we can commit ourselves to exercise restraint, not as a sign of political weakness, but rather as a reflection of wisdom and a recognition that the issues of today require that politics not operate as “business as usual.” 

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I have often heard it said in the course of discussions about arguably heavy-handed tactics by the party in power that Democrats treated Republicans unfairly when the Democrats controlled the House of Delegates.  My own view is that history will not look favorably upon our predecessors who focused on daily political gamesmanship at the expense of addressing the important issues of the day.  In fact, I do not think history will view these individuals at all.

When historians look back over the past fifteen years, I think they will observe a few things.  First, in the late 1990’s, Republicans took control of both the House of Delegates and the State Senate for the first time since Reconstruction.  Second, we lived in a time of uncertainty.  Third, a mass murder occurred at Virginia Tech.  The rest of our story remains to be written, as it will focus on how we responded to the challenges of today. 

No matter what we do, every person privileged to serve in the Virginia General Assembly can say that they served in a great legislative body.  Whether we are able to say that we served in a great legislative body during a great period in this Legislature’s history depends upon whether we can collaborate to meet the needs of our citizens, and our ability to do so rests upon how we choose to treat one another.”

Virginia finds itself in a more competitive environment than ever before. Our competitors are international as well as domestic. While Virginia is recognized for its fiscal health in terms of maintaining a AAA rating, having a business friendly regulatory environment, and passing fiscally responsible budgets, Virginia cannot afford to remain complacent from an economic perspective.

This year the Virginia General Assembly is considering a $1.5 billion bond package for capital projects at our public universities and colleges. This bond package would need to be approved by the voters. Many of the capital projects focus on building or renovating educational facilities that focus on instruction in the sciences, technology development and engineering, as well as research and development in these fields.

As a member of the Higher Education Subcommittee on the House Committee on Appropriations, I have spent the past week meeting with Virginia’s public university and college presidents to discuss the bond referendum package. I have observed three consistent themes in these discussions.

First, our higher education institutions are making significant efforts to expand student enrollment and are engaging in innovating ways to create more capacity. Our public institutions are developing articulation agreements with one another so that students who graduate from a two-year college with a solid grade point average can matriculate to our four-year institutions. Likewise, our schools are developing innovative ways to instruct students through long-distance learning to eliminate geography as a barrier to equipping our students with necessary skills.

Second, Virginia recently has experienced significant success in attracting companies to Virginia because of our schools. For example, Rolls Royce relocated a major facility to Virginia after entering into an agreement with the engineering programs at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech to provide the company with a steady stream of engineers. Likewise, we were able to attract SRI to relocate to Virginia based on a research-based agreement with James Madison University. It is important to realize that when major companies relocate to Virginia, their suppliers often do as well, thus further strengthening our economy.

Third, other competitor states also recognize the need to invest in higher education for purposes of growing their economies. North Carolina recently passed a $3 billion bond package for higher education, and North Carolina, Maryland and Georgia, by way of example, make a relatively large investment in research and development at their public institutions.

The bond referendum package is one of the most important initiatives Virginia will consider this year. As we deliberate upon how best to make this capital investment, we must recognize that this investment is vital to sustaining and growing Virginia’s economy.

The show is available online at iTunes and at The View from Virginia website.

The basic tax transaction involves larger retail companies with operations in many states, most notably Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, essentially paying rent to themselves and writing off the rental payments as business expenses. The “landlords” in these transactions are organized as real estate investment trusts (REITs) owned and controlled by the mother company. This kind of ownership arrangement allows firms to avoid paying income taxes by distributing the rental payments to “shareholders” residing in states that do not require taxes on dividend payments. The “shareholders” are frequently other corporate entities related to the “tenant” and the “landlord.”

If this bill passes, Virginia could attempt to collect back taxes from past offenders. North Carolina recently closed this tax loophole and collected $33.5 million from these two companies in back taxes.

“It is important that Virginians feel that the state tax code is equitable and that corporations pay their fair share,” Shannon said. “The closing of this loophole is essential to both ends.”

(1) House Bill 964: Increases penalties for a convicted sexual offender who fails to register on Virginia’s Sex Offender Registry

(2) House Bill 966: Increases penalties for an assault and battery of a law enforcement agent of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control

(3) House Bill 969: Increases penalties for hazing a juvenile in to a gang by requiring the juvenile to engage in sexual acts with gang members

(4) House Bill 973: Closes a loophole in Virginia’s indecent liberties statute for the protection of children

(5) House Bill 974: Requires law enforcement to update Virginia’s criminal information network whenever a protective order is issued

(6) House Bill 970: Empowers judges to place the subject of a permanent protective order on probation to ensure compliance with the protective order

(7) House Bill 965: Enables victims of stalkers to apply to the Criminal Injury Compensation Fund for resources for services such as relocation assistance

(8) House Bill 956: Ensures Virginia’s compliance with the federal Violence Against Women Act by clarifying that Virginia shall pay the cost of personal evidence recovery kits for sexual assault victims

“These public safety measures are the result of working with advocates and law enforcement officials from across the Commonwealth. Ultimately, the goal is to improve the administration of justice in Virgina,” stated Delegate Shannon.

Steve Shannon is a former Fairfax County prosecutor and co-founder of the Metropolitan Washington AMBER Alert program, designed to recover missing and abducted children.

The legislative initiatives include increasing funding for sexual assault crisis centers, eliminating a statutory loophole to the charge of statutory rape, clarifying that government officials shall not require victims to take polygraph examinations as a condition to prosecution and reimbursing victims for the cost of personal evidence recovery kits (PERKs), which are commonly used to collect evidence immediately after a sexual assault has occurred. Many of the recommendations are designed to put Virginia in compliance with the Federal Violence Against Women Act.

“Governor Kaine has made it a priority to address the quality of our response and prevention efforts for victims of sexual and domestic violence,” Delegate Shannon stated. “Through the Commission’s statewide outreach efforts, the Governor has put forth a comprehensive legislative package that will improve the administration of justice in Virginia. I look forward to assisting him in the passage of his 2008 public safety agenda.”

Delegate Shannon was appointed to the Commission after it was formed by Executive Order 38 (2006). Shannon is a former Fairfax County prosecutor and co-founder of the Metropolitan Washington AMBER Alert program, designed to recover missing and abducted children.