Feb. 2 - Richmond - Del. Charles Poindexter gives his weekly report.

The Poindexter Report, Week#4, January 27 - February 2, 2012 Our week was hectic as the General Assembly rushed towards the midpoint of Session (Crossover) on February 5. At this point, the House and Senate have to complete their respective bills, then exchange each other's bills for consideration. The budget for each body has to be passed by the 7th, after which conferees from each will negotiate differences. To accommodate this, the House Appropriations subcommittees -- I sit on four of them -- will present their recommendations to the full Committee on the 3rd for approval and forwarding to the full House for passage by the 7th. This week we passed a significant bill on electric utility regulation. Recall that the Attorney General is the 'lawyer' representing all of us in rate increase requests to the SCC by the Publically Owned Utilities (POU's), such as APCO. As our rates have risen steeply over the last few years -- chiefly due to EPA regulations on coal mining and coal generation -- he and his staff have worked diligently to determine if there were steps Virginia could take on its own in today's changing energy environment to improve our regulatory framework. Working with all stakeholders, he proposed and we passed HB2261 (Kilgore). This legislation a) places base rate increase requests by APCO and Dominion into alternate years, which means APCO cannot file another base rate request until 2014; b) provides policy guidance to the SCC for accounting for certain major costs beyond the control of the utility; c) increases the customer refund percentage for earnings above their authorized Return On Investment (ROE); d) expands the definition of when earnings are insufficient or excessive; and, e) eliminates incentives for certain generation projects. With regard to the latter incentives, the bill eliminates the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) incentives and reduces the incentive dollar returns for nuclear and offshore wind to half of that currently allowed. Eliminating the RPS incentive was what I had in mind last year with my HB1017. While HB1017 did not pass last year, I refilled it (HB1987) this year and it was incorporated into broader bill, HB2261, which we passed this week. These incentives were intended to encourage the use of renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, as we have seen in state after state across the nation, they have failed to produce power that is competitive in price, cannot operate without huge taxpayer and user subsidies, and are not as efficient as natural gas, coal, and nuclear power generation. While the cost and reasonable profit on a renewable project made sense, a bonus incentive of .5% on the equity of the entire company is not appropriate for customers to bear. This week, the remaining K-12 Reform bills passed the House, including their accompanying budget amendments through the Appropriations Committee for inclusion in the House budget. The Governor's Transportation Bill passed out of the Finance Committee on Thursday, and we will have it on the Floor to complete by Crossover. A few minor amendments were made by the Finance Committee and more are possible as the House finishes the bill and then the Senate -- and then the Conferees -- determine the bill's final content by the end of Session. Many other House bills affecting the 9th District were passed this week. They include, a) landowner protections against frivolous lawsuits by trespassers; b) major tort reform measures to make Virginia even more business friendly, improve trial efficiency, and provide fairer process for plaintiffs and defendants; and, c) the move of all Water Quality programs administration from DCR to DEQ (except the Nutrient Management Plans and the Soil and Water Board/BMPs. Water Quality improvements at all levels are a huge challenge even beyond these administrative aspects. For example, federal mandates, remember, extend beyond farmers and include housing developments, businesses, homes, and major municipal treatment plant upgrades. These federally unfunded EPA mandates are forcing city governments to raise water rates above what citizens can pay, so the cities come to the state for large dollar amounts to help pay for the upgrades. This places an additional burden on the state budget, effecting the dollars available for Education, Public Safety, Health and Human Resources, and others. In addition, counties such as Fairfax are facing stormwater run-off mandates and are now asking for funding for urban run-off projects that would cost billions. We also held a spirited debate on the so-called "Boneta" bill and two related farm product direct sales bills. The basic issue in the Boneta bill was to define what 'the right to farm' means in the context of local land use/control ordinances. The Boneta bill's intent was to further define the Right To Farm Act and, after significant amending, it passed. It is a step forward, as it now recognizes farm product-to-business and farm-to-consumer sales of farm produced items as commerce by right. It also creates a rebuttable presumption for the farmer, meaning the burden is on government to prove they are selling products not relative to agriculture or silviculture or engaging in non-related activities. The 'home sales of food' or 'farm sales of food' bills were combined into one bill and passed, expanding the list of products that may be sold without state food safety inspections, provided the products are labeled as such. My office welcomed many visitors this week. Virginia Education Association constituents visiting on Education Lobby Day included Dorothy Carter of Martinsville, Joshua Bocock of Ridgeway, and Carla Tyree and Leanne Worley of Rocky Mount. Six students from Ferrum College came in support of increasing Tuition Assistance Grants funding. I support increasing the funding for these grants and anticipate the grant amounts will be increased in the budget. Other visitors included Margaret Torrence, Commissioner of the Revenue for Franklin County; Matt Hankins, Assistant Town Manger of Rocky Mount; Bill Jacobsen, Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital Administrator, and several staff members, including Stacey Sink of Callaway, Karen Michalski-Karney of Glade Hill, Lyne Aigner of Ferrum and Robin Wunderlich of Rocky Mount; and, Sally Rugaber from Meadows of Dan representing Virginia for the Arts. My District office in Glade Hill is closed during session but you can contact me in Richmond at (804)698-1009 or DelCPoindexter@house.virginia.gov or by regular mail at P.O. Box 406, Richmond VA 23218. Best Regards, Delegate Charles D. Poindexter 9th District, House of Delegates, Virginia General Assembly