The Virginia General Assembly recessed the 2011 Session on Sunday (February 27) - one day late according to its original calendar.  The General Assembly (GA) considered 2,692 bills this session and only 59% passed both the Senate and the House.  The Governor now has until April 5 to act on these bills and the GA will return to Richmond for the one-day "veto" session on April 6 where they will consider any amendments or vetoes offered by Governor McDonnell.

  

The VMA monitored over 120 bills directly affecting industry in Virginia during the session and enjoyed an 80% success rate with its priority legislation this year.  We were successful individually and through new partnerships on issues pertaining to adding career and technical education course completion statistics to the Virginia Index for Performance in K-12 schools and requiring the Department of Education to develop goals for K-12 engineering education, creating tax incentives to increase manufacturing shipping through Virginia Ports, extending sales and use tax exemptions for the oil and gas and spaceport industries, as well as planning for the repatriation of manufacturing jobs and allowing outdoor billboard advertising for alcoholic beverages. 

  

We also are going to have to retrench and come back fortified in 2012 to get relief from the job-killing machinery and tools tax as well as convince the Virginia Senate Leadership that the right to vote by secret ballot on labor organization representation is a right states should embrace despite organized labor protests.

  

In fact, the VMA will be announcing a new initiative focused on local government taxation in the coming weeks.  We must take the battle over the regressive machinery and tools tax to local governments over the next nine months.  If your factory is in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesterfield County, Hopewell, Rockingham County, Richmond or Danville, we need your help now.

  

Meanwhile, all 140 members of the General Assembly are up for election this year.  Additionally, legislative districts will be redrawn based upon the latest census data, so expect to see curious changes in legislative boundaries in the coming months.  The VMAPAC will be providing members with a full report on these elections through the Legislative Action Center's Election Guide.  We will also be providing members with a Voting Scorecard that will rate Virginia General Assembly members on their votes on VMA priority bills.

  

Your VMA team looks forward to a bright 2011.  We have many more announcements in store for the coming year.  As always, we are here to make sure that you are successful and "Made in Virginia" is synonymous with world-class manufacturing.

   

Sincerely,

  

Brett

Brett A. Vassey, President & CEO, VMA

  

VMA members should note that the deadline to enroll in PJM Interconnection's 2011 Interruptible Load for Reliability (ILR) capacity program is March 17th, according to EnergyConnect, a Corporate Affiliate that provides smart grid demand response (DR) services and technologies. Participants earn payments to be on emergency standby and curtail power consumption during peak demand situations or when wholesale electricity prices soar.

All large power purchasers in the Commonwealth of Virginia may qualify to enroll in the PJM program. PJM is the foremost regional transmission organization in North America covering 13 states and the District of Columbia.  For the complete article, including details of how to enroll in the program, click here.