Dear Friends and Neighbors,
With a quick bang of the gavel, the 2009
session of the Virginia General Assembly
sprang to life on Wednesday afternoon. Later
in the evening, Governor Kaine gave his
State of the Commonwealth address. It was a
sobering reminder of the challenges before
us, including a projected $3 billion revenue
shortfall. At the same time, I left
confident that Virginia’s
entrepreneurial spirit will allow us to rise
to these challenges and position us for an
even brighter future.
While in Richmond, I will be voting on
literally hundreds of measures that will
affect our community. Your feedback is
important. Please share your opinions on
some of these issues by participating
in my 2009 Constituent Survey. You
can find the survey on-line at www.davidbulova.com.
I also hope that you will join me and
Senator Chap Petersen at a Town Hall
meeting on Saturday, January 24th
from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the City of
Fairfax Council Chambers. This will be an
opportunity for you to ask questions and to
get an update on our progress.
For my first newsletter of the session, I
want to highlight two House Rules
changes that will make our government more
open and accountable. As many of
you know, I have been vocal in my dislike for
a rule that allows subcommittees to kill
bills without a recorded vote. Subcommittees
typically consist of only 5 to 9 people
– which means that very important
legislation can be suppressed by an
unrepresentative group with no fingerprints.
While bills can still be killed in
subcommittee, I am very pleased that a
change in procedures will now require
recorded votes.
Another great change is that House
deliberations will now be accessible live via
streaming video! The Senate has done
this for years, but until now House debates
have been largely inaccessible to the public.
Click
here for the link. While many of the
proceedings are very technical, if you watch
long enough you are likely to find something
interesting – sort of like late night
television.
This year I am very excited about
my legislative agenda. As the
session moves forward, I will provide you
with more details about my bills and update
you on my progress. To-date, I have
introduced 10 bills that address issues
including the transportation funding
formula, renewable energy, eminent domain
reform, and stormwater management –
just to name a few. If you would like
a quick preview, you can find a full
list of bills here.
As always, thank you for the opportunity
to serve as your representative in the House
of Delegates. Please do not hesitate to
contact me if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
David Bulova
