Virginia Chamber of Commerce
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Chamber Briefings 
 February 3, 2015
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Fantastic 50

April 30, 2015

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Member News

Ellen Bergren Joins Norfolk's Vandeventer Black LLP
President's Message

 

Barry DuVal

Last week was a very busy week at the General Assembly, as both houses work to complete their respective business before crossover on February 11th. With over 2,300 bills filed this year, there is still much work to be done.  

 

This week, we're expecting our EPA Clean Power Plan legislation to be heard in House Commerce and Labor Subcommittee today, Tuesday, and we also expect the Senate version to be heard this week. 

 

Below, you'll find more on this issue, as well as the Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credit. In case you missed it, Delegate Israel O'Quinn gave a passionate speech on the House floor last week on the importance of the coal industry to Southwest Virginia. You can view his speech here.

 

We were also pleased to host 300 Chamber and business leaders in Richmond last Wednesday for Chamber Day at the Capitol, where we heard from Speaker Bill Howell, Senator Tommy Norment, Senator George Barker, Lt. Governor Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring. Our keynote luncheon speaker was John McKernan, former Governor of Maine and President of the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, who discussed how slow growth impacts our economy. His presentation can be found here. To view photos from Chamber Day, click here.

 

That evening, over 500 people joined us for the Old Dominion Assembly Legislative Reception, including many General Assembly Members and members of the Governor's Cabinet. Governor McAuliffe also joined us for remarks at ODA . Photos from the evening can be found here. Many thanks to all of our sponsors for Chamber Day and ODA!

 

I am also pleased to announce that the Virginia Chamber's Board of Directors unanimously elected Stacy Mendler as Chairman for 2015. Ms. Mendler serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Alion Science and Technology. Tom Palmer, Senior Vice President, Regional Vice President--Central and Eastern Virginia Commercial Banking for Wells Fargo & Company was elected Vice-Chair. A full list of new board members can be found below.

Stacy Mendler Elected Chairman of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce
 


We are delighted to announce that Stacy Mendler of Alion Science and Technology has been named Chairman of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for 2015. Ms. Mendler was elected at the Chamber's annual meeting held January 28 in Richmond. She served as first vice chair of the board in 2014.

 

As executive vice president and chief operating officer of Alion, Stacy Mendler is responsible for initiating and effectively executing the company's business strategy. Mendler has more than 30 years of experience managing corporate business practices, corporate projects and setting strategy

 

Stacy succeeds 2014 Chairman Gary Thomson, Regional Managing Partner with Dixon Hughes Goodman. First Vice Chairman for 2015 is Thomas C. Palmer, Senior Vice President, Regional Vice President Central and Eastern Virginia Commercial Banking, Wells Fargo & Company.


Other newly appointed Board members include:

Brent Archer, Columbia Gas of Virginia, Chester

Larry Dickenson, The Branch Group, Roanoke

Richard Duvall, Holland & Knight, McLean

Robert Duvall, Virginia Natural Gas, Virginia Beach

Robert Genter, SAIC, Arlington

Katy Jones, Enterprise Holdings, Williamsburg

Dominic Jordon, UPS, Sparks, MD

Ed Kearney, Kearney & Company, Alexandria

Van Buren Knick, II, Capital One, Richmond

Chris Lee, R.E. Lee Companies, Charlottesville

Mike Ligon, Universal Leaf Tobacco Co., Richmond

Anna McKean, HDL, Richmond

Mike Melo, ITA International, Yorktown

Connie Nyholm, VIRginia International Raceway, Afton

John O'Neill, Hunton & Williams, Richmond

Rebecca Polan, Allied Logistics, Waynesboro

Don Redmond, PRA Group, Inc., Norfolk

Katie Grove Rodgers, Anheuser-Busch Companies, Marietta, GA

Sam Schreiber, Chain Bridge Bank, McLean

Kenneth J. Shepard, U.S. Trust/Bank of America, Richmond

Fred Thompson, Thompson Hospitality, Reston

Joyce Waugh, Roanoke Regional Chamber, Roanoke

Lee Wilhelm, McNeil Roofing, Roanoke

Brent Wilson, HCA Capital Division, Richmond

For a full listing of board members, please click here.
Keep up with Government Affairs Activities During Session on Twitter!

 
Bills We're Watching

Click on the image above to see a full list of the bills we're watching this year.

EPA's Clean Power Plan Legislation Up This Week

In last week's Chamber Briefings, we told you about legislation we are supporting that would require the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to assess the impact on Virginia's economy and the Commonwealth's economic competitiveness before developing a state implementation plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. This legislation encourages public input and transparency in the development of the state plan.

The House Commerce and Labor Committee has created a special Energy Subcommittee to hear bills on this topic. HB2291 is scheduled to be heard in subcommittee today, February 3rd.  We expect that the Senate version of the bill, SB1365, will be heard later this week as well.

The federal proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions is unlike any other emissions control program ever put forward by regulators, as it looks across the entire grid for reductions, not just at specific sources as has been done historically. EPA's target for Virginia is very aggressive and one that does not recognize the notable investments in clean energy that have been made over the past four decades.

 

Low, affordable, stable energy prices are absolutely vital to the Commonwealth's ability to retain, expand and attract business. Likewise, as the polar vortex demonstrated, it is imperative to have the necessary generation assets to get us through periods of high electric demand.

 

The VA Chamber urges members of the General Assembly to support this important legislation. 

Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credit

Coal mining has a long history in Virginia, especially in the Southwestern part of the state. According to a recent study by Chmura Economics, the coal industry employed 5.3% of the workforce in the Southwest Virginia region. In the past 23 years from 1990 to 2013, Virginia's coal industry has lost 7,081 jobs. In Southwest Virginia, the coal industry pays much higher wages than the overall industry average. In 2013, the annual average regional wage was $35,144, less than half the $80,518 of the coal industry. With 5.3% of regional employment, the coal industry accounted for 12.0% of total wages and salaries of Southwest Virginia in 2013.

 

With such a major impact on our economy, it is important that we preserve Virginia's Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credit, which has been instrumental in helping Southwest Virginia's economy adjust to the decline in coal production, the closure of mines, the loss of hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and has generated vitally important tax revenues for essential infrastructure projects across the region. The reduction or elimination of the Coalfield Employment Enhancement Tax Credit will cause major economic devastation in Southwest Virginia and impose additional hardship on a region struggling to maintain.

 

For these reasons, the Virginia Chamber is supporting HB 1879 and SB 741, patroned by Delegate Terry Kilgore and Senator Bill Carrico. These bills would extend the expiration date of the tax credit for 5 years

Thomas Jefferson Institute Releases 2015 Virginia Economic Forecast

 

Click on the image above to download a copy of the 2015 Virginia Economic Forecast.

Special Notice:

As of 1/1/2015 the Virginia Chamber of Commerce will no longer review or stamp Certificate of Origin documents. For information on alternative Chambers of Commerce that stamp Certificates of Origin, please contact Lindsay Myers, l.myers@vachamber.com.