On May 7th, we hosted our 2015 Legislative Awards Recognition and 91st Anniversary Celebration Dinner in conjunction with our spring Board of Directors meeting in Arlington, where we released our 2015 Legislative Report Card. We were pleased to host over 250 guests as we saluted Virginia's pro-business legislators for their work during the 2015 General Assembly session. That evening, we were pleased to hear from Speaker Bill Howell, who provided remarks on the 2015 General Assembly session. You can view Speaker Howell's remarks here.

We also presented a special Education and Workforce Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Bob Templin. Dr. Templin served as President of Northern Virginia Community College for over a decade. During his tenure, his efforts in workforce training, education, economic development and immigration policy played a critical role in building a stronger, more prosperous Commonwealth. As the top issue outlined in Blueprint Virginia, we were very pleased to present Dr. Templin this award for his outstanding contributions to improving education and workforce development. Following the presentation of his award, Dr. Templin delivered remarks on the state of Virginia's workforce. Click here to view his remarks.

Many legislators were in attendance that evening as they were recognized for their pro-business voting records during the 2015 session. A full recap of the 2015 Legislative Report Card can be found below, along with a link to download a copy. Virginia Chamber members will be receiving a copy of the report card by mail this summer.

General Assembly Members at the 2015 Legislative Awards Recognition Dinner

I also want to share with you the public policy briefing documents that were presented by Keith Martin, Vice President of Public Policy and General Counsel, to our Board of Directors at our meeting earlier this month. We are constantly working on your behalf, and these documents provide timely updates on Virginia's state rankings and statistics, public policy briefings on state and federal issues, and a comprehensive list of all of the bills we tracked during the 2015 General Assembly session. Please find these documents linked below.

On Thursday, June 4th, we'll host the 2015 Virginia Health Care Conference. This year's program will center around advancing Virginia's triple aim of better health, better care, and lower cost amid sweeping changes in the health care industry. More information on the 2015 Virginia Health Care Conference can be found below. We hope to see you there.

2015 Legislative Report Card

Business Advocate of the Year-Delegate Israel O'Quinn

Leadership in Energy Award--Senator Frank Wagner

Economic Competitiveness Award--Delegates Glenn Davis and David Ramadan

Small Business Advocate Award--Delegates Scott Taylor, Glenn Davis, Chris Head and Joseph Yost and Senators John Edwards and Frank Wagner 

May 2015 Public Policy Briefing

2015 Bills We Watched

Virginia Is Open to Business, Not Litigation 

New York lawmakers are considering legislation that would "make foreign companies submit to the jurisdiction of New York courts as a condition of doing business in the state" in an effort to draw more corporate litigants into its courts.  Such legislation would create "litigation tourism."  The proposed New York legislation would be unfriendly to foreign business and could "discourage outsiders from considering business in New York."  Virginia, on the other hand, has one of the best lawsuit climates in the country, ranked among the top 10 business-friendly lawsuit climates in the nation by the Institute for Legal Reform.

Virginia ranks 14th in Chief Executive Best & Worst States for Business

Virginia ranks 14th in this year's Chief Executive Best & Worst States for Business.

That ranking represents a drop of three spots for the Old Dominion since last year's list.

Chief Executive magazine has been surveying CEOs for 11 years on which states they believe foster growth through progressive business programs. In its profile of Virginia's business climate, Chief Executive was generally favorable.

"Virginia continues to be a pro-business state with low taxes and regulation, along with quality workers and a reasonable cost of living," it said. "Continued expansion of the federal government results in more opportunities for businesses in Virginia."

 The magazine also noted that Virginia has low unemployment compared with the national average and continues to have positive domestic net migration, gaining nearly 30,000 residents last year - the seventh best among the states. However, the magazine also noted that Virginia's gross domestic product grew only 0.1 percent from 2012 to 2013, a reflection of declining federal spending, especially defense spending. That figure put the commonwealth 1.7 percentage points below the national average.

For the full survey results, click here.