Richmond: Speaker of the House of Delegates Bill Howell and the House Joint Rules Committee has appointed Delegate James Edmunds to the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Awards Committee for a term coincident with the term for which he has been elected to the House of Delegates.

The Committee is responsible for evaluating applications for and selecting recipients of the Brown v. Board of Education scholarships, in accordance with the provisions of Section 30-231.5 of the Code of Virginia. Brown v. Board was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional.

"I am pleased to serve on this committee and look forward to helping those affected by Massive Resistance," stated Delegate Edmunds.

 From The Gazette-Virginian

Halifax County school officials are keeping their fingers crossed as the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly fashion and prune their individual versions of the state budget.

The initial promising news out of Richmond is both the Senate and the House versions of the budget restore all or part of the funding lost through the adjustment of the Local Composite Index (LCI), according to Bill Covington, Halifax County Public Schools chief financial officer. Governor Bob McDonnell recently announced the LCI would not be frozen at its current level for the next fiscal year as recommended by his predecessor, Governor Timothy Kaine. That meant an additional budget shortfall of nearly $1.5 million ($1,487,093) for Halifax County Public Schools.

Covington said Tuesday the House version of the budget would restore 80 percent of the amount lost for one year of the biennial state budget. That would amount to $1,189,674 for Halifax County.

Delegate James Edmunds confirmed those figures Tuesday. “It’s complicated, but yes, it restored about $1.189 million,” Edmunds said.  Read the full article.

From The Rotunda, Longwood University student newspaper

A group of Longwood students traveled to Richmond on February 18 to lobby members of the Virginia General Assembly to stifle cuts to higher education and fund the university's nursing program. The group went as part of Virginia21, a student-run higher-education advocacy group out of Richmond. Thursday was Lobbying Day for the organization, meaning that the Virginia State Capitol was packed with college lobbyists from all across the state. The students met with Del. Edmunds during their trip.  Read the full article.

Richmond:   We are in the "home stretch" now for this year's General Assembly session with only one more full week left.  This Wednesday the House was in session until 7:00 PM because it was mandated by state law that all revenue bills must be acted upon by midnight March 3rd.

So much of the work this Session on crafting our biennial budget comes to a head this week and next as both Chambers work at developing a consensus between the House and Senate versions of the Commonwealth's two- year spending plan.  This process involves six Senators and six Delegates who have been appointed budget conferees.  Their job is to consolidate two versions of the budget into one version.  That final product is the one that I will have to vote on.

First, the two groups must agree on revenue projections upon which the budget is developed.  Once that number is arrived at, then the "art of compromise towards a common goal" is applied regarding the state's spending priorities.  The target date to complete this work is by midnight, Tuesday, March 9th.  I feel fairly sure that a compromise will be reached by that deadline, but given the magnitude of the budget situation, we never know. Hopefully, the final cuts to education, Medicaid, and the Arts won't be as bad as originally introduced.  I constantly remind our budget conferees the importance of these areas to our rural part of the State.  Our final "Sine Die" adjournment is scheduled for Saturday, March 13th .

A lot of debate this week stemmed from Governor Bob McDonnell's proposal to make charter schools easier to open in Virginia.  This bill would give local school boards final approval for a charter school's application.  The bill has passed the House and is in the Senate.

A bill that should make fishing enthusiasts happy is SB 289, which establishes a lifetime fishing and hunting license for residents and nonresidents who are younger than two years of age. The cost for infant lifetime licenses for hunting and fishing is $125 each for residents and $250 each for nonresidents. The original license remains valid even if the licensee changes his place of residency.

During the final week or two of session, visitation usually slows down quite a bit.  We only had one visit from the district this week, Phoebe GurChiang, a registered dietician from Farmville.  My door is always open and I encourage you to drop by whenever in Richmond,

Next week will be my last week in Richmond, barring unforeseen circumstances.  I can be reached by calling 804/698-1060 or by email at deljedmunds@house.virginia.gov.  Any legislation can be tracked by accessing http://legis.virginia.gov.  Please contact me at any time.

From the News & Record

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced on Thursday that he is proposing the temporary closure of five state parks, including the Staunton River Battlefield Park which joins Halifax and Charlotte Counties. The Battlefield Park, as it is better known, is one of five that the Governor has recommended for closure. Another of the five is the Twin Lakes State Park in Prince Edward County which also serves residents of Nottoway, Charlotte and Lunenburg Counties.

If the General Assembly approves the Governor’s recommendation, the parks would be closed to the public by July 1 with only a skeleton crew remaining as caretakers until the budget situation improves.

Del. James Edmunds said Thursday that he was unaware of the plans to close the parks until he was contacted by the media. Both the Battlefield Park and Twin Lakes lie within his district.

Edmunds said it is his understanding that the state made an earlier agreement with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative to operate the Battlefield Park as a visitors center for the co-op. He said he is talking with ODEC officials to see what, if any, support they might be able to provide to keep the park open.   Read the full article.

Richmond:  Hi everyone! Well, if there has ever been a more difficult time to serve in government, I don't know when it would be. With deep cuts coming in nearly every sector of government from the most core services of K-12 education to Medicaid to public safety, there just aren't enough dollars to go around. I have truly agonized over this budget because I know what the real implications are to families and those who are aged and infirm and those who are caregivers. I know what it will mean to our kids and our schools. I know what it will mean to the arts, which are so important to our rural communities. However, I also don't believe that now is the time to make up the lost money by raising taxes and putting more burdens on families who are already really struggling. I truly hope that our economy will improve soon and these funds can be restored in the next budget. Please know that I am doing the best I can to tell our story and fight for our share of what little money there is.

As expected, I've heard from an awful lot of educators, and while the cuts will be bad, they should not be "catastrophic," as many of the emails are saying. Prior to last year, state funding for public education was held harmless, while funding for other state agencies and services were reduced during earlier rounds of budget cuts. Over the last 10 years, Virginia has increased its funding for public education by almost 60% (58.9) from $3.7 billion in Fiscal Year 2000 up to $5.9 billion in FY 2010 (as adopted during 2009 session). And, if you include the $365.2 million federal stimulus funding budgeted in the 2009 session for FY 2010, the total funding for FY 2010 increased by almost 70% (68.7) over FY 2000. During that same time, by comparison, student membership increased by only 7.2%.

In addition, the House budget proposes giving local school divisions significantly greater flexibility in allocating the funds provided to them by the state. Some portions of direct state aid will be distributed as a block grant and state mandates will be relaxed, easing some restrictions inherent in the existing Standards of Quality (SOQ). We continue to pledge to balance the state budget without increasing taxes.

On a brighter note, several bills designed to improve economic development opportunities in the state are steadily progressing. These bills include:

• Improve business one-stop program to make it easier for licensing and permitting;
• Expand the Virginia Jobs Investment Program

On a very bright note, an important economic development announcement for expanding and increasing up to 25 new jobs at Morgan Lumber in Charlotte County was made today at noon by Governor McDonnell. This is welcome news in our area.

From the News & Record

With both houses of the General Assembly having announced their budget plans for the coming biennium this week, things looked a little better than earlier reported, according to Del. James Edmunds.

“While things are not good, they are better than we earlier thought,” Edmunds said late Tuesday after studying the budget put forth by the House of Delegates.  Read the full article.

RICHMOND -- All he wanted to do was decorate his new office with some deer antlers. But then James E. Edmunds II discovered that this would be against the law, because the possession of shed antlers, like those left by a buck on his farm in Southside, is illegal.

So Edmunds, a member of the biggest freshman class of Virginia state delegates in nine years, used his awesome new powers to submit a bill to legalize their possession. It passed in the House, but not before Edmunds (R-Halifax) was thoroughly and publicly hazed with a barrage of silly questions, a time-honored tradition in the chamber.

Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William) demanded to know whether the bill would allow someone to snatch a set of antlers off someone else's shed.

"It would not, unless the antlers fell off the shed," Edmunds, 39, answered gamely.

If the shed collapsed, would a person be able to take the antlers off the shed? Lingamfelter pressed. And what about homemade turkey calls? Would Edmunds's bill infringe on hunters using bits of antler in devices used to lure a gobbler?

Richmond:  This past Tuesday marked "Crossover," the official mid-point of the 2010 General Assembly session.  At this point, both houses have completed work on all legislation filed by its respective members.  From this point forward, members of the House of Delegates will only be reviewing bills filed by senators, while members of the Senate will only review House bills.

All of my bills are now in the Senate for consideration.  HB 380, which clarifies criteria for receiving money from the Governor's Opportunity Fund has already been approved by the Senate General Law and Technology Committee.  HB 600, a technical name change bill for criminal justice academies, passed the House 98-0 and is in the Senate Local Government Committee and HB 1283, allowing possession of shed deer antlers has already passed the Senate 40-0.

I also co-sponsored and voted for HB 10, the Health Care Freedom Act, which passed the House and is now in the Senate Commerce and Labor committee.  If this bill passes, Virginia could be the first state to legislate against nationalized health care.

Several bills designed to reform government ethics are all advancing through the system.  They are HB617, HB933, HB655, HB740 and HB122.  You can read about these bills and follow them by logging on to http://legis.state.va.us/.

The state's budget situation hit home this week with the announcement that two of the five state parks being proposed for closure are in the 60th District:  Twin Lakes State Park in Prince Edward County and Staunton River Battlefield State Park in Halifax County.  This decision, by no means, is the final decision - only a proposal.  I will continue to advocate that this decision be reversed.

Crossover starts tomorrow, February 16. All bills passed in each house must be considered and sent over to the other chamber. Virginia's process of getting a bill passed is intentionally meant to be difficult.  Before a bill can become law, it must be approved by the chamber in which it was introduced, approved by the other chamber and signed by the Governor.

I'm pleased that my bill HB 380 The Governor's Opportunity Development Fund passed the House 98-0 and has already gone to the Senate. It establishes criteria for grants and loans to include job creation, private capital investment, and state and local tax revenue.

As a co-patron of HB 10, the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, I am delighted that it has passed and is headed for the Senate where a similar bill also passed. This bill is a stunning victory for States Rights and prohibits the federal government from requiring Virginians to buy health insurance.It's also good news that the House passed the 70 MPH rural interstate speed limit.

On "Lobby Day" officials from Prince Edward County met with me to talk over local matters of concern. I was pleased to host (pictured below) Howard F. Simpson, Vice-Chair; Mattie P. Wiley, Howard "Pete" Campbell; and County Administrator Wade Bartlett. In addition I met with groups from Charlotte, Nottoway and Halifax Counties.