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Dear Friend, Today, Republicans and Democrats joined together to pass the first new significant sustainable transportation funding and reform bill in Virginia in 27 years. Crafted and led by Republicans, the bill received the votes of over 60% of legislators in both houses. Virginians worked together across party and regional lines to find common ground to solve one of our Commonwealth’s most intractable problems. We got results. And the result is $3.5 billion in new transportation funding over the next 5 years, an estimated 35% reduction in the tax on gas at the pump, a shorter commute for you, and...

Virginia's House of Delegates has voted to approve what would become the first major reform in a generation of the state's system for financing its highway network. Friday's vote was 60-40.

By Tom Jackman Hey Northern Virginians! How would you like to pay another one percent of your income directly to your county or city, in addition to the federal and state income tax you already pay? This new income tax would be used strictly to remedy our wide and varied transportation problems. Sound good? Virginia state Sen. Walter A. Stosch (R-Henrico) wants to give Northern Va. counties and cities the ability to impose a one percent income tax to fund transportation. The counties say they don’t want it. (Robert A. Reeder - For The Washington Post) Before you answer, know...

Senate Democrats killed Gov. Bob McDonnell's comprehensive transportation funding plan that eliminates the state's gasoline tax in exchange for raising the sales tax to 5.8 percent Tuesday, just hours after the House of Delegates passed an amended version of the package. Senate Republicans offered two new versions of the plan that would have taxed gasoline at the wholesale level without increasing the sales tax, to no avail. The original measure's sponsor, Sen. Stephen Newman, introduced a new version of the bill that would have done away with the gas tax at the pump, and instead offer a wholesale gas tax...

A few years ago, Alaska’s proposed “Bridge to Nowhere” became a national symbol of wasteful government spending on little-needed projects. Now Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has pushed through his own version of this embarrassment, a $1.4 billion highway outside Hampton Roads that qualifies as a “Road for Nobody.” McDonnell has perplexed people across the state by his insistence on adding a tolled, four-lane highway parallel to U.S. 460. It will stretch for 55 miles from Petersburg, a Richmond suburb, southeast to Suffolk. The deal signed in December to build the road is especially insulting to traffic-jammed Northern Virginia, where...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A day after Virginia Senate Republicans staged a surprise reapportionment of all 40 Senate districts, it was met by ominous warnings from Democrats and nervous dismay by the state's Republican governor and House Republicans. On a party-line power play Monday, the Senate's 20 Republicans struck with one of the 20 Senate Democrats absent and abruptly amended a House bill that previously made minor technical adjustments to House districts. Sen. John Watkins' amendment - never vetted by a committee - adds a sixth majority-black district but substantially strengthens the number of GOP districts.

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- The Senate Courts of Justice committee this week killed or neutralized all but one anti-gun bill. The one bad bill that passed out of committee initially, did so because Senator Edwards was away from the General Assembly due to weather and normally pro-gun Senator Stanley voted to support the bill. :-( Senator Marsh’s “gun show loophole” bill was heavily modified and ended up requiring that only gun dealers could sell guns at a gun show. After the meeting Senator Stanley indicated that he had misunderstood the full ramifications of the modified bill. The committee reconvened on the...

Are abortion clinics in Virginia “beautiful, immaculate, clean facilities” that pass inspections “with flying colors”? According to NARAL Virginia Executive Director Tarina Keene and her Huffington Post water carrier, the answer is yes. But are they right? In March 2011, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed into law regulations that required the State’s Board of Health to write new rules for regulating abortion facilities, which had not been largely unregulated for more than 20 years. Late last month, McDonnell signed into law permanent regulations that will now hold the state’s abortion facilities to the same health and safety standards as hospitals....

RICHMOND, Va.— A month after the school shootings in Connecticut, President Obama is preparing to unveil a major gun control proposal Wednesday morning. And Virginia lawmakers are promoting legislation they say will make an immediate impact on gun safety in the state. Arlington Delegate Patrick Hope says he was stunned by how easy it was to purchase a handgun, when he and Alexandria Senator Adam Ebbin visited a gun show in northern Virginia recently. He showed the weapon to reporters at a State Capitol news conference Tuesday morning. "I bought this gun with nothing more than a request to see...

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell delivered his state of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday, marking his vision for the state as the General Assembly opens the 2013 session. One of the most striking parts of his presentation is a proposal to eliminate Virginia’s 17.5-cent per gallon gasoline tax, and replace this portion of state roads funding with an increase in the state’s sales tax.

Prayer breakfast calls on president to act 'for the people' Barack Obama is “an appointed minister of God to do what is good,” according to the prayer of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell at the Commonwealth Prayer Breakfast held at the Richmond, Va., convention center. The annual breakfast yesterday drew more than 1,000 people, including many of the state’s leaders. In addition to McDonnell, others offering prayers included Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, House Speaker William Howell and state Democrat Chairwoman Charniele Herring. McDonnell asked, during his prayer for Obama, that God give him “the wisdom of Solomon.” The opening prayer was...

With a flood of new federal regulations hitting everything from healthcare, energy, food safety, and bird protection, it is encouraging to know that some states can still think for themselves. In Virginia, Governor Bob McDonnell declared that he was going to make Virginia the Energy Capital of the East Coast—after all Virginia is blessed with abundant resources such as coal, offshore oil and one of the largest uranium deposits in the world. His plans have been thwarted by the federal government. The EPA is regulating coal mining out of existence. Federal restrictions have prevented Virginia from being able to access...

Gov. Bob McDonnell has certified health regulations that impose strict hospital construction standards on Virginia abortion clinics —triggering the next step in a multitiered approval process that could make the revised rules permanent by this summer. Unlike the public relations ballyhoo that accompanies many executive actions, McDonnell, an anti-abortion Republican, certified the regulations and had them posted to the Virginia Town Hall website without a public announcement on the Friday between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The signoff comes more than three months after the rules were adopted in September by the state Board of Health at a contentious...

VCDL IS PREPARING FOR ALL OUT CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT OUR RIGHTS AND TO PROTECT SCHOOLS VCDL's thoughts & prayers are with the families, friends, and all who were affected by the atrocity committed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School by a criminal monster on Friday. Words cannot adequately express our deepest sympathy to the victims and the revulsion we feel for the vile act of a lunatic. Although some gun organizations have dropped off the radar screen, VCDL has been active and on the offensive - from newspapers to television, from local news to national shows. From the Washington Post...

Not completely unexpected, Governor Bob McDonnell's comment yesterday that maybe it is time for a discussion about arming some school officials is drawing fire from the predictable quarters: Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, Democratic caucus chairman, said, “The governor should know better than to suggest that arming citizens will solve anything. “Maybe the governor should focus on solutions that could actually have an impact, like banning the high-capacity magazines used to inflict horrific violence upon countless American cities.” The Virginia Education Association had a more measured response: Meg Gruber, president of the Virginia Education Association, the state’s teachers union, said...

Virginia is moving towards making card-check—the controversial union proposal to replace secret-ballot elections with simple card-signing petitions—unconstitutional in the state. The effort is led by State Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) who said that “no citizen” should be denied the ability to vote by secret ballot. …

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has called for tolls to pay for the state's much-needed road construction, but another option is now on the table. State Sen. John Watkins (R-Powhatan) proposed a plan that would increase Virginia's gas tax from 17.5 cents a gallon to 31.5 cents a gallon. The 14-cent increase would eliminate the need to add more toll roads. In the proposed legislation, taxpayers in the three lowest state brackets would get a break on their income tax. Electric and hybrid vehicles would also have to undergo an annual assessment of $102 a year.

Republicans are in position to extend their recent gains among governors as they compete for seats they haven't won in a quarter-century. Of the 11 states with gubernatorial elections in November, eight are now led by Democrats, and each of the most competitive races is a GOP pickup opportunity. The numbers suggests that Republicans soon will claim 30 to 33 governorships after holding just 22 a few years ago - an advantage not reflected in the divided Congress or competitive presidential race. 'It says that when people are choosing the government closest to the people, they're choosing Republicans,' Virginia Gov....

It's been called "snowicane" and "worse than the perfect storm," and it could knock out power in the mid-Atlantic through Election Day. Hurricane Sandy hasn't even made it past the Bahamas yet, but Sandy, or any natural disaster around Election Day, could wreak extreme havoc on the election, experts say. [PHOTOS: Hurricane Sandy Threatens Caribbean] Political scientists have long studied the effects of rain and inclement weather on voter turnout and, not surprisingly, have found many people would rather stay at home than brave the weather. But more extreme storms or natural disasters that affect an entire state or region...

Based on the chatter on gun blogs and Internet forums, it looks like a groundswell is underway in Virginia to borrow a page from Napoléon’s playbook and vote ‘to the sound of the guns.’ Thanks to a new law passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by Governor Bob McDonnell (R), all that it will take to vote in Virginia this year is a concealed handgun permit. This means no photo is required to vote . . .