Governor McAuliffe Statement on General Assembly Votes on Marketplace Virginia Amendment

The Senate floor session in the Richmond capital building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Governor Terry McAuliffe released the following statement after the Senate of Virginia and Virginia House of Delegates’ votes on a budget amendment to use Virginians’ federal tax dollars to offer hundreds of thousands of people who fall into the Medicaid coverage gap access to a private health insurance plan:

“I commend the bipartisan group of legislators from both chambers of the General Assembly who voted today to put their constituents and Virginia’s economy ahead of partisan politics. Because of those votes, the Senate budget contains a smart, market-based path forward to covering more Virginians and growing our economy in the process. While I am disappointed that House Republicans chose ideology ahead of what’s best for the Commonwealth on this preliminary vote, I remain optimistic that members of both parties can find common ground to accept this good deal for Virginia.

“Passing the Marketplace Virginia proposal will expand coverage for up to 400,000 Virginians, create as many as 30,000 jobs and save the state budget $1 billion dollars between now and 2022. That is why Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and the House of Delegates, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and a number of other business and health care organizations support the language in the Senate budget establishing Marketplace Virginia. As the budget process moves forward, I hope the House Republican leadership will join the broad bipartisan consensus that Virginia families and our economy are more important than rigid partisan ideology.”

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Governor McAuliffe Statement on House and Senate Budget Proposals

Virginia General Assembly (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Governor Terry McAuliffe issued the following statement on the budget proposals released by the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia today:

“I commend the budget writers in both houses of the General Assembly for their hard work and commitment to continuing the Virginia tradition of balanced and responsible budgeting. In both the House and the Senate budgets, there are many areas where we can find common ground to grow Virginia’s economy and strengthen communities across the Commonwealth.

“I applaud members of the House and the Senate for increasing Virginia’s commitment to higher education and for adopting my recommendation to include additional funds to help localities in Northern Virginia compete for the best school support staff.

“I also applaud both houses for providing additional funds in their budgets for mental health reform. We have seen the system fail too many times here in Virginia, and the commitment from both houses to address this issue is an encouraging sign that we can make meaningful reforms this year.

“However, the greatest opportunity we have to invest in mental health reform, cover more Virginia families and grow our economy lies in accepting federal funds to close the healthcare coverage gap here in Virginia. 

“I commend the Senate of Virginia for including in their budget a market-based path toward accepting this funding. That proposal will serve as a foundation for productive discussions about how best to cover more working families, create more jobs and save the state as much as $1 billion in the next eight years. 

“I am disappointed that the House budget fails to accept more than $2 billion per year in federal tax dollars that should be directed to Virginia families. Instead, the House uses $45 million in state tax dollars for an inadequate and inefficient stopgap measure to attempt to help our hospitals. It is fiscally irresponsible to ask Virginians to pay this cost twice. The House should join an overwhelming majority of Virginia business leaders, health providers and 27 other states that have decided to utilize federal resources to close the coverage gap. This is clearly a case of partisan ideology driving a bad business decision. 

“As the process moves forward, I plan to work with members of both chambers to ensure we have adequate investments in economic development incentives, life sciences and cybersecurity so that we can continue to grow industries that are central to our economic competitiveness.

“I look forward to working with members of both parties and both chambers to find common ground on these and many other issues that will benefit all Virginians and keep our economy strong.”

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Governor McDonnell Sets Date for Special Election in Virginia House District 11

English: The state seal of Virginia. Српски / Srpski: Застава америчке савезне државе Вирџиније. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell has set January 7, 2014, as the date for the special election to fill the seat of Delegate Onzlee Ware, who has announced his retirement from the Virginia House of Delegates.

Speaking about the special election, Governor McDonnell remarked, “Richmond will greatly miss the leadership and integrity of Delegate Onzlee Ware. During his ten years in office, Onzlee earned a reputation as a representative who always strove to do what was best for Virginia and the residents of the 11th District. Now, with his retirement, it is imperative we move as quickly as possible to fill this vacancy, and ensure that the people of Roanoke have full representation in Richmond. Therefore, I am calling this election for January 7th.”

The Governor will not issue the writ of election until December 6, 2013, in order to give political parties and election officials time to prepare for the nomination process and the subsequent special election.  After the issuance of the writ, pursuant to § 24.2-510 of the Code of Virginia, parties will have five days to nominate a candidate.  Should the parties or prospective candidates have any questions, they should contact the Virginia State Board of Elections at 1-800-552-9745 and ask for “Special Election Information.”

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