As with all posts, this content was first presented on the Active-RVA Tumblr, and then cross-posted.
I combed through the submitted legislation to be heard at the
Virginia 2013 General Assembly, and found significant bills in the areas
of: Elections, Education, Employment and Public Benefits, Taxes and Finance, Prisoners and Crime, LGBTQ Concerns, and Reproductive Rights and Related Issues.
Here are the worst that I saw, which will require strong opposition during the upcoming legislative season:
1. HB 1:
The Fetal Personhood Bill, back again for another round. Establishes
“personhood” as beginning at conception, outlawing all abortion and
processes that could interfere with a fertilized egg.
2. SJ 17:
A proposal to amend the state constitution to allow the Virginia Board
of Education to establish charter schools. Meaning, to establish private
schools with public monies. This is yet another attack on public
education by privatization interests.
3. SJ 25, HJ 536:
Proposes a constitutional amendment to disallow union-only shops.
Establishes Virginia as a “Right to Work” state. This was conceived not
to protect workers from exorbitant dues or to provide for employee
choice regarding professional associations, but instead to prevent
unions from becoming large enough to effectively bargain collectively.
Declares unions that have achieved “an employment monopoly in any
enterprise” to be a criminal conspiracy.
4. HB 487:
Proposes that convicted prisoners should be charged for their transport
to a jail or prison. This would be yet another charge- in addition to
rent, fees for medical attention, cost of stationary, stamps, sanitary
materials, and additional food- incurred by a population that tends to
come from poverty, and that rarely makes even close to minimum wage
while working in prison.
5. HB 567:
Eliminates the continuing contract for teachers who have not achieved
contracted status by the 2013-2014 school year. Instead, contracts will
be meted out in three year periods, and to be eligible for a contract, a
new teacher must first teach for five years. This bill is a major
threat to educators, who will now be in a position of even less job
stability than they currently have. This will also make it harder for
teachers to oppose administrators and advocate for the needs of
themselves and their students. Here is the Virginia Education Association’s fact sheet on continuing contracts and why they’re necessary for quality education.
6. SB 692, HB 248:
Eliminates corporate income tax, effective 2014. This would exempt
corporate entities from paying into the public funds that provide things
like infrastructure, education for their workers, copyright
protections, industrial subsidies, and, in the case of minimum-wage employers like Walmart, the public assistance that keeps their underpaid employees alive. As this report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission
shows, Virginia depends on the revenue generated by corporate income
tax, but already has a very low rate, and is conservative in which
corporations are eligible to be taxed.
7. HB 1001:
Calls the state police to publish an explicit agreement with US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s policies regarding undocumented
immigrants, and to “perform federal immigration law-enforcement
functions in the Commonwealth after arrest of an alien.” Meaning, to
adopt a policy of beginning the deportation process upon arrest,
regardless of if the arrested party is guilty of a crime.
8. HB 1112:
Eliminates the HPV vaccine requirement for girls entering public
school. The driving motivation of this bill is the colloquial belief
that protecting girls from Human Papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted
infection that can cause cervical cancer, will cause them to become
promiscuous. This has potentially wide-reaching public health
implications, and is based on a misconception.
9. HB 1315:
A Conscience Clause exempting employers from covering contraception,
sterilization, and abortificant drugs in their employee insurance plan,
for any reason. This bill operates in tandem with HB 1314,
which requires insurance companies offering employee policies to offer
policies that omit contraception coverage, so that employers may deny
their employees that kind of reproductive care. This puts the personal,
private medical decisions of employees- mostly women- in the hands of
their employers.
10. Open space for any late-submitted travesties that may arise. Stay tuned!
