Fairfax County
Taxpayer's Alliance
Home Search FCTA Publications - Monthly Msgs - Reports - Bulletins - Handouts - Good Reads Fairfax Co - Taxes & Budget - Gov't Schools - Pensions - Transportation - Misc / Other Beyond Fx - Virginia - National - World Miscellaneous - Health - Environment - Potpourri About Us - Who We Are - Calendar - Support FCTA
A A
2023 Virginia GA Legislative Agenda

FCTA'S LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
FOR THE 2023 VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION

November 18, 2022

contact@fcta.org

  1. There is a conflict of interest when county supervisors, who determine annual raises and the corresponding tax hikes, receive contributions from public employee unions. Therefore:
    1. Ban public employee contributions to supervisor political campaigns,
    2. Or require supervisors to disclose union contributions when they vote on raises and in the annual budget document.

  2. Private-sector taxpayers are lucky to get 401k plans where an employer may contribute 6% of salary while the employers' contribution to the Virginia Retirement System teachers plan is 17% of salary. Therefore:
    1. Move the VRS teachers plan to 100% defined contribution,
    2. Or increase retirement age and eliminate the COLA.

  3. The solution to high medical costs is to restore price competition between medical providers, a solution avoided by Obamacare, which provides price competition among insurers but not among providers. To restore price competition, consumers must want to know the price and providers must publish prices. Therefore:
    1. Move all Virginia state employees from the COVA Care fixed-copay plan to either COVA Care HDHP or COVA HealthAware, both of which are coinsurance plans (the patient pays 20%). Currently 84% of Virginia employees are on the fixed copay plan, where the patient has no interest in price.
    2. Require hospitals and labs to post prices of common procedures "in plain language in a format that is easily accessible by the public". This was proposed by Del. Dan Helmer's 2022 HB481, which passed the House 98-1 and was gutted by the senate.

  4. Liberate children from public schools with chronically low test scores. Break the decades-old mediocrity monopoly run by the Virginia Department of Education. Therefore:
    1. Require school districts to provide a voucher for the full per-student cost of a student who attends public school for at least one year for all subsequent years through 12th grade. The value would not increase unless the student again attended public school for at least one year.
    2. Amend the Virginia Constitution to end state control of public schools and let local school boards run their schools. Reduce state taxes accordingly.

  5. There is no "existential climate crisis." However, the high cost of gas and electricity and the inflation caused by the higher cost of transporting goods resulting from the war on fossil fuels is an existential crisis. Also, green energy is not clean energy. Therefore:
    1. Repeal the Virginia Clean Energy Act.
    2. Withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
    3. Resume natural gas pipeline and nuclear power plant construction.