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FCTA Speaks at Pre-2025 General Assembly Public Hearing

-- on 01/04/2025

FCTA President Arthur Purves -- Solutions for WMATA, Schools, Health, and Energy

Madam Chairman and members of the General Assembly,

I am Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance. Thank you for holding this hearing. We offer solutions for Metrorail, schools, health, and energy.

First, fund WMATA from the tax revenues created by WMATA and not new taxes. A Northern Virginia Transportation Commission study found that mass transit gives Richmond an extra $1.5 billion in taxes. That's more than enough to pay for Virginia's share of the WMATA operating and capital budgets.

Second, competition improves schools more than money. For a century, expensive public schools, with their anti-phonics reading and anti-drill arithmetic have failed to teach the basics by the critical third grade. Children, generally white and Asian, who learn the basics at home do well. However, children in poverty don't learn the basics, never catch up, and remain in poverty. Don't increase school funding until schools fix their curricula and raise minority achievement. Abolish the Virginia Department of Education and let local school boards compete. Also, school districts should give vouchers to students that leave for private- or home-schooling after attending public school for at least one year. The value of the voucher should not increase unless the student attends public school again.

Third, America is chronically sick. Rather than a health care system, we have a sick-care system that would lose money if chronic illness were cured. You should consider that chronic illness, including mental illness, is the result of metabolic damage caused by our adulterated, chemicalized, nutritionless, highly processed foods, made with factory oils misleadingly named vegetable oils. Also, the politicized federal high-carb, lean-meat, low-fat federal dietary guidelines cause diabetes. Save billions: Have health departments campaign against highly processed foods Instead of relying on questionable vaccines. Tell our congressional delegation to correct the federal dietary guidelines.

Finally, the chief patron of the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) has no evidence of a climate crisis.. We've asked him, and you should too. We've had mild warming for about 200 years. Glaciers have been receding for over 100 years. CO2 is plant food and makes the world greener. Shoreline is sinking. The Washington Post recently reported that the NOAA billion-dollar climate disasters are due to development in high-risk areas, not warming. Repeal the VCEA and withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and the California Advanced Clean Cars Act. Stop raising taxes for a non-existent crisis.

Thank you.

contact@fcta.org
fcta.org

FCTA's Thomas Cranmer -- Reform Election Laws, Schools, Energy, and Transportation

Reform VA Election Laws

1. Model after a 4/22/2022 lawsuit by Arizona citizens in U.S. District Court of Arizona. ...
2. They can be adjusted to use false data inserted by cyber thieves. Countries like France and Taiwan banned electronic voting machines.
3. All tabulating machines for ballots should only count the number of ballots, not read or copy the ballots.
4. Non-government groups should not participate in any aspect of the voting. NGO fraud is more likely.
5. Use only ballot paper that is secure and watermarked.. This paper should be secure in tamperproof boxes before and after voting. The chain of custody should be signed by every person who handles them.
6. Prohibit the use of absentee ballots by anyone who does not have a valid, provable excuse. In Virginia it used to be a felony to certify falsely an excuse for not voting in person. It should be a felony again.
7. Prohibit ballot harvesting. No person who is not a voter or sworn election officer should gather, inspect, or submit a ballot not his own.
8. The envelope should be sealed by the voter. Two ballot inspectors should review the envelope and suspend the ballot if the envelope is incomplete.
9. Drop boxes should be sealed when returned to a central location and signed by the custodian. Closed circuit TV audio-video should be used at any vote counting and storage facility. The TV audio-video records should be accessible for viewing by concerned voters and their attorneys promptly when requested under law.
10. Voters at the polls should present in person valid identification with a photo of the person voting, and the address of the voter.
11. Persons violating the election laws of Virginia should be subject to prosecution for Class 1 felonies.. Parties damaged by violation of the election laws of Virginia should be capable of collecting compensation for damages and reasonable attorney’s fees from the violator(s).

Schools

1. Require schools to emphasize reading, writing and arithmetic. Subsidies should be decreased if there is a lack of improvement in test scores. Schools improving scores should be rewarded. Political ideology should not be taught.
2. Elite schools should admit elite students. Such schools should be centers of meritocracy based on test scores and objective achievements, not skin color or ethnicity.
3. Charter schools should be encouraged. Virginia's record is way behind other states, such as Arizona.
4. Trade schooling should be encouraged in every high school. Well-trained plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and cooks are essential. Many unions have training programs that could be done in schools. College should not be the primary goal.
5. Medical and law schools should admit only the best students based on test scores and grades. Do you want a doctor who is certified to practice medicine primarily based on his/her race or ethnicity?
6. Require all schools to report test scores to students and parents, including score for the National Merit Scholarship tests. Schools not reporting the test scores should have subsidies removed.
7. Eliminate teaching of CRT. CRT is an ideology that discourages disadvantaged students by providing an excuse for students not to study. CRT teaches if a student is black the student can't achieve excellence due to oppression. This attitude that certain races can't learn is a reversion to slavery.
8. Provide $7,000 for vouchers to allow students to choose schools. Ambitious students are trapped in bad schools. Arizona and West Virginia have wonderful plans that should be models for Virginia.

Pass Governor's Energy Plan

1. Prohibit paying the cost of projects that involve putting up equipment from China like windmills and solar panels. These are made by slave labor. They are very expensive to build, support, and dispose of and are very unreliable power sources.
2. Recognize China is the major polluter in the world with new coal-fired power plants being installed every week. The U.S. has made the largest reduction in pollution in the world.
3. Drop plans for subsidizing offshore windmills for power plants. No economic justification has been provided. These windmills are dangers to shipping and birds. They are likely to be opposed by nearby localities for ruining the view. This would cost nearly ten billion dollars (p. 21).
4. Scrap the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The Plan says on page 2 it is "...placing additional costs on consumers and raising concerns regarding the reliability of the electrical grid..." Virginians should not be forced to pay for even higher electricity cost that is intermittent. The Plan notes on page 3 monthly residential electricity costs have risen from $90.59 in 2007 to $136.93 in January 2022.
5. Eliminate the California Air Resources Board regulations. The Plan notes on page 12 the requirements "which are statutorily mandated in Virginia eliminate consumer choice and ban the sale of non-electric vehicles by 2035, which will put significant strains on Virginia's grid."
6. Permit the use of natural gas pipelines. This will lower the costs of fuel for heating. Three natural gas pipelines have been cancelled. "These pipeline challenges (cancellations) have caused the loss of $7.8 billion in GDP, resulting in the loss of over 50,000 jobs and $1.83 billion in tax revenues." (Plan p. 15)
7. Endorse the use of small nuclear power plants and uranium mining. These are safe and endorsed by the international regulators.
8. Restore the powers of the State Corporation Commission (SCC) in energy. Eliminate the legislative "public interest" and "prudent and reasonable mandates."
9. Require the SCC to conduct comparative cost analyses. This will apply to alternative generation sources versus proposed renewable projects as part of utilities' project applications.
10. Carbon storage is very expensive (p. 21). This is not necessary. CO2 stimulates plant growth.
11. The Code of Virginia should provide complete freedom for companies to sell and buy power. This will provide more competition and less expensive electricity.

Transportation

1. Ban use of tolls/tariffs for non-road use. Income from fees for using roads should be used for roads. Roads in northern Virginia are clogged and inadequate.
2. Publicize the cost of railroads and do a cost benefit analysis for each project. We need public meetings to discuss each project.
3. Funding, if any, for the $3.7 billion Long Bridge Expansion Project should not come from tolls. CSXT maintains Long Bridge in proper "railroad condition" and confirms that Long Bridge is sufficient to meet the needs for their railroad customers for the foreseeable future. The railroads should pay for any expansion.

Thanks. Make Virginia a place to move to, not flee.