As the 2015 Session of the General Assembly is drawing to a close, I want to give you an update on my legislation.  Eight of my bills have passed both the House and Senate and they are;

• HB 1567 – dealing with delinquent property tax; multijurisdictional sale
• HB 1570 – Unlicensed, unregistered family day care homes
• HB 1956 – Hospital guidelines for patients who are deaf or hard or hearing
• HB 2173 – Real Property Tax, waiver of delinquent taxes
• HB 2177 – Certificate of Public Need
• HB 2276 – Standard diploma; career and technical education credentials; exemption
• HB 2318 – High School graduation rate; Board of Education’s formula for assessing rates
• HJ 558 – requesting the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia to report findings and addressing the shortages of qualified teachers

Many of you showed interest in a variety of animal welfare bills including SB 1381, clarifying the role of private animal shelters has passed both Houses as well as SB 1001 that prohibits the sale and procurement of dogs and cats from a roadside, parking lot, flea market and similar places. I voted for both bills.

I received much correspondence regarding your support and opposition, almost in equal numbers, to the Convention of States legislation, HJ 499 and HJ 497.  After thoughtful consideration, I supported those resolutions in committee. By sending those measures to the floor we had more time for discussion and input.  After much discussion I supported the motion to re-refer these bills back to committee where they have been left.  I hope that we may find a common path to address our shared concerns and fears of the problems with our Federal Government.

A variety of House bills and final budget amendments relating to veterans have passed the House of Delegates and Senate.  Included is HB 1721 – real estate tax exemption for surviving spouses of members of armed forces killed in action.  HB 1275 and HB 1276 providing funding for Veterans Care Centers in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.  The final budget includes funding for providing grants to qualified businesses for each veteran it hires; funding to support the Lewis B. Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic at the William and Mary Law School; George Mason University receiving additional funding to support the development of new bachelors program in cybersecurity that also supports the development of pathways for veterans to apply their military training and experience towards the degree and for military veteran enrollment in the nursing bachelors program; provides additional funding the second year from general funds for access to supportive services for homeless veterans to help them obtain and maintain stable housing; grants will be awarded to organizations providing these services.

Included in the final 2015-2016 Budget are the following:

K-12 Education

• State Budget share for 1.5% teacher pay raise, including support staff
• Overall increase of $60 million for K-12 education compared to Governor McAuliffe’s budget proposal
• Deposits an additional $43 million into teacher retirement fund compared to Governor McAuliffe’s budget proposal.

Compensation

• Provides 2% across-the-board raise for state police and state employees, including compression for senior classified employees
• 1.5% teacher pay raise, including support staff
• 2% college faculty pay raise

Local Government

• Restores $30 million in funding cuts adopted by the supplemental budget to address shortfall
• 2% pay raise for state-supported local employees

Higher Education

• Includes an additional $42 million for higher education,
• $19.8 million to incentivize enrollment
• $10.1 million for financial aid
• $5 million for research
• 2% faculty pay raise
• $1,000 per student incentive to encourage colleges and universities with low graduation rates to accept transfer students

Health Care Safety Net

• $132.9 million for healthcare safety net
• Funding to provide targeted services to ~22,000 seriously mentally-ill patients, including a prescription drug benefit
• Nearly doubles operational funding for free clinics – total of $6 million in funding
• Increases funding for children’s psychiatry and crisis services

All anti-gun legislation, such as re-instating the “one gun a month” law, regulating private gun sales, revoking concealed carry permits for certain gun owners, just to name a few, were tabled in committee.

Pro-gun legislation that did pass are as follows;

• HB 2286 – restoration of rights of possession of firearms by convicted felons and
• HB 1666 – permits petition for restoration of rights to circuit court where felony occurred
• HB 2009 – Law-enforcement certification of certain firearms

Again, I appreciate all the visitors that came by my office here in Richmond this session and all the input on legislation I received.  I hope that I served you, my constituents, with honor and I look forward to hearing from you should you have any concerns during the remainder of the year.  You can reach me by e-mail, delborrock@house.virginia.gov .  My Fredericksburg office number is, 540-891-1322, mailing address – P. O. Box 458, Thornburg, VA 22565.  You can also find me on Facebook and at my webpage www.bobbyorrock.net .

Robert D. “Bobby” Orrock, Sr.