Greetings from your State Capitol.

We have reached that stage of our process where we will only begin considering bills that have come over from the senate. That means that our days will be much shorter, given many of these measures have already been heard in house bills or much of any controversy will have already been addressed.

The legislation that we have seen has been the most partisan during my tenure. A higher percentage of votes on legislation has been on party lines than ever before. Beginning last session and even more this session, suggestions to amend bills to address other members’ concerns or to moderate the language have mostly been universally rebuffed. In any past session, I always observed a greater willingness to consider differing opinions and to consider amendments.

We have seen the major policy agenda items of the house Democrats go over to the senate. Policies that take away local control on many issues, further increase the cost of electricity, mandates that will increase the cost of buying a home, creating new entitlement programs and further mandates on what our schools must teach within their existing curriculum, just to name a few. During the coming weeks, we will see how these measures fare in the senate and then if the Governor amends or vetoes any of them.

In budget action, we saw amendments that were totally focused on giving more money to specific localities, thereby reducing the money available for the rest of the state. These self-serving “pork” allocations are not what our budget is supposed to include. Absent a specific reason that a locality has a unique need, these allocations are robbing from the rest of the state. When questioned about one of them specifically, the response was “I’m looking out for my district.” This kind of mentality does a disservice to our purpose. I was elected to represent my district, but NOT at the expense of the rest of the citizens of our state.

I will continue to work for open dialogue on all issues, greater local control of community matters, fiscal restraint, holding criminals responsible for their actions, and ensuring quality education opportunities for all our youth.

Our daily schedule will be far less hectic in the coming weeks. With so few of my bills going before the senate and with our committees now hearing many issues we have already addressed; I will have more time to meet with constituents.

I welcome your emails, calls and visits. My email is DelBorrock@virginia.house.gov, my phone is (804) 698-1066 and my office is 1107 in the General Assembly Building. You can follow all legislative action and access other information by going to VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov.