Tuesday, February 14, marks what is referred to as Crossover in the General Assembly. All bills, except budget bills, have to be passed by the Senate and sent to the House or by the House and sent to the Senate to have a chance for final passage into law.

      Nine of the bills that I introduced have passed the Senate without any opposition and now must be passed by the House of Delegates to become law. These bills include:

SB 540 Real estate tax exemption for disabled veterans – Allows the inclusion of primary residences held in trust clarifying the bill passed last year.

SB 657 Fraudulent train ticket; penalty – Increases the fine for boarding or riding a district transportation train without paying the posted fare. The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) requested this legislation because of the growing problems they are having with this issue.

SB 136 Virginia Retirement System; retirees hired as police chief in certain towns. Enables a town such as Dumfries, which asked for this bill, to hire a retired person as police chief.

SB 139 County precincts; separate precinct for certain towns. Allows the Town of Quantico to have its own separate precinct to enable voters to cast ballots in the town. During the past election, they had travel out of the town to vote.

SB 539 Forward energy pricing; public body to use mechanism for budget risk reduction. Grants a public entity such as the Potomac and Rappahannock Transit Commission (PRTC) to buy and sell diesel fuel to make operations more efficient and fiscally sound.

SB 551 Counties may establish discount for real estate payments. Permits entities to give a discount if owners pay property tax in full in the first one-half of the year but with no greater than a 5% discount.

Another bill I introduced, SB 434 Funeral protests; penalty, would limit protests at funeral and memorial services that may lead to disruption of peace. This bill was requested by Fairfax County. I have attended a funeral in the Mount Vernon area where such a protest was held. SB 434 is expected to pass the Senate either Monday or Tuesday of this week.

February 12, 2012 -

February 5, 2012 -“General Assembly: Right turn” was the heading of a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial last week. It reflects many of the changes I mentioned in my previous article.

            As the editorial states: “Elections do have consequences. That’s doubly true in the state Senate, where Republicans have assumed control of committees that once bottled up socially conservative measures.”

            The Senate Courts of Justice Committee passed legislation to repeal Virginia’s one-gun-a-month bill. A bill to require an ultrasound before a woman can have a legal abortion passed. A House panel sent on a voter ID bill. Senate Bill 6 to drug test aid to welfare recipients passed out of the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee on a party-line vote 8-7. And a House plan moved forward to disallow payment for an abortion for a low-income woman expecting a baby with a deformity.

            “There is not a great deal Democrats can do to thwart these actions, either. Republicans have a huge majority in the House of Delegates and, thanks to Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, the 20-20 tie in the Senate can be broken by him on most issues, except the budget, judges and Constitutional Amendments.” And the Times-Dispatch ends its editorial, “But for now, Republicans in Richmond can claim almost a monopoly on power. And that has consequences—for good and ill.” This editorial appeared in a paper more associated with conservative views.

            As I mentioned last week, one of my most important bills is SB 135 that would create a Virginia All Payer Claims Database. An editorial also ran in the Richmond paper supporting this legislation stating it could save health care costs and improve delivery of health care. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Health Care Subcommittee on Health Care. This legislation is “backed by businesses big and small, the state’s hospitals and the Medical Society of Virginia.” The only large group that is not supporting the bill is Virginia’s largest insurer, Anthem.

            My bill calling for stricter oversight over the state-owned Gunston Hall was “carried over” at my request. The Gunston Hall Board of Regents has agreed and announced that an Education Coordinator will be hired. Last year, the long-time Education Coordinator was fired. Gunston Hall is owned by the state. My bill stipulated a stricter oversight of the administration by the Gunston Hall Board of Regents, chosen by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and appointed by the Governor of the Commonwealth. I’m hopeful Gunston Hall will be able to move forward to provide outstanding historical education on George Mason and the Bill of Rights and continue to be an important part of the local community.  

Senate Changes Affect Legislation

By Virginia State Senator Toddy Puller (36^th District)

            Some of the bills that have been introduced and regularly died in the Senate in past years are now passing through committees and are likely to pass the Senate and House to become law with the change in Senate leadership resulting in the election of 20 Republican and 20 Democratic Senators. The Republicans assumed leadership with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling being able to break tie votes except on the budget, selection of judges and Constitutional issues. For example, the law that allows an individual to purchase one handgun a month that passed in 1993 when Governor Douglas Wilder was Governor is now being repealed.

Gun/home defense bills - New legislation to repeal and allow more than one handgun purchase per month has passed the Senate Courts Committee. This along with two other bills referred to as the “castle doctrine bill” and “prevention of localities fingerprinting people seeking concealed gun permits” passed out of committee on a party line vote but will have to be voted on again on Monday because two Senators who gave their proxy votes left the Capitol grounds. That is against Senate procedures. I don’t know if the votes will be any different then or not.

The “castle doctrine bill” may fail, as Common Law is stronger than any bills submitted including the two that have passed the Courts Committee or ones proposed. Already, Common Law in Virginia allows a person to defend yourself when someone forces the way into your home. In other words, you already have this right.

Legal abortion/birth control - Early in the Session members began introducing bills to restrict access to legal abortion. The Senate Education and Health Committee passed Senator Jill Vogel’s bill to require pregnant women to have a sonogram and look at it before having a legal abortion. There are other bills yet to be voted on regarding restricting access to legal abortion. Delegate Bob Marshall has introduced a House bill to recognize “personhood at the point of conception.” It is thought that if it passes, this could restrict access to birth control in Virginia. Mississippi voters defeated a similar “personhood bill” last year.

Veterans - I have introduced several bills that passed unanimously through committee and the Senate. SB 134 would allow a separate voting precinct for the Town of Quantico. Veterans’ bills SB 297 grants full voting privileges to ex officio veterans members on issues before the Board of Veterans Services and SB 540 clarifies the real estate tax exemption for disabled veterans. This clarification would allow residences held in trust to also be allowed the exemption. Eligible disabled veterans and surviving spouses affected by a trust will be repaid with interest retroactive to the effective date of January 1, 2011.

Transportation/Transit - SB 138 would transfer the motor vehicle fuel sales tax administration and collection to the Department of Motor Vehicles. This bill was carried at the request of the Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC). SB 539, also requested by PRTC, authorizes forward energy pricing with the use of mechanisms for budget risks and will affect all transit organizations. This will be in full committee Monday afternoon, January 29.

VRE - A few years back, I introduced legislation that passed to fine people boarding the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) using fraudulent tickets. Unfortunately, this problem is continuing to grow. SB 657 will increase the fine to $750 per second offense.

Gunston Hall - Last year, it came to my attention that some problems were developing at Gunston Hall Plantation. Evidently, the popular education director was fired. This was upsetting to the local community. Delegate Dave Albo and I introduced a bill this year to clarify the governance of Gunston Hall Plantation that is owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1932, Louis Hertle bequeathed the Plantation to the Commonwealth of Virginia upon his death. It was to remain a national memorial to George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.      

Health Costs - One of my most important bills is SB 135 that creates the Virginia All Payer Claims Database. This will start to save money on health care costs and provide evidence-based improvements in access, quality, and cost once it is set up and running. Data will be made publicly available to health care consumers. Only a few states now have such a database but the need is being recognized nationwide. This is separate from the health care benefits exchange.

Please contact me on issues of concern by phone, email or regular mail at: Senator Linda T. Puller, 1-804-698-7536, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or P.O. Box 396, Richmond, Virginia 23218. Also, please check my website at www.toddy.org.                                 

Channel 4 interviewed me about Ashley's Law being signed. Click here for video.