Government Relations Update
June 21, 2006
District of Columbia
DC Council
Legislation regarding “Big Box Retail”, Homeland Security, and “Green” Building standards are being considered by the Council, as well as final debate on the Budget Support Act. The Board of Trade and members of the DC Business Coalition have been active in trying to rein in some of the more sweeping proposals by councilmembers in this election year.
DC Political Action Committee
The District of Columbia PAC held its Mayoral Candidates Forum on June 15 at GWU. AOBA and GWU’s School of Public Policy and Administration were co-presenters. This week the PAC is conducting interviews of the five principal mayoral candidates—Michael Brown, Linda Cropp, Adrian Fenty, Marie Johns and Vincent Orange—with endorsements forthcoming by the third week in July. City-wide races and Ward contests will be considered in turn.
Maryland
Inter County Connector Groundbreaking
On May 30 the Board of Trade participated with Governor Ehrlich, Secretary Flanagan and others in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Inter County Connector – a top transportation priority of the Board of Trade. This ceremony followed the signing of the Record of Decision (ROD) on this project by the Federal Highway Administration. The ROD gives final approval for construction of the ICC. This groundbreaking represents a major victory for the Board of Trade and other proponents of the ICC.
Campaign Activities
The Maryland Political Action Committee is sending out candidate questionnaires and scheduling interviews in late July/early August for targeted races. Endorsements would occur soon after. Additional candidate forums and debates are under consideration.
Special Session
The Maryland legislature met in special session last week, to address concerns about electricity rate increases in the Baltimore area. The legislature approved a bill which would extend the cap on electricity rates in the BG&E area at 15% until May 2007. The bill would also remove the sitting members of the Public Service Commission, give legislators appointing power for the PSC, and require the new PSC to consider numerous issues, including examining the structure of deregulation (passed in 1999) and aggregation by local governments. The bill also increases flexibility in the bidding process, to obtain the best price for consumers.
The Governor has scheduled a “veto hearing” for Tuesday (after the writing of this update), to consider whether to veto the bill. The Governor has questioned both the impact on the state’s business climate and on consumers. However, the bill received enough votes for a veto override.
Virginia
State Budget/Transportation Funding
Virginia’s legislature has finally reached agreement on a 2006-2008 budget, avoiding a shut-down of state government, which would have occurred had a new budget not been in place by July 1. Key highlights from the adopted budget include:
- Only current levels of funding are maintained for transportation, despite months of debate over how to meet the needs of the Commonwealth. This includes failure to agree upon a dedicated source of revenue for Metro. The legislature has indicated that it will come back in late summer/early fall for further consideration of new transportation revenues.
- The estate tax is fully repealed beginning on July 1, 2007.
- Over $240 million has been added to help colleges and universities address growing enrollment. $76 million of this is set aside to advance research in the biomedical sciences and in modeling and simulation.
- The Chesapeake Bay will benefit from $200 million that has been set aside for clean-up efforts.
- The “True Object Test” is repealed, thereby eliminating the unfair application of Virginia’s sales tax on government contracts that encompass both goods and services.
- The Budget Agreement includes a $750K earmark for NVCC and sets the stage for the creation of a Healthcare Workforce Competitive Grant Program. The language is limited to nursing and does not apply to allied health professionals.
Policy Briefing With House Democratic Caucus Leader
Brian Moran
Please join your colleagues for a special policy briefing with Delegate Brian Moran, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, tomorrow morning, June 22 starting at 9:00 a.m. at Capital One. Delegate Moran will offer his thoughts on Virginia’s budget, the likelihood of new transportation funding this year, and the political landscape going into the 2007 Virginia state elections. A question and answer period will follow.
Regional Issues
Envision Greater Washington
The Board of Trade, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region have been participating in a 90 day exploratory effort to examine whether a visioning effort, a major initiative to engage our region in a conversation – that would lead to choices and action – should be launched. The final meeting of the broad Working Group will be held on June 22 and will consider a draft case statement and recommendations on this issue.
Regional Development Task Force
On June 22 at 8:30 am at Akridge in Washington, DC, the Regional Development Task Force will be briefed on the District of Columbia Draft Comprehensive Plan by DC Director of Planning Ellen McCarthy.
Transportation and Environment Committee / Maryland Public Affairs Group
A joint meeting of the Transportation and Environment Committee and the Maryland Public Affairs Group will be held at 10:00 am on June 29 at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring. This meeting will feature Maryland Secretary of Transportation Robert Flanagan.
