What's in a name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. 
 ~Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

The Board of Visitors at George Mason University’s recently sold the naming rights to the University’s law school to Charles Koch and an anonymous friend in exchange for a series of annual donations totaling $30 million over 5 years. The donors chose the name the Antonin Scalia School of Law, then quickly changed that to the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.

When the announcement was first revealed around April 1 of this year, I organized a petition drive and have been an outspoken critic of the University’s decision, along with a number of other local area legislators. I’ve written an Op-Ed for the Washington Post, co-authored a letter to State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and made the trip to Lexington, Virginia for the Council’s May meetings to testify at the Academic Affairs Committee and the full Council about my concerns.

I did all this under the belief that SCHEV had the final say in the re-naming of the law school.

Although supporters of the name change have questioned my motives and called me a knee-jerk liberal, my motivation for championing this fight was and remains a genuine concern for the reputation of the law school, the university, and the Commonwealth.

I continue to be concerned that, in exchange for this $30 million purchase price, the school has done irreparable harm to its reputation that will result in declining enrollment, forcing them to become less selective, which will lead to declining school rankings which will only reinforce this downward spiral.

The grant agreement leaked online shows that, in addition to renaming the law school, GMU must hire twelve additional faculty members and create two new centers expanding its law and economic focus. They must reapply for the grant every year, and the Koch Foundation must be notified immediately if Dr. Henry Butler steps down or is removed as dean of the law school.
To SCHEV or Not to SCHEV?

In spite of all of this, SCHEV staff, based on advice they received from the Attorney General’s office, decided this week that the name change was honorific and therefore would not require their approval.

According to the SCHEV staff’s initial recommendation, they did have a role ensure that new instructional units are implemented appropriately relative to the inherent soundness of academic and fiscal commitments involved.

The law school industry, such as it is, is in a crisis. Applications to law school have decreased some 50% since their peak about a decade ago. The nation’s elite law schools are reducing class size, and not growing, in response to the shortage of applicants. In order to grow, the law school to the size it would need to be to sustain the new programs it is required to create under this contract to rename the school, particularly given the number of high quality students who are likely to be dissuaded from applying because of the name, GMU will have to accept students with lower LSATs and grades. This once again begs the questions of fiscal soundness of the University’s plan going forward.
Money & Influence

Virginia taxpayers contribute ten times more in each biennial budget than this gift would account for. These grant agreements would give the donors, or purchasers of the naming rights, outsized and inappropriate influence over the direction and decision making at the law school.

Dr. Cabrera has said at various times that the academic freedom of the law school and of the University is not at risk, as the purchaser price amounts to mere 0.6% of the Schools budget. At the same time, University and Law School officials would ask how such a large and significant investment in the law school could be refused.

Whether the gift is too big to come without strings that affect the Law School’s academic freedom, or so small that it really doesn’t make a difference, we should feel comfortable that it is in our best interest to say no to the offer to purchase the law school at George Mason University.
Moving Forward

At this point there don't seem to be many options under existing law to prevent the name change from going forward. However, there may be legislative options to clarify SCHEV's role in this process and make certain there is a process to prevent large donors from using our public colleges and universities as a platform for their personal agendas. So, while it may be too late to for this law school, there is an opportunity to take preventive action to protect the integrity, fiscal soundness, and overall perception of the rest of Virginia's higher education system.

Free money - sort of

A B C
It's easy as, 1 2 3
As simple as, do re mi
A B C, 1 2 3
~Jackson 5, "ABC"

I want to take a moment to let you know about a Virginia state tax credit that its available to you and benefits a local organization right here in the 53Rd House of Delegates District.

I'm happy to report that the Virginia Department of Education recently awarded the Falls Church-McLean Children's Center (FCMCC) over $100,000 in tax credits to make available to their donors. Now, businesses and individuals that donate to the Children's Center can take advantage of this credit while contributing to an organization located in our community!

Virginia residents or businesses that make a charitable gift of a minimum of $1,000 to the Falls Church-McLean Children’s Center this spring will be rewarded with a remarkable VA Tax Credit worth at least 65% of their donation and a reduction in federal taxable income for their 2016 tax returns.

The combined VA Tax Credits and decreased taxable income cut the ultimate cost of the minimum $1,000 gift to just $191, depending on your individual tax circumstances.

I know we hear a lot about tax credits that seem to benefit the people that need the help the least, or function as a form of corporate welfare.  SO I wanted to make sure you knew about this credit that can be used my many of us here in the 53Rd district to help a worthy organization located in our district.

Falls Church-McLean Children's Center

Established in 1968, the Center's mission is to provide affordable, high quality early childhood education to low-income working families. Current enrollment includes 70 kids housed in a dedicated wing of Lemon Road Elementary School, built especially for the Center.

Over the years, the Center has been honored by the Virginia General Assembly, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and the Fairfax County Public School System for outstanding service.

Earlier this year, the Virginia Department of Education awarded the Children's Center tax credits to pass on to businesses and individuals that make a minimum $1,000 sponsorship donation. This is a great way to help more children at a lower cost through this tax credit.

The Center is having their 4th Annual Teddy Bear 5K & 1K in September of this year, which is the perfect sponsorship opportunity. To put the tax credit in perspective, here is a chart showing the effects of the tax credit and your donation.


Sponsorships must be paid before June 30, 2016 to receive the tax credit.

For more information about FCMCC, please check out their website and Annual Report.

To learn more about the Teddy Bear 5k, sponsorships and, the available tax credit, contact Renee Boyle, FCMCC Development Director, at (703) 534-4907 or Renee_Boyle@FCMLCC.com.

Update on GMU's donor agreement and SCHEV Meeting

After sending my email update last week, I sent a formal letter to the SCHEV Board asking them to seriously consider the impact of renaming the GMU law school and its long term effects on the school. I also shared the list of over 1,200 petition signatures. Thank YOU for helping make that possible.

Strings Attached

You may have seen the recent news report releasing the demands and stipulations attached to the Koch brothers donation to GMU. The National Law Journal has picked up the story, including information about the letter I sent and our petition.

The donation agreement leaked online shows that, in addition to renaming the law school, GMU must hire 12 additional faculty members and create 2 new centers expanding its law and economic focus. The provisions also require that the Koch Foundation be notified immediately if Dr. Henry Butler steps down or is removed as dean of the law school. The New York Times was the first to publish the leaked agreement.

It is clear that stipulations like this erode the school's academic independence and will most assuredly have an impact on the university's reputation.

Please forward this email to your friends and neighbors and ask them to add their names to the petition as well!

GMU Faculty Opposition

A Washington Post article from earlier this week highlights the controversy among GMU faculty and the school's administration. Several faculty have been outspoken in their opposition, posting an open letter expressing their concerns. The letter now has over 160 faculty signatures. At a faculty meeting yesterday, they adopted two resolutions relating to the potential renaming citing grave concerns about conflicts of interest relating to the donation agreement's stipulations.

SCHEV Board Meeting

As I mentioned in my last email, SCHEV's next Board meeting will be on May 16th and 17th at Washington & Lee University. I intend to be at the meeting, speaking with individual members if possible and to offer comments during the public comment period.

The public comment period will be on May 17th at the beginning of their agenda at 9:00am. The formal agenda will be posted on SCHEV's website one week before the meeting.

• Those interested in making public comment should contact LeeAnn Rung at (804) 225-2602 or LeeAnnRung@schev.edu no later than 5:00pm on May 12th.
• The speaker's name, address and topic must be provided.
• Each speaker has up to 3 minutes and are asked to submit a written copy of their remarks at that time.

2016 Reconvene Session & The State Budget

Yesterday, the General Assembly completed the 2016 Reconvene Session wherein we voted on the Governor’s 32 vetoes and recommendations. This being the first year of the 2016-2018 Biennial Budget, we also reviewed the Governor’s additional recommendations for the budget.

As a member of the House of Delegates I work hard to do what’s right for all Virginians, regardless of where they live. As your representative in Richmond, I also have a responsibility to and take great pride in looking out for the priorities of my constituents and the localities I represent.

With the state budget, I am particularly concerned with making sure that we get some sort of return on the significant amount of state income taxes we send to Richmond.

I attended a forum earlier this year hosted by the Falls Church City Republican Committee where a number of residents raised their concerns about the way the state’s funding formula for distributing education funds, known as the Local Composite Index (LCI), disadvantages the City.

This year, we did makes some progress to increase funding for K-12 education in our state budget, and I was pleased to see that we did our best to do that through increasing funds that are distributed on a per-pupil basis, rather than those that are subject to the LCI.

While I voted against the over $105 billion budget because it once again failed to expand Medicaid, it did do a number of good things for Northern Virginia and Falls Church and Fairfax County in particular.

Here in greater Falls Church, we are justifiably proud of our outstanding public schools. That said, we’ve struggled with funding shortages for many years now, as the great recession has taken a severe toll on our revenue and therefore state support for K-12 and higher education.

In the new biennial budget, however, the City of Falls Church will receive $6.7 million in direct aid from the state, up from $5.86 million last year. An increase of about $460 per student. In much larger Fairfax County funding increased by $34 million.

The budget also restores $34.4 million for cost of competing adjustment for Northern Virginia schools.

On a statewide basis the budget included language to increase the state’s share of teacher pay by a $134.4 million for a two-percent salary increase.

In addition to increased funding for elementary education, Falls Church won another budget battle. Language was included in the budget to keep 100 percent of fines and fees collected by the local police department here in Falls Church, rather than having to send it down to Richmond and pray for its safe return.

As I said, despite the good news on education funding, I couldn’t bring myself to vote yes on a budget that continues to shun over $6 million per day in federal taxes we’ve already paid. Virginians are set to lose $3 billion over the biennium because we are not getting our tax dollars back from the federal government and we are having to pay for programs that would have been covered under the expansion.

Let’s try to finish this month’s column on a high note, though.

In October, Attorney General Mark Herring issued an opinion that said that the General Assembly never explicitly gave police departments the authority to mail tickets for illegally passing a school bus based on evidence obtained from cameras mounted on the stop signs.

Legislation to allow those tickets to be mailed, just as they are for red light cameras that catch people at intersections, passed the General Assembly this year and has been signed by the Governor. So, at $250 a ticket, there may be more revenue available in the upcoming fiscal year.

More importantly, drivers will be deterred from the very dangerous practice of passing a school bus while children are getting on or coming off.

Roar

You hear my voice, your hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake your ground...

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter
Dancing through the fire
'Cause I am the champion, and you're gonna hear me roar
~Katy Perry, "Roar"

On Wednesday, April 20th, the General Assembly will reconvene to discuss and vote on the Governor's vetoes and recommendations. Per the rules of the Reconvened Session, we will only consider these bills and not take up any other business.

I'm proud to say that I voted against every bill that the Governor vetoed and also spoke against several of them on the House floor. Next week, I hope to have the opportunity to once again speak up in defense of the Governor's vetoes.

To watch the floor debate and hear my previous remarks, please click through the links below:

HB 259 - This legislation required the State Board of Education to have General Assembly approval before adopting Common Core standards. This bills is unnecessary as the Governor and the State Board of Education have already reiterated their intentions not to do so. Video for HB 259

HB 1096 - This legislation attempted to overturn the Governor's Executive Order 50, which prohibits firearms in executive branch buildings. Video for HB 1096

HB 1234 - This legislation provided for school resource officers to be able to carry a firearm while on duty. Allowing this would create a slippery slope to future legislation allowing staff, teachers, and even students to carry on school grounds. Video for HB 1234

SB 41 - This legislation is a so-called religious freedom bill. In reality, the legislation legalizes discrimination based on one specific religious belief, effectively establishing a state religion that is preferred above all others. I spoke against SB 41 and it's House companion bill, HB 773. Video for SB 41 and Video for HB 773

When we go into Session at 12pm on April 20th, you can watch live by clicking here.

Governor's Vetoes & Recommendations

During the 2016 Session, 3,286 bills and resolutions were introduced and, of these, 1,803 passed both the House and the Senate. To further put this in perspective, here are some bill statistics:

• 811 - bills passed the General Assembly
• 732 - bills that passed and were signed by the Governor
• 24 - bills were vetoed
• 47 - bills have Governor's recommendations

You can view the full list of vetoed bills here and the full list of recommendations can be seen here.

Pimmit Run Creek Clean Up

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Pimmit Run Creek Clean Up on April 2nd. We cleaned up over 300 lbs. of trash and recyclables!

2016 Session Wrap Up

I wrapped up my third legislative session in Richmond last week. Virginia’s General Assembly meets for 60 days every even numbered year, and 45 days every odd year. This being 2016, we adjourned at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 11, 2016 after adopting a biennial budget, 59 days after we started. So technically, a day early.

And not a moment too soon.

It’s never been easy to be a progressive Democrat in Richmond. Even when the Democratic Party controlled the state legislature as recently as the 1990s, they weren’t what most of us in Falls Church think of as forward thinkers.

In 2016, with both the House and State Senate controlled by Republican majorities, including a near super-majority in the House, things got downright ugly.

Legislation to repeal Virginia’s unconstitutional ban on same sex marriage, and prevent discrimination in employment and housing based on sexual orientation were tabled by a voice vote in committee. The same thing happened to bills to prevent gun stores from locating next door to schools and to improve wages and benefits for working families.

Instead, we got a so-called religious freedom bill which grants a license to discriminate against same-sex couples. We got bills to reverse the Governor’s ban on firearms in state buildings. And we got a state budget that stripped out $3 billion worth of health care for the working poor that is available from the Federal government for Medicaid expansion.

During the waning days of the legislative session we spend a lot of time on the floor of the House of Delegates “at ease” while we wait for conference committees to iron out differences between House and Senate versions of bills. I passed only one bill this session, and it made it through both houses exactly as I introduced it, no need to conference on it.

So I had some time.

While I waited, I chatted with one of the more senior members on the other side of the aisle. He told me something I already knew, but was important to hear again, and I think he meant it as a compliment. As a Democrat in a Republican dominated legislature, he told me, you have to decide who you want to be. Do you want to be one of the ones that speaks up a lot, fights us on the floor, in committees, and in the press? Or do you want to keep quiet, keep your head down, and be allowed to be slightly effective, to get some of your bills passed, and get yourself better committee assignments?
For those of you reading this column for the first time, who don’t receive my e-mail newsletters or follow me on Facebook, I fall into the first category.

If I were you, he said, I’d do it exactly the way you are doing it. I’d be throwing the bombs, I’d be giving ‘em hell, and I’d be asking all the hard questions.

That’s why I voted No on the biennial budget, that doesn’t include Medicaid Expansion for the third straight year, at the staggering cost of over $6 million per day. That’s why I stood up and spoke out against efforts to undermine our strong public school system in Virginia, against making it easier for more people to carry more guns more places, and against efforts to derail a great bill (introduced by a Republican) to make it illegal to smoke in cars where small children are strapped into car seats.
It’s why I spoke up for funding mental health programs in our state’s prisons and jails. It’s why I spoke up for student borrowers who are stuck with bad loans on bad terms they can’t afford and can’t refinance. It’s why I spoke up for victims of domestic violence and their families – and for keeping dangerous weapons out of heated domestic disputes.

I am going to keep fighting because we’ve seen what the other side will do if they think they can get away with it. They’ll nominate someone like Ken Cuccinelli to the Supreme Court.

I-66 Transportation Project Deal

The 2016 General Assembly Session has officially reached the halfway point known as Crossover, the deadline for each house to complete work on their own bills before sending them down the hall to the other chamber. Last week, committees and subcommittees worked diligently to hear all the legislation in time to get it to the floor for a vote before the deadline. As that deadline approached, we voted on and debated more than 200 bills and resolutions this past Monday. 

Next month, I'll provide a wrap up of all the bills that passed both houses and are likely to be signed by the Governor.  This month, though, the biggest news affecting my constituents is the deal between legislative leaders and the Governor to unclog Interstate 66. The deal is a combination of widening within the existing right of way to add capacity and allowing non-HOV vehicles to use the road during restricted hours by paying a toll.

The deal proposes to convert I-66 inside the beltway to Express Lanes during rush hours in the peak directions, widen I-66 eastbound from the Dulles Connector Road, and improve transit service throughout the corridor.

During the morning and evening rush hours, carpoolers with two or more people will continue to ride for free when the dynamic tolling is scheduled to begin in 2017. Solo drivers can also use the lanes provided that they pay the toll based on the distance traveled.

Starting in 2020, the lanes will be free to carpoolers with three or more people during rush hours while everyone else will pay a variable toll. However, the lanes will remain free during off-peak periods and there will be no tolling for reverse commuters.

The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) will use all the revenue raised from the tolls for improvements involving new transit services and carpooling incentives. Current revenue estimates for 2018 is $18 million.

Eliminating the current bottleneck inside the beltway, the increased revenues from the FAST Act and the revised state revenue forecast will provide funding for environmental work and construction to widen I-66 eastbound from the Dulles Connector Road to Ballston. 

Construction costs are estimated to be $140 million, which will be funded with increased revenues from the FAST Act and the projected improved state revenues. 

This I-66 Project is projected to reduce more than 26,000 person hours of delay per day, move more than 40,000 additional people through the I-66 corridor per day, provide reliable travel speeds of at least 45 mph during rush hours in the peak direction, and allow increased travel choices for single-occupant drivers plus overall better transit service.

VDOT Design Public Hearing

On Wednesday, March 9th, VDOT will host a Design Public Hearing at their NOVA District Office (4975 Alliance Drive, Fairfax) from 6:00pm to 8:00pm with a presentation at 6:30pm. The presentations will be live-streamed on the Transform66.org website.
The Design Public Hearing will provide opportunities for the public to:

• Learn how the dynamically-priced toll lanes will operate on I-66 Inside the Beltway
• Review proposed locations and design of toll gantries and pricing signs
• View displays and discuss your questions with VDOT staff
• Attend the formal presentation, followed by a public comment period
• Submit oral and/or written comments

Given the impact this transportation deal will have on Northern Virginia and the 53^rd District, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Please email me at DelMSimon@house.virginia.gov with your questions and comments.