Governor holds town hall meeting
By Frank Mustac
Gov. Tim Kaine outlined legislative bills he supported that both passed into law and were rejected by the General Assembly earlier this year when he spoke at a town hall-style meeting in front of an audience that nearly filled the auditorium at Luther Jackson Middle School in Merrifield on April12.
The Democratic governor talked for roughly 35 minutes about legislation that came in the aftermath of last year’s Virginia Tech shootings, as well as laws affecting housing foreclosures and other issues.
Kaine then opened the floor for questions. Audience members peppered him with queries on a number of topics, but mostly about the impact a proposed coal-fired electrical power plant in Wise County would have on the environment, and the future of planned Metro rail to Dulles International Airport and through Tysons Corner.
First Kaine touted the efficiency of the state government as evaluated by Governing Magazine, which publishes a report on the subject once every three years. Under Gov. Mark Warner (D), who served from 2002-2006, the Commonwealth received the publication’s highest score.
“In 2005, Virginia was ranked the top performing state government, tied with Utah,” Kaine said, admitting he was concerned whether the state could match the mark set under his predecessor.
“In early March, Governing came out with their new ranking, and once again Virginia was the top performing state government in the United States,” he said, noting, however, that the Commonwealth did rank relatively low compared to other states in terms of infrastructure.
The governor said that one piece of legislation passed during the General Assembly session earlier this year deals with the ongoing housing foreclosure crisis. Kaine said that in Virginia, the foreclosure rate doubled in the last year, but that it was still significantly lower than the national average.
“The legislature worked with me to put a bill in place to give sub-prime borrowers extra time before foreclosure procedures started,” he said.
In response to the serious issues raised after university student Seung Hui Cho shot, killed and wounded tens of individuals at Virginia Tech in April 2007, the General Assembly made some major changes to laws governing the state’s mental health system, Kaine said.
A panel convened by the governor to look into the shootings made a series of recommendations dealing with campus security, communications, first responders and gun laws.
“But the heart of the recommendations dealt with the mental health system,” Kaine said. “It was a real indictment of the state’s lack of commitment to community mental health services.”
The General Assembly, he said, passed laws that changed legal standards and definitions regarding the mentally ill; increased funding for community services boards, which are the entry points for individuals seeking publicly-funded mental-health services; and increased accountability of state agencies dealing with the mentally ill, for example, following up to ensure individuals comply with court-ordered treatments.
Among the bills he could not get passed, he said, was one calling for closing a loophole in current law that allows vendors at gun shows to sell firearms to individuals without performing a background check.