2014 Legislative Issues

As we begin to prepare in earnest for the upcoming Session there are several issues which will be critical to the Members of the General Assembly and will, therefore, detract from the issues most important to us. Some of the issues to watch are: #1 The need for additional acute mental health capacity both in light of the tragic situation in which Senator Deeds was seriously injured and his son took his own life and the Sheriff’s Association recent support of creating licensed inpatient capacity in some of the local/regional jails to treat the many individuals who are confined but have serious mental illness. #2 The ongoing discussion of whether or not to expand Medicaid — have the “reforms” been successfully implemented, is the Arkansas plan a better solution, how much federal funding is Virginia willing to give up by not moving forward on expansion? #3 Transportation — while we thought the “T” word would be less important this year, there has already been a bill introduced to repeal McDonnell’s transportation compromise which was passed last year with heavy support from the Democrats (including the Governor elect). We will have a more “refined” legislative plan ready for distribution on the 17th of December after the Governor’s Budget is introduced. The issues listed above, however, will be major factors during the Session.