I apologize for today’s late post. I had seven meetings today, and the last one
just ended.
Of yesterday’s three questions, “What will we call the sea
between Korea and Japan?” is the only one answered today. With the passage of Senator Marsden’s SB 2,
we will now call this body of water the East Sea. When I first saw this bill I had no idea that
hundreds of Koreans would come to Richmond in support of this bill. Nor did I know that the Japanese Consulate
would hire one of Richmond’s most prestigious law firms to lobby against
it. Well, the South Koreans won! Click here if you’d like to learn more about
the history of this controversy. SB 2
passed on a 82-16 vote.
In light of the passage of this bill, I’m seeking a sponsor
of a 2015 bill to change the name of the James River back to its original
Indian mane, Powhatan, a much more beautiful name.
We spent much of the day trying to convince all who would
listen that the budgets introduced in the special session should include
funding for teacher and support position salaries.
The Virginia Progressive Caucus held a press conference in support
of Medicaid Expansion this morning.
Scott Surovell did an excellent job breaking down the benefits of
expansion for each House District. For
the sake of example, he asserted that if we used all of the General Fund
dollars freed up by the expansion for public education in the next biennium
Fairfax would gain $27.6 million, Prince William would gain $21.1 million,
Virginia Beach would gain $15.4 million, Danville would gain $1.87 million, and
Franklin County would gain $1.72 million.
Sorovell assumed all the free dollars would go to public education. It is more likely that 30% of it would go to
education, but that would still be a tidy sum.
