The lack of attainable housing for our workforce in proximity to major employment centers is having a significant impact on economic vitality throughout Northern Virginia.  The lack of such housing has immediate bottom-line impacts on businesses’ ability to recruit and retain its workforce. A far-flung workforce not only decreases productivity, profit, and proceeds; it also diminishes our quality of life, reduces the amount of available greenspace and eliminates the synergy between education, government and business. The impact spreads across all aspects of our lives and beyond the borders of Fairfax County.

ü      Continue to support the General Assembly enacting a study on Employer-Assisted Housing Tax Credits.

ü      Support providing state incentives for developments that locate affordable housing near identified employment centers, high-density districts and/or transit areas, acknowledging the impact of commuting on housing affordability.

Issue: Healthcare

The Chamber has long supported affordable healthcare. As healthcare costs continue to rise significantly above the rate of inflation, fewer employers and working families will be able to afford coverage, and the number of uninsured Virginians will inevitably rise.  Mitigating the rising cost of healthcare is important to the Chamber and Northern Virginia.  Efforts to contain healthcare costs can be promoted by:

ü      Continuing to support a cap on pain and suffering awards of $250,000. 

ü      Establishing “health courts” with technical expertise to expedite the civil litigation process. This will ensure legitimate cases are given a fair hearing, and help keep the legal and administrative impact of frivolous lawsuits to a minimum.

ü      Supporting increased funding for the Northern Virginia healthcare training campus jointly supported by GMU and NVCC.  In 2006, the Assembly approved $1.5 million in support of this initiative.  This year the Chamber will request $2 million to be appropriated for healthcare workforce training. 

Issue: Education and Workforce Development

The adequacy of skills for our future workforce relies on a sustainable commitment to the “pre-K to post secondary” spectrum of learning.  Over time the Chamber’s top priority in this regard has been our commitment to sustaining the excellence of the Fairfax County Public Schools. Supporting this priority in 2007 includes:

ü      Encouraging the use of the “21^st Century Skills” concept allowing young people to succeed in the new global economy.

ü      Reformulation of the State’s funding formula (Composite Index) because it places Fairfax County public schools at a disadvantage and does not include our county’s special needs. 

ü      Promote initiatives that better prepare young children for success in the school environment, including access to high-quality child care and preschool opportunities.

To continue support of Northern Virginia’s premier institutions of higher education, the Chamber will focus specifically on:

ü      Bringing both NVCC and George Mason to 80% of their base budget adequacy.

ü      Funding NVCC and George Mason’s needs to bring their faculty and staff to the 60^th percentile of salaries with their peer institutions. 

ü      Support NVCC request for $268 million for new and renovated classroom and laboratories during the 2008-10 biennium.

ü      Supports Higher Education institutions having the flexibility to increase their tuition to offset the funds lost so that the institution may continue to serve the rapidly expanding needs of the northern Virginia region.

Issue: Tax, Regulatory, & Economic Development Policies

The vibrant business community of Northern Virginia is directly responsible for the Commonwealth of Virginia’s current economic vitality.  Therefore, keeping businesses in Northern Virginia (specifically government contractors) competitive is critical to Virginia’s economy.

The Chamber Tax and Regulatory needs include:

ü      Ending the ceiling on the car tax reimbursement which specifically penalizes Fairfax County.

ü      Changing Virginia’s summary judgment statute to mirror the federal government’s model in order to reduce the burden of frivolous lawsuits on Virginia’s business community.

Issue: Immigration

Federal law preempts most state and local measures aimed at addressing the effects of illegal immigration.  However, the federal government has failed to properly address the issue, thereby forcing state and local governments to address an issue from which is largely preempted.

ü      Supports the regulation and enforcement of immigration law as a federal responsibility.

ü      Supports Virginia and local governments taking advantage of the study groups in place to fully understand the appropriate response to local, regional, and state proposals and to review each proposal for unintended consequences.

ü      Supports policy that allows equal access to the state’s higher education institutions for all children that (a) graduate from a state certified public or private high school; (b) parents have paid state & local taxes for at least three years; (c) are legal residents of the state or in the process of applying for that status through the federal government.

ü      Oppose legislation that would punish employers and businesses that unknowingly hire illegal immigrants

o       Refrain from unduly burdening employers with worker verification programs that are under-funded and/or otherwise unworkable.

Issue: Consumer Privacy

Identity theft is a growing concern and technology has greatly enhanced the information available about consumer behavior and preferences, consumers are justifiably concerned about protection and resale of their information held by private companies and government entities.

ü      Supports legislation to enforce data breach notification requirements at the state level with an exemption written into the statute for entities that are already governed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and with a minimum standard for likely potential harm before the notification requirements are activated.

ü      Oppose Credit Report Freeze legislation because it will impede commerce by slowing down credit transactions that require approval, have a negative impact on consumers as well as business and may enable those who owe legitimate debts to deliberately freeze their reports to remain hidden from law enforcement and creditors.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to learn the Chamber’s legislative priorities for the 2008 General Assembly session. As specific bills of importance arise, we will communicate with you directly regarding our position. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly via e-mail at rdemeria@fairfaxchamber.org, mobile phone at 703.509.4056 or John Putney at putneyjk@jmu.edu.   The Chamber’s President, Bill Lecos, is also available at blecos@fairfaxchamber.org or at 703.749.0400.

As always, we continue to appreciate the personal commitment to the Commonwealth and our community that your public service represents. We share your vision of keeping Northern Virginia the best place to live, work and learn and look forward to working with you in the coming days to make the region even greater.