3 Takeaways From Reston Chamber's Legislative Breakfast

RESTON, VA — Three lawmakers representing Reston, Loudoun County, and Prince William County in the Virginia General Assembly participated in a virtual legislative breakfast Thursday morning hosted by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce.

Del. Ken Plum (D-36th District), Del. David Reid (32nd District), and state Sen. John Bell (D-13th) addressed a variety of topics, including the transformative impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the recently completed legislative session.

The chamber's Commerce Public Policy Committee presented the virtual breakfast, which was moderated by Mark Smith, the former executive director of George Mason University's Office of Governmental and Community Relations.

Here are three of the big takeaways from the legislative breakfast:

Working Virtually Created More Enagement

Members of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates had to make a number of changes in order to effectively pass legislation, while operating under COVID-19 safety restrictions throughout the 2021 session. As the smaller chamber, the Senate was able to find enough room to meet at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, while the 100 delegates opted instead to meet virtually from home.

"I liked the fact that people were able to interact with us," Plum said. "I think in some regards in a broader way ... it allows us to respond. I put in the original legislation that set up the joint commission on technology and science. And what I said at that time was is that we just see how it is that technology can enhance democracy. And frankly, I think that's in part what happened here. When we go back to quote normal, I hope we will be thoughtful about how we go back, because it is a circumstance that what we learned were some things where we can be more efficient."

Working virtually allowed the lawmakers to become more proficient in the technology and made it easier for them to engage with their constituents during the session. People could also dial up to testify rather than having to drive hours to Richmond.

"For those of us from Northern Virginia might be a couple of hours, but folks from the southwest part of the state it might be five hours," Reid said. "And if they get down there and then the legislation gets delayed until the next day, then they're going to be angry about the whole process. So the ability to be able to actually remotely dial in and be able to provide their testimony, I think is a really great benefit. I think we ended up with more people providing input."

Bill Limits Allowed Lawmakers To Focus On Quality Over Quantity

Lawmakers also limited the number of bills they could introduce — seven in the House and 12 in the Senate — during the session. This forced them to be more deliberative in which pieces of legislation they chose to introduce.

"Some folks through a lot of spaghetti on the wall to see what would stick, but it tied up a lot of committee time doing that," Plum said. "Now, when you have to be thoughtful and responsive in terms of the bills you've put together, I think we work more efficiently."

Reid agreed that the limit on bills was beneficial to the whole legislative process.

"It forced us to focus on doing more quality legislation as opposed to quantity," Reid said. "At least for myself, that also meant that I spent a lot of time in advance working with the stakeholders to try to be sure that we had a 90 or 95 percent product ready to go by the time it got to the subcommittee."

Dulles Greenway Toll Bill Awaits Governor's Signature

One of the bills that Bell introduced was the Virginia Highway Corporation Act (SB 1259), which requires entities applying to operate the Dulles Greenway provide a certificate of financial fitness and adds a mechanism to evaluate proposed toll increases.

"Unfortunately we've seen very high tolls on this road," Bell said. "It's one price regardless of how much you use. Some people use the first two exits. That's where Del. Reid and my constituents mainly use [the road]. The one exit's a quarter mile, and they're paying $6.50 for a quarter mile. It's either that or 45 minutes of traffic. It's a choice no one wants."

Loudoun County has sued the Greenway unsuccessfully a number of times over the roadway's toll rates. The bipartisan bill establishes criteria for the State Corporation Commission to more fairly evaluate any proposed toll increases.

"We defined what growth would have to be that if any toll increases were proposed, we define what impacts it would have on traffic movement in a way that frankly will give the SCC the tools as they've requested to evaluate this fairly," Bell said.

The bill also includes protections against taking additional debt on the road, as well as putting in place limitations and protections for credit ratings.

"We did a number of things to put protections in," Bell said. "And lastly, they can only do toll increase requests for one year at a time. In the past, there's been five and 10 year requests."

Both the Senate and House passed SB 1259 and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has until March 31 to sign it the bill into law.

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