NEWS: Mason Dixon Poll Shows Overwhelming Opposition to RGGI; Includes Democrats

About Commentary Education Taxes Support News ... News ... News   Mason-Dixon Poll: RGGI Opposition Overwhelming, Includes Democrats   January 24, 2022 -- The high consumer cost of Virginia’s forced conversion to a fossil fuel free economy remains unpopular with Republican and Independent voters, but is supported by many Democrats, a recent poll revealed. Even Democrats, however, dislike a new carbon tax that is now targeted for repeal.   Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy asked Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy to include four energy policy related questions on a recent survey of 625 registered Virginia voters. All touch on issues pending at the 2022 General Assembly or facing the new Glenn Youngkin Administration.

Your January 23rd Sunday Summary ...

Bingo! Mask mandates, RGGI withdrawal, "woke" M&Ms, and more!

About Commentary Education Taxes Support Dear Friend of TJI,   “Until recently, I was a loyal, left-leaning Democrat, and I had been my entire adult life. I was the kind of partisan who registered voters before midterm elections and went to protests. I hated Donald Trump so much that I struggled to be civil to relatives on the other side of the aisle. But ...   “Throughout the pandemic, Democrats have been eager to style themselves as the ones that ‘take the virus seriously,’ which is shorthand, at least in the bluest states and cities, for endorsing the most extreme interventions. By questioning the wisdom of school closures—and taking our child out of public school—I found myself going against the party line. And when I tried to speak out on social media, I was shouted down and abused, accused of being a Trumper who didn’t care if teachers died.   “Many liberals and institutional leaders thought that no one could fault them for being too cautious, especially when it came to children. But I can, and I do. The University of Oxford medical ethicist Euzebiusz Jamrozik said recently on a podcast that ethical public-health responses must rely on a few key principles. One of those is “proportionality,” meaning that the intervention must be proportionate to the risk. A Bloomberg article noted in March that children in the U.S. were about 10 times as likely to be killed in a car crash as by COVID-19. Closing school for more than a year was disproportionate the same way that forbidding parents to drive would have been. -- Angie Schmidt The Atlantic, 1/7/22   Meanwhile ...

Session Update Jan 2022

Week 2

2022 Session Update Week 2 VA Delegate John McGuire (Navy SEAL - Father - Business Owner) The General Assembly convened on January 12, marking the beginning of the 402nd legislative session of the House of Delegates. New Day in Virginia Governor Youngkin kept his Day 1 campaign promises by ending mask, vaccine mandates, banning CRT in classrooms and firing the parole board. Winsome Sears Lt. Governor Winsome Sears made history by presiding over the Virginia State Senate as the first black woman to do so! "Top Cop" Jason Miyares Jason Miyares, our newly sworn in Attorney General made history as the first Latino to hold a Statewide Office in Virginia. He has filed several lawsuits. 2022 McGuire LEGISLATION

The Jefferson Journal: Lawmaker Introduces Bills Protecting Workplace Freedom

About Commentary Education Taxes Support The Jefferson Journal Lawmaker Introduces Bills Protecting Workplace Freedom By F. Vincent Vernuccio   1/21/2022 -- As a handful of localities push to give government unions a monopoly over public employee contracts, lawmakers in Richmond are looking to protect public employees around the state.   Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, has introduced a suite of bills to help protect the rights of public employees, promote union democracy and protect taxpayers.   The three bills would 1) ensure that public employees are informed of their rights to choose not to join and pay a union and allow them to leave the union at any time, 2) allow public employees the opportunity to vote to keep or remove the union at their workplace, and 3) prevent taxpayers from having to pay for union work.   The legislation is in response to troubling provisions that have emerged in some county and school district ordinances that are harmful to public employees and taxpayers. Last May, a new law went into effect that allowed localities to pass ordinances giving government unions a monopoly on contracts for public employees.   Here are more specifics on the three bills:

The Jefferson Journal: A Regulatory Path to Repeal the RGGI Carbon Tax

About Commentary Education Taxes Support The Jefferson Journal A Regulatory Path to Repeal the RGGI Carbon Tax By Stephen D. Haner   1/18/2022 -- Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) will proceed to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon tax compact by the same route Virginia entered it: He will push to repeal the underlying regulation.    As with much else in his promised “Day One” agenda, it will actually take time. What he gave Virginia on Day One was an executive order outlining the coming steps, which still must follow the letter of Virginia’s administrative process rules.  Regulations are created, amended and repealed routinely.   His administration will also notify the RGGI organization of Virginia’s intent to withdraw, a step contemplated and allowed under the governing memorandum of understanding.    It was a vote of the Air Pollution Control Board, citing authority over airborne carbon dioxide emissions, that implemented the cap and trade rules that require electric power producers to buy carbon allowances.  That allowance cost is then passed on to power customers, in the case of Dominion Energy Virginia customers directly on every month’s bill.

Progressive Propaganda: Voting rights in GA

NYT is reporting that Republican legislators are pushing voter suppression measures in what seems to be an attempt to help them undemocratically win races.

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Help us combat unnecessary voter suppression laws in Georgia and across the country →

The New York Times just reported that GOP legislators in Georgia, some who are facing tight races, are using the power of their offices to push even more restrictions to voting -- all in an attempt to help their party do better at the ballot box.

This comes after last year's SB 202, a voter suppression law that A.G. Holder called "a shameful attempt to silence the will of the people." With Republicans relentlessly subverting democracy in Georgia, it's no surprise that Sen. Warnock is urging his Democratic colleagues in the Senate to take national action -- and overcome Republican obstruction -- on voting rights. 

Your January 9th Sunday Summary ...

Yesterday's quiet gathering, reforming education, Biden's inflation, and more!

About Commentary Education Taxes Support Dear Friend of TJI,   “The much-predicted crisis didn’t occur. Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered. Shelves are not empty.” -- President Joe Biden, before Christmas   “Grocery store shelves across America are wiped clean, and they're staying empty as stores struggle to quickly restock everyday necessities such as milk, bread, meat, canned soups and cleaning products.” -- CNN Business, 1/13/2022 Meanwhile …