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Va. House Passes Bill to Defy Health Care Mandate
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
Source: Courtesy of The Washington Examiner
February 12, 2010
Virginia’s House of Delegates on Thursday voted to defy a potential health insurance mandate from Congress. The vote, which follows the passage of a similar measure in the Virginia Senate last week, puts the state legislature squarely in opposition to a core provision of congressional Democrats’ health care bill.
The Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, sponsored by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, passed 72-26 in the Republican-controlled chamber.
The legislation looks to exempt Virginians from any government requirement to buy into a health plan, although its larger purpose is as a “message bill” meant to persuade federal legislators — especially those representing Virginia — to back off from the proposed overhaul.
“It’s pretty clear that government-run health care is unwelcome in Virginia,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation. “Hopefully our federal representatives will get the message and pull the plug on Obamacare.”
READ THE FULL TEXT at THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Despite Health Bill Uncertainty, Va. Protest Bills March On
By: WILLIAM C. FLOOK
Examiner Staff Writer
Source: Courtesy of The Washington Examiner
February 1, 2010
The precarious position of national health care legislation hasn’t stopped lawmakers in Virginia from moving ahead with bills that seek to defy a federal health insurance mandate.
The proposals — which have advanced in committee or subcommittee in both the Virginia House and Senate — look to exempt Virginia from Congress’ health care initiatives. While the measures may end up being more symbolic than substantive, they have gained wide notice as Republican lawmakers seek to harness unrest over an expanded federal role in medical care.
Del. Bob Marshall’s Health Care Freedom Act has become this session’s most viewed bill on the state’s legislative Web site — with more looks than even the two-year budget proposal.
Va.‘s Laws on Charter Schools Could Ease
Written by Holly Ridge
Source: Courtesy of the Richmond Times Dispatch
With a pro-charter school administration at the helm, Virginia’s relatively tough laws regulating the specialty schools could soon change.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has said he wants to see changes to make it easier to open charter schools, even mentioning his support in his response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Wednesday.
He also appointed charter school proponent Gerard Robinson, who had served as president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, as state education secretary. That organization aims to provide low-income and working-class black families with access to high-quality education through such programs as charter schools, school vouchers, virtual schools and more.
And in this General Assembly session, bills have been introduced that address charter school policies statewide. One submitted by Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, would withhold state funding to school systems that deny applications from charter schools deemed acceptable by the state Board of Education.
The amount would be based on the average daily student membership proposed within the charter application. The bill says funding would continue to be denied until the local division approves the previously denied application.
READ THE FULL TEXT at TimesDispatch.com
Bob Marshall Adresses Richmond 10th Amendment Rally
Bills Would Limit Federal Power
Date published: 1/18/2010
WRITTEN BY CHELYEN DAVIS
Source: Courtesy of Fredricksburg Free Lance Star
RICHMOND–Last year’s “tea parties” and health care town halls gave voice to a groundswell of concerns about federal government spending and encroachment into people’s lives.
Now those concerns are finding voice in state legislation aimed at limiting the federal government’s power.
Several members of the Virginia House of Delegates, including Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, have submitted bills that aim, in various ways, to restrict federal influence.
Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, has put in bills to exempt Virginians from federal health care mandates. Cole has a similar bill. He has also introduced legislation to restrict federal oversight of commerce by saying that federal interstate commerce laws and regulations don’t apply to goods and services made and sold in Virginia that don’t cross state lines.
Cole also has a resolution urging Congress to establish a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.
READ THE FULL TEXT at THE FREDERICKSBURG FREE LANCE STAR
Virginia leader chomping at the bit to fight ‘Obamacare’
WND Exclusive DOCTOR’S ORDERS
Incoming AG to feds: Hands off my state
Posted: January 16, 2010
By Anita Crane
Source: Courtesy of © 2010 WorldNetDaily
Officials in Virginia a short time ago joined attorneys general in a dozen other states to object to the provisions of “Obamacare,” the pending legislation that would give the federal government unprecedented control of health care, and the state’s incoming attorney general is chomping at the bit to get to work on the issue.
Ken Cuccinelli, who will take the oath of office this weekend, said it’s a simple matter of the government lacking authority to impose the decisions members of Congress are making for their constituents.
“I believe the individual mandate violates individual rights,” Cuccinelli said in an interview. “I do not believe the federal government has the legal authority in the [U.S.] Constitution to mandate that individual Americans purchase health insurance.
“A corollary to that is that the [Senate] bill, as it is currently written, requires state governments to set up healthcare exchanges to facilitate individual mandates. I do not believe that under the Constitution the federal government has the authority to dictate or effectively force states into its bureaucracy,” he said.
The opposition is just one of the moves afoot to challenge the Democrat plan should it eventually succeed and be adopted as law. The outgoing Virginia attorney general, Bill Mims, had joined with 12 other Republican state attorneys general to object to the Senate’s version, which exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid fees.
READ THE FULL TEXT at WORLD NET DAILY
Can ObamaCare’s insurance mandate survive a court challenge? A Virginia legislator intends to find out
Written by Dan Calabrese
Source: Courtesy of Northstar National
Assuming ObamaCare actually becomes law, what happens when its onerous health insurance mandate – complete with the threat of fines and prison time if you don’t buy insurance deemed acceptable by the federal government – is tested?
You file your tax return. You fail to offer proof that you have a policy that puts you in compliance with the law. The IRS tries to penalize you, possibly by garnishing your state tax refund.
If you live in Virginia, you might have the commonwealth in your corner. And that’s not only because the primary sponsor of a bill to protect taxpayers believes they deserve the protection.
It’s also because he’s opening to provoke a test case that could get ObamaCare thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bob Marshall, a Republican delegate to the legislature from the city of Manassas, has submitted a bill that reads as follows:
No law shall restrict a person’s natural right and power of contract to secure the blessings of liberty to choose private health care systems or private plans. No law shall interfere with the right of a person or entity to pay for lawful medical services to preserve life or health, nor shall any law impose a penalty, tax, fee, or fine, of any type, to decline or to contract for health care coverage or to participate in any particular health care system or plan, except as required by a court where an individual or entity is a named party in a judicial dispute. Nothing herein shall be construed to expand, limit or otherwise modify any determination of law regarding what constitutes lawful medical services within the Commonwealth.
In other words, the Commonwealth of Virginia will not recognize any law that requires a resident to enter into a health insurance contract not of his or her choosing. In any situation that would require the involvement of the Commonwealth in enforcing such a requirement – and there would surely be many – Virginia won’t play ball. Not only that, but it will go to court to defend its right not to do so. Read more
Marshall’s HB 10 Bill challenges right of “Obamacare” to force Virginians to purchase health care
Thursday, January 7, 2010
By Susan Thompson
Source: Courtesy of 7Bends Shenandoah Valley
Richmond, VA – Today, Delegate Bob Marshall of the 13th District, Virginia House of Delegates, released an announcement about HB 10, the bill being introduced soon in the Virginia Legislature. Marshall outlines the penalties that Virginians will face if they do not purchase the health care program being pushed through the U.S. Congress now and presents a Q&A that answers specifics aspects of how “Obamacare” will directly affect families in our state. Here is what he has to say:
“Congress has never, in 220 years, mandated that individuals purchase any private service or good, until now. Both the U.S. House and Senate health insurance “reform” bills approved by Virginia Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner threaten our families with jail time and fines up to $25,000 if we do not purchase health insurance that Obama Health Czars think is good for us whether we want it or not. Read more
Marshall Introduces Health Bill
By Cheryl Chumley
Source: Courtesy of InsideNOVA.com
Health care overhauls coming out of the nation’s capital may be in flux, but Del. Bob Marshall, R-Dist. 13, isn’t waiting for the final version and has instead introduced early legislation at the state level guaranteeing Virginians control of their coverage.
On Dec. 7, Marshall prefiled the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act that “protects an individual’s right and power to participate or to decline to participate in a health care system or plan,” according to the summary of H.B. 10.
The idea is to halt any federal requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance.
Such regulation has been hotly debated along mostly party lines in Congress, and the White House has maintained the mandate for all to buy or else pay a fine is necessary in order to keep health care costs affordable.
The mandate has been subject to scrutiny from legal analysts, and some say a constitutional challenge looms should that aspect of health care reform pass.
“To compel someone to enter a contract with the threat of a fine or a year jail time … that’s an un-precedented use of several powers in the Constitution,” Marshall said. “It’s never been done.”
READ THE FULL TEXT at INSIDE NOVA
Gun Control Opponents Hope to Reshape Handgun Laws
Source: Courtesy of The Washington Times
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
January 3, 2010
Virginia lawmakers have filed bills to abolish the state’s one-handgun-per-month rule and allow college faculty to carry a concealed weapon on campus.
Gun control opponents in Virginia’s legislature are proposing what would amount to a vast roll-back of handgun regulations, hoping to capitalize on a friendlier administration in Richmond to undo long-standing firearms restrictions.
Conservative lawmakers have filed a flurry of bills including abolishing the state’s one-handgun-per-month rule and allowing college faculty to carry a concealed weapon on campus.
Despite the arrival of Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, who has an A rating from the National Rifle Association and campaigned on a pro-Second Amendment platform, none of the bills necessarily will have an easy time getting passed when the General Assembly goes into session later this month. Proponents of stronger gun laws have become much more vocal and focused since the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and are likely to oppose the measures alongside many legislators.
READ THE FULL TEXT at THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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