“Ninety five percent of all businesses in Virginia are considered small businesses,” explains Delegate Lopez.  “So this means that women and minority owned businesses get short shrift.  A procurement contract with the state government is a big deal for a small business and could be the key to its success. When a business applies for a contract, and the Procurement Officer of astate agency says to the owner, ‘I need to conform with SWaM regulations. Therefore I could choose a small woman or minority owned business.  However, it would be easier simply to choose a small business.’

I was the Assistant Administrator of the Small Business Administration for President Obama.  One thing that I thought was interesting was the existence of the federal NAICS codes.  These codes provide standards for hundreds of businesses that range from tech firms, to construction firms, to electric car manufacturers, to florists. There are criteria to identify what constitutes a small business in each category.

My bill, HB 781, would make Virginia’s small business definitions comply with the federal size standards.  Virginia should not have its own approach.  We should take on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s NAICS codes for small business standards. This is where we should go.”

“This was an effort to address the abusive use of eminent domain by localities and other government agencies,” explains Delegate Bell.  “The goal would be to put property rights protection into the Virginia Constitution.  We passed a law in 2007.  I was the House patron and the then Senator Ken Cuccinelli was the Senate patron.  We passed laws to create protections for property owners, but it’s a law which it means that it is subject to change.  The goal that year, and ever since, has been to put protections into the Virginia Constitution where they can’t be changed by a subsequent legislature.  The amendment itself, which passed last year, will go before the public on the ballot in November if it passes this Session.  It does several things.  The first thing it says is that you can only take private property for public use.  You can’t take it and give it to somebody else, as happened in the Kelo case, which naturally prompted a great deal of this attention.  The second thing is that it says that you can’t acquire more property than you need.  That was out of a specific case in Hampton roads. They took the property. They took more than they needed and then instead of giving it back, they leased it out for a shopping center.  Then, the third thing it does is define what the actual compensation will be.  So, if someone has their property taken for public use they should be compensated.  It will help make sure that they get the full compensation for their property.  There is a Senate version and a House version.  We are optimistic that it will come up before the Privileges and Elections Committee on Friday.  We are hopeful that it will be reported out, and if so, that it will be heard on the floor next week.

The Constitutional Amendment is as controversial as the statute has been. Those who are condemners are very concerned about any restrictions on their ability to condemn.  As a result, the local governments have been ferociously opposed to this amendment. They have hired lobbyists to fight against it and have been working against the amendment.  When that was not possible, they have worked against the other legislation that we have introduced that go along with the amendment to help define the various terms and what not.  That is why the amendment didn’t pass in 2007.  It didn’t pass in 2009. We brought it in 2010, and we finally got it out in 2011, and now here we are on 2012 on the doorstep of actually getting it passed.”

Delegate Lopez has submitted HB 782 that would make anexception to the five-year ban for children and pregnant women, who are legal immigrants and otherwise would be eligible for these programs.

“Many states already have “opted in” to allow legal immigrants to do it.  A Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study was done that showed that it saved money over time. The problems that could be identified and treated through prenatal and neonatal care would cost considerably less if treated during the early stages of pregnancy and life.  Waiting until the child needs to go to the emergency room could cost $100,000 to treat an illness that could have been prevented by spending $500 in its early stages.  It just makes economic sense, and I believe that it is the right thing to do.”

HB 782 is now Delegate O’Bannon’s HB 183

At this point we may not all agree on the solution to preventing illegal immigration but the reality is that there are millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, their children are being educated in our public schools, and at some point they will graduate from High School and will be thinking about college and their future.

These children are here illegally because their parents brought them here illegally  They want to go to college in Virginia, and the question then becomes do we treat them like Virginians and Americans or do we treat them like illegal immigrants?

For Delegate Lopez the answer is clear,

“What we are talking about is basically putting into the Virginia Code what Governor Warner and Governor Kaine passed as executive orders and what Emmett Hanger passed in the Senate a couple of years ago.  Basically, if a child who is undocumented, graduates from a public or private high school in Virginia, is accepted into an institution of higher education in Virginia, is in the process of becoming a naturalized citizen, can prove that, and can have his or her parent or guardian show that they have paid taxes of some kind in Virginia for three years, then the child is eligible for in-state tuition.

My mom was an educator for 32 years in Northern Virginia, and she worked in Arlington County Public Schools.  Everyone knew my mom.  She was basically the guidance counselor at Washington High School; and literally, because of her, 1,000 kids who could have been forgotten, graduated from high school and went on to college.   She passed away four years ago.  This has been a big issue for a lot of activists in Northern Virginia for a very long time.  We have countless examples of really exceptional young people who graduated from four of the best high schools in America–in Arlington and at the top of their class.  The valedictorian of Yorktown High School, which is quite possibly one of the wealthiest high schools in the area or in thecountry, is an undocumented young man who was unable to afford UVA or William and Mary.  He would have been a brilliant addition to one of those schools but instead was given a full ride to Bucknell.  In the past, we have had a young woman who was number two in her class at Washington and Lee High School, and, because she was given a free ride to an Ivy League university, she chose to leave Virginia.

It is an economic issue as well.  It is unlikely that a young person who leaves Virginia for college or grad school will come back, and so think about this economic resource that’s going away.  I also think about it from the perspective of the child.  These are children who came here when they were two weeks old, two months old, two years old who know of no other county but the United States.  They might be Ecuadorian, but they don’t know it, and they might not even speak Spanish.  They might be from Hanoi but they don’t even speak Vietnamese.  They are not breaking the law.  They are not violent criminals.  They are trying to live the American Dream.  They want this to be their country, and if something is cut off from them, and if they don’t have the opportunity to succeed in life, to go further, what is going to happen? You are going to have people who have a sense of hopelessness, who might become a drag on society, who might have become exceptional people; but because opportunities were not available to them, they found themselves going the opposite way.

I really feel that we need to address comprehensive immigration at the federal level.  What we don’t need is a patchwork of state laws, and we don’t need to become Arizona or Alabama.  But in the mean time, we could be doing what Rick Perry, the former presidential candidate and the Governor of Texas said is ‘smart thinking.’ Why is it a bad thing to help motivate children to do better in life?  Utah passed this.  California passed this.  Texas passed this; it makes sense to me, andit makes economic sense.

On the campaign trail, I would be stopped two and three times a week by people who would say, ‘Are you Carol Lopez’s son?’ and I would say, ‘Yeah!’ ‘She was my guidance counselor.  She literally dragged me to enroll in the NOVA.  Because of her, I am now a Captain in the Airforce,’ or ‘Your mom stayed on me and my parents, and I graduated from George Mason,and now I am a dentist.’

You think about that and what could have happened.  My mom was famous for being this four foot eleven cyclone of energy, and, well I owe it to her to carry this bill.  This is something that she cared deeply about, something that I care deeply about, and it means so much to so many people in my district.  I have the most diverse district in the Commonwealth.  There are 58 languages spoken in my high school, and it is because of this that I am carrying this bill.”

Delegate Lopez feels that we need to level the playing field among applicants who want to open new electrical utility facilities.  Currently the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) focuses primarily on the up-front costs during the application process. He explains, “HB 789 is a bill that would add the stability of fuelcosts over time as a consideration by the SEC when they determine whether or not to approve the construction of a new electrical utility facility.  I feel that the approval is weighted towards the up-front costs and not towards other factors which would put the potential renewable energy facilities on an equal footing with traditional energy facilities.  The up-front costs right now are very high for renewable energy.  However, if you consider hydrokinetic, tidal,wind, or solar energy, these fuel prices will not be volatile.  Natural gas is cheap right now.  It has been in the past.  The price for coal goes up and down. Gas and oil prices go up and down.  But, the sun is always going to be there.  The wind is always going to be blowing.  The tides and the rivers will always be flowing. So locking in these prices for 10, 15, or even 25 years makes sense.  I want the SEC to take into account the stability of fuel prices as a factor when approving these new electrical facilities.  The up-front costs should not be the only thing, or the most important thing that is taken into account.”

There are ideas for new businesses all the time that would in turn create the jobs that we so desperately need.  However, one of the most challenging hurdles to starting a business, as many of us know, is finding investors who believe in the venture and who are willing to support it.

“I don’t think that we do enough in Virginia or in this country to encourage small business,” said Delegate Lopez.  “I think that we woefully underfund our investment and incentive programs for small business and entrepreneur development.  The fact is that, since mid-August, one in two jobs has been created by small businesses and entrepreneurs in this country.  We should be doing everything that we can to encourage that.  I am all for supporting the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and even the Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund because they bring in business.  We brought in large corporations under Governor Kaine’s leadership, and we brought in dozens of large corporations’ national headquarters to Northern Virginia, the Richmond area, and to Hampton Roads.  We are very proud of that, and we need to keep doing that, but we also need to be incentivizing small business growth and development.”

In an attempt to encourage new business development in Virginia, Delegate Lopez has submitted HB 783 that would create a tax credit for those who invest in a microenterprise. “HB 783 would create a tax credit of 25% in a microenterprise the firstyear, 15% the year after that, and 5% the year after that, and 5% the year after.  Microenterprises are not 250-employee $10-million small businesses.  They are four people around a kitchen table who are developing software, who are coming up with the next big-thing widget.  This bill would be focused specifically on businesses in Hub Zones and in green business.  However, it wouldn’t matter where or what type of business it were as long as 20 % of the investment capital were in microenterprise.  There will be a cap of $12,500 per individual and $2.5 million per year.  Is there a cost to it? Yes, it will cost $2.5 million per year.  Is that a lot? Yes, but in the grand scheme of things, no.  Are these tough budget times? Yes, so we will see how this goes.”

Delegate Lopez, is keenly aware of these difficulties as a legislator from Northern Virginia, which is known for its transportation problems.  He has submitted HB 786 that would allow anyone to vote absentee in person without providing a reason.  “A few years ago,” begins Delegate Lopez, “there was an ice storm on the day of the presidential primary.  People could not get out of work and to the polls before they closed.  There are people in my district who work two and three jobs who would love to vote, but it is hard to get to the polls from 6 AM to 7 PM in their world on a random Tuesday.  We are lucky in Arlington that we have a Voter Registration Office that is very well staffed and in a centralized location.  Arlington is a small county and so it is easy to access. Fairfax has a very large office. You can come to it during a set period of time and vote at your leisure.  Absentee voting just makes sense for some folks who want to vote, who want to exercise their civic rights, their duty, but they just don’t have the time. I have spoken with some of my friends in the freshman class about traffic congestion and it was a joke.  I think that one of them thought I was lying when I said that it took me, on average, 35 minutes to drive from my house to the White House.  I live right behind the Pentagon!  It literally takes me 35 minutes to drive four and a half miles.  It’s unfathomable to people who live outside of Northern Virginia.  I say to them, come and live in my shoes; live in the shoes of anyone in Northern Virginia, and see what real traffic is like.  Extrapolate that out to include the craziness of an Election Day for a presidential primary or a governor’s race.”

“Drugs are categorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) according to their physiologic and psychological dependence,” explains Delegate Hodges.  “Most drugs for diabetes and blood pressure, for example, are classified as Schedule V.  As the Level of psychological and physiological dependence increases the higher the drug is ranked on the schedule.  Schedule II includes the most stringently controlled substances,” that are currently acceptable for use in medical treatment.  “Schedule II substances would include drugs like Oxycodone which require a prescription and do not include refills.  Whereas Schedule III substances like Hydrocodone which requires a prescription but can be transferred to the pharmacy and can include a number of refills.”

Delegate Hodges introduced HB 1140 and HB 1141 to update the Virginia classification of Carisoprodol and Ezogabine.  “The DEA made a change to their scheduling, and the Drug Control Act of Virginia just needed to conform to that.”

Recently Urbanna passed an ordinance to allow people to drive golf carts on the highways.  “The language is already in the Code of Virginia to allow golf carts to be driven on the highways, but because they don’t have their own police department they have to seek an exemption from the General Assembly,” said Delegate Hodges.  “The Middlesex Sheriff [David P. Bushey] was perfectly good with it, and the town supports it.  The golf carts are required to meet all of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) standards for safety and registration.   You have to understand,” said explains Delegate Hodges, “they go to church on golf carts.  It’s great!  They have their license plates; they have their emblems, their seatbelts, their lights and all of the standards.  You have to live in Urbanna to know and understand it.  It is probably one of the only towns where dogs can still run free.  We don’t have a leash law, and we never have any problems.”

“The problems with the Boy Scout Jamboree really brought this issue to the forefront,” explained Delegate Hodges. “There were 50,000 kids and they had to set up mini hospitals.  If you remember it was a really hot summer.  Some of the kids had heat stroke and some of them were even struck by lightning.  There were physicians there from out of state, and they could operate because the Code of Virginia gave them a temporary exemption to be operate in Virginia without a Virginia license.  However, the nurses were not exempt from licensure.”

“HB 885 would apply the same rules to nurses as it does for physicians,” said Hodges.  Out of state nurses would be allowed to operate temporarily in Virginia summer camps or “other recreational or educational activities” without a Virginia license as long as they have a “current and unrestricted license in another state.”