Medicaid expansion might stick, but proposed snow law didn’t

Jan. 26--Call it one of those dog-that-didn't bark stories -- as in the clue that helped Sherlock Holmes crack a case of a missing race horse.

The clue this time? The budget amendments state lawmakers had to file by last week don't say a word about nixing former Gov. Terry McAuliffe's final attempt to put Obamacare-funded Medicaid expansion into the state budget.

Nor do they include a new version of the so-called Stanley amendment -- the language that legislators have inserted in past budgets to keep the governor and the state Board of Medical Assistance Services from simply changing Medicaid's eligibility rules to achieve the expansion called for in the Affordable Care Act.

That's not to say that the money committees won't have their own ideas about Medicaid. The co-chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City County, and state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, along with House Appropriations Chairman Chris Jones have all said expanding access to health care is a goal for the 2018 session, even if none is an enthusiast for Medicaid expansion a la the Affordable Care Act.

They're all playing their cards pretty close to their vests.

But another possible clue is this: listen carefully to at least some House Democrats, and the words you hear are "expanding access to health care" rather than "Medicaid expansion."

Hmm.

Might this be ...

Elementary, my dear Watson, as it turns out Sherlock Holmes never actually said?

Snow luck for Mullin

Perhaps it was the warmer weather, or perhaps the typically calm, deliberative way Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News, pitches his bills, but his white-knuckle experience with snow flying off the car in front of his while driving down Interstate 64 didn't convince members of a House Transportation committee panel that there oughta be a law.

Mullin's proposal would have made it a traffic offense to drive around with piles of snow and ice on your car.

Inspiration struck (and a rooftop load of snow nearly did) while he was driving back from a night meeting in Richmond last month.

Fellow legislators were sympathetic, but worried about unequal enforcement.

Still, though there won't be legislation this year, it's a good idea to clear off your car when venturing on the highway after a snow storm.

After all, the driver behind you might be a member of the Transportation Committee.

Counting on election law reforms?

Virginia's voter registrars, on the front lines making sure constant stream of elections run smoothly, say they need a hand.

It can be a challenge coping with the increasingly heavy demands that come from Virginians for absentee ballots, as well as with our General Assembly's unfortunate propensity (though the registrars would never use that word) to split precincts when drawing legislative and congressional district lines.

Having some clear rules on recounts wouldn't hurt either -- as the uncertainties over the tie vote in the 94th House District record showed.

So Speaker Kirk Cox and Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment have ordered up a special joint subcommittee on election review.

Asked about the goal, Senate Privileges and Elections Committee Chairwoman Jill Vogel was clear: "Consensus."

Period.

The aim is for a bipartisan group, and the early signal from the Senate is for as close to an equally divided Democratic-Republican split in membership as possible.

"These issues are not about who wins or loses elections, but about the confidence of the public in our elections," Norment said.

Cox said the joint committee will have a broad mandate.

"There were numerous questions raised during the 2017 elections about the delivery and acceptance of absentee ballots, the assignment of voters in split precincts, and Virginia's recount law and procedures," he said.

The committee will look at them all, he added.

The goal is to have a package of bills ready for the next session, probably to be aired later this year.

Batting 1.000 -- so far

State Del. Emily Brewer, the Republican freshman from Suffolk, sent constituents a celebratory note about her first bill being unanimously approved by the House of Delegates.

Brewer, who was adopted as an infant, said during her campaign that adoption law would be her first focus, and that's where she found her first victory -- a bill that would reduce from three years to two the amount of time a child has to reside with close relative prospective adoptive parents prior to the adoption process getting under way.

Ress can be reached by telephone at 757-247-4535

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