Virginia Legal*Political Blog

Gov. Tim Kaine hopes to collect $48 million for the state’s general fund through a tax amnesty program. Persons – in the broadest legal sense of that term: individuals, corporations, trusts and partnerships – can take advantage of the offer. Those who pay delinquent taxes between Oct. 7 and Dec. 5 will have to pay [...]

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Gov. Tim Kaine has asked the U.S. Department of Labor for a $252 million loan to pay unemployment compensation benefits through the end of the year. The state will need the money because of an increased demand for benefits and reduced employer contributions to the unemployment insurance trust fund. The increase in demand has reduced [...]

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Those who attended Washington and Lee University with South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson in the late 1960s probably would have picked him to be among those least likely to heckle a president during a joint session of Congress. Wilson shouted, “You lie!”, last night when President Obama said his health plan would not include coverage [...]

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The Virginian-Pilot reports that Del. Phil Hamilton, R-Newport News, gets $40,000 a year as a coordinator of an Old Dominion University teacher training center that he sponsored as a legislator. A budget amendment that Hamilton introduced in 2007 provided the initial money for ODU’s Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership, and the center still [...]

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Former Democratic Gov. Doug Wilder has nice things to say about the Republicans’ candidate for governor this year. In an interview with The Washington Times, Wilder complimented GOP nominee Bob McDonnell on his efforts to reach out to Virginians who don’t traditionally vote Republican. He also expressed concern that Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds was at [...]

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The Senate Courts of Justice Committee also will meet Aug. 7, four hours earlier than the criminal subcommittee of its House of Delegates counterpart, to discuss legislation that will be considered at the Aug. 19 special session of the General Assembly to address Melendez-Diaz v. Massachuetts. Yesterday’s post about the House subcommittee meeting described the [...]

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The House of Delegates yesterday passed a bill to let police chaplains pray to Jesus Christ, but the governor is threatening a veto. According to The Free Lance-Star, the issue arose after a federal appeals court upheld a Fredericksburg City Council ban on referring to Jesus Christ in council meeting prayers. Six Virginia State police [...]

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Del. Thomas D. Gear, R-Hampton, proposes paying $240,000 to a Phoebus man who served seven years in prison for a crime he did not commit, reports the Daily Press.

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The judicial performance evaluation reports of the first five judges to go through the process remain sealed today after the House and Senate Courts of Justice Courts of Justice Committees were unable to decide how to handle them. The Supreme Court of Virginia has given the evaluations to the chairmen of the committees but issued [...]

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