COMSTOCK FOR DELEGATE BLOG
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The 2010 Legislative Session Begins in Richmond
Here is my new contact information and a heads up about some upcoming events.
Office Information
My contact information here in Richmond is:
Delegate Barbara Comstock
PO Box 406
Richmond, VA 23218
Phone: 804-698-1034
Fax: 804-698-6734
Email: [email protected].gov
Richmond Office: General Assembly Building, Room 407 (right next to the State Capitol in Richmond)
Inaugural Activities
This weekend, our new Governor, Bob McDonnell will be inaugurated at a
special joint session of the General Assembly on Saturday, Jan 16th. I
look forward to seeing the many of you who will be down for the events
over the weekend. I would also like to invite you to my swearing-in
ceremony on Sunday, January 17th (invite below) if you are going to be
in town.
You Are Invited To Attend The Swearing In Ceremony Of
Delegate Barbara Comstock
34th District of Virginia
Sunday, January 17th
1:30 PM
With Special Guest
The Honorable Vince Callahan
Former Delegate 34th District of Virginia
At The State Capitol
House of Delegates Chamber
Guided Tour & Reception to Follow Immediately
For questions or to RSVP, please contact Ian Gallagher in my office at 804-698-1034.
Town Hall Meeting
Also, I want you to know about an event
back in the District where I will be participating in a Town Hall
meeting with fellow Delegate Jim Scott and our State Senator Janet
Howell on Saturday, January 23rd. We invite you to join us:
Town Hall Meeting
January 23, 2010
10am - Noon
Longfellow Middle School, 2000 Westmoreland Street, Falls Church, VA 22043
Budget Challenges
Of course the most difficult challenge we
face is the impact of the ongoing recession on our state budget. I can
assure that we are going to be focused on the priorities discussed over
the past year as the first order of business - getting our economy back
on track and restoring our prosperity by focusing on our jobs, our
roads and our schools. Our state revenues continue to be in a downward
spiral with the threats of additional unfunded mandates from
Washington, such as the budget-busting health care bill which would
overwhelm our state budget, while cutting Medicare and threatening
seniors. Unfortunately, federal stimulus funds from last year did
little to create jobs and we must now reckon with major structural
imbalances that remain in the budget.
While Virginia's general fund tax revenue forecast reflects
growth in Fiscal Year 2010, the rate of growth is still well below
historical trend-lines, and annual general fund revenues are forecast
to fall below the actual collections of what we had in 2007.
Furthermore, we in Fairfax have been faced with additional challenges
on our school budget. The outgoing Governor's budget takes the
unprecedented action of freezing the current education funding formula
which will result in an additional $50-60 million loss for Fairfax
schools. This adds insult to injury when it comes to shortchanging
Northern Virginia on our state education dollars. These are just some
of the many issues that we will be tackling in the coming weeks.
We are going to work hard to craft a budget that will get us
through these tough times and fund our core government services. I
appreciate the expertise that so many of you bring to these issues and
invite you to keep in touch. Thank you again for all your help. If I
can ever be of assistance please don't hesitate to contact me.
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